Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank my colleagues for their eloquence but, more importantly, for the Congressional Black Caucus in its taking up the…”

“I thank my colleagues for their eloquence but, more importantly, for the Congressional Black Caucus in its taking up the mantle of the moral compass of justice. One would argue that justice is tied to our committee, the Judiciary Committee; but as I look at this Congress and as I look at a very small document called the Constitution, one can anchor the responsibilities of this body--of both the House and the Senate--Mr. Jeffries, in the Bill of Rights. I would like to just, very briefly, take us on a journey that indicates that our moral compass is broken because a budget that was supposed to be passed on April 15, by midnight, was not. To the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands, let me thank her. She will have her own distinctive story, in her eloquence, about the fairness to the territories. I listened, as I came in, to the presentation by the gentlewoman from Ohio, who knows full well that we need a budget to ensure that there is full employment in America. Then I work extensively with my colleague on the Judiciary Committee, and we will not pass or fund prison reform without a budget. I rise today, however, to weave in and out of my comments about the moral compass that is broken to indicate that my district--the 18th Congressional District in Houston, Texas, and Harris County--is under a terrible emergency disaster. We are underwater. We are again facing an enormous rainfall that has been listed as historic and, possibly, as catastrophic.…”