Sheila Jackson Lee: “I say to the gentleman from New York, it is an esteemed pleasure to be able to draw upon both his knowledge and…”

“I say to the gentleman from New York, it is an esteemed pleasure to be able to draw upon both his knowledge and scholarship--might I stand on his shoulders--an activist Federal Government. For some reason, as we face these trials and tribulations of 2021, there is a hesitancy to realize that the Federal Government is, in simplistic terms, an umbrella on a rainy day. It is, in fact, the concrete barrier in the time of a storm. And that is why we are on the floor today. Let me acknowledge that an activist Federal Government, in the positive way, would be the government that would say that Italian history and Irish history, Latinx, Hispanic history, and Caribbean history, and African history, and the Pilgrim Pride history, and European history, and Asian-Pacific history, and Southeast Asian- Pacific, and any others that I have left out, is valuable to be heard by our children's ears. It is valuable to be taught. Then they would be able to understand the gentleman's entreat, his request, which is H.R. 1320, which is bipartisan, that declares Juneteenth a national Federal holiday. And to the wrong representation of right-wing radio, it doesn't substitute any holiday. It adds it to the list of Federal holidays. It does not subtract any holiday; does not take any holiday away.…”