veasey. i first would like to thank the chair of the congressional black caucus, by friend and colleague, the honorable cedric richmond, for his leadership on this top exand on topics affecting black america across this great nation and indeed this evening, we are discussing not only minorities in this country but those downtrodden and other individuals around the world who look to america for refuge, strength, and democracy. i would also like to thank my colleague, the honorable mark veasey, of fort worth, texas, for joining me in chairing this special order hour and my congressional black caucus colleagues who are joining us this evening to speak on these important issues. mr. speakering we are here night to speak to those very -- those two very important issues that go to the fabric of our founding, our ability to grow and diversify as a nation by bringing in the tired and the poor, the innovator, the ones who bring new changes to this country and continue its dynamic growth, as well as vo

veasey. mr. veasey: thank you very much, congresswoman lee. i want to recognize representative bobby scott from virginia. mr. scott: thank you. i thank you for organizing this special order. i'll be brief. there are a lot of people that want to speak. i'll just speak to the jurisdiction of the education and work force committee, i have the honor of serving as the ranking member. as we consider appointments to the department of labor, education and health and human services, we shouldn't just look at people's personalities, but what the policy implications are of their appointments. and the senate must reject those nominees who will fail to stand up to the goals and aspirations of the america's children and workers. the first nominee i'll speak to is secretary of labor, mr. putser, who was c.e.o. of c.k.e. restaurants. he has spoken out many times in opposition to an increase in the minimum wage. many stapets have recognized that the minute -- states have recognized that the minimum wage is so

representative marc veasey, texas. representative robin kelly, illinois.or cory booker, new jersey. mr. allentive, adams, adams.d -- alma representative mia love. of the virgin island. representative dwight evans, pennsylvania. senator kamala harris, california. representative lisa blunt rochester, delaware. anthony brown, maryland. val demings, florida. lawson, florida. donald mceachin, virginia. ladies and gentlemen, the congressional black caucus of the 115th congress. given a resounding round of applause. [applause] >> give them a resounding round of applause. give them yet still another round of applause. when you understand what these people stand for and you understand what they do for us and you understand how they fight for us tirelessly day and day out, you will give them another round of applause. [applause] give them yet still, another round of applause. pleasure to introduce the director of the naacp who will lead you along with the incomparable soloist stephanie jordan. reverend green. reverend green: let us pray. we are gathered today from a

representative mark veasey, veasey, rict 33rd district of texas.ive robin kelly, second district of illinois. senator corey booker of new jersey. representative alma adams, 12th district of north carolina. representative brenda lawrence, fourth district of michigan, secretary of the congressional black caucus. representative mia love, fourth district of utah. delegate stacey plaskett of the virgin islands. representative bonnie watson coleman. 12th district of new jersey. representative dwight evans, second district of pennsylvania. senator camila harris of california. representative lisa blunt rochester, at large, district of delaware. representative anthony brown, delaware.trict of representative anthony brown, fourth district of maryland. representative val demings, representative al lawson, fifth district of florida. representative donald mceachin, fourth district of virginia. ladies and gentlemen, the the essional black congressional black caucus of the 115th congress. give them a resounding round of alaws. give them a resounding round of appl

next generation of strong courageous leaders like yvette clarke, hakeem jeffries, andrÉ carson, marc veasey a two celebrate. we will not do the people we represent justice if we don't acknowledge the mood of people of color throughout this nation. there are many americans, especially black americans, who can't understand how we got here today, coming off of eight years of hope, pride and inspiration. they are fearful of the current state of division, hate and pettiness. many of our young people are frustrated with the fact that they seem to be fighting the same causes that dr. king and reverend jackson and john lewis, and many others, galvanized, galvanized the country behind during the civil rights movement. and that'ss, justice and common humanity in 1853, theodore parker, the abolitionist, unitarian minister and quintessential thinker, told us i do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, but from from what i see i am sure bends toward justice. a century later during the civil rights movement, dr. martin luther king, jr. and an admirer of parker, quoted his lo

veasey, was a plaintiff, was promoted. so the last point that i want to make is, in addition to not having anything on voting rights, we just had breaking news that the white house has indicated that the president would have had the popular vote if he had not had happened to him three to five million illegal votes cast. this is being reported. and like-wise, what is being reported is there is absolutely no evidence that there were three to five million illegal votes cast in the 2016 election. i think we need to have focus on voting rights and the protection of those who vote. i yield back. ms. plaskett: thank you very much. mr. veasey: thank you. i want to thank all the members tonight that have participated. we are about to run short on our time here. but there's just so many other areas that need to be addressed and the congressional black caucus is going to continue those. we talk about safe communities, when we start talking about great education and some of the issues that we see with the nominee for secretary of educ