mr. jeffery. along with our treasure island community that is here today. we have our chief dave franklin who is the incident commander of the day during the fire and who has been with sf fire department for over two decades as well as deputy chief operations mark gonzalez who is a san francisco native and has served since 1989. and i just want to read the commendation. this is in recognition of your teamwork, bravery and selfless act of heroism in the early morning of february 16, 2013 when the men and women of the san francisco fire department and one of our neighbors risked their lives in an attempt to save another. the board of supervisors extends its highest commendation and profound gratitude during this difficult time of mourning and healing. * the treasure island community who is here today and the board of supervisors wish to thank you for reminding us what an honor it is to be a public servant. and i think we often talk about what it means to be a public servant and a city employee, but i think the men and women of fire truck department truly exem

mr. horsford: thank you representative jefferies. mr. speaker, may i ask how much time we have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 13 minutes remaining. mr. horsford: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, as we have discussed this evening, as the congressional black caucus, voting rights are an issue that all americans are entitled to. and we should be helping more voters participate in our democracy, not creating laws that prevent or discourage anyone from voting. and as my colleague, the co-anchor from new york, mr. jefferies, just explained, we have made tremendous progress in recent history in securing the right to vote for many minority communities. a fully free and democratic society is always a work in progress. and with each election we are reminded that we cannot rest. we must always come to the defense of voting rights. and we cannot be cut off guard or pretend that because time has passed that we do not need the continue to fight to safeguard our rights. now, no successful social justice movement has secured f