CHARLOTTE, Sept. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a transcript of a speech, as prepared for delivery, by The Honorable Nydia M. Velázquez, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, New York, at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, September 4, 2012:

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Thank you, Congressman Gonzalez.

Tonight, I'm proud to speak to you as a patriotic Hispanic American, as a proud Latina, and as a Puerto Rican.

From being the first in my family to attend college to becoming the first Latina to chair a full congressional committee in Congress, my story has been the American dream. And as Democrats, we want to strengthen the American dream for all.

In Spanish there is a saying that many mothers tell their children: "Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres." "Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who you are."

Tonight, I want to talk about who I've seen President Obama walk with. President Obama has walked with our small businesses—our job creators. He knows small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and that is why he has signed 18 tax cuts into law to help our entrepreneurs succeed.

President Obama has walked with seniors. President Obama's health care law won the support of the AARP because it strengthened Medicare without cutting benefits and helps millions of seniors with free preventive care and more affordable prescription drugs.

President Obama has walked with our young people—America's future. He has made the investments in their future that pay enormous dividends for our nation: from doubling funding for Pell grant scholarships to make college more affordable, to Head Start, to community college, to job training.

President Obama has walked with America's women. President Obama is helping women access preventive health services like cancer screenings, contraception and well-women exams. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney and Republicans in Congress would like to roll back a woman's access to important preventive care, turn over women's health decisions to their bosses, and defund Planned Parenthood.

And President Obama has walked with the Hispanic community. Because of President Obama's work, more Hispanics have access to health care, more Hispanic students can afford a college education, and now dreamers who are American in every way except on paper, no longer live under the shadow of deportation.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is walking away from us. He walks with people who disrespect us, and people who divide us and people who don't believe that the American dream means all of us.

President Obama has walked with us for the last four years—in good times and in tough times.

And now, we are going to walk with the president to the polls and onward to victory.

Thank you, Democrats!

SOURCE 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee