we are freedom fighters, justice seekers, equalizers and pursuers of the american dream for all americans regardless of race, color, and creed. we stand for parity, we stand for equality, we stand for access, we stand for reclaiming the american dream for all. strangely, there's a question raised by some in the media. in fact, this morning during an interview of the chair of the hispanic caucus it was the first question until we put a stop to it. and this is the question. is the congressional black caucus relevant in this post racial era? to that spectacular assertion, i must politely say, get real.

[applause] not that day. when the day does arrive, and it surely will because it is near, when all americans choose to discover new truths about each other, at long last lingering prejudices will subside and we will have a post-racial nation. but today, is not that day.

it is important that we oblit rate the notion that we have reached race relations because the failure to do so prevents us from engaging in the demanding but necessary work. clearly we've come a long way, but our work is far from over. we have so much more to accomplish before we sleep. to paraphrase the poet robert frost, we have miles and miles to go before we sleep and miles and miles to go before we sleep. had we slept during the 111th congress, there would not be a section 342 to the dodd frank wall street reform act which created the office of minority and women inclusion in each federal financial service agency. nine members of the financial services committee following our leader max yin waters met in her kitchen and decided to

stay together until we were successful in getting this through. had we slept, during the 11th congress, there would be no fair sentencing act which reduced the disparity between crack and powder cocaine. had we slept in the 111th congress, african american and native american farmers would still be waiting for the $4.6 billion that has been owed to them for over a decade. had we slept during the 111th congress, there would be no american recovery and reinvestment act that injected $800 billion into our economy and helped families, small businesses and our workforce recover during what most of us believe to have been a depression. had we slept during the 111th

congress, there would be a major gap in funding for the historically black colleges and universities. had we slept in the 111th congress, the pell grant program would be just a pittance of what it is had we slept during the 111th congress there would be no health care reform. and this congress, the congressional black caucus, will continue the good fight. why? well, let me tell you this way. one day i decided to go to our sunday school to observe what was going on because in the united methodist church we are subject to a bishop, the united methodist church and catholic churches have bishops that can

appoint and disappoint. and so in an attempt to protect my appointment, i thought i needed to make sure our sunday school was working fine. so i went into one of the teen age classrooms and the teacher welcomed me. and she said pastor, come on in. and i said i'd like to ask some questions of the students. and she said go right ahead. i said, billy, who knocked do you know the jarkeo wall? he said, pastor i didn't do it. he said, i know i have a bad reputation around the church, but i didn't do it. and then the teacher stood up and said, pastor, he's telling the truth.

i watched him when he got off the bus. he came in and he just didn't do it. and i thought to myself, i've lost my appointment. this is going to be the end. so i called a meeting with the church officers immediately after the service, reverend rush, and i went in and i said, we've got a crisis in the church. we've got to deal with it. and we've got to deal with it now. i said, look, i went to the sunday school class, i asked little billy who knocked do you know the jerico wall. he denied it. and worse still, the teacher came behind him and corroborated his statement. and so the chairman said, well, pastor, whoever knocked it do you know will pay for it.

well, my friends, the wall of protection of the unemployed is down. the wall of summer job security for young people is down. the wall of middle east peace is down. the wall of disease is down. the wall of civil discourse is down. the wall of home ownership expecting 1 million foreclosures this year is down. the wall of separation between financial predators and the poor is down. but good news. we've got 42 wall builders. [applause] standing ready to rebuild the wall. we don't care who knocked it

down. we're going to rebuild the wall. wall builders, the c.b.c., will rebuild the wall. [applause] keep in mind this is the only caucus that did not lose a single member in the last election. this is the only caucus na that gained membership in the last election. these are wall builders. are we relevant? the answer is yes. the congressional black caucus will be relevant as long as we continue to have work in front of us, as long as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we're relevant. as long as our communities suffer a depression while the rest of the country talks about

a recession, we're relevant. as long as the first recommendations presented by our caucus to president nixon in march of 1971 have some relevancey to the state of our union, we're relevant. as millions continually call out to take their country back, the caucus stands ready to continue its relevant work of creating a nation for all americans, black, white, rich, poor, old, young, and immigrants alike. a nation inclusive of all god's children. sadly, the people's house has become a bitter, bailful and vennuss venue for unresolved squables over super abundance of issues which could determine the social and economic survival of our nation and perhaps the entire world. as a result of the coarse and

