Cori Bush — Congresswoman Bush Delivers Farewell Address

Speaker 1: St. Louis and I rise just as we have risen so many

Speaker 2: times before over these last four historic years. Together we came into this work with a simple mission to transform Missouri's first district by taking care of

Speaker 3: the people. On day one We vowed to do the most for St. Louis, starting with those who have the greatest need. We were clear-eyed of what was in front of us, ahead of us, and behind us. We

Speaker 4: stayed focused, we stayed committed. St. Louis, we came to Congress after unseating a 52-year political family dynasty. I ran for this seat twice to win it, and today I stand before you as the first Black woman and first

Speaker 5: nurse to represent Missouri in Congress, the first woman to represent Missouri's first congressional district, and the first activist from the movement to

Speaker 1: save Black lives to serve in Congress. From the day that I was sworn in, I have brought you my community, and my

Speaker 6: own lived experiences with me into every vote, every committee hearing, and every floor speech

Speaker 4: St. Louis and

Speaker 1: I, I am proud to be the people I represent

I am

Speaker 1: the young girl who grew up in a working-class household where my father was a union meat cutter and my mother was a computer

Speaker 7: analyst. am the teenager who had my first abortion

at

Speaker 6: the age of 18 after being sexually assaulted at the age of 17

I am the

Speaker 6: young woman in her early 20s who endured an abusive

Speaker 7: relationship that nearly ended my life. I am the mother who endured

Speaker 8: pregnancy and childbirth complications who encountered biased medical care that was dismissive of my pain

I am

Speaker 2: the formerly

Speaker 1: Single mother to two beautiful children, Zion and Angel, who will always be my greatest accomplishment. I am

the nurse

Speaker 4: and pastor who cared for others throughout our community. I

am

Speaker 1: the asthmatic adult who understands the challenges of being uninsured

I am

Speaker 1: the activist from the front

Speaker 7: lines of Ferguson, the Ferguson uprising movement, who in

Speaker 3: 2014 was out on the streets for over 400 days, protesting police violence after the killing of Michael

Brown. My life

Speaker 3: experiences are different from many of my colleagues here on Capitol Hill, but outside these walls, my experiences are all too familiar

In

Speaker 3: Missouri and across

Speaker 6: the country, people are living multifaceted lives and they endure

Speaker 4: the decisions we do and don't make in this chamber each and every day. Like me, one in four people of

Speaker 7: reproductive age have had an abortion before the age of 45 in the United States. Like I was, over 580,000 people in the U.S. experience homelessness on any given night. And in Missouri, nearly 6,000 people are living without stable homes. almost a quarter of them unsheltered like I've been nearly one in five women and one in 71 men in the U.S. have been raped at some point in their lives and in Missouri one in three women and one in seven men have experienced sexual violence and just like I have endured approximately 41 percent of women and 26 percent of men across our country have reported that they have experienced

a

Speaker 1: form of domestic violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime. And in Missouri, our state has the third highest rate of domestic

Speaker 3: violence in the U.S. St. Louis, you

Speaker 1: sent me to Congress because I reflect the struggle so many people in our community endure

And

Speaker 9: throughout my tenure in the People's House, I've turned my pain into purpose. I've testified before the House Oversight Committee, sharing my abortion story for the first time. I knew that there are others out

Speaker 10: there, like me, who never shared or may never share their truth with their family members or their friends, but are

Speaker 1: living through this reality, horrified

It's led

Speaker 1: me to fight and put my body on the line to protect medication abortion, to protect sexual and reproductive health, to stop the Comstock Act, to secure abortion justice, to finally, finally finalize the Equal Rights Amendment, which we're pushing President Biden to do in the next 39 days. And on this point... I'm so proud to be one of two black women to ever sponsor legislation to ratify the ERA in its 101 years long history. To have co-founded and co-chaired

Speaker 5: the first ever Congressional Caucus on the Equal Rights Amendment. Black women have always been integral to the fight for equal rights

