Political Quotes

“I thank Congresswoman Beatty and Congressman Jeffries because they have held it down for a long time now and have made us proud to be members of the Congressional Black Caucus because of how they present themselves in the Special Order hours and how they have taken on the responsibility. I thank both of them so very much. When I think about unfinished business, one knows where I am going. I think about the gun violence that is still occurring in, what I represent, the Chicagoland area. We are up to 618 deaths and 3,273 shootings. Now, I don't know about today, because it is occurring every day. I know it is not just about the legislation, but we do need background checks; we do need a national straw purchasing bill and bills that pass; we need gun trafficking bills. We need to improve, as you have heard, police-community relations, but we also need to invest in people. We need to invest in underserved communities: we need to make sure that people have decent housing, decent educations, that they get the job skills they need so that they can have jobs. There are too many who are still unemployed, and that is why the violence occurs. We need more mentors. I have a bill like my past colleague just said, the Urban Progress bill. The bill was presented, but it never went anywhere, which was just like the background check bill. It is a bipartisan bill--190 cosponsors--but the bill never gets called to the floor.…”