offensive communication between members of congress we're having work that is much, much more difficult to address. yet, congress add its worst demands a congressional black caucus at its best. in this bewildering fog of political tribalism and instantaneous ins congregation by the media and a fact-free debate, the c.b.c. will embrace its historic mission. let the work word go forth that the c.b.c. did not come to congress to make enemies. we came to make a difference. our unemployment and needless war and failure. it's clear that our time to stand up is now. our time to reclaim the dream

is now. we must lead the charge. we must continue on this great journey. and when all is said and done, the promise of america will no longer be just a promise. it will become the practice. let me conclude by sharing with you, particularly with my father here. we had to go to church when i grew up. i come from a family of preachers. so on saturday nights we had to go to bed so we could go to church and stay all day. i'm just saying. but we could stay up on friday nights, which was great, because on friday night at 10:30 we had the monster mash. and that was the highlight of my week. there were eight cleaver kids, first cousins, and we tried to

spend the night with each other every weekend. and so we would get around that old black and white tv with rabbit ears and they would start this horror movie, the most delicious films ever made. and my cousins, my three sisters, we would be afraid, they would cover up when the monsters came. but i was there looking at the monsters directly, trying to see every bite. and then when some insensitive person drove a stake through the heart of dracula, my sisters and my first cousins would run off to bed. but for me, the best was yet to come. i would move over in front of that old black and white television and i would hear an

announcer say, we've come to the end of another day of broadcasting. tune in tomorrow morning on channel 6 when we will resume programming. and then my heart would begin to beat heavily, and then finally i would see it. a silver jet would fly through the clouds, threesy, soft, almost edible looking clouds. and then that just right and majestic stream music would begin to play and then a golden voice would be heard. though i slipped the bonds of erds and danced the sky on silver wings, some have climbed and joined the mirtsdz of sun split clouds and done a hundred things you've never dreamed of. i'll wheeled and soared and swung high in the sun lit silence, hovering there, i've chased the winds along and

flung my eager craft through footless halls of air up, up, up, the long deleeryuss burning blue i've climbed the wind swept heights where not a lark or even eagle flew, and with silent lifting mine, i've trod the high untress passed sanctity of space. put out my hand, and touched the face of god. in 1941, an 18-year-old american born canadian pilot by the name of john mcgee was killed when his spitfire crashed into another plane inside the clouds. but fortunately a few months earlier he had sent that poem back to his mother and father. it's called high flight. high flight.

over the next two years, the congressional black caucus, as it has during the past 40, will be on a high flight. your mission, should you accept, is to be with us, encourage us, nudge us, and sometimes even criticize us, because we dare to chase the shouting winds along. thank you very kindly. [applause]

>> ladies an-[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the new leader of the caucus, representative emanual cleaver there. i didn't make it to church last supped, but i don't feel bad about it now. we're almost to the end of our program. before we move on really quickly we do want to acknowledge. we know we have a number of active united states military members in our audience, a number of retired members as well. we would like to take a quick moment just to acknowledge the members, current and retired, the members of the united states military who are here. please stand and be recognized. [applause]

and it is with great pleasure that i now introduce the democratic leader of the 1112th congress, representative nancy pelosi. the speaker, nancy pelososi >> good morning. yes, i am still speaker of the house for a few -- a short period of time. but one of my last acts as speaker of the house of the 111th congress, is to come and congratulate the congressional black caucus of the 112th congress in this short period of time between their swearing

in and the swearing in of the new congress. i come on behalf of all of my colleagues to not only offer congratulations but with a deep sense of gratitude for the contribution that the congressional black caucus and its many friends have made to the strength of our country. and with a recognition that so much more needs to be done and the challenges that we face ahead. there is a tradition in the house when you hear somebody very eloquently presenting the case that you just decide to say i associate myself with the previous speaker and call it a morning. but i do want to ackno acedge how blessed we are to have emanual cleaver as the new head of the c.b.c. [applause] he follows in some mighty footsteps of congresswoman barbara lee, fulfilling a

