John R. Lewis Post Office Building
Floor Speech
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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for bringing this important legislation to the floor of the House in such a bipartisan way.
I rise today in support of legislation to honor the leadership and legacy of Congressman John Robert Lewis.
I thank the gentleman, who is also from Georgia, for presiding. It makes it very special to all of us.
I support this legislation officially and personally, as our beloved John Lewis was the conscience of the Congress and a dear friend to many of us who served with him.
I came in with the same class as John Lewis, so I served with him for decades, and I had the benefit of seeing up close and personal on a daily basis the special nature of this man.
Let us salute Congresswoman Nikema Williams, who has the awesome privilege of serving in John Lewis' seat for Georgia, for her committed leadership in making this legislation possible.
John Lewis was a titan of the civil rights movement--we all know that--a moral giant on Capitol Hill and in the country, and a hero of American history who transformed our Nation with his vision, his persistence, and his courage.
John offered our Nation a clarion voice for freedom and justice from lunch counters in Nashville to the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the floor of the House. On the floor of the House, John led a demonstration in support of gun violence prevention that was historic.
John's extraordinary sacrifice, indomitable spirit, and endless generosity in the face of unimaginable adversity made him revered in both Houses of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, and across the country.
It was my solemn honor to welcome John back to the Capitol a final time in July 2020 to lie in state.
Then, in July 2021, I had the great privilege of leading a congressional delegation to San Diego to christen the formidable USNS John Lewis.
Today, we again honor John by affixing his name upon a post office in the heart of his beloved Atlanta, another fitting tribute that will inspire generations of Georgians.
It is appropriate we do so today as Americans across the Nation mark the beginning of Black History Month this very day.
As we do so, let us pledge to continue to carry on John's mission to strive for a more perfect Union and to work to build a world worthy of John Lewis' legacy.
Mr. Speaker, I also proudly honor a pioneering spirit and a friend of John Lewis', a progressive champion and a dear longtime friend of so many of us, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, with legislation to rename the Petaluma downtown post office in her honor, which I am proud to cosponsor as a Californian.
We pay a proper tribute to an inspiring leader who has improved the lives of countless working families in the bay area and beyond.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Jared Huffman for his committed leadership to bring this legislation to the floor and for carrying on a great legacy that he and Lynn Woolsey shared of leadership on behalf of the families of the north bay.
During Lynn's two decades in the House on the Education and Labor Committee and as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, she was a leader on welfare reform in the nineties, opposing the war in Iraq since day one, working relentlessly on ending gender discrimination, championing fervently our environment, and, again, bravely protesting the genocide in Darfur.
So the Congress will salute her instrumental leadership. She was one of the leaders who established Women's History Month, an important tradition allowing us to pay homage to the extraordinary women on whose shoulders we now stand.
For two reasons I come to the floor. Of course, one, to share in honoring John Lewis in the naming of the post office, and to honor Lynn Woolsey. I hope we have a strong bipartisan ``aye'' in both cases.
Mr. Speaker, I again thank Chair Wasserman Schultz for affording me this opportunity to speak on behalf of two great champions of the Congress, and I urge an ``aye'' vote.
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