A Moment of Silence for Representative Sheila Jackson Lee

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I invite my Texas colleagues, particularly, and others who may want to come up to honor our colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor our colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee. It is strange to be here and not see her at a microphone because we know her as the outspoken and the oft-spoken colleague in this House.

When I was elected back in 1994, Sheila and I were part of a very small Democrat class of 13. Even then, certainly, and even last year or even a couple of months ago, I never thought that I would be memorializing her after an illness that took her far too swiftly.

She is an icon in Houston and in Texas politics. She always showed up for her constituents, just as she always showed up here. She chose to spend some of her final days helping those who were trying to recover from Hurricane Beryl, personally passing out food and water and connecting families to necessary assistance.

Sheila is known all over Houston for being a fighter for her community. Here in Washington, she was certainly a fierce advocate for many causes, but particularly racial justice and equality. She was responsible for our Nation now recognizing in the bipartisan effort she made with Senator Cornyn Juneteenth as a Federal holiday to recognize the horrors of slavery and our recovering from them.

She fought relentlessly to end the scourge of community violence in her work on the Violence Against Women Act, the Sentencing Reform Act, the Kimberly Vaughan Firearms Safe Storage Act.

Of course, she treasured her children, Erica and Jason, and her grandchildren, Ellison and Roy, as well as her dedicated staff members here in Washington and in Houston.

She graduated with honors in the first Yale University class to include women. She was a trailblazer there, as she was here, and a mentor to many. While a demanding boss, she had a great sense of humor, a side many do not remember. She seemed to be everywhere and involved in just about everything here, providing inspiration to many with her determined advocacy.

The stories from her former staff members who knew her best attest that she played a major role in their professional development and provided a launching pad for their careers.

With the bipartisan support of so many here, I ask that all join our delegation in a moment of silence for our respected colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee. Let's be inspired by her legacy to meet the challenges that we face.

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