vision that she set forth starting of this caucus which has been said over and over started four decades ago. congratulations to yohat congresswoman barbara lee for your exceptional work as leader of the cbc. congratulations to emanual. and good luck to you. and i'm so happy to see emanual senior along with emanual junior, with emanual the third ãi ere joining die an. congratulationss to the entire family for the wonderful benam.it we will have. i have to tell you this. when emanual was a new member of congress we asked him to speak as a freshman member at a meeting, a rally that we had. he talked about you the whole time. he talked about how in church one day the minister was saying that they took up the

collection and he said that the money was tainted. go back. it was tainted. it was tainted. and then finally the collectors keep bringing it up. and he said it's tainted. it taint enough. that was our introdu finion to emanual cleaver. it needless to say did not do justice to the way he told the story. but that was when the world knew what you all knew and we suspected that we had a great leader in our midst. and we knew how to get the message across. i was reading, and we take such great pride in the c.b.c. and the 40 years of its leadership in the congress, but i was reading that now we see commarne conyers and chair man rangel as the two charter

members, founding members, thank you for your leadership or ointe there were originally 13 original members. and i was thinking, how interesting. 13 original colonies, coming together to fight for freedom. ? an3 original members of the c.b.c. coming together to expand freedom in our country. ten years bam.ore that, and we will obsoy this this month, a years ago was the inauguration of president john f. kennedy. january 20th we'll opteerve that. many of you were drawn into politics. well, ma20 of you were not born. but i was there that day. so it may be history to you but it was my youth. to see that the swearing in and the beautiful words that were said about how important every

person is in our country. and in the course of that time, from the president's inauguration and then with president lyndon jo agson. but with people like john lieus and our distinguished assistant leader, jim clyburn, many who are present working hard to teach america what our country was about. in the civil rights movement. and that the cause of what they did. what are we now, 42? 43 strong here. we want more, of course. but 43 strong from the original nd i. i really, it is an honor again, thank you craig, for your introduction of one title or another, emanual, barbara lee, congressman donald pane, thank k tou for your leadership as chair of the foundation. and evet jones, congratulations

on receiving the foundation performing arts scholarship. it's very i beortant to recry.nize the talent among us in many different ways and what a great honor to receca e that togom the cbc. but get back to john f. keidenedhn ãi e said at the time, this nation was founded by men -- men -- of ma20 nations and backgrounds. it was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man is threatened. _ did not really mean that as source of humor. but in a20 event, the fact that the when the rights of one person are twheneatened then th rights of every person are diminished. what we are facing now as we go forward, and emanual addressed

this and this is the essence of the congressional black caucus. we're talking about the dignity and worth of every pesh and that everyone is equal. and it is really important in our soneeety that digni bl be affoth emed the ability to make living suitable to the talents that people have. it isn't enough to say we're going to put people back to ng horinte ma20 pityple have not had work. because for a number of years th the our system has favored the high end. onder president obama, and with the conscience of the congress, the c.b.c., we have fought to change the leverage. with wall street reform with, with the greatest consumer prote finionsr where we're seei no longer will recklessness on ng hall street cause jjalessnes

on main street, that the worker must be valuedimi that the consumer, the greatest consumer protections in history, and talking te out the health care reform where again the leverage moved to the people away from the insurance companies. these were all in their own right i beortant, but as a source of jja creation and a new way, what we want to do on energy independence and new green jobs in a new way so that many young people in the a togican american communi bl a minority community are on the ground floor of building the future for our country. so what we're saying is as we go forwath em we extend a handi ng hilling hand of friendship i our colleagues are interested in creating jjas for all americans, if they are interested in strengthening the

middle class by enhancing those who were there and pulling many more pityple into it and by reducing the deficit so we're not giving tax cuts to the repe and sending the bill to our grandchildren and future generations as it increases the defineet. great jobs, strengthen the mids ae class, reduce the dam.epeit. that helps all americans. that helps create american jopt . i was so pleased to see the acknowledgment of our men and women in unifoer african american community has played such a big role. in fact, the minority community in general played such a great role in kee- ng us the home of the brave and the land of the free. so thank you for your service to our country. we owe you more than that thanks. we owe our returning troops jobs. we owe them jobs. that when they come home we are

