Ayanna Pressley

There is concern amongst the civil rights community, that any new counterism authorities or resources could be used against vulnerable groups when defining violent white supremacy as international terrorism.

I also want to give up power to the people and just thank those who have labored in love, foot soldiers who have organized and mobilized and raised your voices time and time again.

I renew my request that the principle of self-government be extended and the right of suffrage granted to the citizens of the District of Columbia.

When our Nation was founded, it was based on the belief that no people should be subjected to taxation without representation or be governed without their consent.

D.C. residents have all of the responsibilities of citizenship, but they have no congressional voting rights and only limited self-government.

Congress, because we are not a state, prohibited our implementing that program.

For the people of D.C., taxation without representation is more than just a catchy hashtag or a bumper sticker slogan.

I am so very proud to serve on this committee alongside her, to take up the fight for the rights of workers, families, and the American people.

I want to give credit where credit is due, send some shine to my sister in service Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has been a stalwart fighter and champion for over two decades.

Today is a truly historic day for Congress, for this committee, for the people of Washington, DC, and for our democracy.

As President Abraham Lincoln declared in the Gettysburg Address, 'A true democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people.'

The right to democracy should not be contingent on party registration.

The truth is that most of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle oppose statehood because they believe it could dilute their power.

In June, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called D.C. Statehood 'full-bore socialism.' I don't know what this means.

Unfortunately, there is not one Republican cosponsor of this bill.

Today, more than 60 years after President Eisenhower said those words, D.C. residents overwhelmingly support Statehood.

There is nothing more fundamental in a democracy than the right to vote.

These fundamental disparities for hundreds of thousands of Americans are inconsistent with the core principles embodied in our Constitution.

D.C. residents are American citizens. They fight honorably to protect our Nation overseas. They pay taxes.

I don't want us to set a new precedent, because a moment ago, you said that it's been your experience that you do respond by deadline.

To any of them? To any of the questions that I asked.

It does seem we're missing each other here and, you know, I'm----

Thirty-three days is certainly not enough time to arrange for travel, housing, medical equipment, translating medical records or the many other steps that would be needed to transport a critically ill child to another country.

This is not about your answering just to this committee. You're answering to the American people.

Whatever inconvenience you may have experienced certainly pales in comparison to the trauma and the fear and the inconvenience your medical deferred action denial letters have imposed on immigrant children and families.