Date: 2012-04-26
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Yesterday. the guest chaplain asked that the House of Representatives be blessed and that each Member of the House of Representatives be blessed. In our opportunity to be free in our expression of religion. I ask that each of us bless this Nation. For that reason. I set this morning to discuss just a series of issues. hoping that we can improve the quality of life of not only Americans. but people around the world. First. we have to clean up our house. And so I express outrage of the actions of two former TSA workersTSO officers and two present TSO officers. All of us can fall short because we are human. but the outrage of participating in drug trafficking right here in the United States as an official of the United States Government should be condemned by all of us. and I will call for immediate hearings to ensure that the culture of TSO officers. besides their frontline duty. is to respect the job and the task. As a champion of their work. believing that their work is vital to the security of this Nation and the fact that we have not been attacked on our soil since 9/11. I call for immediate investigation and response. This morning. as well. we determined that the Secret Service. who finished quickly an investigation of the Colombian debacle dealing with sex workers. prostitutes. we now have discovered through a contractor that. in fact. actions occurred in El Salvador. We thought it might not be the culture. But lets own up and begin. as necessary. to purge those who are reckless in their behavior. Thank you to the men and women of the Secret Service who have always done their duty. But to the dastardly deeds of these who think its a playground: Get out now. There is no tolerance for this kind of behavior. Let me move immediately to the work in Syria. I was the first Member to go to the Syrian Embassy to ask for the fall. or the removal. of Dr. Assad. and we have been moving along while others have been slaughtered. Meetings and discussions at the U.N. National Security Council. a special envoy-"do this and do that"-while women and children are being slaughtered. it is time for there to be a stronger statement on the removal of Dr. Assad and the increase in U.N. peacekeepers. The people need your help in Syria. The bloodshed continues and the fear is insurmountable. almost. It is necessary on behalf of their human rights to be able to move quickly in Syria. As the Supreme Court has discussed the Arizona law. I hope that we can bless America by having comprehensive immigration reform. I hope we can understand that there are laws that work well. Just helping a Korean student who was shot in my jurisdiction whose father was denied entry because of his language and didnt understand. he now has been granted humanitarian parole. Lets have comprehensive immigration reform so that we dont have States who are stopping families who are U.S. citizens in the streets of Arizona. profiling them because of this dastardly law. that we dont have police officers having to become immigration officers while they need to be rescuing people and saving people. Lets do the decent thing. Lets bless America and have comprehensive immigration reform. Then. of course. the Senate is debating the issue of the Violence Against Women Act. an act that as a new Member of Congress I had the pleasure of both cosponsoring and writing amendments as a member of the House Judiciary Committee. and it is sad that we have a divide on the Violence Against Women Act that has bipartisan support. This House should take up the Leahy bill immediately as it passed the Senate. Do you realize how many women are being killed a day. an hour. because of the domestic violence that this particular act helps to outreach. provide resources. counseling and opportunities to be able to nurture those women and to be able to ensure that they are safe? As a former board member of the Houston Area Womens Center that has been a living example of protecting women against dastardly violence and. of course. men who are subjected to domestic violence. it is. unfortunately. a form of an epidemic in this country. as we have seen with bullying. We have to be able to bless America and have people turn internally. Let them seek help. But why stall the passage of the Violence Against Women Act which. in fact. will provide the nurture. comfort. and resources and the national statement that we abhor and stand against violence against women and others who are being impacted violently against this Nation. As a Member who stood along Chairman Hyde many years ago. the late Chairman Hyde. the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. a Republican who stood alongside of us to say he stands with legislation to protect women. get the Senate to do its business and let the House do its business. Let us bless America.