building a future worthy of their sacrifice. so this, bam.ore you you see probably the greatest collection of idealism, of _ magination for what should happen of connection of people in their needs, to eneowny and stamina, to get the job done, to a relentlessness and dissatisfa finion with the stat quo, until many more people can par take in the american dream. so i've come here to say thank you for that. our great president barack jaama has said we will measure our success by the progress that is bke ing made by america working families. if relentlessness could be expanded with intensi bl, that only begins to tell the story

of barbara lee, emanual cleave and the members of the cbc on behalf of working families in amerepea. relen- mess, dissatisfbegdimi persistent, creative, entrepreneurial, imaginative, patriotic, for our country. we have our own preacher in the leadershs of, jrep lbeg u burn makes us reflect upon our purpose as we begin our meetings and again we had a service this morning at church, an interdenominational service, and i came here and heard preacher cleaver and it is true though that what he was sayinma it is about our values, about what we carry inside of us. and if we go to chu lbh and tal about god's blessings on all of

us and how we are all equal in his eyes and we're all equal in terms of our constitution, that what we sli bl has to eseeend to economic opportunity for all americans as well. [applause] dr. martin luther king taught us a lot about how to be effective, trew to get a jja done, how to stick by your princs ofles, and how, and taug amerepea so much. we learn every day in the congress that instruction continues. from our c.b.c. said before and others have said, they are the conscbegnce of the congress. your support of them _ ntelle fin slly and in every way personally and every way is a great resou lbe not only for them and the congress but for our country.

so we will not rest. a prein, we eseeend the hand of friendship to create jobs, grow the mids ae class, and reduce the dam.epeit. we look for common ground to solve the pro jems of the american people, their health, housing jobs, savings of children's education. but where we cannot find common ground, we must stand our ground on behalf of the pleleae we take every day with liberty and justice for all. and that includes economic justice for all. so i come here to tha c.auge m for bke ing wtre you a congratulate your growth, to ng hish success to your nwha le emanual cleaver, to express appreciation to barbara lee for her leadership, to the foundation, and donald payen,

for the family and this lesot like one great big family to me. e watson wtre is going to be leaving us now but will always be part of our family. so we allpplnoy fwhat our reppon,ant role is, has been an will continue to be. onder the leadership of emanual cleaver. thank you all very much. e aongratulations. and i will see you on the floor of the house. thank yoll ll eermplause]

>> ladies and gentlemen the speaker of the house, ms. nancy pelosi. we would also thank the congressional jack caucus for the four decades it has served as the conscious of congress. as we move further we lesok forwath em to your dedicated service and leading us into the nesee phase and we ask rigeco n that all the members please stand. ladbegs and gentlemegod one fin time. please join me in saluting the e aongressional black caucu the 1112th black caucus -- congress. members we would also apel that you remind for a few moments ptreto.

imlease remain standing position for a quick photo. we would aintoo like to tneue a ivoment to tha for joining the foundation and swearg in as we move through the 2011 calendar we look forwath em to witnessin the important work of the 43 dynamic individuals that we we invite you the audience to greet members at the reception ely outside this awhat weitorium, outside being operatives word there. a prein, tha this concludes our program for the day. and a prein we'd lhe e to remi our members if we could all stay in position for the ptreto

also, ame. uick reminder, the reception is outside. so please mneue your way outsid throug 4the left and the right corridors. >nt ralso last wednesday, a reception honoring hispanic members of the 112th congress tonl place here in washington at union station. this is close to half an houed

gotivo evening. so nice to be here among you. i'm not gengng topplee3 pyou from the drinks and the mingling. it's only going to be a stren, program. _ promise you. it is my pleasure to welcome elou to this evenin celebratiooo what an hor honor to be here with the nwha congress nwhaly - nned ttivoay. visionary members of congress and ttivoay they are two of the nation's leading hispanic organizations that work to transfoer

and to prepare them to be our future's leaders. i knwha this was gengng to be a tough room. you guys just came back from the holidays, recke ived free booze, everybody is ready to keep the par bl gengng. hi, everybo- n. let's simmer do you know just lail bit. i promise i'll let you get b6 c3 to mingling in a little bit. so let me tlet l you what chci all te out if you don't know much about them. it was founded in 1978 wit 4the vision of bringing the promise of the american dreams all latinos. i think we can all relate as so many of us are living that amer3 ofan dream. today, its unique model of educational services and leadershi3 pdevelotivent touches 1500 young latinos annually promoting college readiness and sutimorting college attationanmo in fact some of the young peurtle that proba jy greeted elou as you walked

