Pelosi, Clyburn Press Conference Unveiling House Democrats’ Democratic Outreach & Engagement Task Force

Leader Pelosi.  Good afternoon, everyone.  As we have just come through a magnificent weekend to honor the life and legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., it is appropriate for us to continue the legacy in this year – this year being the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.  It is important to remember the struggles that led to the passage of the bill.  It's probably one of the most important pieces of legislation in our country's history, because it preserves freedom and enables people to vote.  Great sacrifices were made at the time, even lives were lost.  But the bill was signed in August, 50 years ago.

A person who participated in all of that activity at the time, as a very young man – he was there in the fight for civil rights and voting rights; he is here with us in the Congress, and we're so honored – our Assistant Leader, Mr. Jim Clyburn.  He has agreed to be the chair of our Democratic Outreach and Engagement Task Force.  He will talk to you more about it.  I will just say that I am so grateful to the Members who have agreed to participate – he will introduce them.  I'm so proud of the actions taken by the Congressional Black Caucus.  They were in Ferguson this weekend – perhaps you saw it in the press.  We're very proud of how they launched this commemoration of what happened 50 years ago, and why it's so important that we pass a [Voting Rights] bill now, and do all that we can to encourage engagement to give people a reason to register and a reason to vote.

As we gather here, or a little bit earlier today, protesters were on the steps of the Capitol.  It's five years since the terrible decision made by the Supreme Court in Citizens United.  But just acknowledging that dreadful decision tells us how important it is for us to make sure that every person who is eligible has the right to vote, and that his or her vote is counted as cast.  Who better to lead the way for us than our Assistant Leader, former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, a long-term advocate for civil and voting rights, our Assistant Leader, Mr. Jim Clyburn.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Thank you very much, Madam Leader.  Thank you so much – I think I thank you – for putting together this Task Force to work on a very, very important issue.  I often talk about that weekend back in October 1960, down in Atlanta, Georgia, on the campus of Morehouse College, when I first met John Lewis – [in the year] 1960, five years before we were able to secure a Voting Rights Act.  I was reflecting earlier today on all that has transpired, and the fact that when the Leader and I first talked about this Task Force, it was in the aftermath of the last November elections, when we saw a significant fall off of participation on the part of those that we work so hard here to improve their lot.

We talked about things we might be able to do, to reengage people that we thought really needed to be involved in the process.  We talked about all that we had read about Ferguson, Missouri, and the fact that when we looked at the local participation there, we saw that in the last municipal elections back in April, in the year before last, the participation was six percent – the single digit, six percent – in the election, in a community that was over 65 percent minority, only a six percent participation in the municipal election.  And that was troubling.

And so, in our discussions as to what we could do going forward, we thought that to get a group to concentrate on this – in one of our meetings, I remember talking with Lucille Roybal-Allard, who is here today, a Member of this task force, and she told me about her experiences last November, and people kept asking her – I'll let her use the Spanish, I'll use the English translation – "What for?  What for?"

That bothered me a great deal.  And so, we have decided that we want to do some things to get voters engaged in the process again.  Earlier today, I took a look at a video – or film, it wasn't video back then, I guess – of a 1966 speech made by Martin Luther King, Jr.  in a little town in my district, Kingstree, South Carolina, less than a year after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  He came to that community to talk about voting.  And he was pleading with people to get registered to vote.  And "once you get registered," he said at one point in his speech, "go and get 10 of your neighbors, and get them registered."  That effort has led to great voter participation in that county.  Those people, the vast majority of them – I don't care when the election is, or what it's about – they vote.  And I want to really rekindle that emotion.

So I want to thank the following people who have agreed to serve on this Task Force:

• Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
• Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY)
• Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA)
• Representative André Carson (D-IN)
• Representative Cedric Richmond (D-LA)
• Representative Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
• Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)
• Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM)
• Representative Grace Meng (D-NY)
• Representative Brendan Boyle (D-PA)

Let me close and yield to any questions you may have, or any comment any one of the Members may want to make.  And I say this: I have now seen the movie Selma twice, and I plan to see it again in this building this Tuesday evening.  The second time I watched it was last week, and I watched it sitting with my just-turned 18-year-old granddaughter.  I didn't say anything to her about the movie.  I just told her I was sponsoring the movie for members of my staff and others in the community.  We rented out a theater of 120 seats.  Within two hours, we had to go back and get a 300-seat theater.

