Date: 2012-03-01
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I want to thank the gentleman from Detroit. with his own august history in the civil rights movement and. as they say. he is no short man when it comes to the work that he has done. More than one that we note him for and thank him for. the hiring of Rosa Parks and the friendship with Dr. Martin Luther King. JOHN CONYERS has proceeded with his legislative history from the time of his embracing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. and then ongoing. where we have joined on that committee dealing with issues of police brutality. dealing with issues of voter protection. dealing with the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. dealing with the maintaining of the Constitution through one impeachment proceeding for me and two impeachment proceedings for JOHN CONYERS. we know from which he has spoken. And beyond a whole litany that I could give in terms of giving rights to people. his dear friend. Harry Belafonte. is about to approach a wonderful birthday. And since I count Mr. Belafonte both hero and friend. I wanted to join briefly for a moment. Among some other issues that Im going to discuss is to. again. thank a warrior for peace and justice. and one wholet me just say that he would not say "sacrifice"-one who wanted to ensure that the movement leaders. Dr. King. Hosea Williams. Andy Young. James Orange. the soldiers in Mississippi and Alabama. South Carolina. Georgia. North Carolina. and places beyond had the kind of financial and Hollywood structure that they would argue that they were not walking alone. Harry Belafonte. a significant and monumental talent of music. a boy that hailed from the Caribbean. who came to the United States with style and smoothness of voice. still kicking. still strong. still standing for truth. We know of his recent vintage that he did not mince words on wars that he thought that we should not be in. but he certainly has not traveled anywhere away from the distance of the journey that Dr. Martin Luther King walked. As Martin fell at the age of 39 in 1968. Harry Belafonte never gave up the flag and continued that battlefront to ensure that those who could not speak for themselves were heard through his wonderful and sweet. resounding voice. his ability for lyrics. and his acting talent of the many movies that he allowed us to enjoy. So Im delighted. Mr. CONYERS. to join you in wishing Harry Belafonte a very happy birthday and. again. let him know that he is too long from seeing us. We saw him just recently. But anytime he wants to come to the United States Congress and share with us in our fight for justice. in the desire to pass legislation that makes sense. whether or not it is dealing with the rights of women. whether it is to fight for the overdue passage of the Equal Rights Amendment or to ensure the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act or to make sure we fund the Office of Civil Rights or we ensure that the stamping and trampling on the rights of a 96yearold grandmother to be able to vote in the 2012 election is now stomped out because of voter ID laws. we want Harry Belafonte to know that we welcome his voice on any of these. and we would argue vigorously that he remains in our hearts and continues to be cherished by America. but also an American hero in the historic role that he plays in our history and in our musical history and the history of civil rights. So I want to thank you for allowing me to be yielded to as I proceed to utilize a continued part of this Special Order in this hour that I wish to do. I want to have the appropriate break so that. Mr. Chairman. I think you are well aware that you spent your lifetime fighting for rights for women. We have done a number of legislative initiatives that have passed through the House Judiciary Committee that Ive been privileged during the short time that Ive been there to be on. certainly. the constant renewal of the rights dealing with violence against women has been imperative. the recognition of the court cases. such as Roe v. Wade. and the issues dealing with employment discrimination. So it calls for an immediate response to a showman that has a show. "The Rush Limbaugh Show." It calls for a response that is bipartisan. that is humane. that really does not. if you will. pander to the schisms that many in this Congress. but many in America. think we have. Most people dont realize that when we go home to our district. we are embracing people from all walks of life. Whether it is encountering in our service. whether or not we are engaging with our Chamber. whether or not we are at our schools. we are embracing our constituents. We are there to provide for them. So I come to the floor just as an American that finds it very difficult that. when there are two points of view. which. in the procedure of the Houseif I might explain. when a committee holds a hearing. the majority has the opportunity to select a number of witnesses. In most instances. if it is a panel of four. then the majority selects three witnesses. Courtesy says that you yield to the minority. In the House. it happens to be Democrats. As in Mr. CONYERS Judiciary Committee when he was chairman. they were allowed a witness. Now were allowed a witness. In the oversight hearing on the question of dealing with the compromise of the President to ensure no religious institution ever has to engage against their view. which I will fight to the death to ensure that happens. there was a witness proposed by the Democrats of that committee. a young woman law student. The last time I heard. she was a private citizen. She was a law student. accredited or in good standing. of one of the Nations major law schools. and she was blocked from testifying. Shortly thereafter. the Democratic Policy and Steering Committee. which Im a member of. led by Leader PELOSI. held a hearing and gave this private citizen an opportunity to be heard. She was called before the Democratic Policy and Steering Committee. which is an appropriate vehicle in order to have people heard on her views about the necessity of having access to womens health. That was the framework of her testimony. There were no accusatory words. as I understand it. There was no blaming. It was a simple. pure testimony of the detriment to blocking women from having access to health care. In fact. we have designated or determined that contraceptives have influenced and impacted the decrease in cervical cancer as addressed by OB/GYNs in this Nation. So. her testimony was a factual testimony on the basis of her experience. And I will tell you that that happens all the time. Mr. CONYERS. when we call witnesses to provide testimony on their own experience. As I understand it. it was a civil proceeding that is now documented for Members to review. and I think that is the process of this House that witnesses are allowed to be in support of a particular position and to be against. Let me be very frank. Sometimes the hearings get very feisty. but were always cognizant that were appreciative of witnesses who are willing to come before us and to. in fact. share their thoughts. We just had one here in the Judiciary Committee. and I was delighted to see an array of witnesses. and almost to the extent it looked like we had it resolved when one of the faith witnesses said they would have no concern about any person that worked for them that secured access to contraceptives through some other way as long as it did not cause that religious entity to have to be involved. What a simple acknowledgment of how America can resolve things. So it is a resolvable question. But lo and behold. we look to the airwaves. of which we. the Federal Government. provide. and certainly we know the Fairness Doctrine does not exist. but I might say that on the February 29. 2012. show of Mr. Limbaugh. we understand that he repeatedly used sexually charged. patently offensive. obscene language to malign the character of a courageous young woman. a private citizen not running for anything. in law school. attempting to be a contributing citizen to this country. paying her taxes. graduating. Im sure she has a family that loves her. She just was willing to accept the call of a committee to do her duty to give testimony in her own words. to provide a life story to an issue that we are grappling with. So I know I am standing here in the face of the Fairness Doctrine that does not require any media to offer a contravening point. Sometime in the last couple of decades we eliminated the requirement that if you said suchandsuch. you needed to bring soandso onto the radio or TV to say that. Were still grappling with that because this allows. of course. the maligning. the vile statements. and one cannot answer. Those of us who are in the kitchen. we know that if youre in the kitchen. youre in the fire. Those of us who are elected. we understand that our task is simply to respond by way of our works and our deeds and to allow the national discourse to come. But I rise to the floor today because of the vileness of the statements that were made by Mr. Limbaughand pardon me for having an enormous cold here. So. Rush. the statements that you made. I think. are not appropriate to a private citizen who came before a hearing that was called by Members of Congress. asking to secure the appropriate balance and where she was refused in the regular order of the House. Where youre allowed to have witnesses by the majority and witnesses by the minorityit is an accepted process that no one objects tothis young lady was blocked. So the leaders of our HouseLeader PELOSI. the Democratic Policy and Steering Committee. of which I am a member and support wholeheartedlycalled on this young lady. If I might. I will just deviate for a moment. This connects to my morning visit this morning of women who thrive. and I want to acknowledge my full passion for supporting the International Violence Against Women Act that we are fighting to pass. In this mornings breakfast. we heard that one in three women will experience violence in their lifetimes. They will be prostituted. they will be sold. they will be enslaved. they will be beaten. they will be killed. We have to stop this around the world. In my own jurisdiction. I have seen in the last couple of days and weeks men shoot their children. their wives or whole families. This is in the United States. I remember sitting down with Madeleine Albright on the border of Bangladesh. looking at the freed. recently recaptured. prostitutes who had been beaten and sold by their families for the lack of survival. and these young