Political Quotes

“I thank our incredible Chairwoman Waters and our committee staff for working with me on an amendment and, again, for their leadership on the bill as a whole. I am proud to represent Michigan's 13th Congressional District, a community that is incredibly diverse. Our diversity, as we all know, is our strength. We also know, though, that the way our government currently tracks race and ethnicity is outdated and definitely needs to change. Our government currently considers all people of Middle Eastern and North African descent to be ``White,'' a categorization that myself and many in our community consider to be very inaccurate. Our government currently has broad categories that lump together whole continents, ignoring the vast diversity of our people living here. So my amendment simply builds on Congresswoman Jayapal's amendment to ensure that we are providing the maximum flexibility possible to Americans so that they can accurately reflect their race and ethnicity on government forms. This, in turn, will help us in Congress and our government at large to better identify issues affecting specific communities so that we can have programs that effectively serve our diverse communities. Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.”