[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 133 (Tuesday, October 5, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H9381-H9382]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSWOMAN CARRIE MEEK OF FLORIDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my 
friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek).
  Mr. Speaker, I want to submit for the Record an article that ran in 
the Sunday September 26 edition of the Miami Herald. This article talks 
about the achievement the gentlewoman from Florida has made and the 
obstacles she had to overcome to get to Congress. She was the first 
African American female to serve in the Florida Senate. And when we 
both were elected to Congress in 1992, this marked the first time in 
127 years that an African American from Florida had been sent to 
Congress.
  This year marks 20 years of service for Congresswoman Meek. Her 
constituents are proud of her hard work and the results she brings to 
her district. She has fought for fairness in the appropriations 
process, and I am proud to recognize the gentlewoman for her 
accomplishments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice 
Johnson).
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am so delighted to 
hear that the gentlewoman is paying tribute to our colleague, and I 
hope that the gentlewoman will allow me to mention that she has taken a 
leadership role in heading the task force on census for the 
Congressional Black Caucus and that she has been very diligent in her 
legislative duties here.
  I really compliment the gentlewoman for making a record of this 
because the gentleman from Florida (Mrs. Meek) is a very worthy person.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).
  (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her 
remarks.)
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I also want to add my congratulations to 
our colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek), and I commend 
the gentlewoman for bringing this to the floor and putting on Record 
her achievements.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Mrs. Thurman).
  Mrs. THURMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to 
me, and I really would ask all of my colleagues who have not seen this 
article to read this in the Record. It is a wonderful tribute to a 
woman who has served in her State legislature and is very much admired.
  People just came to her to get information and to get help. She was 
my chairman on the education subcommittee in appropriations when we 
served together, and she was fairer than anybody I have ever seen 
because she understood the entire State of Florida, what it meant for 
rural areas to have funding as well as the urban areas.
  We just all love her in Florida, and we all respect her and admire 
her for the work that she has done. So I would really hope our 
colleagues do read this article because it is fabulous.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the chairman of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. 
Clyburn).
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Brown) for yielding to me, and I too would add my voice to the 
accolades that are being paid our good friend, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Mrs. Meek).
  I first met her some, and she may not want me to tell how long ago, 
25 or 30 years ago, and I got to know her. I followed her career over 
the years, and my friends in the State of Florida all have said to me 
what a great person that she was there in the Florida legislature.
  When I came here in the class of 1993, it was a great pleasure for me 
to be here and to have the opportunity to serve with her. It has been a 
service that I have enjoyed tremendously, and I can truly say that I do 
not believe that I would be standing here as chair of the Congressional 
Black Caucus had it not been for the great support and guidance that I 
received from her since being here in this body.
  The people of Florida should be very proud of her. I am pleased to 
see it here that her hometown newspaper has paid her such a tremendous 
tribute. It is one that is well deserved.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. In closing, Mr. Speaker, my favorite saying is, 
``Let the work I have done speak for me.'' And certainly Mrs. Meek's 
work speaks for itself. In fact, I recommend that she look at serving 
20 more years. 20 more years of service from the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Mrs. Meek) would be a great tribute to Florida and to this 
great Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, the article I referenced above follows:

                [From the Miami Herald, Sept. 26, 1999]

 Representative Meek Makes 20-year Mark--Miami Congresswoman Displays 
                          Deft Political Touch

                          (By Andrea Robinson)

