horsford: thank you, mr. hoyer, as our whip, you have provided a strong and -- strong and articulate voice on these and other issues. question look forward to continuing to work with you as we move forward to protect that most fundamental of all right the right to vote. i now yield to my co-anchor mitigating circumstance colleague as a freshman member in this 113th congress, i am pleased to be working with him as one of the co-anchors for the congressional black caucus and bringing these important issues to all of our constituents throughout this great country, the distinguished member from new york, representative hakim jeffries, as much time as the allows. mr. jeffries: let me thank the distinguished gentleman from the silver state, my good friend and colleague, representative horsford, for anchoring the c.b.c. special order. i also want to thank chairwoman marcia fudge for the tremendous leadership she's continued to provide and of course to our whip, steny hoyer, for her eloquence and leadership on this a

horsford. i think that you hit on a very important point that should be re-emphasized in the context of this debate. every single re-authorization of the voting rights act, section 5, was signed into law by a republican president. and so in 1970 the re-authorization was signed into law by president richard nixon. in 1975 it was president gerald ford. in 1982 it was ronald reagan. and in 2006 it was george bush. it was the current house majority held in different form but when republicans were in charge of the chamber who allowed the re-authorization to move forward through the judiciary committee on a bipartisan basis. this may seem strange in the current poisonous environment of washington that we exist in right now, but there was significant cooperation, tremendous leadership shown by then chairperson and the ranking memberle it john conyers. it passed in the house of representatives 390-33. it's also interesting to note historically that prior to this year if he ever time section 5 and the v

horsford: thank you, mr. speaker. i would like to thank my classmate and colleague and look forward to serving with him in this historic 113th congress as we work together to make this a more perfect union. i also represent one of the more diverse districts in the united states congress. our district, 25% latino, 16% african american, 7% asian american, 2% native american. it is a district that reflects both the usual and as well as the rural component and communities of our great state of nevada. in fact, congressional district 4 reflects the state of nevada and nevada increasingly reflects all of america. and so i believe that is why president obama decided of all places that he could visit, he visited nevada last week to discuss the fierce urgency of now in adopting a comprehensive immigration reform by this congress. the fact that nevada reflects the changing demographics of our country, but it also reflects the broken system which is our immigration system. and so as i listened to the president and as we honor to

horsford, for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized for one minute. mr. horsford: thank you, madam speaker. no woman should have to live in fear of violence in this country. one of my first actions in congress was to co-sponsor the violence against women act, which was authored by my colleague, gwen moore. her bill took critical steps to strengthen the ability of our local law enforcement and service providers to protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. her bill went to great lengths to ensure that all women in our country would be protected under the bill. the senate passed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis her bill. that is why i find the political games being played by some republicans today to be frustrating. my colleagues find it to be frustrating. and my constituents find it to be frustrating. i do not understand why, madam speaker, you would eliminate provisions to protect women from immigrant communities, 30% of which i represent in my

and congressman steven horsford, democrat from nevada, welcome. >>> in a bipartisan news conference this week, a group of eight senators offered a framework for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. there are several parts to the proposal. number one, create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already here contingent on strengthening the nation's borders. number two, reform the legal immigration system. number three, create an effective employment verification system. and number four, establish a better process for admitting future workers into the u.s. the four democratic and four republican senators wish to get momentum from the call for immigration reform. they're similar to the principles laid out by the president in the campaign last year. but it highlights deep conflicts between the parties as the specifics of the policy are hashed out. to his part, the president sounded amenable to compromise. >> we've been debating this for a very long time. it's not as if we don't know technically what needs to get done. there will be rigorous debate about many of the de

horsford: there's talk that these cuts won't be that bad. let me talk about one school in my district i visited last week. matt kelli elementary school. in terms of funding over 50% of its school allocation is title 1 funding. it's a high-achieve, five-star school, where teachers are doing the best they can with the little money they receive. but the sequester would hit them hard. they would have to cut back on full-day kindergarten, eliminate reading and math intervention programs for struggling student rerkstuse meals to hungry kids and defund their family community center. this is a model school that is working hard to improve our students' academic achievement. now, as their reward, because some in this body can't come to agreement, congress will take a sledgehammer to their budget. the sequester is not fair to the children and families of my district, it is not about trimming fat, it's about the children and that's who we should focus on today in this house. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gent