Racial Equity & Equal Justice for All
Americans were horrified in the summer of 2020 at the unjust killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans during encounters with police. These tragedies highlighted the deep-seated injustices that have long affected Black Americans and the denial of equal justice for all. Not only is our criminal justice system inequitable, but racial disparities continue to exist in many aspects of American life and our economy, including income, wealth distribution, housing, health care, and access to higher education. For too long this country has ignored the need to engage in real, serious policymaking focused on eliminating these disparities and ensuring that every American has an equal shot at “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Democrats are continuing to make equity and reducing disparities a focus of our legislative and economic agenda. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes equitable investments to address long-ignored disparities that prevent underserved communities from reaching their full economic potential. These include expanding access to broadband for 42 million Americans who currently lack reliable Internet access, funding upgrades to our water infrastructure to ensure Americans have clean drinking water, addressing legacy pollution, and expanding reliable public transit to underserved communities. During the 117th Congress, history was made when the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was passed and signed into law. This long-overdue law designates lynching as a hate crime under federal law, ensuring the full force of the government is brought to prosecute these monstrous crimes that have terrorized the Black community for over a century. House Democrats also passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in 2020 to root out racial biases in police departments and ban practices such as chokeholds and no-knock warrants. In the 118th Congress, Democrats will continue to we work with the Biden Administration to make equal justice, racial equity, and opportunity a reality for all Americans.
Today, as we mark the forty-fifth anniversary of Title IX, we look back on the enormous strides made to achieve equity in education for women and girls.
I want to thank Majority Leader McCarthy for working with me and a bipartisan group of Members to introduce a resolution reaffirming America’s commitment to Article 5’s collective defense provision of the North Atlantic Treaty.
On World Refugee Day, we keep in our thoughts and prayers the millions who have been displaced by war, violence, poverty, or natural disasters, including the many Syrians who have had to flee civil war in their country.
I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Otto Warmbier today, and my thoughts and prayers are with his family, who have had to endure a painful ordeal these past seventeen months.
I join today in observing Juneteenth, when Americans commemorate the end of the brutal and inhuman system of slavery in this country.
Today, the people of London experienced another terror attack, this time targeting innocent Muslim worshippers as they left Ramadan prayers.
This week, the House of Representatives came together in unity and bipartisanship following an attack at Wednesday’s practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game.
It is appalling that the Commerce Department is changing the language of its equal opportunity policy statement to exclude LGBT Americans.
Five years ago today, President Obama took action to protect DREAMers, using his executive authority to launch the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Once again, an American court has determined what we already know: that President Trump’s attempt to ban Muslims from entering this country is not only immoral but unconstitutional.