REFLECTING ON AMERICA'S HISTORY

On 2025-04-08, Representative Haley M. Stevens (D-MI-11) delivered a floor speech titled "REFLECTING ON AMERICA'S HISTORY" in the House.

REFLECTING ON AMERICA'S HISTORY

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 63 (Tuesday, April 8, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 63 (Tuesday, April 8, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1494-H1499] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REFLECTING ON AMERICA'S HISTORY (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Stevens of Michigan was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.) Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, it is a profound and humbling honor, as always, to address the Congress, the House of Representatives here in our Nation's Capitol. Of course, I am doing so on behalf of my incredible constituents in southeast Michigan, but also for all the residents of Michigan and this great Nation for, you see, the exercise of our democracy is ensconced and inscribed here in our House Chamber and on our House floor. We use both our voice and our vote to move our Nation forward. As you so declared, Mr. Speaker, I am, indeed, in the minority party, and so to gather time on the House floor is sometimes a struggle. To gather time in a committee is sometimes a struggle. You push for your 1 minute, your 5 minutes, your maybe 15 minutes if you get it. Well, today I asked for an hour. I asked for an hour because last week we had an hour booked and, of course, the House adjourned early. We all paid witness to the incredible history that a Senator from New Jersey gave to this country by breaking the largest filibuster on record. Senator Cory Booker spoke for over 25 hours in the Senate Chamber on behalf of the voices of this Nation who have questions. Of course, we know there are 435 Members in the House Chamber, with each of us representing about 800,000 people. My colleagues from Rhode Island represent just shy of half a million people. In Michigan, I represent just about 800,000 people. We are the tenth largest State in the Union, with 13 House Members and 2 Senators here to move the will of our Nation and to pass the Nation's laws. It is an interesting thing to do so when the size of the institution is remaining as it has been described somewhat by laws. They said in 1913, we would have 435 Members, and we haven't added new Members to the body since. I am not addressing you, Mr. Speaker, to propose controversy, but I am here to speak on behalf of the people of Michigan, who deserve fair and equal representation for the taxpayer dollars that they provide to the Nation's Treasury. When you look at the largest freshwater basins of our Great Lakes, when you look at the arsenal of democracy, when you see our incredible trade unions from Saginaw up to Iron Mountain working and making and delivering--the only polysilicon manufacturing in the Nation exists in Michigan, in a place called Hemlock by a company called Hemlock--you want to make sure that Michigan has its fair and equal representation. However, Mr. Speaker, it has been a point of frustration for my State of Michigan that in my 41, nearly 42 years [[Page H1495]] of existence on this Earth, that my State is always losing representation every time we dare to reapportion the size of the Chamber. Now, we are a close-knit group, the Michigan delegation. The dean of the Democrats is a woman named Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Take a minute and understand who that is. Deborah Insley Dingell is the dean of the House Democrats of Michigan, the wife of John Dingell, the daughter-in-law of John Dingell, Sr., people who stood in this Chamber and passed things of historical importance. John Dingell was the last World War II veteran to serve in this very Chamber, Mr. Speaker. He was a respected individual and is still referenced often by colleagues from both sides of the aisle. In fact, I will never forget coming to Congress in 2019 in the 116th session of Congress. It was my first term. I got sworn in on January 3, as we do. Mr. Speaker, I said to my good colleague, Congresswoman Dingell: I would very much like to sit down with your husband because I knew there was a tradition where he would sit down with all new Members. Of course, I wasn't just asking personally. I was asking because we had four new Members of Congress from Michigan: Mr. Levin, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Slotkin, and myself. I thought it would be nice for all of us to maybe meet with the Dingells. It was winter, and we knew Mr. Dingell's health was failing or shaky. It started to fail, and we were supporting Mrs. Dingell as a delegation. Dan Kildee of Flint was our dean then, and we rallied to show our love and our support. Tragically, we lost Mr. Dingell on an early February day. Mr. Speaker, it was really quite surreal to be in this very Chamber in my first couple of weeks, in this Congress and in the House of Representatives, paying tribute not only to a Michigan legend but an American legend. {time} 1700 We recognized Mr. Dingell in so many ways. We recognized