WH Asked About Efforts To Create Reparations Commission Championed By Late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
During a White House press briefing on Thursday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about legislation promoted by the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee was arrested in Houston, and one of her signature bills in Congress was H.R. 40, which, as you know, would create a commission to study the issue of reparations for African Americans.
00:12She took up that mantle from Congressman, the late John Conyers, and after more than 30 years of this bill being introduced, Congress has yet to be able to pass this bill.
00:23As a result, Congresswoman Jackson Lee, when she was still alive, she urged, along with advocates for President Biden, to take executive action.
00:31Though the White House has repeatedly said that the president's position is that it should happen through Congress, I do wonder, given with only six months left of his administration, and to honor her legacy, whether the president is more amenable to taking executive action, especially given the fact that he announced those Supreme Court reforms that came from a similar commission.
00:51Look, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who we had an opportunity, the president had an opportunity to go to Houston earlier this week to meet with her family, to offer up his condolences in person, and you saw the statement that he put out after we learned of her passing.
01:06She was a hero.
01:08She was beloved, obviously, by the people in Texas and Houston and the community that she represented, but also beyond that.
01:17Certainly her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and in Congress more broadly, and we lift her up and we honor her, not just through legislative action, but obviously honor the work that she has been able to do and what she has meant to so many.
01:36As far as the commission, the president has not changed where he is.
01:41He wants to see, he believes there should be a commission, and he does believe it should be a legislative process.
01:46Obviously, we think it's important.
01:48We want to help in any way to get that legislation done, but I just don't have anything else to add beyond that.