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Transcript: Rep. Pressley’s Remarks at the 56^th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast in Boston
January 19, 2026
Boston, MA

Good morning. Y’all, it feels good to be home. 

Good to be in the Massachusetts 7th, good to be in Boston, the city where the union of Martin and Coretta was first forged, a union, a love, a radical Black love that birthed not only four children, Martin, Bernice, Yolanda and Dexter, but gave birth to a movement.

Now last night, we celebrated the divine embrace of Coretta and Martin, an embrace that laid the foundation for a divine assignment. 

As I travel the country and our Commonwealth, I love reminding folks, “before there was Atlanta, before there was Montgomery, there was Boston.” 

And of course, Boston is no stranger to making history. This 50 Year breakfast tradition is historic, both in its inception and the longstanding nature of it. 

Thank you to these two dedicated faith houses. Thank you to the Memorial Breakfast Committee. Thank you to our volunteers, and thank you to our banquet wait staff. And finally, thank you to our keynote speaker, my dear sister friend, the singular Nikole Hannah Jones, who’s also so very fly.

Now, it is certainly a humbling honor and intimidating prospect to be between the genius of Miss Hannah Jones and the award ceremony for our gifted young people in today’s program. 

A wise man once advised when addressing a crowd, “be brief, be sincere, and be seated.” And then church folk in advance of today’s program told me, “Congresswoman, you’ve got five minutes,” seriously. Well, y’all, I better get to it.

Now, do me a favor if you’ve heard some of this before, just pretend it’s the first time. Just like I need you to pretend like this is the first time you’ve seen this outfit. 

Now, as a child, my mother would send me down south to Selma, Alabama to spend time with my great grandmother, Mamma Eliza. She chopped her own firewood, ate what she grew in her garden, kept a snuff tobacco spit can next to her recliner, and was swift with a switch on your behind with a hint of disrespect. 

Now, Mamma Eliza wasn’t formally educated beyond the sixth grade, I don’t think, but she was smart, strong and God fearing. She was nearly six feet tall, but stood even taller to me because she was proud. 

When I returned home from vacation Bible school while I snacked on her homemade whole cakes, y’all don’t hear me, she would rock in her recliner, quilting and humming. I would stare in awe at the nimbleness of her hands, and as an inquisitive child, I peppered her with questions about her life and about the story behind each square she was stitching together. 

When she would finish a quilt, I would wrap it around my shoulders like a cape. I felt as if the life behind each patch was being transmitted to me and I was drawing superhero strength, safety, and freedom from its patchwork covering. I can feel the essence of those moments now. I felt proud and loved wrapped up in Mamma Eliza’s quilt. 

Now, the walls of Mamma Eliza’s Selma home were adorned with our family photos spanning years, and one faded eight by 10, black and white portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

It was appropriate that he was featured among our family, a literal reminder that Martin was ours. He was us, his courage, his brilliance, his faith and pride, all a powerful and beautiful reflection of us.

Family, I know these are chaotic and uncertain times. It is easy to find oneself consumed by the cruelty and dysfunction of it all, but it is essential that we not allow despair to take over. Now, true, there are people who mean our collective humanity harm, who mean Black folks harm, who animate their hate through dangerous rhetoric and policy violence.

And yet I’m no longer asking myself, how low can they go?

Folk who fear DEI more than a dictator. Folk who speak with a mouthful of scriptures but walk with a heart of hate. Folk who claim to be patriots but lead insurrections. Folk who sow chaos, terrorize communities in the name of so-called public safety. 

No, I’m no longer asking how low can they go, only how hard can I and can we fight? And fight we must. 

History has already shown us that appeasement does not work. The only way to beat a dictator is with defiance. 

I don’t know about y’all, but in the midst of this anti-Blackness on steroids, attacks on Black people, Black bodies, Black votes, Black history, Black power and progress, what calms me is knowing that somebody already wrote the blueprint for our survival. 

The blueprint is written in our elders’ strategies for change like that of Byron Rushing and Frieda Garcia and Karen Holmes Ward. 

It’s written in the marches and the boycotts and the mobilizations of our ancestors. 

The blueprint is written in the words of Dr. King, who instructed us, especially our young people, like today’s MLK scholars and art awardees, to have a belief in one’s own dignity, in your worth, in your own somebodiness.

Your life matters. It has ultimate significance. Dr. King said “you should never be ashamed of your color. You are Black and beautiful.”

The blueprint is written and the prayers sent up and the blood that was shed.

So you see, I don’t care what the insecure man with a small mind, small heart—and he hates when I say this—even smaller hands, has to say at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, who thinks he is a king.

