Sheila Jackson Lee: “This morning I rise to share with my colleagues both pain and a sense of remorse, sense of fear that many Americans will…”

“This morning I rise to share with my colleagues both pain and a sense of remorse, sense of fear that many Americans will face, and attempt to have a dialogue and an understanding as will be reflected in the Congressional Record. I am a student of the Constitution. I have served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, former chair or ranking member of most of the subcommittees, covering everything from immigration to administrative law to criminal law. I love this Nation. I would argue with anyone on any assessment other than that I am a patriot, one who views the Bill of Rights as an anchor of our uniqueness, who appreciates every day the men and women who put on the United States uniform, and who has had the privilege--obviously to my dismay--to visit every war zone during my tenure, to acknowledge those in combat, to honor and respect them and, yes, to attend funerals of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and to acknowledge those of years past in our veterans cemetery in Houston, Texas. As I begin this discussion, I want it to be known that these are wonderful documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. If we look at the beginning of the Constitution, it is really poetry, but it is truth. As we are reminded of the Pledge of Allegiance, these words are equally potent: ``We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union . . .…”