House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) denounced the GOP's Big Beautiful Bill's labor provisions in a marathon speech against the legislation on the House floor.
00:00Amongst this all-out assault that we are witnessing in the United States is an
00:12all-out assault on organized labor, an assault on collective bargaining, an
00:23assault on the freedom to negotiate. What's the difference, Mr. Speaker, between
00:32us and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle? I think one of the things
00:39that is a clear difference, Mr. Speaker, is that we believe, we recognize, that in
00:49connection with this journey, work hard, play by the rules, imagine and dare to
00:59dream the ability to live the good life, to experience the American dream. An
01:07American dream that when you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able
01:14to provide a comfortable living for yourself and for your family. Educate your
01:25children, purchase a home, have access to high-quality health care, go on vacation
01:39every now and then, and then one day retire with grace and dignity. That's the
01:48American dream. That's the ability to afford and access the good life. And we
02:03believe, as House Democrats, that no single force in the United States of America has
02:13done more to bring the American dream to life than organized labor. And we will
02:19continue to stand up for organized labor today, tomorrow, and always. Not undermine
02:29good-paying union jobs. That's what this bill, this one big ugly bill does in the United
02:41States of America. We're going to stand up. Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. Stand up. For
02:49organized labor. This is personal to me. My parents, Marlon Jeffries,
03:18Lanita Jeffries, they raised us, my younger brother Hassan and I, they raised us in a
03:25working-class union household. I'm thankful for that. We were raised in central
03:36Brooklyn. Now, my mom grew up in Connecticut and I mentioned that must be Johanna Hayes. I
04:02don't see Rosa DeLauro on my sightline, but we're so thankful for all of the members of the Connecticut
04:11delegation. I'm an unofficial sixth member of the Connecticut delegation. My mom raised in Bristol,
04:19Connecticut. She went to Bristol High School. Thankful for my mom. And my dad, I mentioned earlier,
04:30he grew up in Newark. That must be LaMonica McIver. I grew up in Brick City. I mentioned earlier, he had a
04:57nickname, Pudding. I failed to ask him, but I'm going to see if my mom can unlike the key to that nickname for me.
05:12My mom grew up in Bristol, Connecticut. And my father grew up in Newark. And I mentioned earlier that he then went off
05:28to serve this country in uniform as an Air Force member, served in Germany during the Cold War.
05:49I think about that a lot. I didn't get to talk too much about it. I wish I would have had the
05:58opportunity to talk a little bit more with my dad about that. It's an extraordinary thing in the United
06:07States of America that someone could grow up in inner city Newark and then have the ability, in part,
06:22thanks to President Harry Truman, to serve with people of all races to defend this great country.
06:36I wish I would have had the opportunity to talk to my dad a little bit more about his experience in
06:43Germany because the one thing that I've been able to take away from that experience was that
06:49he came back having fallen in love with Heineken and Becks. But he came back after serving this country.
07:08Mr. Speaker, in uniform, as so many men and women do right now in uniform, and let me make clear,
07:25we're so thankful, we're so appreciative of the courage of the men and women in uniform who serve in the United States military,
07:36and we will always stand behind you. We thank you for your service, your patriotism, your courage, your heroism,
07:49and your sacrifice, lifting up the freedom that is America. You are not suckers, you are heroes. You're not suckers,
08:06you are heroes. We're thankful for your service.
08:13The men and women. No better height person than Frederica Wilson.
08:28So my dad, as I mentioned, grew up in Newark. My mom, in Bristol, Connecticut. So they meet at Central State University.
08:48I'm proud to know a historically black college and university that has given so much historically black colleges and universities to the United States of America,
09:06and we will always stand behind you. Always stand behind you.
09:13We will always stand behind you. I wouldn't be here right now without a historically black college and university.
09:21I'll never run away from that. I will never run away from that.
09:31And we're proud of the fact, we can check the record, proud of the fact that over the last few years prior to this administration,
09:39historic investment in Hispanic-serving institutions, in historically black colleges and universities, in higher education.
09:52That's part of who I am right now. I don't know if I'll have time to tell the story of my grandmother. Maybe I will.
10:02Take the time! Take the time! Take the time! Take the time!
10:07Take the time!
10:12I got so many stories, I feel like I'm in a hip-hop studio right now.
10:15But they all relate to what makes every single one of us, every single Democrat, have a story to tell.
10:31A story to tell.
10:35Brooklyn will get that.
10:38Every single one of us, every single one of us, have a story to tell.
10:44That leads us to this moment.
10:48It's the reason why we're fighting hard against this incredible and unprecedented assault on the American way of life.
11:04And an assault on organized labor.
11:08So my parents, they meet at Central State University.
11:21And Dad would tell us, my younger brother and I, that it was love at first sight.
11:32But apparently my mom said, not so fast.
11:36But it worked out, I'm thankful for that.
11:41They met at Central State University.
11:45And so of course I mentioned that.
11:50Mom from Connecticut, father from New Jersey.
11:54Why was it that we grew up in New York City?
12:06Apparently they compromised and moved to Brooklyn.
12:11And so I'm raised in Brooklyn, New York.
12:15Working class neighborhood.
12:19In the middle of the crack cocaine epidemic.
12:24Dangerous times.
12:28In New York City.
