FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION FOR ALL

On 2026-06-29, Representative Jennifer L. McClellan (D-VA-4) delivered a floor speech titled "FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION FOR ALL" in the House.

FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION FOR ALL

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 108 (Monday, June 29, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 108 (Monday, June 29, 2026)] [House] [Pages H4312-H4314] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION FOR ALL (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. McClellan of Virginia was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, 250 years ago, the Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, gave birth to a new Nation built on the revolutionary idea that the power of government is derived from the people. The Continental Congress gave birth to a government by, of, and for the people based upon principles of liberty and justice for all. Today, we can be extraordinarily proud that the United States of America still stands upon those principles, but we also have to acknowledge that the promise of America remains unfinished 250 years later. Today, for Black Americans in historically marginalized communities, the ideals upon which this Nation has been founded have too often been delayed, denied, or defended only after bitter struggle. From the fight to end slavery to the struggle against Jim Crow to the ongoing battles for voting rights, equal justice, economic opportunity, and quality healthcare, the story of America has always been a story of both promise and unfinished progress. At this critical moment, we must be clear: Celebrating America's extraordinary history cannot mean ignoring the work that is still before us to form that more perfect Union. A true commemoration of 250 years must reckon with the reality upon which this country was founded, reconcile it with the ideals upon which this country was founded, and reckon with the communities who built this Nation, fought to perfect it, and continue to demand that its promises are made real for all people. {time} 2020 Tonight, the Congressional Black Caucus remains committed to ensuring our Nation's progress is measured not only by its past but by its continued pursuit of liberty and justice for all as we strive for that more perfect Union: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.'' Mr. Speaker, when Thomas Jefferson wrote those words in the Declaration of Independence, which the Continental Congress adopted on July 2, 1776, he did not include me. He did not include nearly half a million enslaved men, women, and children in the Thirteen Colonies, including his own children at his beloved Monticello. Over a decade later, when James Madison wrote ``The Virginia Plan'' that formed the foundation for our U.S. Constitution, creating a government by, of, and for we the people, in order to form a more perfect Union, he and the delegates to that convention did not include me. They did not include over 300 enslaved people who lived and labored at his Montpelier estate, over three generations of the Madison family. Indeed, the Constitution adopted in 1789, considered enslaved individuals, like my ancestors, only three-fifths of a person for the purpose of how many people would serve in this body and for taxation. Beyond that, they were treated as property. For 250 years, the story of America has been one of each generation trying to reconcile the ideals upon which this country was founded with the reality and to make the ideals true for everyone. It has taken a Civil War, the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th amendments, at a minimum, to get us closer to that more perfect Union. We have made progress. I would not be standing before you as the first Black woman elected to this body or to serve in this body, period, from the Commonwealth of Virginia, the birthplace of American democracy and the birthplace of American slavery. I wouldn't be standing here if we hadn't made progress. Every time we have made progress as a Nation toward that more perfect Union, there has been a backlash, and that backlash has involved propaganda, violence, and voter suppression. Yet, we continue to strive for that more perfect Union. I am proud to be part of the Congressional Black Caucus, the conscience of the Congress, that has fought for that progress, to keep that progress, and to build upon that progress. Virginia has played a leading role in this struggle of reconciling the ideals upon which our country was founded with its reality. Established on July 30, 1619, Virginia boasts the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere. The first elected legislative assembly in the New World, the Virginia General Assembly, in which I and many of my fellow members of the Virginia delegation have served. It was the birthplace for the birth of American democracy. One month later, a Dutch privateer arrived on the shores of Virginia with 20-and-odd Africans, captured by Portuguese slavers in West Central Africa, and they were traded for provisions. Three months after that, Virginia took steps toward becoming a permanent colony by recruiting English women to Jamestown to make wives for the inhabitants. When those women arrived, they had no right to vote, no right to hold public office, no right to control their own property. Since 1776, and particularly since 1789, America has been faced with a question of how to make true for all Americans the promise of our founding documents. How do we make true a government by, of, and for the people when for so much of our history too many people weren't allowed to participate. We have, again, as I said, made progress. A lot of that progress was bought with the blood of the Civil War, bought with the blood of people during the civil rights movement, marching, fighting, and, in some cases, dying for the right to vote. Yet today, we face a rollback of that progress. We have a President who insists he will not sign another bill unless it is a modern day poll tax, the SAVE America Act, which would require every American to prove their citizenship before they can vote through documents that cost money. That is just as much a poll tax as the poll tax my father paid when he first registered to vote in Tennessee. It is on the Bible where he kept that receipt that I took my oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States--all of it, not just the convenient parts. We will continue, as the Congressional Black Caucus, to fight for progress. We stand on the shoulders of those who paved the way before us. We are building a path for those who will come after us. As John Lewis said, democracy is not a State. It is an act that requires every generation to do its part to build a beloved community. Democracy in and of itself is not the point. It is what you do with it. It is what you do to build that more perfect Union. My parents, growing up during the Depression, under the tyranny of Jim Crow, as they fought to participate in their government, saw the best of government when the full force of the Federal Government was used during the New Deal to help people solve problems beyond their control caused by the Depression. They saw the worst of government, a government that oppressed them solely for the color of their skin, for the benefit of others. They sparked in me a desire to make government that force that helps people and solves problems. That is what gets me through the chaos, quite frankly, Mr. Speaker. I am very cognizant every day that I serve in this body, and especially on certain days when court decisions come out of the Supreme Court, I am very cognizant that I am fighting the same fights that my parents, my grandparents, and my great-grandparents fought. I could be angry about that, but I am joyful. I am joyful because I fight those [[Page H4313]] fights from a position of more strength and power than they ever imagined. I fight those fights so that my children and their children don't have to. But, if they do, they fight from a position of more strength and power than I do. At the end of the day, in a government by, of, and for the people, government reflects the perspective and, therefore, meets the needs of the people who participate. That is why the right to vote is so sacred. That is why the Congressional Black Caucus will fight tooth and nail to protect it. It was purchased through blood, sweat, and many tears. It was promised in our founding documents creating this government by, of, and for the people. We will not rest while some are denied the exercise of that right, because of barriers put in their way that have absolutely nothing to do with their ability to determine their own destiny. Now, Mr. Speaker, behind every Founding Father and mother who fought to give birth to our Nation and make those ideals upon which this country was founded true for everyone, there is a family. Today, American families face serious strains as it becomes increasingly difficult to afford a home, childcare, education, healthcare, retirement, groceries, paying their energy bills. Black families especially face challenges amidst the cost-of-living crisis that makes it much harder to pay rent or mortgages, put food on the table, keep the lights on, and get the healthcare they need when they need it. {time} 2030 A year ago, the policies put forward by congressional Republicans in what I call the big, ugly bill made that even worse--stripping healthcare away from millions of Americans, shredding our healthcare safety net into tatters, taking food out of the mouths of hungry families, all to benefit the wealthiest top 10 percent in this country. The administration's policies to separate families and slash healthcare funding continue to threaten the well-being of families across the country. Our countr