Political Quotes

“Let me say thank you to my colleagues and my friends for chairing tonight's Special Order hour. To the gentlewoman from Florida and the gentleman from Illinois, I thank them for speaking truth to power. I thank them for reminding us of our history. I thank them for reminding us why we are here tonight as we speak to the Nation. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to stand in solidarity with the members of the Congressional Black Caucus and with the Tennessee Three. I have this raised fist on a poster behind me saying: I stand with the #TennesseeThree. Mr. Speaker, as we speak truth to power tonight in the face of an unspeakable tragedy, in which six Americans--three educators, and three babies 9 years old--were murdered senselessly due to gun violence, the move by the Tennessee legislature to expel these lawmakers for using their voice to speak truth to power is unjust, undemocratic, and un- American. You will hear those words riddled through our Chamber throughout the night. To silence lawmakers for standing up for the will of the people is not democracy. I am glad that my classmate, my colleague, and my friend, Congressman Donald Payne reminded us of April, 7 years ago in this very Chamber, where in a full House we had a sit-in and stopped the Congress in an effort to get laws passed on gun violence, gun reform, because of the number of times we come to this Chamber, we come to the floor's microphone, and we say: 1 minute of silence. We did it today, Mr. Speaker.…”