12:31In a union household.
12:32Proud that I grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church.
12:36Still a member of the Cornerstone Baptist Church.
12:41Grew up in this union household.
12:46And Mr. Speaker, I land on that moment and every single one of us as House Democrats have a similar story to tell.
13:01And I think about why in our heart, in our soul, in our essence, in our experience, we're so horrified by the attacks on organized labor.
13:13Because we understand the importance of what organized labor has meant to the American journey.
13:24My mom and dad were both public servants throughout their entire lives.
13:34My mom worked for 45 years, DC 37, for the city of New York.
13:43My dad, he worked for 30 years.
13:49He was a member of the Public Employees Foundation.
13:51He was a substance abuse social worker.
13:56Dealing with addiction.
14:00During the heroin explosion of the 1970s.
14:02The crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s.
14:09But they got married in 1967.
14:15And they were newlyweds.
14:18And many people familiar with the history of the labor movement, particularly in New York City, know that in 1967, the Social Service Employees Union, which they both belonged to at the time, famously went on strike.
14:40For better pay, better healthcare, better working conditions, and most importantly, better service to the clients that they served.
14:55And I've thought about that fact.
14:59They were newlyweds.
15:03A few months in.
15:04And they had to make a decision when the Social Service Employees Union went out on strike.
15:17Whether they would cross the picket line.
15:23Because it was unclear, perhaps, how they would pay for food and rent and clothing.
15:36Whether they were newlyweds in a new city.
15:39Or, Mr. Speaker, were they going to stand in solidarity with their Union brothers and sisters?
15:56I'm so thankful, Mr. Speaker, when I learned that my parents made that decision to stand on that picket line for as long as it took in solidarity with their Union brothers and sisters.
16:14That's part of our DNA.
16:17That's part of why we fight so hard.
16:21We can all trace a similar story.
16:28An inheritance from our parents and our grandparents.
16:31All of us have that kind of story to tell.
16:41Why am I so thankful that my parents made what I believe was a tough personal decision, but, of course, the right decision?
16:58It's because of what that Union membership actually meant to my journey and my younger brother's journey.
17:10In 1973, my younger brother was born with a serious heart condition.
17:23He's okay right now.
17:25He's doing well.
17:29Right now, he continues to say on social media that he's our mother's favorite son.
17:38Let me say from the House floor, no, you are not.
17:45I think she favors both of us.
17:50A younger brother, 1973.
17:52He's born with a serious heart condition.
17:57He's okay right now.
17:59He's okay right now.
18:00He's born with a serious heart condition.
18:02I'm thankful that it was that Union negotiated healthcare that got our family through that difficult moment.
18:14That's why we do what we do.
18:16Our own personal experience.
18:21And then in the early 80s, my parents, modest living.
18:29Neither of them, even at the tail end of decades-long careers, ever made more than $50,000.
18:39But in the early 80s in Crown Heights, rough neighborhood, central Brooklyn, they bought their first and only home.
18:54They were able to buy that home.
18:57The home that my younger brother Hassan and I were raised in because of that union negotiated salary.
19:04And pay off the mortgage down to zero because of that union negotiated salary.
19:12This is personal to us.
19:16Our own journey.
19:19And lastly, as it relates to this part of my journey, why we all fight for what we fight for.
19:29Why we stood behind Mike Thompson's amendment to protect good paying union jobs.
19:41I went to college.
19:42I went to Binghamton University.
19:46When I first got here, I was surprised to learn, actually, that I was the first graduate of Binghamton University ever elected to the United States Congress.
20:08I was shocked to learn that.
20:12But not the last.
20:15Because Vindman and Mannion have now joined us.
20:19And so we tripled the size of the Binghamton University delegation.
20:27It's part of the reason why we stand up for higher education and public education.
20:35That's our own experience.
20:40I graduated from Binghamton University.
20:47My younger brother graduated from Morehouse University.
20:56I think that was Hank Johnson.
21:01Samford Bishop.
21:14Graduated from Morehouse.
21:17I graduated from Binghamton University.
21:22Somehow, we managed to graduate from college without owing anything.
21:37And for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how.
21:42Because as I mentioned, my mom, my dad, they just earned a modest living all throughout their careers.
21:55So one day, I had a conversation with my mom, and I was trying to figure it out.
22:00How did you pull that off?
22:02She said, well, I wanted to make sure my two sons could have a clean start to life.
22:14So I borrowed against my union negotiated pension.
22:20To make sure my two sons could get free and clear of loans and get a higher education.
22:28As part of our effort to experience the American dream.
22:33And so we all say, we all say to our brothers and sisters in organized labor,
22:40you don't ever have to worry about whether House Democrats are going to stand up for you,
22:46because you've always been there for us.
22:50You've always been there for us.
22:53You've always been there for us.
22:58That's our personal story.
23:04And every single one of us.
23:08Every single one of us.
23:11We do this work because we've lived a life of opportunity that this great country has provided to us.
23:25And we're deeply troubled, saddened, disgusted that this great institution, this House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker,
23:36Republicans are trying to jam this one big ugly bill down the throats of the American people.
23:43A bill that hurts everyday Americans in order to reward billionaires with massive tax breaks.
23:55Shame on this institution if that bill ever passes.
