"I ask for the continuing support of this Congress and the American people," said President Sirleaf. "We ask that we continue working together but we do not ask for patronage. We do not want to continue in dependency. The benefits of your assistance must be mutual."

CBC members have joined in requesting $50 million in emergency supplemental appropriations for Liberia, including $30 million for emergency employment activities to strengthen security and build roads, $10 million to establish an electricity grid and $10 million to demobilize and reintegrate excombatants.

"President Sirleaf delivered what I consider the most powerful, substantive and impassioned speech to our joint legislative body than any other head of state I have heard," noted U.S. Representative Melvin L. Watt (D-NC), CBC Chair. "The Congressional Black Caucus is committed to the success of President Sirleaf and to the continued resilience of Liberia."

"We will demonstrate that democracy can work, even under the most challenging conditions," continued President Sirleaf. "We will strive to be America’s success story in Africa, demonstrating the potential in the transformation from war to peace; demonstrating the will to join in the global fight against terrorism; demonstrating that democracy can prevail and demonstrating that prosperity can be achieved."

"Last year President Johnson-Sirleaf made history by becoming the first woman to be elected president in all of Africa," said U.S. Representative Donald Payne, Co-Chair of the CBC’s International Affairs Task Force. "Today, she made history by becoming the first African woman to address a joint session of the Congress. Many challenges lay ahead but we will work with the President to ensure Liberia's path towards lasting peace and reconstruction".