Press Releases

                WASHINGTON--Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) has sponsored a bill (H.R. 2880) that will change the designation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site to a national historical park, the highest level of historic protection and preservation offered by the federal government.  The Prince Hall Mason Lodge, of which Martin Luther King Jr.

            "Tonight President Obama appealed to the very best in the American people.  He suggested we all have a responsibility, as members of Congress and as participants in our democracy, to come together to serve the greatest and highest good.  He encouraged us to us to lay aside whatever divides us and find ways to move forward on common ground , knowing that doing so benefits all of us,

               Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wa) is my seat mate on the Ways and Means Committee.  I have sat next to him for many years.  We have worked closely together, traveled to other states and foreign lands in congressional delegations together, and I will miss his presence here on Capitol Hill.

"I was shocked and amazed by Justice Antonin Scalia's comments in the Fisher v. University of Texas case yesterday.  His suggestion that African Americans would fare better at schools that are "less advanced" or on a "slow-track" reminds me of the kind of prejudice that led to separate and unequal school systems--a policy the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional decades ago.