Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the proud co-chair of the House
Democratic Caucus' Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force.
  This month, we mark the 158th anniversary of one of the most
important amendments ever added to our Constitution.
  Forged in the aftermath of the Civil War and paid for by the blood,
sweat, and tears of Black freedom fighters and their allies, the 14th
Amendment declared that every person born in these United States is
anointed with inalienable rights and responsibilities, never to be
infringed upon by the actions of any State or entity.
  Together, with the 13th and 15th amendments, it marked what
historians call: The second founding of our Nation, an effort to build
a democracy that truly includes everyone.
  History reminds us that writing rights into our Constitution is only
the beginning.
  For decades after Reconstruction, millions of Black Americans were
denied those very rights through segregation, voter suppression, and
racial violence.
  The Constitution had not changed. What changed was whether or not our
country chose to enforce it. It took generations of organizing and
sacrifice before Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and
began making good on the promise that existed for nearly a century.
  That history matters because it teaches us an important lesson:
Constitutional rights do not appear or disappear overnight. They are
built or weakened piece by piece, action by action. Court decisions,
legislation, political rhetoric, actions that slowly erode the
institutions designed to protect our democracy.
  Viewed in isolation, the current challenges to birthright
citizenship, due process, equal protection, and the freedom to vote may
seem like isolated political actions, but viewed together it becomes
crystal clear that our Constitution and the promise of our second
founding is under attack.

  What is more? It is clear that it is our duty as true patriots to
combat it. That is why House Democrats created the Defend the 14th
Amendment Task Force.
  Our mission is simple: Defend the constitutional rights that
generations of Americans fought to secure. Our rights are not
guaranteed simply because they are written down. They endure because
people defend them.
  The generations before us marched, organized, and sacrificed to make
the promises of the 14th Amendment real. They understood that democracy
requires participation, accountability, and constant vigilance.
  Now, that responsibility belongs to us. Every generation faces a
defining test. For generations that ratified the 14th Amendment, it was
whether America would finally recognize citizenship and the humanity of
those who had been enslaved.
  For the generations that marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, it
was whether every American would have an equal voice at the ballot box.
  Our generation faces a different question: Will we preserve those
constitutional guarantees for the generations that follow? As long as I
have the privilege of serving in this House, I will continue fighting
to protect that promise for every family, community, and generation to
come.
  Mr. Speaker, the Constitution is only as strong as our willingness to
defend it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver).
  Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the proud co-chair of the
Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force because I believe in one simple
truth: The 14th Amendment is now under siege.
  For more than 150 years this amendment has stood as one of the
greatest promises our Nation has ever made: That every person born in
this country is entitled to equal protection under the law and that no
government may deny anyone due process simply because of who they are
or where they were an immigrant from.
  It was born from one of the darkest chapters in American history.
After slavery ended, our Nation faced a choice: We could preserve
injustice under a different name, or we could expand the promise of
freedom.
  The 14th Amendment was our answer. It declared boldly that
citizenship could not be rationed, equality could not be optional, and
liberty belonged to all of us.
  Today, that promise is being tested. This administration has made no
secret of its willingness to chip away at the constitutional
protections generations of Americans have fought, marched, bled, and
even died to secure.
  They are using every tool at their disposal to weaken the very rights
that safeguard us all. For me, this fight is deeply personal.

                              {time}  1830

  I was born in the Jim Crow South, little place called Waxahachie,
Texas. I came of age in a nation where equal protection existed only on
paper long before it existed in practice.
  I marched with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference starting
when I was 15 years old. The SCLC was led by a young preacher by the
name of Martin Luther King, Jr. I marched because I believed America
could become what it claimed to be. I believed that the Constitution
should protect every citizen equally. I witnessed firsthand what
happens when governments decide some people deserve fewer rights than
others.
  The progress we celebrate today did not happen by accident. It
happened because brave Americans demanded that the 14th Amendment
finally be honored. It was the Equal Protection Clause that became the
constitutional foundation for Brown v. Board of Education, ending
legally sanctioned segregation in our public schools.
  It was the 14th Amendment that strengthened the fight against
discriminatory voting laws, housing discrimination, and unequal
treatment in employment.
  It was the 14th Amendment that has protected interracial marriage,
expanded equality for women, safeguarded the rights of people with
disabilities, and affirmed the dignity of LGBTQ Americans.
  Time and time again, when our Nation has taken a step toward justice,
it has done so because someone stood up and insisted that the words of
the 14th Amendment actually meant what they say. That is why attack of
any kind on equal protection and due process are not isolated legal
disputes. They are attacks on the very foundation of modern civil
rights.
  They are attacks on the constitutional principle that tell every
child they matter before the law. They are the attacks on the
guarantees that protect workers from exploitation, families from
discrimination, religious liberty, voting rights, and the simple
expectation that government must treat people fairly.
  When government weakens these protections for one group, it weakens
them for everyone.
  History teaches us that constitutional rights are rarely lost all at
once. They are chipped away slowly, one exception, one excuse, one
precedent at a time until Americans wake up and discover that what once
seemed guaranteed has quietly disappeared.
  We cannot allow this to happen.
  Our constituents know what is at stake. They understand that the
promise of America has been bigger than politics. They know that the
Constitution belongs to every American, not just those in power.
  As the co-chair of the 14th Amendment Task Force, I stand with my
colleagues in defense of one of the most important guarantees ever
written into our Constitution. We will defend equal protection. We will
defend due process. We will defend, yes, birthright citizenship. We
will continue fighting until the promise of the 14th Amendment is not
merely something we celebrate in history books, but something that
every American can experience in their daily lives.
  The struggle to perfect our Union has never been easy, but every
generation is called to protect the freedoms it inherited. Now, it is
our turn.
  Ms. MEJIA. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington
(Ms. Randall), my fellow co-chair.
  Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Mejia for her
leadership.
  Mr. Speaker, the 14th Amendment means what it says: ``All persons
born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. . . .'' Those
are the words on paper.