Speaker 1: and so often relegated to its footnotes. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and I have forever changed that

My life

Speaker 1: experiences have shaped and informed this work

I've

Speaker 10: been violated, I've been shot at, raped, and assaulted

Speaker 11: by people I've known and people I've loved

So I

Speaker 3: deeply understand the statistic that a woman is five times more likely to be murdered when

Speaker 12: her abuser has access to a gun, because

I am

Speaker 12: one of those

Speaker 1: women who have come close to joining that statistic. It's why I pushed so hard for the inclusion of ending the dating partner loophole in the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, because I know safer communities doesn't just mean safer streets. It means safer relationships, too. I've been beaten

Speaker 3: brutalized, and

Speaker 9: assaulted as a Ferguson Frontlines activist. I've grieved with my community for Mike Brown, Kajimi Powell, Von Derrick Myers, Anthony Lamar Smith, and so many others, so, so many others

I know

Speaker 9: that police brutality is a preventable crisis and that it is affecting black and brown communities disproportionately. It is what our movement to save black lives is born out of. And it is why I partnered with that same movement to author the People's

Speaker 7: Response Act, to end police brutality, to end all police violence, to transform community safety, to treat public

Speaker 13: safety as the public health issue that it is

I am

Speaker 1: one of just over 180 black representatives to ever serve in this institution where over 1700 members of Congress who enslaved black people have held

Speaker 7: office. And as the congresswoman representing the very district where Dred Scott was denied citizenship because he

was I've

Speaker 3: seen how the legacy of enslavement persist in the policies that govern our lives today from housing and health care to education and economic

Speaker 7: inequality to mass incarceration and police brutality. It's why I introduced the Reparations Now Resolution, laying out a historic framework for how our government can begin its moral and legal obligation to provide reparations

Speaker 12: to the descendants of chattel slavery in America. Because it isn't enough just to acknowledge the past. We must

Speaker 14: work to reckon with its consequences and act to repair

Speaker 4: its harms. I

ran for this seat to

Speaker 4: deliver for you, St. Louis, for the people. Over the past four years, we have

Speaker 15: delivered over $2 billion in federal investments for our communities. Resources

Speaker 7: that will empower our district and create lasting change for generations

Speaker 1: This includes over $41 million, which has gone toward community projects geared towards homelessness prevention, public

Speaker 7: health, youth engagement, environmental justice, and economic revitalization projects across St. Louis. We have helped to guide thousands of our constituents through federal casework and we establish

Speaker 1: community programs such as Congress in your neighborhood and Congress in your

classroom

Speaker 4: I've refused to settle for crumbs handed to our communities. I've

Speaker 16: sat and listened to SEIU caregivers and so many other union workers and leaders. I've been in community with environmental organizers

Speaker 5: pushing for climate action. I've mourned with grieving families demanding an end to violence, communal violence, gun

Speaker 17: violence

Speaker 8: I've been with the mom who couldn't afford child care or who struggled to feed her family

Speaker 1: So when the president asked us to fight for his economic agenda, his full economic

agenda, I

Speaker 1: fought, we fought

Speaker 2: those sitting behind me, we fought for his full economic agenda. But for a few corporate Democrats, the Build Back Better Act would be the law of the

Speaker 12: land now. would have stopped talking about rising inflation and instead delivered on universal pre-K and affordable

Speaker 4: child care, a permanent monthly tax credit, paid leave, free school

Speaker 18: meals, investments in our caregivers, historic funding to build new affordable housing and rehabilitate crumbling housing stock, expanded Medicare benefits, taxes on billionaire corporations and the ultra-wealthy so that they can finally pay their fair share, And lastly, removing every layer pipe

Speaker 19: poisoning our communities

Speaker 12: We may have lost their fight, but there must be a reckoning. This November