       Washington.--Though a morning of angry wind and rain has 
     transformed the nation's capital into a virtual ghost town, 
     an intrepid band of Washington luminaries heads toward a 
     meeting room in a basement of the Capitol.
       Among the celebrity attendees: House Minority Leader 
     Richard Gephardt, Sen. Bob Graham, Attorney General Janet 
     Reno and U.S. Reps. Charles Rangel and James Clyburn, 
     chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
       The draw? U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, D-Miami, who has summoned 
     an obedient cadre of political figures to speak to a group of 
     her visiting constituents. ``We're here because Carrie told 
     us to be here,'' Labor Secretary Alexis Herman says.
       This year, Meek marks 20 years of public service, 13 of 
     them in the Florida Legislature. She is the first black 
     Floridian to win a seat in Congress in recent history, a 
     member of the House Appropriations Committee, a four-time 
     congressional winner whose only general-election opponent 
     earned just 11 percent of the vote.
       Over the past 12 months, Meek is credited with boosting her 
     district by helping to secure notable federal allocations--
     $130 million in employment-zone tax incentives; $35 million 
     in housing grants to rebuild public housing; $2.2 million to 
     jump-start a Little Haiti program for troubled children.
       But most remarkable, political observers say, has been 
     Meek's ability to play politics in more than one arena. 
     Meek--an unapologetically liberal Democrat--has managed to 
     solidfy her standing not only with members of her own party 
     but with those across the aisle.
       ``She's got a nice way, but she's no pushover,'' says Rep. 
     E. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale. ``She has a velvet glove, 
     but sometimes she can have a fist in it. She's so likable 
     that it's sometimes disarming.''


                        BOLDLY STEPPING FORWARD

       Once a neighborhood activist, she has become a power 
     broker.
       Carrie Meek has never been timid. When she started in 
     politics, she was audacious.
       In the Legislature, Meek regularly intensified floor 
     debates, once threatening to camp out on the doorstep of a 
     colleague who was reluctant to increase funding for Jackson 
     Memorial Hospital.
       Back then, if she thought a particular bill needed to be 
     killed, she waved a black flag adorned with a skull and 
     crossbones, declaring the measure needed to be ``black flag 
     dead.''
       ``It's now in the nomenclature of the Legislature. They 
     wanted my son to use it,'' Meek says, referring to state Sen. 
     Kendrick Meek, D-Miami.
       Carrie Meek has established a fairly liberal voting record, 
     generally following Democratic endorsements of affirmative 
     action, abortion rights, gun control, and spending on housing 
     and job creation. She has favored increasing the minimum 
     wage, expanding the rights of immigrants, and giving tax 
     credits to small businesses in her district.
       Her current causes: Census 2000, which aims to count 
     minorities fully in the upcoming census, and additional 
     research on lupus, the autoimmune disease that claimed her 
     sister.
       Meek has sided with Republicans on some matters, such as 
     opposing military defense cuts or foreign-policy adjustments 
     to ease relations with Cuba.
       On voting evaluations this year, Meek scored 95 or better 
     with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal 
     Employees, the nation's largest public service employees 
     union, and with Americans for Democratic Action, a group that 
     promotes human rights.
       She fared worse with business groups, scoring 28 with the 
     Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and only four with 
     the American Conservative Union, which focuses on foreign-
     policy, social and budget issues.
       At a party Sept. 17, 300 supporters gathered on a 
     Washington rooftop to celebrate Meek's

[[Page H9382]]