But I was really focusing on my granddaughter.  So I sat next to her during the movie.  She had her iPhone, doing what 18-year-olds do.  As her granddaddy, I'm scared to look and see what was going on on that [iPhone].  So I kept looking forward – but she stayed with it, even when the movie came on, she didn't turn off the iPhone.  Until those little four girls were walking down the staircase in the church, going to the Sunday School room, and the bomb went off.  At that point she turned off her iPhone, and intently watched the movie – even asked me at one point a question about who that person was having a little interchange with John Lewis about whether or not to march – James Forman, who was one of my best friends in the movement.  And I explained who James Forman was, and she was a little surprised to know – not knowing that he was a friend.

But the next morning, when the movie was over, she went home.  I got a call the next morning.  She wanted to have lunch.  And so, I said: "Okay."  And she told me what time, and I objected to the time.  I said: "Well, can't we do it a little earlier?"  She says: "No.  Because I'm going to register to vote.  And when I finish my registration, I'm going to come and have lunch with you."  And she brought some of her friends with her.  And we talked about the movie, and we talked about voting.  And when lunch was over, the rest of her friends – they left and went to the voter registration office.

I think that we're at a time when young people – who seem not to be participating at the same level as young people did when I was young – that we can get people reengaged once again.  And that's what this Task Force is all about.  And I want to thank all of these Members who have agreed to serve.  And now, I'll yield to any one of them who may want to say something, if they care to.

Leader Pelosi.  We can take questions.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  We'll take questions.

***

Q:  I have two questions:  one is, is there any particular piece of legislation that you envision helping with this reengagement process, and when do you plan to put it forward?  The other question is about the speech last night.  I don't know if you noticed – you probably noticed – there was a point when the President talked about voting being a sacred right – I'm getting the words wrong – a lot of Democrats stood; not a lot of Republicans stood.  Were you surprised to see that disparity?

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Well, I've grown old enough not to be surprised at much of anything.  I was disappointed.  And I'm very disappointed that, after the Supreme Court issued its decision – which basically said that: "The formula that you've been holding on to since 1965 is now outdated.  Congress, you should fix this.  Update the formula."  So we came back, and this is the piece of legislation that you're asking about, and we fashioned some amendments that these Members worked very hard on to put those amendments together.  And Representative Sensenbrenner [from Wisconsin] and [Rep.] Chabot of Ohio – the two Republicans worked with Representatives Conyers and Scott on compromise legislation.

My constituents did not like the compromise.  They did not like it.  They thought it was a faulty compromise.  But it was a compromise, and I adhered to Lyndon Johnson's theory that a "half loaf is better than no loaf at all."  And I thought this would get us started.  And so, that's the first piece of legislation that we're going to work on.  Mr. Sensenbrenner has told me that he has not given up on this.  He plans to come back within two weeks – I think he said two weeks – with the same piece of legislation, to try to get it going again.  So we're going to work on that.

We also had the voter empowerment program that John Lewis is the author of.  We're updating that.  Because that bill was written before the Supreme Court – the impact of some of these recent decisions.  So we're going to update that to incorporate these decisions, and hopefully we will bring that back to work on.  Now, all we can say is: these are good bills.  They are bills designed to get people back involved in the process.  I get very, very upset when I hear young people, 25 and 30 years old – they say to me: they see no reason to vote.  And it's not bringing up these recent laws that are being passed in various states, one being my own home state, designed to suppress voting and designed to not respect college students and where they live and allowing them to vote at their campuses, not letting their student IDs be used to demonstrate who they are.  They can take that ID into any bank in this country and get served, get checks cashed, but they are telling them: "That's not good enough to register to vote."   These young people are very upset about these kind of laws and this committee is going to work on doing what we can to get them engaged again in this process to help us change it.