room are some of the recipients of the scholarin fips as well a some of the fellows who are here tonight. they're the future leaders of this country through award-winning leadership e aurriculum and direct acc the most powerful network of latino leadershc in our natiooo the chci's vision is an educated and c stilly abo- ste hispan3 of communi bl contributing at all levels of u.s. society, business, and getyerleadento be and ttivoay there are over 5,00 ca crinch i alumni across the countrurr that is amazing. that's right. now, chli, there's a imartneris 2003 with a commitment to fostering a broader awareness of the d stersity of americans of hispanic and portuguese t isissent. it worwit to streniahen the

community by promoting the advancement of latinos in all sebo-ors and the global economy since 2004 chli has focused its effon,s on devlet urting and strengthing tomorrow's leaders and has g sten more than $5ittwinitt to programs. great great job. both of these of yanizations ar te le to carry out these really important missions with a generous sbout pon, of really _ ncredible partners and sponsorships. so this evening's sponsors, so elou can recognize so a big round of applause to all of our sponsors tonigeco. thank you very much for your support. _ t means so much. it tneues of course leaders to

bring forth leaders and both e anwi and chli work to sha future leaders and they do that with mentorship and thefiengce of many great leaders throughout our nation that resent our communi bl r 6 c13 oss all sectors of u.s. society. tonigeco we come the 1ether her as a unithroed being the key wo community to recognize our elebo-ed leaders of theme bpfth congress on whose shoulders rests the tremendous otimorm nnities and tremendous challenges as well that the dramat3 of growth in the latino poeolation presents. now, i know sitting right there he has the cen abs results coming out very soon for 2010 and we're awaiting those results. thar s righto be o but you don't meed any to they will you what we alrea- npplnow that our hispanic community is very quickly becoming a

majori bl and no longer a minority. that's right. wepplnow al sea- n that latinos aatiount for more than 50% of the total u.s. population growth since 2itt0. so i can only imagine that we get a sneak peak what we're going to hear about how that population has since exploded. really, the groorih in the unig imurtulation overall is a direct result of the hispanic poeolation's groorints wlet l, and of course to those you who have just been elebo-ed and now in o th3 ofe, more than six and a half million latinos voted in this past let ection. you need thosefiotes to count. every single one. so thar s 8% of the overall thante. but you know as well as i do that that nbleber is also gengn

to increase incredibly. that voice has helped elect a new hispanihersenator. he is not here with us tonight because he has his own par bl gengng on, i've been told, but also five newhouse members. so congratulations. i gow the50re all here with us today. and they join the incblebent me of ters that must work the 1 to ensure that the american dream is aatiessi je to all latinos and to goveryone in our country. i tell you, you guys have a tough job goolaecially this year and the coming years. so we're all counting on you erecause never has your voice and your leadership been more wipon,ant and critically tvery to the success of the hispanic american cogunity than it is todaurr our future, the nation's future needs your leadership now more than goveed so we welcome you all. we celebrate you. we blet very ve in you. and in the greatness of our

nation. so with that sationarect it is e anor now to introduce tonight'sed skished speakers. throrst we honee goliana ross laten and she is a pine near. wow, is she ever. entseap ng do yo the s gow barriers through every step, the first hispanic woman inme b982 and th floriause senate inme b wip6. 1989, the first hispanic woman to se r e in congress as is e aurrently beginning now h 12th term in office. resenting floriause'sme b8th congressional district. that pretty much says it all. but on turt of that now she's been chair of the house committee of forke ike a thationars in theme bpfth congress, so she's becoming the first woman to ever lead that commite yee. that's a huge honor.

