Political Quotes

“Let me thank our ranking member on Appropriations, Mrs. Lowey, for yielding and for her steadfast leadership. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this woefully inadequate Republican response to the humanitarian crisis along our border. Let me start by saying that as an appropriator, I am very troubled by the shamefully inadequate funding levels and misguided offsets in this bill. I am also deeply concerned by the dangerous policy riders that strip protections for vulnerable children--protections signed into law by a Republican President, mind you. Let's be clear. This crisis has nothing to do with the lack of funding for immigration enforcement. We don't do anything to help these children by pouring tax dollars into the further militarization of our border, and that is exactly what this bill does. Madam Speaker, our response needs to put children first. In a hearing by the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week, we heard firsthand from Central American children who had fled violence in their home countries and who had passed through our broken detention system. These children and thousands like them risk their lives on their way to this country. Some had witnessed murders and gang violence in their home countries and suffered freezing conditions and inadequate nutrition while in detention in the United States.…”