Leader Pelosi.  If I just may follow up on what our colleague said very briefly.  You said: were we surprised when they did not applaud and stand up for the right to vote being sacred?  Just to remind you, when my colleague was talking about updating the Voting Rights Act, we did just that in 2006.  We weren't in the majority; we passed a bill with nearly – I think it was around 400 votes in the House and almost unanimous in the Senate.  So this has been bipartisan.  Was it unanimous in the Senate?

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Yes.

Leader Pelosi.  Unanimous in the Senate, around 400 votes in the House, strongly bipartisan.  So when the Court ruled on this, that bill was only in effect for a half a dozen years.  So it didn't really need an upgrading, but if they thought it did, they instructed Congress to do so, which Congress did [yet] the previous congress rejected.  That is what is so really hard to believe because it is a fundamental right in our country, and you would think at least to have the American people think that they'd believe that the vote was sacred, they might applaud it.

Putting that aside, just to your other point – I said today is the five year anniversary – introduced today are some bills that would 1) overturn Citizens United, that's the Deutch bill starting a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United; The Sarbanes Bill which empowers small donors to reduce the impact of big money in politics, which is very essential to reduce the skepticism and cynicism of the American people about what goes on here and it's really important; and the third bill – at least three – is DISCLOSE: so, why all this money?  Whose money is this?   Let us see who's putting up this money to, again, suppress the vote as well as the will of the American people.

So, there's a great deal of activity.  We'll be talking more in another week or two about reform measures.  Today we're talking about passing the civil rights bill.  And the big civil rights bill is the immigration bill that they have rejected the actions of a bipartisan initiative passed in the Senate overwhelmingly and not passed [by the House].  And so the connection between the vote and the rights of people is a very direct one; and we would hope that if the American people knew more about what was going on here that the Republicans would respond in a way that is respectful of it being a sacred right.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Anybody else?

Congressman Cartwright.  Let me jump in.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Sure.

Congressman Cartwright.  I'd like to point out that – and people may not remember or realize this – but what the Supreme Court did a couple of years ago was not to strike down the Voting Rights Act of 1965; what it did was it invalidated the process for the preclearance rule.  The preclearance rule addressed jurisdictions that had historical evidence of discriminatory practices,  and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 established what those jurisdictions were.  The Supreme Court said: look, that was a long time ago, and what we want to do is go forward; this is no longer good; you need to establish a rule that examines where the voting abuses are taking place and then applies the pre-clearance rules to those jurisdictions.  That is what this amendment has done. This is a bill that amends the Voting Rights Act and was introduced last year.  It drew 11 Republican co-sponsors; it is an honest effort to take a face value what the Supreme Court did to the Voting Rights Act – not to invalidate the preclearance requirement but to update it.  And that's what we need to do.  It's the very least we can do as proponents of democracy here in the United States.  Thanks very much.

Leader Pelosi.  Matt Cartwright.

Congresswoman Lee.  Can I just say something?

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Sure.

Congresswoman Lee.  Let me thank the Leader and our Assistant Leader for really seizing the time and that what many of us believe that this is the moment for this task force.  On voting and voting rights.  Voting is central to our democracy – the right of people to participate in the daily decisions of their lives is fundamental.  We support democratic movements around the world: we go around the world promoting democracy, and we penalize countries which don't.  And so here in our own country, we have to insist that the Voting Rights Act be reinstituted and passed because this is, really, so central to who we are as a country.  I mean, we're a democratic country and to deny people the right to vote is undemocratic and that is not who we are as a country.  So, thank you again.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Any other questions?

Yes, ma'am.

Q:  So I was wondering if you could talk about the tangible goals that you see coming from the task force – is it ‘x' million more people registered; is it an increase in the percentage of minorities and young voting?  Do you have an outline of what the goals are?  And on the bill with Mr. Sensenbrenner: what's your strategy?  I understand there's a lot of Republican co-sponsors, but what's your strategy?  Is it shaming Republicans to schedule a vote?  Is it  trying to work with Republican leadership?  How do you get it from a co-sponsorship of Republicans to an actual vote? 

