Bill Pascrell: “I rise to speak on an issue on which our Nation is united and the House is united, an issue upon which people from…”

“I rise to speak on an issue on which our Nation is united and the House is united, an issue upon which people from different political parties, people from all races and religious faiths agree upon, and that is the issue of Darfur. It should be a lesson for the rest of the day, what Ms. Lee and what Mr. Smith are doing here. So I stand today as a proud cosponsor of this legislation, the Darfur Partners for Peace for 2007. And I wish to thank both Congresswoman Lee and Congressman Smith, and all the rest who had anything to do with this, my good friend, Congressman Payne, your personal experiences are heart wrenching, and America is listening. America and much of the world stands united on the fact that more needs to be done to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur and finally address the dire humanitarian situation in the region. I have never seen an issue affect young Americans more than this issue on Darfur. We need to tap that. They are engaged. A few nations, including China, have stood in the way of applying real pressure to the Sudanese Government to allow a real U.N. peacekeeping force so that the people of Darfur can finally have a sense of security, like every human being desires. Among those who arguably have not done enough to end this horrendous genocide are the nations of the Arab League. I ask the Arab League to hear our voices, not only in Darfur, but also in the northern part of the continent, also in the Middle East.”