Political Quotes

On the recordJanuary 15, 2019
It has been an open secret for too long that Representative Steve King of Iowa has made his trade in saying and pushing fundamentally racist and unacceptable ideas. While I am glad that my colleagues on the other side are speaking out and have taken this important act of stripping Mr. King of his committees, let us be very clear that those of us who have served with Mr. King on the Judiciary Committee, those of us who are African American, Latino, immigrant, those of us who are Caucasian and steeped in our country's history of slavery and racism, we all know that the record of these kinds of comments is long. In 2013, Mr. King said that, for every Dreamer who is a valedictorian, there are another 100 undocumented immigrants who have calves the size of cantaloupes because they are hauling 75 pounds of drugs across the border. In 2017, he said that we couldn't restore civilization with ``somebody else's babies.'' Madam Speaker, how dare he. I was born in India. I am somebody else's baby, and I am a proud American. Just last year, Mr. King met with a Nazi-linked party in Austria. He is a Member of Congress who continuously makes these comments that cause the deepest of harm to real people, physical harm in the form of hate crimes, and psychological harm. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Said by
Pramila Jayapal
Democratic · Washington
Source
govinfo.gov
Jan 15, 2019

Share

More from Pramila Jayapal

Jul 2, 2026

The Pentagon has never passed an audit and is requesting an unprecedented $1.5 trillion for their FY27 budget.

garamendi.house.gov
Aug 18, 2026

These are tactics that destabilize our hemisphere and endanger our neighbors.

commondreams.org
Jul 1, 2026

Bold, people-powered candidates took on the Democratic establishment and won.

commondreams.org
Aug 14, 2026

Let’s be clear about what's happening. This is an agency that has already killed more than 50 people in its custody.

commondreams.org

Other voices in this conversation