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Well, we want these amendments passed.  The last time we took each member – we wanted this to be a bipartisan bill – [we said]: okay Democrats, see if you can find a Republican partner.  That's how we got the 11.  We started out with two and two.  We will still seek Republican partners.  I am going to be talking with the Speaker and the Leader and hopefully we can get them to agree to bring a bill to the floor.  I believe, sincerely, that if those amendments were brought to the floor, I believe they would pass.  I think there are 218 people in the House of Representatives who would vote ‘yes' on this legislation.  And so we are going to keep working as we know to do.  I don't get discouraged with these kind of things – I keep plunking along, keep plunking along.  I think all these Members would do the same thing.  We think we can get this done.  We think it should get done.

Now, the first goal, of course, is to pass the amendments.  Our second goal on voting has to do with the Voter Empowerment Act – Representative John Lewis' bill.  As the Leader has said, we do believe we ought to be working on Citizens United.  And is it [McCutcheon] that followed Citizens United that takes away the caps on financing campaigns?  All of these things that we have heard from Members that we think are working in tandem to suppress the vote we're going to be working on.

Leader Pelosi.  And the point is not – the point is to – we always say: "If you don't vote, you don't count," because people will respond to people who vote.  And so what we're hoping is: by having more people have a reason to register, a reason to vote, it will have an impression on our colleagues to respect the fact that these people are voting and to act in a way that respects their priorities.  But President Lincoln said: "Public sentiment is everything."  You hear me say that almost every time we meet.  And that's why using the inspiration of the 50 year anniversary, using Martin Luther King as a time, Selma at the beginning of March, the 50th anniversary of it – using all of that inspiration and attraction of people to the issue of voting; and what sacrifices were made to expand the right to vote in our country is the way we hope to persuade the public to persuade the Republicans that people should have the right to vote, and then they'll vote the way they vote and that's their free choice.  But as long as we all know they're going to vote, their views will be more taken into consideration.

But if I just may say, we had the California mayors in there and we were all comparing notes.  I was quoting a speech over the weekend.  Martin Luther King spoke in the Civic Auditorium in 1956 where he said: legislation is the path, the ballot is the path; don't ignore the this method of legislation.  The mayor of Los Angeles was saying: well, the best speech he ever made was at a synagogue in 1956 in Los Angeles.  The Northern Californians were saying: No, it was the Stanford speech.  Mr. Clyburn would will claim the Letter from the Birmingham Jail.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Absolutely.

Leader Pelosi.  We're all in competition for the most inspirational, and I'm sure others here have their favorite speech – whether it was about the war in Vietnam, whether it was about health care, whether it was about India when he went there to talk about nonviolence.  This was such an inspirational figure in our country – a monument among presidents on the Mall, a day that he has alone while Washington and Lincoln share a day.  So this is something that's very special to us, this gift of Rev. Martin Luther King, and this legislation that he helped [lead] the way to enact and we want to make sure that that legacy is preserved.

I think we have time for one more question.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  I wanted Lucille – since I called you out on this.  I really believe Lucille should say something because she has not been quiet talking to me.

Congresswoman Roybal-Allard.  Well, for me, I think one of the key components of what we're trying to do is to help individuals understand that their vote does matter and to help them to understand the connection between their aspirations to realize the American Dream – whatever that happens to be – to understand their dreams and how they are directly connected to what happens, for example, 3,000 miles away from California.  That those who are in elected office, it does matter, and that the policies that we make here in Washington actually directly impact their everyday life.  And to help them to understand that there is nothing in their lives that isn't connected to what happens in the political arena.  I have families who say: you know what, I haven't got the time; I have two or three jobs; my kids have to work just so that we can make ends meet and maybe if we're lucky, one of them can go to college.  But when you help them to understand that those struggles can be dealt with by the policies that we make here in Washington – to increase the minimum wage, to provide them with healthcare, to protect programs like Pell Grants and other programs that even the President talked about last night.  A two-year free community college – that would mean so much to the communities that I represent and provide so much more to them and their ability to be able to just have some kind of quality of life.  So I think that's going to be one of the critical components of what we're doing here is to help people realize that their vote does matter and why it matters and the connection between their everyday lives and those who are in positions to develop and to create policy.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Do you want to say anything?  He's the youngster in the crowd.

Congressman Richmond.  I'm one of the youngsters in the crowd, and I will say that…

Leader Pelosi. Born since the Civil Rights Act.

