House Minority Whip Steve Scalise reacts to the passing of Congressman John Lewis on ‘Fox and Friends.’
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Colleagues, in the incredible
difficult time
we want to bring in now, the
House minority whip were
very pleased to have Congressman
Steve Scalise, and I served
together in Congress and we
served more importantly today
with Congressman John Lewis.
You know I never wanted to
speak after John Lewis, because
his was a force
when he spoke and he didnt
speak often, but when he did, it
was a force,
congressman, Scalise,
yeah, Jason,
what a loss and what a giant
when John Lewis would get up to
speak. He wasnt somebody who
would always go speak, but when
he did, everybody would stop
just because you knew the
magnitude of his voice and
the legacy that he carried along
with his voice, the things that
he did and the non violent way
to seek out justice and racial
equality, and he lived by those
words.
He was somebody honored to serve
with, as you served with him as
well, and at the time you
served with him, you knew you
were serving amongst someone who
was a legend. Who was a giant
who you would tell your kids and
grandkids about
Griff Congressman. He was
certainly a legend and you know
his legacy, one of non violence
and he never broke from that.
You know it was an interesting,
great obituary that Jonathan did
there because it talked about
how he always mate it about his
cause. His struggle not about
himself and im wondering
whether his legacy will live
also with the younger members of
Congress as they come in and
look for ways to make their mark
on history.
I think it will.
I was talking to my colleagues
last night and you know, Cedric
is from that next
generation, and just we all
looked up to John Lewis and John-
would pass on his history of
what he not only learned, but the
pioneer experience. He
really helped pave the way, along
with Martin Luther King Jr for
the civil rights
movement, and it was his blood,
his sweat that helped earn it.
He would bring members of
Congress to Selma Alabama to go
across the Edmond Pettis Bridge
and he invited me- and it was one
of migrate honors to be able to
walk arm in arm across this
bridge, and he talked about
that day bloody Sunday and he
would point to the buildings and
he said thats, where we met- and
here is where you know our Snc
c, the student non
violent coordinating
committee would have their
meetings and, of course, you
approach the bridge and you could just feel the sense of
could just feel the sense of
what you were about to encounter
and what John Lewis
went through that day, where he
was just brutally beaten and
yet still marched on and
inspired a nation to speak, more
justice and equality and really
led to the passing of the Civil
Rights ACT.
Jedediah yeah the loss of an
incredible civil rights
figure. His legacy will be
remembered, never to be
forgotten and we mourn his loss
today. Congressman
another story that weve been
talking about. A lot is with
respect to the coronavirus and
the impact that it has had on
our young kids around the
country and whether or not
they can be in school when to
return to school, how to return
to school, whats safe and what
that looks like well, Joe Biden
has released a school reopening
roadmap
lets, take a look at what that
includes, and then well talk
about it: thirty dollars billion for Ppe,
sanitation products,
custodial services, alterations
to ventilation, systems and
classroom structure, four dollars billion
for upgrading technologies, and
here is Joe Biden on reopening
schools on Twitter.
Everyone wants our schools
to be open.
The question is how to make it
safe, how to make it stick
forcing education students back
into the classroom in areas
where the infection rate is
going up or remaining very high,
is just plain dangerous
Jedediah. This seems to me like
an incredibly smart decision for
the Biden campaign to come
out and present a plan.
Is there a missed opportunity
here by the Trump Adminitration?
Well, President Trump has
been leading the way to reopen
schools.
In fact, I was with Vice
President Pence, Tuesday in Baton
Rouge, when we had a round
establish meeting with the vice
presidents. Whole coronavirus
task force, including Dr Birx,
as well as the heads of the Lsu
system and the southern
university system, talking about
how to reopen schools safely and,
of course, Lsu and Southern all
of our higher ed institutions
will be reopening with students
in the classroom next month. Ourk
12 systems are all working
to do the exact same thing.
I wish Joe Biden be more focused
on how to do it, not whether or
not to do it, because one of
the things youve got to look at
the American Academy of
Pediatrics just came out with
strong guidelines of how to
reopen safely, but in that they
talk about the damage that was
done to students by not being
able to be in school those last
few months of the last school
year and what damage it would
do to students not going
back to schools safely
again. Theres, no trade off of
safety.
Its just lets establish these
protocols and then lets go get
it done.
We put a man on a moon,
we can absolutely reopen our
schools and we owe it to those
kids, as over fifty million
kids counting on us not to come
up with excuses. Why not to do it?
The virus is out there, but
we also know a lot of good
things about how to do it safely
and again. When people like Dr
Birx say yes, you can do it,
you have to do it. We need to go
and focus all of our energies on
getting our schools open for our
kids, so that theyre not denied
that opportunity.
Griff thats right congressman,
the kids are counting on it and
so are the parents.
I have two teenage daughters who
are ready to send these kids
back to school
house. Minority whip, Steve.
Transcript generated on 2020-07-21.