Yvette D. Clarke
Representative for New York · Democratic · United States
“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise on this day in righteous indignation and vehement opposition to the barbaric policing, detention, and, indeed, even murder of immigrants at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and CBP, on the orders of Donald Trump.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“To my GOP colleagues, tell me this: In what moral, God-fearing nation would the penalty for seeking a better life be a brutal death? In what modern country would people fleeing injustice and inhumanity find nothing but more injustice and more inhumanity?”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“At a time when our democracy is under constant siege by the Trump administration, we must do all that we can to protect those most fundamental and foundational rights. It is a shame that partisan politics has brought us to a point that we cannot agree that access to the ballot box should be a right afforded to every American.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I am Representative D. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 119th Session of Congress, proudly representing New York's Ninth Congressional District in central and southwest Brooklyn.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“Today, the very ideals that Congressman Lewis spent his life fighting to protect are under sustained and unprecedented attack. As we speak, extremist Republicans at the local, State, and national levels are using every tactic in their arsenal to disenfranchise Black and minority communities.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“It is in light of that spirit that we will not stop until we pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore and modernize the protections of the Voting Rights Act to prevent States from erecting new barriers to the ballot box. Mr. Speaker, I will just say that we miss John Lewis.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
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“To my GOP colleagues, tell me this: In what moral, God-fearing nation would the penalty for seeking a better life be a brutal death? In what modern country would people fleeing injustice and inhumanity find nothing but more injustice and more inhumanity? The Statue of Liberty begs to give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Those words call out to the world's most vulnerable people so America might be their survival and not their death. It is time for this terrible experiment in Trumpism to end and, in turn, to secure a new immigration system centered on compassion, not cruelty, not dehumanization, and not death; entrusted to competent officers, not kidnapping, not killer thugs; and bent toward justice, not broken by Donald Trump.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise on this day in righteous indignation and vehement opposition to the barbaric policing, detention, and, indeed, even murder of immigrants at the hands of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and CBP, on the orders of Donald Trump. With immunity granted not by the law, but by lawlessness, President Trump's untrained, unrestrained, and utterly amoral agents within ICE and CBP are perpetrating a crusade of cruelty with very few parallels in our history. It has struck our neighbors, taken our loved ones from their homes, and left dozens of decent people on our streets and those illegally detained dead with no crimes committed, but a belief in an American Dream that no longer exists and has become a living nightmare.”
House of Representatives1 September 2026Source ↗
“It is in light of that spirit that we will not stop until we pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore and modernize the protections of the Voting Rights Act to prevent States from erecting new barriers to the ballot box. Mr. Speaker, I will just say that we miss John Lewis. In this moment, it is up to all of us to pick up the mantle of his legacy and press forward, making good trouble, necessary trouble. {time} 2000”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“At a time when our democracy is under constant siege by the Trump administration, we must do all that we can to protect those most fundamental and foundational rights. It is a shame that partisan politics has brought us to a point that we cannot agree that access to the ballot box should be a right afforded to every American. Congressman John Lewis devoted every day of his life to fighting to make our country live up to its highest ideals--to promise that we are all created equal. From the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the Halls of Congress, the boy from Troy never stopped making good trouble. As he would say: necessary trouble. It is in that spirit that the CBC and House Democrats will always fight back against the voter suppression that plagues our country and impedes access to the ballot box, particularly in Black communities.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“Today, the very ideals that Congressman Lewis spent his life fighting to protect are under sustained and unprecedented attack. As we speak, extremist Republicans at the local, State, and national levels are using every tactic in their arsenal to disenfranchise Black and minority communities. To date, hundreds of bills to restrict voting access have been introduced in States around the country with the aim of closing polling locations, curbing early voting and mail-in ballots, and imposing stricter national voter ID requirements. Right now Republicans in the Congress are fighting to jam through voter suppression legislation, like the so-called SAVE America Act and the Voter ID Act, ushering in a national ID program.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“Mr. Speaker, I am Representative D. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 119th Session of Congress, proudly representing New York's Ninth Congressional District in central and southwest Brooklyn. I thank my dear colleague Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan for anchoring this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour and really setting the table for a conversation that we are having this evening. I rise tonight with my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus to honor the life and legacy of our dear friend and former colleague, the conscience of this Congress, Congressman John Lewis. For more than 30 years in the United States House of Representatives and over the course of his life, Congressman John Lewis never stopped fighting for justice, equality, and the right to vote.”
House of Representatives20 July 2026Source ↗
“The President's actions represent a disturbing new step in his crusade against public education and all it represents. I reject his war against education, just as I will reject whatever bill comes before Congress to further damage the Department of Education.”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗
“They oppose them because families from all walks of life rely on the Department of Education to meet their children's needs. Districts with high rates of poverty depend on Title I funding to serve their students, just as parents of children with disabilities or special needs depend on IDEA funding to give their kids the care they deserve. In New York's Ninth District alone, the administration has already clawed back $4 million in funds that our schools were entitled to. That figure is as much as $300 million across our State. Because of Trump's war on education, classroom sizes will balloon. Teachers' recruitment will plummet. Higher education will be inaccessible for thousands of students. Money will be taken from students with disabilities and special needs and given to the President's allies. Let's be clear.”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗
“At a time when racial segregation is increasing in our schools to levels not seen since before the Supreme Court ruled that separate but equal had no place in the United States, Donald Trump's actions will not only make our schools more segregated and less equal but they will put quality education out of reach for countless young Americans today and in the years to come. No matter what justification the President gives, we know the real reason he is tearing apart the Department of Education. That is to steal money from public schools and funnel it into private ones that don't care about teaching our kids, only indoctrinating them into the cult of Trump. Mr. Speaker, make no mistake. These attacks on the Department of Education are deeply, deeply unpopular in every corner of the country. In fact, two-thirds of Americans oppose them.”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗
“Let me first start by thanking Jennifer McClellan of Virginia and Jim Clyburn of South Carolina for anchoring this evening's Special Order hour on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus. I rise on this day in opposition to President Trump's unprecedented and alarming efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. With no consideration for the will of Congress or the will of the American people, Donald Trump has commenced an attack on education that we haven't seen the likes of since the racist segregationist Plessy versus Ferguson decision declaring separate but equal as an educational doctrine.”
House of Representatives7 April 2025Source ↗