[Laughter]

Congressman Richmond.  Born since the Civil Rights Act.  Yes, and there are at least three of us up here.

And often times – and we saw a quote – we stand on the shoulders of people like John Lewis, and Reverend Martin Luther King, and Nancy Pelosi, and Jim Clyburn, and Eleanor Holmes Norton and others who came before us to make sure that we had any opportunity in the world.  We could go to any school we wanted to.  We could sit anywhere we wanted to on the bus.  And watching their sacrifice, and their fight to give us the right to vote, increases our energy and our commitment to making sure that everybody has that right.

And the Leader talked about Citizens United.  What we're doing today is we're just trying to equal the playing field again.  Corporations have all these rights now while regular voters are fighting to get to the polls.  And our grandmothers have to scrounge up and make sure that they have their voter ID as they go to the polls when corporations can give as much as they want and not tell what they're doing.  This is about what makes America the country that it is.  And that's the fact – that we believe that the more people that are engaged in the governing of this great democracy, the better the country will be.

So as we strive to continue to make this a more perfect union – the feelings yesterday, when they didn't stand up when they talked about the Voting Rights Act, are a sense of disappointment and a sense of hurt that we can't all agree that everyone participating in a democracy is a fundamental right, and it's one of the most important things in our society.  So as the beneficiaries of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, we feel an inherent obligation to make sure that we go out and engage our young people in the fact that you can determine your own future.  You can determine your own destiny.  And you can determine the destiny of this great country.

So we just want to thank the Leader and Congressman Clyburn for including us and making sure that every time we talk about young people – they make sure young people are at the table.  So as we talk about the debt and the deficit, our Leader makes sure she talks to college students, and that young people have a seat at the table so that we can express our voice.  Because of that – that's what makes our party so great and so inclusive.   Because at the end of the day we don't make decisions for people, we bring them to the table so that they can have a voice.  And for that, we will be forever grateful and we will continue to do what we have to do to make sure to honor those who came before us and paved the way.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Hakeem, you're young enough.

Congressman Jeffries.  Well, thank you.  As one of the three Members of the Hip-Hop generation on the stage…

[Laughter]

...Although my kids don't necessarily think so right now – but it's an honor and privilege to be a part of this wonderful group.  The leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Jim Clyburn, and as Representative Richmond indicated, [helps to] relay to a different generation of Americans the importance of the struggles that have occurred in the past, the progress that has been made, as well as the need to continue to move forward to address some of the issues that are relevant to them, related to the relationship between the police and the community, college affordability, access to a changing job market.

These are things that we want to make clear to bring [them] into American life in a robust fashion, in a manner that allows them to pursue the American Dream.  Voting is a key to translating their ideas, their values, their aspirations into public policy.  And I look forward to being a part of that, moving forward.  The last thing I'll just add is that traditionally, subsequent to 1965, voting rights, which are fundamental to the integrity of our democracy in America, have been relatively non-controversial in Washington, DC.  It was reauthorized on four different occasions with large bipartisan majorities, and every single time – in 1970, Richard Nixon, in 1976 Gerald Ford, in 1982 Ronald Regan, and in 2006 President George W. Bush – every single time, the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized with large bipartisan majorities, signed into law by a Republican President.  There is no reason, in this Congress, we shouldn't be able to do the same.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Let's round out the Hip-Hop generation with – well, I should call him Reverend Carson, because at Ferguson on Sunday, the morning sermon – I'm going to call it a sermon – was delivered by André Carson, to round out the Hip-Hop generation.

[Laughter]

Congressman Carson.  Thank you, Mr. Clyburn.  I think, coming from the Hip-Hop generation, all those times in High School when I should have been paying attention, I was rapping in the lunchroom – it came in handy at some point.  But I will say that what makes Jim Clyburn and Leader Pelosi so special is that, yes they are older, if you will, but they care about young people.  They really care about making an investment in the next generation of leaders.  You know I am reminded – Leader Pelosi talked about the sentiment of the people: even when Congress failed to act properly, it was the sentiment of the people that forced Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves.  Even when Congress failed to act rightly, it was the sentiment of the people that forced President Truman to desegregate the military.  And even when we had a Congress looking at its poll numbers, it was the sentiment of the people in their respective districts to force Congress to do the right thing and have Lyndon Johnson sign the Voting Rights Act.

