PERSONAL EXPLANATION

On 2026-06-24, Representative Kweisi Mfume (D-MD-7) delivered a floor speech titled "PERSONAL EXPLANATION" in the House.

PERSONAL EXPLANATION

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E615] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PERSONAL EXPLANATION ______ HON. KWEISI MFUME of maryland in the house of representatives Wednesday, June 24, 2026 Mr. MFUME. Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, I missed votes due to my obligations given that it was Maryland's primary election day. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 223 and YEA on Roll Call No. 224. Final passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act was originally set for the second vote series on Wednesday, June 24, the day after primary elections in Maryland, New York, and Utah. The Speaker chose to move it up to Tuesday evening's suspension calendar instead, at a time when he knew Members from three states would be home with their constituents on Election Day. The Speaker moved this vote because his own conference was in open rebellion over the schedule he had set for Wednesday. The result was that more than 40 Members, from both parties and from all three states holding primaries, were not recorded on final passage of a housing bill the House had already approved once before by a vote of 396 to 13. The Speaker put his internal conference politics ahead of his obligation to give every Member a fair opportunity to vote, and ahead of the voters in three states who deserved their Representatives' full attention on Election Day. He owes this institution, and the people of Maryland, New York, and Utah, better than that. I was proud to vote yes for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act when it passed this House earlier this year. This is a good, bipartisan bill that will increase the supply of affordable housing at a moment when families in Baltimore and across Maryland's 7th District are being priced out of homeownership, and too often, out of stable housing altogether. It expands access to modern manufactured housing, lets localities use Community Development Block Grant funds to build new housing, and protects veterans receiving VA disability paments from losing housing assistance they have earned. These are the commonsense solutions this Congress should be delivering more often. ____________________