Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise in support of the Sewell amendment. This proposal would increase funding for grants from the Historic Preservation Fund to preserve the sites and tell the stories of the civil rights movement. I want to thank my colleague Terri Sewell for her leadership on this issue, and I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their support of this program in the past. First funded in fiscal year 2016, this program has met a great need in rural communities across our Nation that are struggling to preserve and protect their legacies. Last year, the program funded a $500,000 grant to preserve Trinity United Methodist Church, which will help secure the church's legacy and preserve its history for future generations. I was a student at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, during this time, and I know well the role that Trinity played in our meetings and our rallies, many of them attended by luminaries like Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall, and many others. This is but one example of several successful grants in South Carolina and throughout the Nation. There is much more work to be done to fully preserve this history. Madam Chair, I strongly support this amendment.”