We have come to a great question.  I'm reminded of Ben Franklin at the Constitutional Convention.  The mythology tells us that as he was walking out, he was approached by a lady by the name of Mrs. Powell who walked up to him and said: "Well Ben, what do we have: a monarchy or a republic?"  And Ben looked down at Mrs. Powell with his receding hairline and he said: "Mrs. Powell, we have a republic, if you can keep it."  The Socratic question becomes: how do you keep the Republic?  You keep the Republic by not only holding elected officials accountable, but you keep the Republic by bringing in younger people and engaging them in the dialogue to help make a difference.  That's what this task force is about, and we look forward to working with you in the future.

Congressman Clyburn. We have two people left here, and we have to hear from these two people.

Congresswoman Velázquez.  Okay so, very quick: Thank you so very much.  I think that every elected official has a responsibility, and that is to make sure we empower communities, that we empower individuals.  When I worked for the Governor of Puerto Rico in 1985, what we were dealing with was a community, a Puerto Rican community, which, in the United States, was totally invisible.  We had offices providing services.  I told the Governor of Puerto Rico: that is not what they need; what they need is to empower themselves.   And we launched the most strategic, effective voter registration campaign that registered 250,000 Puerto Ricans.

And this is when David Dinkins got elected – the first African-American in New York City – and I would like to say that Puerto Ricans, at that time, played an important role.  But it was not only about registering individuals.  It was about helping them connect the dots, that electoral participation equals the fact that those issues that are important to them will cease to be invisible.  And so, it is not an accident that, after 24 years of Republicans holding offices in New York City in City Hall, today, 24 years later, we have universal pre-K, we have paid sick leave.  Why?  Because individuals got engaged.

They, for the last months prior to the mayoral election, they were relentlessly visiting, knocking on doors, making sure that every candidate for mayor in New York City will understand that those issues are important to them.  So, Bill de Blasio is one politically savvy mayor.  He knows that, in order to win in New York City, in a Democratic election, that those minority voters are important.  So I want to see whether or not the fact that he dealt with those issues – affordable housing, 16,000 units have been built under this administration – those are issues people care about.

So it's not only important to them in helping them to understand the correlation that exists between electoral participation and their daily lives – those issues – but execution.  We have to deal as elected officials with those issues, so that individuals, like Lucille Roybal-Allard told us, would not have to ask the question: "Why does it matter, coming out to vote?"  Well it does matter, because today, working families are struggling to make ends meet.  If they get sick and they have no health insurance, they will stay home taking care of those who are ill in their family.  Or that we are putting in front of New York City's agenda affordable housing.  That is why it is so important that we not only do voter registration, but electoral participation and voter education.  Thank you.

Congresswoman Grisham.  Not of the Hip-Hop generation – I think I'm old enough to be the babysitter for the Hip-Hop generation, so, and definitely born before 1965.  But this is an incredible honor to be on this particular committee, or task force, by the Leader and Assistant Leader, because this is really about stamping out, once again, discrimination.  It raises its ugly head every time we don't have an effort to make sure that every vote matters, that everybody counts, that apathy is addressed and dealt with, that we're removing those barriers – and that you have policy makers that are attending to that at every juncture.

And, coming from a state where we are tied often – and probably in this moment, last – in child welfare – or next to last, one of the highest poverty states, one of the states with a significant voter apathy – and yet, we removed, in this last election, the opportunity for students to gain the vote at their universities.  So instead of working to encourage a brand new set of all age groups, pride in voting and making a difference in this country, we're creating an environment where people feel abandoned and the opposite.  This is a task force that's going to work on changing those policy parameters and making it relevant to every person in our districts.  So I am so grateful for being part of this.  Thank you so much.