I care about the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, the man, the Black man, who was an original architect of Black Lives Matter, who wrote the blueprint for the Civil Rights Movement, for me, for our survival. 

250 years of enslavement, we are still here, covered by our ancestors’ quilts. 

88 years of Jim Crow, we are still here covered by our ancestors’ quilts.

Pandemics and insurrections, we are still here covered by our ancestors’ quilts.

During and after the current occupant of the Oval Office, we will still be here.

Family, we are so much more than resilient. We are miracles manifest. 

Though we find ourselves at an acute crossroads as a nation and as a people, I believe what Dr. King said, “right temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

Now it is no secret that we are being pulled apart at the seams all around us, but there will come a time when we will get to the other side, and we will need to do that radical reimagining and that radical work of Reconstruction.

And we will need, just like my Mamma Eliza, some master quilters that know how to piece together something beautiful from what’s been discarded. 

As I close, I’m reminded of the January 6th insurrection. When I was on the floor in the dark, barricaded in my office, and the voices were getting louder and closer, I remember many, many hours later, an image of Black custodians in the U.S. Capitol cleaning up the mess left behind by this white supremacist mob, wearing t-shirts with antisemitic slogans, brandishing Confederate flags, erecting nooses on the west lawn of the Capitol.

Black custodians cleaning up the mess left behind by this white supremacist mob. It was as literal as it was figurative, because as Black people, we have been doing that. 

But because of those Black custodians, the work that they did made it possible for us to return to the House, to do our business, to ratify those election results. 

Their actions were that of patriots, but we have always been patriots, innovators, defenders of democracy. 

Black people, put on your ancestors’ quilts and keep fighting for freedom and justice. 

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

January 17, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Norma Torres (CA-35) is demanding the immediate release of Jose Oleaz, a Pomona resident and father to his 13-year-old nephew, after ICE detained him during a raid this week, leaving a child who has already suffered devastating loss without the father who has been raising him.

Jose Oleaz has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, works steadily, and poses no threat to public safety. Yet ICE detained him anyway, despite knowing he is the primary parent to a minor child.

“This is wrong, we cannot keep letting ICE terrorize our communities,” said Congresswoman Norma Torres. “ICE detained an innocent father and ripped him away from a 13-year-old child who depends on him for safety, stability, and love. This child has already endured unimaginable loss, and now the government is inflicting even more trauma. ICE should be focused on finding and removing people who pose real threats to public safety, not targeting hardworking fathers who are doing everything right, working day and night to care for their families and keep their children safe.”

Bryan Gonzalez, lost his aunt two years ago. After that tragedy, Oleaz stepped in as Bryan’s father, raising him.

ICE detained Oleaz on Wednesday during a raid in Pomona, ignoring the predictable harm this action would cause to a child who has already endured trauma. Oleaz is the family’s primary breadwinner and also cares for his father, who is battling cancer. He has worked for years at the same landscaping company and is described by family members, educators, and community leaders as responsible, hardworking, and deeply devoted to his family.

“ICE has full discretion to release fathers like Jose Oleaz,” Torres continued. “There is no justification for detaining an innocent man and traumatizing a child. Mr. Oleaz must be released immediately and reunited with his family. Children should never be collateral damage. Bryan deserves his father, and Jose Oleaz deserves to be home.”

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Today Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) unveiled new legislation to tackle Granite Staters’ rising energy costs. His bipartisan Energy Burden Tax Credit Act, introduced with Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) would provide a refundable tax credit to families struggling with high energy costs, saving households hundreds of dollars a year on energy.

“No family should ever wonder if they can afford to keep their home warm during the winter months,” said Congressman Pappas. “I’ve heard from a constituent in Dover who told me that her December electric bill was the highest she has ever received, a household in Ossipee whose bill increased by over a hundred dollars last month, and a family on the Seacoast who spend nearly as much on energy as they do on their mortgage each month. That’s why I’m introducing several bipartisan bills today that create a new energy tax credit to put money back in people’s pockets, help military families weatherize their homes, and improve energy transmission so that we can bring down energy costs at the source.”

New Hampshire has some of the highest energy costs in the nation and for lower and middle income families, including the 25% of New Hampshire households that earn less than $50,000 each year, energy costs pose a significant burden. Pappas’s bill provides individuals and households who spend more than 3% of their income on energy with a refundable tax credit equal to 75% of the excess amount they spend on energy. 

Under Pappas’s legislation a family in New Hampshire that makes $50,000 and pays the average cost of energy in New Hampshire, about $2,676 per year ($223 a month), would receive a refundable credit of $882, effectively reducing their energy costs by a third. 