Speaker 9: election has shown that we were right to fight. We were right to fight as hard as we

fought to

Speaker 9: put everything we had for Build Back Better. This party must do better. I've been unhoused. I know

The

Speaker 9: trauma of that pilacy violence, of being forced out on the streets, of not knowing if my two babies would survive the night in our car because of freezing temperatures. I know that. It's why I introduced the first of

Speaker 12: its kind legislation called the Unhoused Bill of Rights, which makes clear the basic human rights and dignity of our unhoused neighbors. It provides the roadmap for ending homelessness by 2027. Congress can do that. We can guarantee safe, affordable, and stable housing for all people and we must. I still remember also, which is what we just

Speaker 1: heard from Congresswoman Ramirez, the day in August 2021 when we were on the brink of the expiration of the federal eviction

moratorium. And with a bill

Speaker 1: waiting to be passed on the House floor, Congress actually gaveled out to head to the comforts of their own homes for the next six weeks. Knowing the indignity of being evicted myself, I could not leave and I

Speaker 10: did not leave. And I have friends who stayed or who showed up and came back. Squad shows up. Because for

Speaker 15: months prior, we had pushed the Biden administration and CDC to prevent a lapse in the pandemic era federal ban on evictions. I knew that so many lives in St. Louis and nationwide were at risk. So I did what I do. I led from my life experience and stayed put right on the Capitol steps. For four nights and five days through cold rain and summer heat, we pushed for our government to act

My

Speaker 12: team and I negotiated with the House and Senate leadership, with the White House, Biden administration officials, including HHS and Treasury, and worked

Speaker 20: in tandem with the Congressional Black and Progressive Caucuses to keep people housed. And the

Speaker 3: White House heeded our call, reinstating the eviction moratorium and keeping 11 million people housed. But it shouldn't. Take such drastic action from lawmakers

Speaker 12: to act. The risk of harming a single person when you have the power not should be enough. Again, as my time here comes to a close, I ask my colleagues here to do better. The decisions we make here within these walls do not exist in a vacuum. They

Speaker 3: ripple outward, touching the lives of millions. They impact the unhoused veterans searching for safety, the survivor waiting to be heard and believed, the child admitted to the emergency room because they're asthmatic and can't breathe. We must honor the humanity and circumstance of those we serve

Speaker 12: because being in Congress is a privilege don't waste it and don't settle don't say well we tried don't

abuse the

Speaker 21: power we've been afforded to make a difference in people's lives the people are depending on you to show up for them and their need you have the power to change the world so don't sit on that power use it to do good deeds and to save and transform lives we are the United States of America. We are the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world so we can't act like the court jester so do better but if you're not willing to do the hard work to shirk the corporate donors in service of everyday people then how can you call yourself a representative i understand this

Speaker 9: and this is why i was one of the first members of congress along with those sitting here with me today to call for a ceasefire and why I am the lead sponsor of the Historic Ceasefire Now Resolution

It's why

Speaker 9: I kept calling for a ceasefire even after the

Speaker 22: White House called us. They called us

repugnant. They

Speaker 21: called us disgraceful

Only to

Speaker 21: turn around and later adopt the same policy without an apology, without even so much as a phone

call. It's why I

Speaker 21: will keep standing up for Palestinian liberation and against genocide, against the infanticide, against the femicide, and against the androicide. It's why I will fight for peace and against endless war, for our collective humanity and against our collective demise, even when my persistence

Speaker 15: bought, and yes, I said bought my successor the seat with a whole lot of Republican money

For

Speaker 3: me, when I came into office, I vowed to be the same person I was then as I am today, to lead with a heart that knows no borders. My love and my fight have always been for all the people. When I was first elected, I toured John Lewis's office. I stood in the space where courage once sat, and I vowed to honor his legacy. And I know many of us in this body have done the same

Speaker 12: but let's be honest too many of us recite his words

without

Speaker 12: without following his example, too many of us who should be allies remain silent

