Date: 2014-09-09
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. many of us are disappointed that sometime on the floor today we will spend precious time that could be utilized for our focus on ISIS. focus on increasing the minimum wage and addressing social issues across America on condemning the President for authority that he had and for. in essence. rescuing Sergeant Bergdahl. But that is. unfortunately. where we find ourselves. I am here to indicate that the President has enormous responsibilities and has been thoughtful but forceful on behalf of the American people. As they indicated. there are many issues that we have great concern with. and last evening colleagues of mine in the Congressional Black Caucus stood on the floor of the House to address the heinous killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Missouri. First. let me thank Congressman LACY CLAY and Congressman CLEAVER for their leadership. They had to be on the front lines embracing the family members and community. But those of us in distance want to extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Michael Brown and indicate that we have had great policecommunity relations through many of our districts overcoming some very serious obstacles. as we did in Houston. Texas. We started communityoriented policing at the leadership of former Mayor Lee P. Brown. It can be done. On the Judiciary Committee. I have worked with funding for communityoriented policing. and. therefore. I dont take a backseat to my support of law enforcement across this Nation. The actions that were played out by the media in video. to me. took the life of a boy who had a life in front of him. So it is crucial that this body does not leave for its recess again and not address. in some direct way. the killing of Michael Brown. hearings regarding the militarization of our police. adding more funding back to communityoriented policing. and. yes. asking the question of the utilization of firepower against an unarmed Black boy. The epidemic of the killing of Black men is real. you can see the numbers. Those of us who are mothers who have to tell our sons how they ought to respond when they are on the streeteducated. military personnel. high school graduates or notthis is something that all of America should be concerned about because we are America. I hope to be part of the solution and not the problem. We will be looking to introduce legislation that addresses the question of how we utilize equipment that was given for natural disasters and fighting terrorism. not to go against unarmed civilians. That is. I believe. a charge for this body. Let me also indicate that. as a member of the Homeland Security Committee. having just come from the Mideast. I know that ISIS is real. and I believe that the President had a strategy. It was a deliberative strategy. It was one that was not to be spoken of precipitously or to announce what you are going to do next. But as he engages in consultation with our leadership. it is crucial that he engages in consultation with Members of Congress. I know that that is the Presidents effort. He has done so in the past. We have willing allies in the Mideast who are willing to stand up with United States leadership on strategy where they are in the front. We must define what boots on the ground means. what does the 1.000 individuals who are there now who are military personnel. We must find a way to address Syria without collaborating with President Assad. And we must be reminded that the religious minorities in Iraq are still under siege and attack. and there are. in the wake of those attacks. often children that we must address. We must be able to provide international resources for the children who are left after the bloody siege of ISIS. And then we must explain to the American people that we have their national security in our hands. that we realize that the rising numbers wanting to attack Syria and wanting to continue to attack Iraq in those areas where ISIS is is because of the fear of the homeland. As I indicated. as the senior member on Homeland Security. we get that. We will be holding a hearing in the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee. where I serve as ranking member. along with my chairwoman. Congresswoman MILLER. I have introduced legislation as an aside to declare the Russian rebels as terrorists. I look forward to looking at this question. as Congressman WOLF has. this issue of those with U.S. passports and this question of how do we keep them from flying. adding them to the nofly list. We are looking at ways of getting our walls around those individuals being able to attack the homeland. Again. we have many issues to come together on as a body. We must address the crisis of the killing of Michael Brown. But we also have to say that we can do it together. We must address this crisis of dealing with ISIS. It is real. it can be assessed. and it can be handled. Collaborate with our Western allies and our friends in the Mideast. It is our duty. and we must do it now.