IV 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 540 
Supporting the values of the Equity or Else quality-of-life platform and 
acknowledging the need for the House of Representatives to use the 
platform as a holistic framework for drafting and implementing policy 
that promotes racial and economic equity for all across various social 
issues. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2025 
Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania (for herself, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mrs. RAMIREZ, 
Ms. ADAMS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. FIELDS, Mr. GARCIA of California, Mr. 
GREEN of Texas, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. OMAR, Ms. SCHA-
KOWSKY, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. TLAIB, and Mrs. MCIVER) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judici-
ary 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the values of the Equity or Else quality-of-life 
platform and acknowledging the need for the House of 
Representatives to use the platform as a holistic frame-
work for drafting and implementing policy that promotes 
racial and economic equity for all across various social 
issues. 
Whereas the foundation of any nation is the institutions that 
lay the structure for the people’s development; 
Whereas, according to the United Nations, the five basic in-
stitutions in a community are education, health care, 
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housing, food production and delivery systems, and cloth-
ing; 
Whereas through qualitative and quantitative empirical data 
we know that in Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working- 
class communities, systemic racism has sabotaged basic 
quality-of-life institutions while maintaining resources for 
a privileged few; 
Whereas equity requires providing resources identified by im-
pacted communities to alleviate harms caused by various 
social injustices including but not limited to racism and 
other forms of discrimination; 
Whereas directly impacted communities must guide and in-
form processes committed to equity; 
Whereas through hundreds of listening projects, town hall 
meetings, and engagement with grassroots organizations 
across the United States, the Equity or Else campaign 
has engaged tens of thousands of people across the coun-
try on the impact racism has had in education, housing, 
health care, food production and delivery systems, the en-
vironment, youth investment, immigration, senior rights, 
and economic development; 
Whereas, in May 2022, representatives from organizations 
across the country reached consensus on the Equity or 
Else quality-of-life platform; 
Whereas, in September 2022, the Equity or Else quality-of- 
life national platform was released as a living, breathing 
framework that can be used to shape racial equity policy 
at the local and Federal level; 
Whereas local communities around the United States are 
using the Equity or Else framework to develop racial eq-
uity policy solutions; 
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Whereas the Equity or Else campaign is calling on local gov-
ernments and the Federal Government to adopt a ‘‘zero 
tolerance’’ approach to racial inequity, expressed through 
policy and practice; and 
Whereas supporting the Equity or Else framework ought to 
include investments in eliminating food deserts and in-
vesting in Black farmers, funding safety net hospitals 
and ensuring they provide equitable care to all patients, 
transformative initiatives like Medicare for All, investing 
in public schools and ending the school-to-prison pipeline 
through evidence-based models such as community 
schools, investing in youth centers and free or low-cost 
childcare, providing job opportunities for every youth that 
wants one, uplifting rent control as a means for control-
ling gentrification and affordable homeownership path-
ways, eliminating lead pipes and guaranteeing clean 
water for all, banning discriminatory job screenings for 
formerly incarcerated people and providing widely acces-
sible, low-cost apprenticeship and job training opportuni-
ties, and opening up better pathways for citizenship to all 
immigrants: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) supports the values of the Equity or Else 
quality-of-life platform, including the acknowledg-
ment that racial inequity can only be undone by 
changing the belief systems that currently serve as 
a foundation for our institutions, policies, and soci-
ety at-large; 
(2) recognizes the need to change its belief sys-
tem and expresses a commitment to evolving the 
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House of Representatives’ practices to prioritize and 
listen to impacted communities and to craft and 
pass transformative legislation that advances racial 
and economic equity across various social issues; and 
(3) acknowledges that without equity there is 
fascism. 
Æ 
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