Speaker 15: in the face of injustice. Many of us, especially my Democratic colleagues, we tout that we are the party for human rights, the party for justice, that we fight loud and proud for all people, no matter their race, their background, sexual orientation

Speaker 16: faith or ethnicity

Yet when it

Speaker 16: comes to Palestinian liberation

Speaker 21: so many have chosen silence. Silence in the face of bombed hospitals and schools, displaced families, starvation and illness, entire bloodlines wiped out, and the cries of mothers and children. Silence in the face of apartheid, silence in the face of ethnic cleansing, silence in the face of oppression and racial subjugation that mirrors the systems of Jim Crow, systemic racism and

Speaker 23: inequality that we fight against. here in America. Silence. Maybe

for some

Speaker 23: it's

Speaker 24: because it's easy or because the politics are, what do we hear, too complicated

Those are

Speaker 24: excuses. Those are cop-offs to doing the right thing. And as members of Congress, they are hindrances to

Speaker 12: doing our jobs. In the words of Dr. King, the time is always right to do what is right. So I will keep leading with

Speaker 3: consistent love and consistent respect

for

Speaker 3: all people, no matter their background, the color of their skin, or where they were born. I will fight for every person's right to live, to love, and to thrive. I will keep standing

Speaker 21: up for a free Palestine, for a free Haiti, for a free Congo, for a free Sudan, for a free St. Louis, for a free America, for a free democracy. I will always fight for the people in our country. world who have the greatest need. For those who are incarcerated, unhoused, unemployed, uninsured, food insecure, struggling to make ends meet for our children and for our elders, for victims and survivors of violence, for those persecuted and villainized, for every person who has been historically excluded

Speaker 25: marginalized, silenced, or cast aside by entrenched systems of violent oppression, repression, white supremacy, and systemic injustice

Speaker 18: and if you think it is this

Speaker 15: consistency or this radical love that is a weakness, a mistake, or the reason why I won't be here next year, no. My radical and unconditional love for humanity is not a weakness, it's my superpower

The only

Speaker 21: reason why I will not be here next year is because I didn't bend my morals to special interests. They tried to silence me, but it didn't work. They thought I would crack under the pressure, but they underestimated me. They tried to buy me, but you can't buy someone

Speaker 24: who refuses to be bought. No one can buy my silence. No one can pay me to be silent so their people can then go and drop bombs on other people. I made a

Speaker 16: decision to be changed, not chained. I am reminded of a scripture in Mark 8 and

Speaker 26: 36, for what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose

his own soul

Speaker 27: My colleagues, I share the words of Dr. King who said, in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence

of our friends. Colleagues

Speaker 16: special interests would have you believe that fighting for those who

Speaker 12: others deem unworthy, which, you know, justice, comes at a cost

Speaker 3: that you can't afford. That it isn't worth putting your reputation and livelihood on the line. That sometimes backing down or staying quiet is smart politics. That keeping the status quo is better than

Speaker 21: challenging it

Speaker 15: Well, my Christian colleagues should be familiar with this verse. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how then shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing. If we

are not

Speaker 15: bringing something to the situation to transform it for the better, if we are not being about to change, if we are not the

Speaker 23: reason why people are helped, if we can't season the problem and make it flavorful

If we

Speaker 23: can't bring that flavor to making that

Speaker 28: change that the people need, where we leave a positive mark, then we have no purpose here in this work. And

my words are not for

Speaker 24: condemnation, but reconciliation. Let me be clear, a reminder to love thy

Speaker 15: neighbor as thyself. And so if you won't bomb yourself, we should not be bombing our neighbors

So

Speaker 21: let that word love be about your action. Reflect on your own actions or your inaction. Reckon with your own self and then walk anew in this moment. There

are people in

Speaker 21: this country and around the world who need your voice, who need you to stand up and speak out, who need you to be who you say you are. But for all people

Speaker 15: not just some of the people, don't let them down. Never before have we seen such

