Emanuel Cleaver: “First, let me associate my comments with those of my colleague Mr. Westmoreland. Mr. Speaker, on each Wednesday night…”

“First, let me associate my comments with those of my colleague Mr. Westmoreland. Mr. Speaker, on each Wednesday night for probably the last 10 or 12 years, our church has provided food for those who are struggling. Not long ago a gentleman came to our church, picked up food. And then later that night, as I was leaving the church, I ran into him at a 7-Eleven. You can imagine how troubled I was when I saw him buying a lottery ticket. I thought to myself, this guy has just ripped off the church and then is using his money for a lottery ticket. So I waited for him outside the 7-Eleven. And when he came out, I said to him, Look, I'm a little concerned because you picked up a sack of groceries, and then you just spent money on a lottery, and those two just don't match. And he said, Well, I probably shouldn't have spent the money on the lottery, but you know, Reverend, a man's got to have some hope. And while I think that hope is misplaced, the truth of the matter is he was absolutely correct. It is virtually impossible to live any kind of productive life on this planet without hope. There are millions of Americans who, unfortunately, cannot place their hope in this body. I think that I can state without fear of contradiction that the dysfunctionality of the United States Congress is helping to erase hope from the men and women in this country who are struggling. All of the back and forth and blaming each other has nothing to do with providing hope.…”