On the recordSeptember 16, 2015
The good news of this place is a congratulations offered by my colleague just a few minutes ago to a 90- year-old lady who served in World War II and had never received a thank you. Wouldn't it be a positive step to reflect on America and to be able to hold in this body positive things that shows the Congress working together? Yet, as has been mentioned, our colleagues want to defund Planned Parenthood and shut down the government. I wonder whether or not, in this debate coming up, that any of the moderators will ask whether any of those debating will stand in shutting down the government. I wonder whether they will ask them whether they support voting rights and will support the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, like the Americans who walked 1,000 miles for justice. I wonder whether or not, in fact, they would ask them whether they care anything about criminal justice reform and decriminalizing, if you will, this system where it has mass incarceration, children in jail, where it doesn't believe in rehabilitation for those who have served. I wonder whether these individuals that have been making a lot of noise in front of the public who will be in the public eye all over America, Mr. Speaker, whether they will answer the real questions about America and bring us together. Voting rights, health care for women, and making sure that we fix the criminal justice system, those are the questions that should be asked tonight. ____________________
