Sheila Jackson Lee: “Let me thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey, who has led these Special Orders for communicating to the American people…”

“Let me thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey, who has led these Special Orders for communicating to the American people, and the gentlewoman from Chicago, Illinois, who has a history and record of reform. I thank the Congresswoman for her very well-stated challenge in a message and effort. Let me also thank those hundreds who have seen the inside of a Washington, D.C., jail. They have done so in the name of those who cannot speak for themselves--the millions of Americans who sit languishing because decisions are made against them and not for them. Unfortunately, big money, inertia, and the Congress not doing its job has taken the dominant place in American history. Hundreds of Democracy Spring protestors were arrested on Capitol Hill. We heard them repeatedly over the last week. Having had the experience of standing before the Sudanese embassy, standing in a fight for immigration reform myself, as well participating by way of fight and registering people to vote in the deep South in the aftermath of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, I think that protest and petition is a right of the American people--peaceful protest and petition--and I want to applaud those who sacrificed or stood their ground protesting the inertia of this Congress and the help that is needed by millions of Americans. Democracy Spring should be an agenda that all of us can support.…”