00:01Thank you, Congresswoman Kelly, and thank you to all of our friends who have come here to seek refuge as they deal with, I think, a man-made catastrophe and crisis for democracy.
00:16I have three points I want to make. First of all, when a flood devastated parts of Texas, leading to 130 people dying, including children, did Greg Abbott call a special session to create disaster relief for people? No.
00:38Did he call for a special session to help families rebuild? No. Did he call a special session to strengthen warning systems so that people could avoid the catastrophe that happened during the flood? No.
00:54Instead, he did the bidding of Donald Trump, who asked him to basically banish Democrats from the federal delegation representing Texas in Washington, D.C.
01:04My second point is this. Greg Abbott, don't mess with Texas.
01:13Don't mess with Texas because the people here represent Texas.
01:19You can silence them. You can smear them. You can saddle them with debts and fines, but you cannot intimidate them.
01:26And these people will not be intimidated. So I lead to my third and final point.
01:31Don't mess with democracy. Don't do it. You can play that game in Texas.
01:37You can gerrymander the hell out of that map. Guess what? Two can play that game.
01:44Other states will do exactly the same thing and neutralize what you're trying to do in Texas.
01:49It's not going to work because we are not going to let it work.
01:54We are going to stand strong with these courageous individuals who are standing behind me,
01:59who've come to Illinois knowing that the rest of the nation is with them.
