During Sunday’s sit-in on the Capitol Hill steps led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) spoke of her continuing fight against the proposed GOP budget.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I just want y'all to know I came the furthest. I started off in Boston watching you. Yes, yes, yes.
00:08And I flew in because I'm going to the Victory Fund to support our LGBTQ plus community.
00:15But I just wanted to thank Senator Booker and my little brother, my fantastic leader in the house,
00:23for what you are doing today and how you have gathered all of us. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
00:30It takes leadership, and you two are great leaders, along with Senator Klobuchar.
00:35And my district is urban, suburban, and rural. I start on the south side of Chicago, through the suburbs,
00:42and I have 4,500 little farms in my district. 4,500. The girl from Harlem.
00:504,500 farms in my district. So I hear all the sides.
00:56And my parents had a mom-and-pop grocery store, so I know, as a gentleman said, how it's all connected.
01:03If people can't buy food, the grocery stores, you know, don't hire as many people.
01:09They can't buy as much from my farmers. Illinois is number one in soybeans.
01:13Their number one customer is China. So you don't think the tariffs are hurting my farmers?
01:20You know, cutting USAID is hurting farmers across the country.
01:26Then if you cut SNAP, that adds, you know, insult to injury.
01:31But I really want to thank, like the Senator and my leader and my other colleagues have said,
01:37thank all of you, because as Martin Luther King said,
01:40the day comes to an end when good people don't speak up.
01:45And we are fighting with one arm tied behind our back.
01:48Maybe two arms. Maybe two arms.
01:51But we're going to start kicking if it's necessary.
01:55But we need you to be there with us.
01:57We are partners in this struggle.
02:00We are partners in this struggle.
02:02We are all in this together.
02:04So don't forget that, that your voices really do count.
02:08So we do need you to call your representatives, not even the federal ones,
02:14on every level to let them know that you are watching and that you vote.
02:19And I just want to say, last but not least, in my district, if Medicaid is cut,
02:24I have 753,000 people in my district.
02:28300,000 people will be affected.
02:30190,000 people will be affected by SNAP.
02:33That's just my district alone.
02:35If they continue with the Department of Education, almost 7,000 teachers will lose their jobs.
02:41So I need you.
02:42I need you fighting with me.
02:44And I've been fighting.
02:45And the leader puts us to work.
02:47I've had town hall meetings, tele-town hall meetings,
02:50meeting with my school superintendents,
02:52every single thing that I can do to encourage everybody to speak up.
02:56So thank you for being here.
02:57Thank you, guys, for your leadership.
02:59You are the best.
03:01Thank you, Robin Kelly.
03:03Thank you, Robin.
03:03From Boston all the way down here, we thank her.
03:07Thank you, Amy Klobuchar.
03:10Thank you, Amy.
03:11Thank you, Robin.
03:13You can come up to the Capitol Steps if you want to sit here.
03:16I know the crowd is getting big.
03:17But I want to thank little Catherine.
03:19How old is Catherine?
03:20Four years old.
03:21She came out here and delivered me this gift of a picture.
03:24Thank you, Catherine.
03:25We love your picture.
03:27I'm saving this from the day.
03:28Who's next up?
03:30So next up, we've been joined by another distinguished member of the United States.
03:36We're just going to thank you for giving the summaruma of the European Union.
03:42Thank you, Robin.
03:43We're going to thank you for joining us Girls.
03:44The popular Miss Euphoria Riverports�mark camera for next time.
03:45You just want to thank you for inviting us Since I was goingلى.
03:47We're going to thank you for joining us today.
03:48We're looking forward to the back of our contract, here we will take them as a tough bomb as aisiaj쩡ed.
03:51We're looking forward to the principle of starting this year.