IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 494 

Condemning the false, inflammatory, and racially offensive statements made 

by the President of the United States regarding four women of color 

who are duly elected Members of the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 16, 2019 

Ms. JACKSON LEE (for herself and Mr. COHEN) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning the false, inflammatory, and racially offensive 

statements made by the President of the United States 

regarding four women of color who are duly elected Members of the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress. 

Whereas, on November 6, 2018, in an election widely regarded as a referendum on the performance and disapproval of the administration of President Donald J. 

Trump, the American people voted to vest control of the 

House of Representatives in the Democratic Party to restore the system of checks and balances designed by the 

Framers in 1787 in Philadelphia; 

Whereas the Representatives elected to the One Hundred Sixteenth Congress comprise the most diverse class in American history with respect to its racial, ethnic, and reliVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR494.IH HR494

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•HRES 494 IH 

gious composition, and also includes the largest contingent of female Representatives and the most Members 

ever of the LGBTQ community; 

Whereas among the cohort of the 40 Representatives first 

elected to the Congress in the November 2018 election 

are several whose membership is historic, including the 

Representative for the 7th District of Massachusetts, the 

first African-American woman elected from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the Representative from the 

13th District of Michigan, the first Palestinian-American 

woman elected to Congress; the Representative from the 

14th District of New York, the youngest woman ever 

elected to Congress; and the Representative from the 5th 

District of Minnesota, the first Somali-American elected 

to Congress; 

Whereas in the discharge of their official duties as Members 

of Congress, the aforementioned Representatives traveled 

to the southern border of the United States to observe 

the living conditions and treatment received by migrants 

and refugees seeking asylum in the United States who 

are currently being held in detention facilities, some consisting of nothing more than tent villages cordoned off 

under highways; 

Whereas the migrants and refugees being detained sought 

refuge in the United States for the same reasons as the 

tens of millions who came before them, in this century 

and the last, from this continent and from every other 

and from all corners of the globe; 

Whereas the migrants and refugees being detained sought 

refuge in the United States to be free of fear and hunger, 

to better their condition, to begin their world anew, and 

to give their children a chance for a better life, seeking 


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•HRES 494 IH 

to leave the pain of the Old World for the hope and 

promise of the New World; 

Whereas upon their return to the capital, the aforementioned 

Representatives reported their shock and horror regarding the inhumane conditions to which detainees were 

being subjected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at a public hearing of a standing committee of the 

House of Representatives; 

Whereas, on July 14, 2019, the President of the United 

States reacted to the criticism of his administration’s 

treatment of detainees by the aforementioned Representatives in a series of tweets that questioned their loyalty 

to the United States and implied that the circumstances 

of their birth gave them no right to exercise the responsibilities and privileges of duly elected Members of Congress; 

Whereas the President tweeted about the aforementioned 

Representatives: ‘‘So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ 

Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from 

countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in 

the world (if they even have a functioning government at 

all), now loudly . . . and viciously telling the people of 

the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation 

on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t 

they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime 

infested places from which they came’’; 

Whereas the President’s statements are false, inflammatory, 

and racially offensive and unbecoming the Nation’s chief 

executive; 


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•HRES 494 IH 

Whereas the recent statements of the President are inaccurate and offensive but consistent with prior statements 

he has made to stoke division, discord, and disharmony 

among the American people; 

Whereas the current President of the United States burnished his political reputation by claiming falsely for 

more than five years that his predecessor was born in 

Kenya and not the United States and thus was an illegitimate President; 

Whereas the current President of the United States launched 

his 2016 campaign for the Presidency said of persons 

from Mexico seeking to immigrate to the United States: 

‘‘They‘re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re 

rapists.’’; 

Whereas the current President of the United States claimed 

that a Hispanic Federal jurist could not preside over a 

court proceeding to which he was a defendant accused of 

civil fraud because ‘‘He’s a Mexican’’; 

Whereas in January 2018, the current President of the 

United States is reported to have inquired of his advisors: ‘‘Why are we having all these people from shithole 

countries come here?’’, referring to persons from countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Central and South 

America; 

Whereas, on August 15, 2017, the current President of the 

United States said he regarded as some ‘‘very fine people’’ the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and Ku Klux 

Klansmen who descended on the peaceful community of 

Charlottesville, Virginia, to advocate racism and who 

were met by peaceful counterprotesters; 


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•HRES 494 IH 

Whereas in his continuous and determined effort to exacerbate ethnic tensions and racial divisions in the body politic, the current President of the United States is revealing himself to be an unwitting instrument of the plan 

hatched in Moscow by Russian Federation President 

Vladimir Putin to interfere in the 2016 Presidential campaign to help elect his preferred candidate and sow discord and division among the American people; and 

Whereas statements and actions of the current President of 

the United States demean the Office he holds and falls 

short of the standard set by the 16th President, whose 

administration was devoted to unity, healing, and ending 

racial division and who famously foretold in his March 4, 

1861, Inaugural Address the reasons why the efforts of 

the current President of the United States are destined 

to fail: ‘‘We are not enemies, but friends. We must not 

be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must 

not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of 

memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will 

be, by the better angels of our nature.’’: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) strongly condemns the false, inflammatory, 

3 and racially offensive statements made by the Presi4 dent of the United States regarding four women of 

5 color who are duly elected Members of the One Hun6 dred Sixteenth Congress; 

7 (2) calls upon all Americans to celebrate the 

8 ethnic, racial, and religious diversity that has made 

9 the United States the leader of the community of 


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1 nations and the beacon of hope and inspiration to 

2 oppressed persons everywhere; and 

3 (3) encourages all persons in the United States 

4 to cherish and exercise the rights, privileges, and re5 sponsibilities guaranteed by the Constitution of the 

6 United States. 

Æ 


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