Mr. Dingell in speeches on the House floor from the Democratic leadership under Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Hoyer. If we remember him, even Mr. McCarthy gave some nice words for Mr. Dingell. I was so surprised that a Member of the opposing party would have such kind and inspirational things to say about the former dean of the House of Representatives, 59 long years. Of course, Mr. Kildee booked one of these hours with his colleagues from Michigan to recognize Mr. Dingell. We each got some time to do so as Members. I used that time to share my reflections about Mr. Dingell, and it was so very humbling. It was never anything I expected to do in my second month in this Chamber, but I did it. The very next day, a sacred and incredible man, Mr. John Lewis, came up to me on the House floor. It is very crowded on the House floor, Mr. Speaker. You notice this when we are voting. It is 435 people packed here on the House floor. There is staff. It is sometimes hard to move around. You have to get your vote in, Mr. Speaker. You can't get too entranced in the conversation, or you miss a vote. Mr. Lewis came up to me, and he tapped me on the shoulder. He said to me that he heard my words about his friend, John Dingell, and that he appreciated them. I have shared that story on a few occasions but not necessarily publicly. I have shared it back in my district and with friends and in memory of both Johns, both legends, both titans of the 20th century. I have shared it with our Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in recognition of the moments of passing the torch that we find ourselves in, in American Government and as we push for American change. It was really something else that Mr. Lewis and I had that exchange. It caught me by surprise. Sharing it right now is incredibly humbling, and I appreciate and am grateful for the time to be able to do so, Mr. Speaker, on this House floor. We know that we are a Nation of great passion, of great debate, and of people who come from all over to pay witness to our lawmaking. People come from all over to get their ideas and their thoughts across. They look up at a Capitol that inspires them, that moves them, and that brings together our democracy. Next year, we will celebrate 250 years of America's very existence as a Nation. It is really quite something. In some ways it seems like a long time, and it also seems like a short time. We know we are still writing America's story. We know that we don't engage in politics on the House floor such as campaigning. I would like to make an ethical reflection about our politics which is that at some point an election is had. An election is had. An election happens, and we have to govern. We are governing. We have to govern. We are always thinking about the last election and then the next election. We also have to think about governing. We have to look at it responsibly and reasonably. Of course, we recognize that it can feel right now in this moment frustrating for people, for Members, for the passions that so many have if you are not in the governing seat of authority. Of course, I remember that quite well in the 117th session of Congress. If it is okay, Mr. Speaker, to recognize what the makeup of that session was, we had a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic President. Of course, we had a country in the early days of 2021 that was still reeling from the effects and the implications of a pandemic that wasn't yet over. In fact, people, if we recall correctly, Mr. Speaker, were just beginning to take that vaccine. We were just beginning to push for people to get vaccinated, not forced. I don't think people want to be forced to do anything, but we wanted to put an end to the pandemic. A colleague, of course, through the great tradition of our Michigan delegation, a gentleman by the name of Congressman Walberg, a longtime serving Member of this institution and now the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee that I sit on, he and I had been working on a resolution together. We had actually introduced it in the 116th Congress at the very end of the session. With the introduction of this resolution, we said to ourselves and to the Nation that we wanted the American people to get vaccinated. We also really wanted to make sure that our teachers could get vaccinated because people, Mr. Speaker, wanted to get their kids back in the classroom. They wanted to get them back in the classroom safely and soundly. I know we don't like to dwell on this pandemic period, but I share that because we reintroduced that resolution early into the 117th Congress. I know we don't--well, maybe we do. Maybe we don't want to dwell on some of the actions that occurred in the early days of the 117th Congress. There was an attempt to certify the election that is usually pretty standard. We saw that happen this term. It was, again, pretty standard. On that day, January 6--I know people hear that day a lot--it was not so standard. It was kind of frenzied to say the least. It was very divisive for this Nation. It was very divisive for this Chamber. I think it is fair