Pappas is also introducing the following new legislation today:

• His bipartisan Transmission Facilitation Program Reauthorization Act, which would restore DOE’s program providing states and municipalities with federal support for projects developing new transmission lines or upgrading existing transmission lines, helping accelerate project timelines and increase grid capacity. 

• His Heroes Home Energy Savings Act, which would reauthorize and increase funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program Enhancement and Innovation Grant to spur innovation in weatherization and provide active duty and reserve military families with grants to help lower their energy costs. 

Pappas is a fierce advocate for efforts that lower energy costs for Granite Staters and programs that help low-income families pay their bills, and has repeatedly called on both Democratic and Republican administrations to stop the export of oil to foreign adversaries and protect and strengthen the LIHEAP program, including successfully pressing the Department of Health and Human Services to take all necessary steps to ensure that the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds were distributed to the states by November 30, 2025. He has also previously introduced, cosponsored, or called for the passage of the following legislation: 

• Pappas leads the bipartisan Bolstering Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve Act, which would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct a long-range strategic review of the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve (NEHHOR) and report to Congress on opportunities to strengthen it.

• He supports the bipartisanBanning Oil Exports to Foreign Adversaries Act, which would prohibit the sale or export of our nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to foreign adversaries including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, closing a dangerous loophole that threatens U.S. energy and national security

• He supports the Energy Independence and Affordability Act, which would reinstate clean energy tax credits established by the Inflation Reduction Actand repealed by Republicans last year. These credits would help individuals, families, small businesses, and manufacturers save money on clean energy, including purchasing clean vehicles or making upgrades such as installing rooftop solar. 

• He supports the bipartisan Weatherization Enhancement and Readiness Act of 2025, which would reauthorize and improve the Weatherization Assistance Program and guarantee the program can continue to provide weatherization services to tens of thousands of homes every year, saving households hundreds on their energy costs, and led the New Hampshire delegation in calling on the Trump administration to immediately release $9 million in delayed funding for Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to New Hampshire.

• In 2025 Pappas led 90 of his Congressional colleagues in calling for the protection of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the rehiring of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff who manage the LIHEAP program that were fired, and he supports the bipartisan LIHEAP Staffing Support Act, which would set a minimum staffing level within HHS to administer LIHEAP.

Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01), a founding member of the Congressional Postal Service Caucus, announced that three of his provisions to strengthen the United States Postal Service (USPS) passed the House of Representatives as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) report. The language would address top issues impacting mail delivery for rural communities, including USPS plans to limit the number of times mail is picked up from rural post offices, to consolidate processing facilities, and to close local post offices. 

“The U.S. Postal Service provides an essential public service, and chronic mail delays impact everything from people’s health to the success of our small businesses,” said Congressman Pappas. “USPS must improve service, not make it worse. I fought for these provisions to prevent harmful facility downsizing and improve and safeguard mail service for communities across New Hampshire, and I’m glad that they have passed the House. I’ll continue to support efforts that strengthen mail service and delivery.”

Specifically, Pappas’s provisions that passed in the FSGG report are: 

• A recommendation that the USPS reevaluate its Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) plan to ensure that rural Americans do not experience further mail delays. The RTO plan limits the number of times mail is picked up from post offices more than fifty miles away from Regional Processing and Distribution Centers.
• A recommendation that the USPS halt any realignment, consolidation, or partial consolidation of processing or logistics facilities that provide services to postal districts that at any point over the past calendar year have failed to meet 93 percent on-time delivery for two-day single-piece First Class mail and 90.3 percent on-time delivery for three-to-five-day First Class mail.
• A recommendation that the USPS halt any plans to close any post office if that post office serves more than 15,000 people or if there is not another post office within 15 miles. 

In 2024, in response to USPS’s announcement that it planned to close the Manchester USPS Processing and Distribution Center, Pappas worked alongside a bipartisan group of his House colleagues and the New Hampshire delegation to call on then United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to reverse course on these plans. Heeding Pappas and his colleagues’ calls, USPS paused the implementation of proposed changes to the Manchester facility in May 2024.

Background:

Congressman Pappas is a strong advocate for the U.S. Postal Service and ensuring Granite Staters receive fast, reliable mail and package delivery. He has introduced the bipartisan Postal Suspension Transparency Act to bring transparency to the postal emergency suspension process and ensure access to mail during any temporary post office closure. Earlier this year, he helped introduce the bipartisan Protect Postal Performance Act to prevent USPS from downsizing facilities in underserved areas, provide oversight over modifications to delivery schedules, and increase public transparency. He has also consistently pushed for passage of the bipartisan Porch Pirates Act, which would increase penalties for package theft by so-called ‘porch pirates.’

In the 117th Congress, Pappas helped pass the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, which was signed into law, and made urgently needed reforms to ensure the USPS’s longevity.