ICYMI: Cortez Masto Delivers Remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute 47th Annual Awards Gala

In Case You Missed It, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) delivered remarks at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) 47^th Annual Awards Gala as celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month kick off across the United States. Cortez Masto celebrated the Latino community's immeasurable contributions to our country and discussed Congressional Democrats' fight to continue delivering for all American families.

A third generation Nevadan, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is the first and only Latina in the U.S. Senate and the highest ranking Hispanic Senator in the Democratic Caucus. She passed a bipartisan resolution recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month in the Senate. She helped create a new series of commemorative circulating coins highlighting remarkable American women trailblazers in the U.S.-including Latinas like Celia Cruz, Nina Otero-Warren, and Jovita Idar. And she's leading the charge in the Senate to build the National Museum of the American Latino on the National Mall.

Below are her remarks as prepared for delivery.

I want to thank CHCI Chair Representative Adriano Espaillat, CHCI's President and CEO Marco Davis, and all the CHCI staff for inviting me and putting such a great event together.

Looking out at this crowd, I feel so much pride in our Latino community and how much it's grown.

When my grandfather, a baker from Chihuahua, Mexico, came to Nevada to pursue the American Dream, the Latino community was pretty small.

As my father grew up and became a larger part of the community, he started regularly getting together with a key group of Latinos in Southern Nevada to discuss how to promote Latino businesses, education, and workers.

That was 40-50 years ago. Today, Latinos make up one third of the population in Nevada! It's incredible.

The Latino community is growing throughout this country. But we all know we continue to face challenges to our success.

That's why the CHC is working together with the Biden-Harris administration to lower costs for Latino families, create clean energy jobs that will help us address the climate crisis, build more homes that working Latinos can afford, and ensure our small businesses have the resources they need to thrive.

Latino families deserve every opportunity - just look at how much we've contributed to this country! The 2024 report on U.S. Latino GDP was just released, and from 2019 to 2022, the Latino GDP in the United States grew faster than the GDP of any of the world's top 10 economies - including China and India!

And yet, we still have a huge pay gap in this country. Imagine how much it would help Latino families if we close that gap.

It's our goal as the CHC to close that gap by ensuring every Latino across this country has a seat at the table.

And what better way to continue to promote who we are than by celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month?

This is our time to share our achievements as Latinos, our culture, our food - to share who we are with this country we love so much.

And our stories deserve to be told! That's why we're working to build a The Museum of the American Latino on the National Mall here in Washington! And it's why we passed a bill out of Congress to put Latinas like Celia Cruz, Jovita Idar, and Nina Otero-Warren on American quarters!

But the CHC is just getting started.

We will continue to stand with Latinos across this country as we fight to restore a woman's right to choose, bring down prices at the grocery store, expand affordable housing, and create a pathway to citizenship for our Dreamers and their families.

Together, we will keep working to ensure future generations of Latinos can live, work, and thrive in this country.

Thank you!

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