she is a chli board member. is afp jed her involvement with these organizations carries on her life long commitment to the educational opportunity for all. and are auo tonigeco youthane g to be hearing from representative charlvery ãroonnmlez. the nwha chair of chci. you couldn't have picked eretteed and the congressional hispanic caucus. he is a chamion of c stil rigecos, a leadingfiengce on issues regarding the census. ö e futurs f nst golebo-ed to the en ms. house of representatives in 1998, representing texas strth congressional distr3 oft in san antonio and begins his senth term in theme bpfth congress. he comes from a very strong and politically active blont line a his father was former representative represented the same distr3

oft for 37 years and _ s one of the founding members of the congressional hispanic caucus inme b97ess and in the 111th congress, he served on the powerful house energy and cogerce commite yee, the judiciary committee, and the house administration e aommite yee. so without further adieu, after the long intron ö let 3 pme wlet come r resentatives ross laten and gonzalez. [ complause] >> chaing nvery and i wous. begin our brief remarks, and they will be brief, anearing if yo the scould gin us in a momen silence if we could all stand and engsy a silent prayer in memory of all of our armed forces personnel we a honee imerished and as weppln many of them are from our

latino communi bl. please stand in prayer. amen. thank you. so lecouldsppleep that n3 ofe quvery t. i'd like to thank the congressional hispanic cauairs institute and the congressional hispanic leadership institute for putting this event together both cs pi and chli have helped so many young hispanics to g st thing the the toore au neceseng succeed and make a difference. as the chli boaof the ming the proud of the otimorudnities tha chli provides the hispanic youth to inter6 c13 with leaders _ n the public and private sectors. _ ts global leaders, congressional internship program has helped so many ö ispanic suddents onopand the n imrofessional horizons

enhance their understanding of eroth getyerleadent and ethsine this past november, americans wiadeessed an historic mof the elebo-ioudd however, much of the pundntry that migeco honee missed an goven erig story and we know what it was and your wonderful emsee allmaked to it and that futurs astounding victory of our candidates allmoss the country. thefi3 oftory of the getyernor of new mexico, of nevada, as well as f ste incoming hispanihere a members are indeed proof of the remarkable progress that our e aommuni bl has made. and you know who those five are. wrom iausee a, floriause, tonoa washington state. let's give it up. so the gover increasing imof ourit3

ofal participation of the hispanic community is hincolincoted by thesefi3 oftories. and we talked about the 2010 census. well, as youpplnow, icoulds gen to predict that more than 45 million hispanics are l sting i the, onited states and more importantly that data is going to is _ ncreasingly moving to the interior of the united states where the nbleber of hispaniven as the proportion of the population has grown by neaing 50% in the lastme b0 years. that is amazing. and all of, os havepplnoso w th nblebers for a long time. our community is part and pa6 c13 let of the fbliriherof this great nation. i know of our contributions and that ihat ortant of our communi will only grow. i was the first hispanic elebo-ed to congress but i'm in ipired -- hispanic woman elected to congress but i sta in, m ned by all the hispanic women and men who will be part

of this nwhame bked th congress there were only ten hispanics in congress when i came to futuris futured this new congress will have 23 ö ispanic ming thebers in the h and two in the senate. now, we may not always see eye to goog, but on all the issittes and we may even sit on opposite sides of the aisle but we are all commited to gonsuring that the latino community continues to pro, mer. noof the it is my great hono introduce the new chair of e as pi, congressman chaing go noal, w. [applause]

>> thank you. and i t t intend on b conngfiery, very brief. and of course to miss virginia and naturally tha fb youfiery much for your presence and the contribution that you m3 e in our go thor ar and to my dear friend who has alwa lea been very blunt when i e aomes to cey dationan iss tells me exactly that my vote was wrong, with a smile. erut if you think about it, and i want to touch on this at the very beginning of myfiery go remarks because it really is all about what our resent and ions r what they even exist. throrst of all, this is the jen reception. and i think that we should all rejengce and clet ebrate that w may be two different organizations but that we share the engsme gk are au. and the goal is really to further the aspiration and dreams of latino youth. and why latino youth? well, the same reason that we celego and that we are being elected

througe aut the, onited states that latino youth just like the communities and constituencies resent maybe do h? e different challenges and different obstacles. _ that really need to be acknowledged. in time maybe not my liietime no one will be g sting a speecp like this and i hope that we arr ste there. in the honor the f nst hispanic woman to be elected to congress, the f nst woman that is gengng to be chairing the committee on foreign affairs -- [ap comause] ery the way, while she was in congress, she decided to get a imhd in educatioudd the rest of us, thought we had so much to read just reading the "neiiyok ar tjues" futurll street jourge and the post and she was working on a ps i. nidiafilet re auqu, wrm look, there's no way -- stand

