“Thank you very much, [House Democratic Caucus Chair] Hakeem Jeffries and [House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair] Pete Aguilar. We got in late [Wednesday] or early [Thursday] morning, and I think everybody was wondering, 'how is this going to go?'

“We call it a retreat, but I’d call it a Resolving of Renewal that, we will continue to work on behalf of the people. That resolve was strengthened by the positive nature of what [Rep.] Sean [Patrick] Maloney is going to tell you in a short time, but also by the panelists that we heard [from] focus on how we reach out, [and] make policies for the people to lift them up.

“Very frankly, the American people, and this country, and the world received a gut punch from the pandemic, and we have responded with vigor and with effectiveness to that gut punch, which is why we are confronting an economy that is one of the fastest growing economies that we've seen in many decades. We mentioned the number of people employed of 7.4 or 5 or 6 million people. That's in the context of in the previous four years, prior to the Biden Administration, losing 2.2 million jobs in America. What an extraordinary turnaround. Unemployment now down to 4% and lower.

“We come to Philadelphia, the birth of our democracy, to say that we are going to renew our resolve to build this democracy even stronger. And now, the Ukrainian people and the world have received a gut punch. The world led by [President] Joe Biden is responding, responding in a way that is giving the Ukrainians the courage and the resolve themselves to confront an overwhelming show of force by the criminal activity of the Russian army under Vladimir Putin.

“I know that I speak for all of our Caucus saying that we are not going to flag in our commitment to making sure that the American people and the global community stays together and lifts ourselves up. I know the President of the United States is going to come here and has empathy for the American people because they're being challenged by inflation—and yes, he said in the State of the Union, we’re going to bring those costs down. We're going to continue to fight for the [America] COMPETES Act and continue to fight for the Build Back Better Act, and I hope all of you have noticed in this Congress over the last 18 months, the unity of purpose and actions of the Democratic Party for the people.

“I now yield to the Whip from South Carolina, the extraordinary leader, a great civil rights leader and a leader for the people. The gentleman from South Carolina, Jim Clyburn.”