Assistant Leader Clyburn.  Well, thank you very much.  I want to thank all the Members here.  I want to thank the Leader.  Let me just close from that great document, [Martin Luther] King's letter from the Birmingham City Jail.  Many of you recall that that letter was written in response to a letter than he had received.  And in the letter that he had received, the ministers who wrote in that letter, eight ministers – one of whom was from South Carolina who I knew – they said to him that his cause was right, but his timing was wrong.  King, in his answer then told them that time is neutral.  Time is never right, time is never wrong; time is always what we make it.  He said, that day, that he had come to a conclusion that "the people of ill will in our society make a much better use of time than the people of good will."  And that's a very profound statement.  "The people of ill will in our society seem to make a much better use of time than the people of good will."  We want to engage the people of good will in our society, and make good use of our time in doing so.  Thank you so much.

Congresswoman Velazquez.  Okay so very quick.  Thank you so very much I think that every elected official has a responsibility and that is to make sure we empower communities, that we empower individuals.  When I worked for the Governor of Puerto Rico in 1995 what we were dealing with was a community, a Puerto Rican community which in the United States was totally invisible.  We had offices providing services.  I told the Governor of Puerto Rico that is not what they need, what they need is to empower themselves.   And we launched the most strategic, effective voter registration campaign that registered 250,000 Puerto Ricans and this is when David Dinkins got elected, the first African-American in New York City, and I would like to say that Puerto Ricans at that time played an important role.

But it was not only about registering individuals, it was about helping them connect the dots that electoral participation equals to the fact that those issues that are important to them will cease to be invisible.  And so, it is not an accident that 24 years of Republicans holding offices in New York City in City Hall today, 24 years later, we have universal pre-K, we have paid sick leave.  Why?  Because individuals got engaged.  They, for the last months prior to the mayoral election, they were relentlessly visiting, knocking on doors making sure that every candidate for mayor in New York City will understand that those issues are important to them.  So Bill de Blasio is one politically savvy mayor.  He knows that in order to win in New York City in a Democratic election that those minority voters are important.  So I want to see whether or not the fact that he dealt with those issues – affordable housing 16,000 units have been built under this Administration – those are issues people care about.

So it's not only important to them in helping them to understand the correlation that exists between electoral participation and their daily lives, those issues, but execution.  We have to deal as elected officials with those issues so that individuals like Lucille Roybal-Allard told us would not have to ask the question why does it matter coming out to vote?  Well it does matter because today working families are struggling to make ends meet.  If they get sick and they have no health insurance, they will stay home taking care of those who are ill in their family.  Or that we are putting in front of New York City's agenda affordable housing.  That is why it is so important that we not only do voter registration but electoral participation and voter registration.  Thank you.

Congresswoman Grisham.  Not of the Hip-Hop generation.  I think I'm old enough to be the babysitter for the Hip-Hop generation and definitely born before 1965. But this is an incredible honor to be on this particular committee or task force by the Leader and Assistant Leader because this is really about stamping out once again discrimination.  It raises its ugly head every time we don't have an effort to make sure that every vote matters, that everybody counts, that apathy is addressed and dealt with, that we're removing those barriers, that you have policy makers that are attending to that at every juncture; and coming from a state where we are tied often and probably in this moment last in child welfare or next to last, one of the highest poverty states, one of the states with a significant voter apathy, and yet we removed again in this last election the opportunity for students to vote at their universities.  So instead of working to encourage a brand new set of all age groups, pride in voting and making a difference in this country, we're creating an environment where people feel abandoned and the opposite.  This is a task force that's going to work on changing those policy parameters and making it relevant to every person in our districts. So I am so grateful for being part of this thank you so much.

Congressman Clyburn.  Well thank you very much.  I want to thank all the Members here; I want to thank the Leader.

Let me just close from that great document: King's Letter from the Birmingham Jail.  Many of you recall that that letter was written in response to a letter than he had received.  And in the letter that he had received the ministers who wrote in that letter – eight ministers, one of whom was from South Carolina who I knew.  I said to him that his cause was right, but his timing was wrong.  King in his answer told them that time is neutral.  Time is never time is never right, time is never wrong; time is always what we make it.  He said that day that he had come to a conclusion that the people of ill will in our society make a much better use of time than the people of good will.  And that's a very profound statement.  The people of ill will in our society seem to make a much better use of time than the people of goodwill.  We want to engage the people of goodwill in our society and make good use of our time in doing so.

Thank you so much.