     20-year tenure in politics. The guest list included Miami-
     Dade Commissioners Betty Ferguson and Dennis Moss, Opa-locka 
     Mayor Alvin Miller and representatives of Washington's black 
     elite.
       The woman they toasted had graduated from neighborhood 
     activist to power broker. She is one of 60 members of the 
     House Appropriations Committee, where virtually every 
     spending billion housing, transportation, taxes or juvenile 
     crime--is scrutinized.
       Remarkably, Meek won a spot on Appropriations during her 
     freshman year. In that term, she sponsored, and won, a 
     measure providing Social Security retirement for nannies and 
     day laborers. After Hurricane Andrew, she helped to obtain 
     more than $100 million in federal aid for South Florida, and 
     joined the fight to rebuild what had been Homestead Air Force 
     Base.
       The past 12 months have brought success and failure.
       Meek pushed unsuccessfully for a bill that would employ 
     welfare recipients as census takers. Also stalled is her 
     attempt to increase funding for lupus research.
       On the other hand, Meek helped to bring Miami-Dade about 
     $80 million in economic development money this year. And, 
     with the aid of Florida Republican lawmakers such as Rep. 
     Lincoln Diaz/Balart and Sen. Connie Mack, she helped to 
     establish new protections for almost 50,000 Haitian 
     immigrants.
       Perhaps the biggest prize was the empowerment-zone 
     designation, which will mean $130 million in tax incentives 
     over 10 years, and millions more in job grants.
       Norman Omstein, a policy analyst for the conservative 
     American Enterprise Institute, says Meek has carved out a 
     political niche.
       ``She's open, frank . . . a nice person who works hard,'' 
     Ornstein says. ``When people say nice things about her, it's 
     not just blowing smoke. She ranges across a series of areas: 
     Cuba, Haitians, housing. What she does is outside the norm.''
       Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., says Meek has kept her eye on an 
     important goal: looking out for the people in her district.
       ``We see showboats and we see tugboats,'' Lewis says. 
     ``She's a tugboat. I never want to be on the side of issues 
     against her.''
       Carrie Pittman Davis Meek was born in Tallahassee. She is a 
     granddaughter of slaves, the youngest of 12 children and a 
     firsthand witness to the injustices of bigotry.
       Though she grew up in the shadow of the Florida Capitol, 
     segregation prevented her from setting foot in state offices. 
     Her father, Willie, one of the great influences in her life, 
     took her onto the Capitol grounds on the only day it was 
     permitted--inauguration day.
       ``I grew up in a discriminatory society,'' she says. ``I 
     knew what it was like to be treated differently. I wanted to 
     see things changed, and wanted to assist any movement to help 
     with changing it.''
       Though she graduated with honors in biology and physical 
     education from Florida A&M, her race kept her from medical 
     training at state colleges. She enrolled at the University of 
     Michigan and received a master's degree in public health.
       After college, Meek returned to Florida and pursued a 
     career in education, working for 30 years as an instructor at 
     Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman College, and as an 
     administrator at Miami-Dade Community College.
       Her interest in public service was kindled in the late 
     1960s, when she became the local director of the federally 
     funded Model Cities program. She designed recreation programs 
     for low-income public housing tenants.
       ``I learned people needed homes, schools, day-care 
     centers,'' Meek says. ``I learned of all these unmet needs in 
     the community.''
       In 1979, some tenants in those same Miami neighborhoods 
     urged Meek to run for a vacant seat in the Legislature. Meek 
     initially ran into resistance from some of Miami's black 
     political leaders, who favored James Burke, a Democrat who 
     had name recognition because of a previous unsuccessful House 
     race. Now, Burke is on trial in federal court, accused of 
     bribery.
       Meek defeated Burke in the primary, trounced Republican 
     Roberto Casas in the general election, and assumed office 
     with a central goal: to champion ``little people'' causes 
     such as housing, education and equal access.
       Over the past 20 years, Meek has achieved milestones: the 
     first black female to serve in the state Senate, the first 
     leader of the state's black caucus, and the first black from 
     Florida in modern history elected to Congress.
       Her District 17 stretches through the central part of 
     Miami-Dade, from Carol City to Homestead.
       When not in Washington, Meek returns to the house in 
     Liberty City--a few blocks from the Martin Luther King 
     Metrorail station--where she has lived for 35 years.
       Divorced twice and living alone, she likes dancing, quiet 
     evenings at home, reading books or playing with Duchess, a 
     great Dane puppy.


                         HOPES IN LIBERTY CITY

       Federal aid for housing shows `possibilities of what can 
     happen.' It is just after 10:30 a.m. on a recent weekday, and 
     Carrie Meek is riding along Miami's Northwest 27th Avenue. 
     Since a ceremony last month, the street carries her name: 
     Carrie P. Meek Boulevard.
       She is headed to the Miami-Dade Housing Agency to join U.S. 
     Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo for an 
     announcement: a $35 million federal housing award for 
     renovation of the Scott and Carver housing developments in 
     Liberty City.
       On three previous attempts, the county missed a shot at the 
     funding. Last year, Meek's staff asked HUD to help the county 
     craft a better application.
       Problems are chronic at the housing developments. But with 
     the new money, housing officials intend to start over. 
     Demolition is set for 754 units at Scott Homes and 96 at 
     Carver Homes. In their place, the county will build 382 
     single-family and townhome units, adding more grass and 
     trees.
       The housing agency has great hopes for the project--lower 
     density, reduced poverty, less crime. Meek says the 
     assistance is long overdue.
       ``It's about the possibilities of what can happen in 
     Liberty City,'' she says.

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