Speaker 21: vital collective action on Palestine or support for. the cause for an arms embargo on Israel and never before have we seen such brazen efforts by AIPAC and its affiliates to try and shut out our voices but

they

Speaker 12: wouldn't be coming for us if we weren't powerful so we won't back down Jamal Bowman

We

Speaker 12: won't go backwards. We'll keep fighting for equal rights, for dignity, security, justice, and self-determination for all people

Speaker 16: We understand what the word all means. We'll keep fighting to end the disastrous Citizens United to get dark money out of politics and for the

Speaker 7: representation that everyday people need, not billionaires and billionaire corporations. Now

Every

Speaker 3: elected official knows that the work we do, we don't do it alone. There are so many people who uplift us, support us, sustain us, who prop us up and hold us down in this work

I want to

Speaker 5: take some time to thank some of them now

To my

Speaker 5: chairman and their staff, ranking members Raskin and Nadler, and former Chairwoman Maloney, Thank you for believing in me, for nurturing me and welcoming my perspective. To Carolyn, your mentorship on the ERA has helped me arrive at this point where I am today

Jamie, your work has

Speaker 5: inspired me and your mentorship has meant the world to me. To Democratic House leadership and their staff, thank you for your support. And to every person who calls the Capitol their workplace, every single person who works in this place to keep it going, thank you

To our

Speaker 12: O.G. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, thank you for being a quintessential auntie

Speaker 5: mentor, leader, and friend, for always having my back and showing that even if you have to stand alone, to never compromise

Speaker 7: your values. To CPC

and CBC

Speaker 7: chairs, Pramila Jayapal, Joyce Beatty, Stephen Horsford, for leading our caucuses with foresight and

Speaker 5: openness. And to your staff, including, but not limited to, Vincent Evans and Michael Darner, Thank you to the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for her friendship, mentorship, and commitment to securing justice for black communities, particularly in the form of reparations. I will forever honor your memory. To Senator Bernie

Speaker 6: Sanders, thank you for your leadership and unwavering consistency. If we can say anything, we can say consistency

Speaker 5: Thank you for being a movement builder and an inspiration. To Senator Elizabeth Warren, thank you for being a model for delivering for communities. for stepping out and embracing issues that help everyday people and for embracing me during our action on the eviction moratorium. Senator Markey, you've been a steadfast partner in the work for environmental justice and protecting frontline communities. I'm deeply appreciative that our first bicameral build together made it into law to help prioritize resources to communities like

Speaker 29: St. Louis

And I am

Speaker 29: so grateful and I am so honored

to

Speaker 30: have the

Speaker 31: greatest group of friends within these walls who are anything but silent

Speaker 32: Rashida Ayana Delia Ilhan Jamal Summer Alex and so

Speaker 33: many others our squad was never small and never silent

We have

Speaker 34: changed the course of history. Each of you have made history and made a difference in your own right

And you

Speaker 34: have made a

Speaker 35: difference in my life. And

I'm going to speak

Speaker 35: for Brother Jamal. You've

made a

Speaker 35: difference in his. Thank

Speaker 34: you for your friendship. Thank you for your partnership, your solidarity. Thank you for your, of how you lead and how you've taught me

Thank you for

Speaker 33: bringing all of yourself to Congress. Thank

you for

Speaker 33: how you help communities

Speaker 36: from Detroit to Minneapolis, to Pittsburgh, to Boston, to the Bronx, to Chicago, to Puerto Rico, Central America, to Somalia, to Haiti, to Palestine, and everywhere in between. And

I ask that you hold up our

Speaker 37: sister Rashida over these next two years

Speaker 32: In our absence to my brother, Jamal, we came into Congress together in 2020. I'm so proud to have served with you, my brother

Speaker 38: Served in such a time as this one, you are authentically you

You've represented

Speaker 38: your district in your country with heart and with

Speaker 7: courage. And we are family and if for nothing else, we will always be connected for our time right here in Congress together, our impact on our world and for the experiences that we have endured together this cycle in the last. So thank you for not ever backing down in our work in protecting humanity, no matter the stakes

