Sheila Jackson Lee: “Members will leave this week behind physically but not mentally and not without a sense of joy and, certainly…”

“Members will leave this week behind physically but not mentally and not without a sense of joy and, certainly, questions. Many things have happened this week, and more will come in terms of further explanations about our leadership and about our direction, but one thing we know that occurred is a mighty statement of balanced injustice. I will paraphrase the words of Pope Francis, when he said to us that politics requires more than divisiveness; and he said ``the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life''--an instruction on the goodness of our Members, no matter what their party. So in these next couple of weeks, I would ask that we look collectively together about working to pass a budget that is fair and just and that helps the needy: comprehensive immigration reform, helping the homeless, and helping veterans who have suffered, Mr. Speaker, some hundreds of thousands who died waiting for hospital services. I think we can do better. Get rid of sequester. Pass a budget for America. ____________________”