[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 50 (Thursday, March 22, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S1941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING LOUISE SLAUGHTER

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I am deeply saddened by the recent death 
of my friend and colleague, Representative Louise Slaughter. We served 
together in the House of Representatives and on the Helsinki 
Commission, which monitors human rights commitments across the globe. 
Her time on the Commission is one of the many examples of her 
unwavering commitment to justice and human dignity.
  Louise first became interested in the Helsinki Commission's work in 
the early 1990s when she joined congressional efforts to address the 
mass rape of women and girls as a deliberate and systematic part of the 
ethnic cleansing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In her calls for 
justice, she worked to ensure that rape wouldn't be considered as 
unfortunate violence incidental to conflict, but as a war crime and 
crime against humanity to be prosecuted as such. Her commitment to 
peace, justice, and reconciliation in Bosnia and the Balkans extended 
well beyond the period of conflict. In 2009, she joined a Helsinki 
Commission delegation I led to Sarajevo, where she championed the 
efforts of university students who saw the politics of ethnicity and 
nationalism--and the corruption it perpetuates--as denying them 
opportunities for a brighter future in a more prosperous Bosnia. She 
also worked to ensure those guilty of war crimes in the former 
Yugoslavia were prosecuted and to provide humanitarian relief to 
victims of the conflict.
  As part of her efforts to promote human rights around the world, we 
traveled together on a commission delegation to Greece in 1998 to 
advance the rights of Roma, Europe's largest ethnic minority population 
that historically faced persecution, were the victims of genocide 
during the Second World War, and continue to face disproportionate 
levels of racism and discrimination to this day.
  Few other Members of Congress, House or Senate, matched her ongoing 
and effective engagement. During her time on the Helsinki Commission, 
Louise represented the United States at numerous meetings of the 
Organization for Security and Co-operation In Europe, OSCE, 
Parliamentary Assembly, an interparliamentary body which has encouraged 
diplomats to focus on issues of concern and importance to the United 
States, especially human rights and fundamental freedoms. From 1993 to 
2010, she participated in more than a dozen assembly meetings as a 
member of U.S. delegations, helping to show the depth of our country's 
commitment to transatlantic relations.
  Louise was born in Kentucky. Her father was a blacksmith for a coal 
mine. She had a sister who died of pneumonia as a child, which impelled 
Louise to pursue degrees in microbiology and public health at the 
University of Kentucky. She moved to New York to work for Procter & 
Gamble and was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1982 and then 
to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. We were House freshmen 
together. She coauthored the Violence Against Women Act--VAWA--secured 
funding for breast cancer research, and was responsible for 
establishing an office of research on women's health at the National 
Institutes of Health, NIH. In 2007, she became the first woman in U.S. 
history to chair the House Committee on Rules.
  Louise was legendary in the Rochester area as her constituents know 
well. Her background as a microbiologist shaped her priorities in 
securing infrastructure upgrades, research funding for local 
universities, and bringing two manufacturing institutes to the area. 
She most recently secured funding for Rochester's new Amtrak station, 
which is rightfully being renamed in her memory.
  Louise was universally respected, and it has been an honor to call 
her a friend and colleague, as well as to have served on the Helsinki 
Commission with her for two decades. My thoughts and prayers go out to 
her children and the rest of her family, friends, and constituents 
during this difficult time. She had an extraordinary life and her 
myriad accomplishments on behalf of her constituents, other New 
Yorkers, all Americans, and indeed all of humanity secure her legacy 
and are a wonderful testament of her commitment to public service.

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