And to my

Speaker 39: remarkable staff

Amelia

Speaker 32: Letson, Caleb Amenhan, Christopher Key, Claire Shackelford, Isabella Siegel, Jessica Granberry, Jacqueline Greco, Joy Benton, Carla Santian, Kate Salamito, Kimberly Bryant, Marina Shaffa, Rachel Noah Rizzo, and Lenise Wallace, and all of our interns and

all of

Speaker 32: our fellows

To Abbas Alouia

Speaker 32: Danielle Spradley, Stephanie Herndon, Kate

Speaker 14: Kelly, and all those past and present who are ever, forever part of Team Rep. Corey. Thank

Speaker 38: you. You have never, you all have never forgotten the mission, the mission to do the most for

Speaker 36: every single person in St. Louis

Speaker 12: starting with those who have the greatest need. From responding to the toughest of

days, Two

Speaker 12: historic flooding events, a devastating school shooting, displaced housing incidents, verbal attacks and death threats

To the best of

Speaker 36: days, securing the eviction moratorium, transforming people's engagement with government, delivering for our community, for our collective liberation, and building movement-based coalitions. Team Rep. Corey has delivered for St

Speaker 40: Louis, and I am deeply appreciative

every

Speaker 40: single one of you for your love and dedication to the people all of the people

Speaker 41: all of humanity and for the

Speaker 42: betterment

of our world to

Speaker 42: the Ferguson front line to the families to the whole of our movement to save lives thank you for entrusting

Speaker 3: me and my team and our work our work is unfinished and we will never tire we will never back down until justice

is one To my

Speaker 3: family who've always been there with me, to my dad, Earl, super dad, to my mom, happy birthday, today goes 70. To my sister, Kelly, my brother, Perry, my aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, to my incredible husband, our four kids and our grandchild, and our in-love family. You have endured missed holidays, the weight of public scrutiny, and the challenges that come with my calling

Without

Speaker 3: your unwavering encouragement, without your boundless grace and steadfast support, I would not be able to

Speaker 28: dedicate myself so fully to serving St. Louis and to this work. Your love has always been my foundation. Your love has always been my strength. And

to my

Speaker 28: beloved St. Louis, this work was never about one

Speaker 43: single seat

It

Speaker 43: was always about the change that we need to feel, the dreams we dare to dream for ourselves and for our children

Speaker 2: for our legacy, the hopes and the aspirations we have to move beyond struggle and hardship towards opportunity and prosperity

Speaker 3: for all of us. We are the change that we seek. What we have accomplished together over the last four years is nothing short

Speaker 12: of extraordinary

We

Speaker 20: have witnessed history and we have made history. We have laughed and we have cried. We have stood in solidarity and we have stood

Speaker 12: our doggone ground. We have turned our pain into power and our obstacles into opportunities. We have faced challenges

Speaker 15: head on and we have emerged stronger than ever. We are

Speaker 28: St. Louis. Though

we know

Speaker 28: that there is yet still much more work left

to do

Speaker 43: Together, we have shown that it is possible to lead with purpose and moral clarity and to fight with honor and

Speaker 7: love for all people

While my time

Speaker 7: in Congress may be coming to an end, for now

for now, know

Speaker 1: this. I came into Congress with my voice. Congress didn't

Speaker 44: give that to me. So Congress can't take that away when I leave

Speaker 27: It has been the honor

of my life to be your

Speaker 45: congresswoman in

Missouri's first district. Mom and dad, I know

Speaker 42: you're proud

Speaker 33: So, From St. Louis to Gaza and everywhere beyond and in between

Speaker 2: always remember this congresswoman loves you and will always have your back, even if it means I lose

Speaker 27: something. So until we rise again, St. Louis, I love you. I yield back my time to the chair