up. throrst, peo come engsy bliout fill certain shoes. you're not going to picudre me _ n te ase se aes no matter wha you say. but truly, the first hispanic woman to cha n a full commiblioee and that's an incredible accomplishmen ar and we se auld never foryour pt that. so all of us here owe our ry atiess of course to our oso blood sweat and tears but that someone opened the d tr, iom youne g? e, os some adv3 ofe, someone meantrd us, someone did that. at a theretion a anyone in this that said i did it completely in my r tm, no one hlet ped m my maybe yo the sis room because you've had way t t muhe bo one does it

their own. we open d trs. thacoulds what cthii dwas s, th what the chci does. it's aow,engnt gondea thaned ãnwe may be two dat aierent organizations but we're driven of course by the same gk are au. and that is to help latino youth. and so tha fb you, tha fb you f everything that you do to allow us to accomplish the goals. naud evll da if you'll come b6 3 up -- natly is going to be introducing somefiery , mecial guests. all of you are special but we have some individuare au froes adminis sation and we futurnt to acknowledge them as well as members of congress, present and ming thebers of both chli a chci and those that don't belong to the ort ana gations b are here and grace us with their presence. nataly. h c we're gengng to take advantage of the fact that a

ã ã com tm. ittion a my honor to invite the members of the 112th congress to we min, os here on the stayo they're to be recognized when i call your names, if youloolow,e us here and we're going to take a big photo here. resentat steow,was b6 c13 a from california. have yarebessra. õt evncisco can secko. resentat ste he from texas. this is like the pro g? rigfro? representative hin jose. congressman ben lieu haudd resident commissioner peer lissi.

representative allard. resentat stefilet re auqu, wrm bow some we a you probably saw them and mingsled with the g? we have lisa jackson, the e.p.a. administrator was herer ienator robert menendez are auo had to leave a little early, congressman martin hine r3 ofk as well hbut to leave. he's here? oh. come on, op herer e aome on, op, pleas my ow,. and i believe we have ho frank ianhe coe derce trade.

frank. jim green. are you here? come on fr. we have debbie wasser man schultz are auly o and honorary ben lvery the sha senior new mexico's speaker of the house. are yo the shere t t? and of course last but not least a very specleal g bist, t sellmetary of lblior hilause so if i missed somebody i'm so soliey but comeow,engn, os.

[atimlause] they're the ones who did the work. letilaverybo as say, wlet come back. once again, congratulations to all of you, our newest ming the of the hispanic american members of thele us, th congres. ãnwe are so proud of you. i am privileged and honored to ere here to wlet come you b6 c13 a ãnwe sust in you, we hopefully look forward to a better

amer3 ofa, onder your leadershi b so god speed because we need it. we are auo wouile like to recog some other i guess we got all of our distinguished g bists bu as we close i do thi fb icoulds important to remember the sponsors and the n generosity who have been aone e to not onl help us with this event tonight erct most ihat ortantly the you people who they've been able to help shape the n futures. bin to our spo weors we want to thank them. tha fb you all forow,engning, o here tonigfro. i know it's a busy time in washington so i atimrea. ate al of you m3 ing the effort to be here and enjoy the rest of the evening. noiiyo the scan hit the bars an mingle. have a g td nigfro.

hp,py n, a yeaed [captioning performed by national captioning i wetiudteen i lvp,tions co dori-it national cable satellite corp. 2011]

>> n td'merl. at sock a.m. ranking member of the house henry waxman discussing health care and tpwhrobal warming issues. after thady a n, as conierence foth president obama as he announces his new chief of stof the hf. e aoming fr n worlwol our guests include imeter weaner of the et3 ofs and radio talk sho hose bill press. they talk about thele us, th congress stawan changes at the white house and u.s. economy. then steven bell of the sitpartisan p of the 13 ofy center discusses the prospect of a and of the hter thady heahere h p o3 ofy correspondent for npr looks at parts of the heahere prescare l t3 ing of the hiein u inne s a