Rep. Jackson Lee Suggests Race is Delaying the Debt Solution

The battle continues on Capitol Hill over whether to raise the debt ceiling. Both sides of the aisle have their sticking points, but until now, race had not been a factor.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, suggested during a House floor speech Friday that raising the debt ceiling was being held up by members of Congress because President Obama is black.

"Only this president--only this one--only this one has received the kind of attacks and disagreements and inability to work," she said. "Only this one. Read between the lines."

"What is different about this president that should put him in a position that he should not receive the same kind of respectful treatment of when it is necessary to raise the debt limit in order to pay our bills?" she added.

A member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Jackson Lee said the debt limit was raised many times under previous Democratic and Republican presidents. "In the minority community that is the question that is being raised. Why is this president being treated so disrespectfully?"

"I beg this house and I beg this congress to treat him with the dignity that the office deserves."

Towards the end of her speech, Jackson Lee said she hoped that race was not getting in the way of solving the debt crisis.

"I cannot imagine coming this far in my life, that of my children's life and that of others to come to a point where we would use the uniqueness and the difference of this president to treat him differently. If that is not getting in our way, then there's no reason why we can't come together and solve this problem," she said.