REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ (D), New York: I am proud to speak to you as a Hispanic American, as a proud Latina and a Puerto Rican.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: From being the first in my family to attend college, to becoming the first Latina to chair a full congressional committee in Congress, my story has been the American dream.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: And, as Democrats, we want to strengthen the American dream for all.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: In Spanish, there is a saying that many mothers tell their children. (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: "Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are."
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: Tonight, I want to talk about who I have seen President Obama walk with.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: President Obama has walked with our small businesses, our job creators.
He knows small businesses are the backbone of our economy. That is why he has signed 18 tax cuts into law, to help our entrepreneurs succeed.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: President Obama has walked with seniors. President Obama's health care law won the support of the AARP because it strengthens Medicare without cutting benefits and helps millions of seniors with free preventive care and more affording prescription drugs.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: President Obama has walked with our young people, America's future.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: He has made investments in the future that pay enormous dividends for our nation, from government funding for Pell Grant scholarships to make college more affordable, to Head Start, to community college, to job training.
President Obama has walked with America's women.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: President Obama is helping women access preventive health services, like cancer screenings, contraception and well -- women exams.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney and Republicans in Congress would like to roll back a woman's access to important preventive care, turn over women's health decisions to their bosses and defund Planned Parenthood.
(BOOING)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: And President Obama has walked with the Hispanic community.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: Because of President Obama's work, more Hispanics have access to health care, more Hispanic students can afford a college education.
And now dreamers who are American in every way except on paper no longer live under the shadow of deportation.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: Mitt Romney, on the other hand -- Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is walking away from us. He walks with people who disrespect us and people who divide us, and people who do not believe that the American dream means all of us.
President Obama has walked with us for the last four years in good times and in tough times. And now we are going to walk with the president to the polls and onward to victory.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
REP. NYDIA VELAZQUEZ: Thank you, Democrats!
May 21, 2013
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