Hoyer Remarks on Congresswoman Sewell's Bill to Award Congressional Gold Medal to Selma Marchers

WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor this afternoon in support of Congresswoman Terri Sewell's bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the brave men and women who marched in Selma. Below are his remarks and a link to the video.

Click here for the video.

“I say to my friend from Michigan [Rep. Bill Huizenga], today we’re all Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, one people with one commitment and one idea.

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill of which I am a co-sponsor, honoring the brave men and women who marched in Selma. This will be my tenth year participating in the Faith and Politics Pilgrimage to Selma with my friend [Rep.] John Lewis.  I thank the Gentlelady [Rep. Terri Sewell] from Selma for leading this debate.

“Those folks who marched across that bridge on March 7, known as Bloody Sunday, were met with the power of the state to prevent them from voting. This Gold Medal would be a tribute to John and all those who marched alongside him, all those who marched along two [days] later [with] Martin Luther King Jr., those thousands who walked that five-day journey from Selma to Montgomery. We ought to pass it unanimously – I hope we will.

“But Martin Luther King Jr. would not be happy with us if we just looked back in awe and reverence and did not look at today, I tell my friend from Michigan, for he would say that Congress should go further than simply honoring those who fought for their rights a half century ago. We should pay tribute to their sacrifices and the scars they still carry by restoring the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court weakened in 2013.

“Martin Luther King Jr. was about principle, but he was also about assuring that protections would be in place. I hope that this House will allow bipartisan legislation to restore these protections, which are co-sponsored by [Rep.] Jim Sensenbrenner, former Chairman of the Judiciary Committee on the Republican side, and [Rep.] John Lewis, a hero of Selma. These protections should move expeditiously through the House once it's introduced.

“Again, I thank the Gentlelady from Alabama [Rep. Sewell] for her work to honor those who shook the conscience of our nation through their courageous actions in Selma fifty years ago – and in so many other places where many fought. Some were badly injured, and, yes, some died, to redeem the promises of America that all of us are created equal, endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, and, certainly, in a democracy one of the most important, if not the most important, rights that we have is to vote – to select our Representatives, to select the policies under which we will live.

“I thank the Speaker and Majority Leader for getting behind this effort and again thank the Gentlelady from Selma. How proud she must be of her hometown and of the history that was made there, not just for African-Americans, but for all Americans.”