girls were trying to regain their dignity in life. We cannot tolerate that. so I am committing myself wholeheartedly to the passage of the International Violence Against Women Act. I would commend Rush Limbaugh to invite us on and talk about constructive ways of helping women. I give him every opportunity to have some guest whom we can call in. I dont think that is possible. but I will challenge all of the women of the House. Lets try to dial that number and see if we can provide some light on this topic of dealing with what women face beyond the caring and having the joy of bearing a child but then sometimes raising them as a single parent and having to have food stamps and having to have childrens health insurance or the Affordable Care Act to survive and to raise these wonderful children. How many have testified. from soldier to President. about a single parent who has brought them this far and who have said. If it werent for my mothersome will say if it werent for my singleparent fatherI wouldnt be here today. She was a single parent. I just cant imagine why Mr. Limbaugh would carry on with this characterization. Let me finish on this. Mr. CONYERS. It is something that has disturbed me and that reflects on my word of instruction. I know that we have a schedule for the war in Afghanistan. I cochair the Afghan Caucus. so let me pronounce now my desire for an immediate upsurging. meaning upsurging outspeeding out. expeditingthe return of our heroes home. I thank the President for his dinner in honor of the soldiers from Iraq. I have been wearing for a number of monthsand Im not sure if I still have it on. There it isa yellow ribbon to acknowledge these soldiers who have come home from Iraq. and I look forward to many parades coming forward. But it is time to bring our soldiers home from Iraq. to thank the NATO partnership. and it is time to express outrage. I offer the deepest sympathy. I have no problem with apologies. I am a grown person who is not diminished by saying. Im sorry. Im sorry that a mistake in the channel of instructions and commands allowed Korans to be burned. We all know that they were collected. first of all. because they thought they were communicating dastardly instructions that would harm either those who were the officers over the detention prison or that they were sending messages. We understand that. but there is no reason not to offer an apology. We have sacred documents from the Torah to the Bible to the Koran because there are people in the United States of different faiths. So we have no problem with that. Yet when we have a government. as much as we try to encourage and to applaud and to support it. that allows the reckless spreading of violence and that the Taliban celebrates by permeating the population with ugliness and rioting and when you shoot point blank my officers of the United States military. enough is enough. There is no reason for me to be able to accept individuals who are there to help build up a society. in my understanding. where they are unarmed. and then you cause violence with four other soldiers. Then there are allegations that food is being poisoned. There are allegations that we cant even walk the streets. The sadness is that women in Afghanistan have come to me and have said. We cant even walk the streets. Babiesgirl childrenare killed. Parliamentarians have spoken to me and have said. I cant go home to my home district. How would that be for my distinguished colleague. when I yield to Congresswoman CAPPS or to any of the women. to know that we cannot go home to our districts because we are in fear of being killed by the men in that region? So I would argue that we have been valiant. that we are heroes. that we have done what we have been called to do. The Commander in Chief has. in fact. brought the demise of Osama bin Laden and other highdollar targets. and I would believe that it is appropriate that Congress gathers. I am now looking and contemplating a resolution in which we ask for a more expedited return of our soldiers and in which we ask that the President of Afghanistan. in the appropriate way. denounce and call for the end of this violence and that the Taliban be addressed by the Afghan National Security Forces. as we have trained them. So I would say in my closing remarks that we have much to do. Many women suffer. In this country. we can at least acknowledge that we are civilized and that we respect women and the choices they have to make. that we have respect for the faith that has its own position and that we as a Nation will insist on that firewall. but we will also have access to womens health care. It makes no sense that a talkshow host. who is on the airwaves provided by the American people and by the tax dollars. would go after an innocent law student who simply was called as an American citizen to be heard in the Halls of Congress and who had no other angst but to be able to present her life story. I conclude. Mr. CONYERS. by saying I see that. by the men and women in the United States military. all they have asked to do is to serve their Nation under the orders of the Commander in Chief in Afghanistan. I am now saying to them that I salute them and that it is time to bring our men and women home in dignity. in health. in safety. and with their livesfor their loved ones.