[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 160 (Thursday, September 27, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H9094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING HOWARD SIMON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to recognize 
the tremendous and meaningful work of Howard Simon, executive director 
of the ACLU of Florida.
  Mr. Simon is retiring this year following a distinguished career 
defending civil rights and civil liberties that lasted longer than that 
of any other ACLU leader in the country. Prior to his appointment as 
executive director of the Florida affiliate in 1997, Mr. Simon led the 
fight to defend civil rights and civil liberties in Michigan, where he 
served as ACLU director for 23 years.
  His 21 years at the ACLU of Florida make him the longest serving ACLU 
director in the country, and his cumulative 44-year career as a State 
director is the longest in the ACLU's 98-year history.
  As a student at City College of New York in 1965, Mr. Simon joined 
fellow student leaders to travel to Selma, Alabama, to march for voting 
rights alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This experience started a 
decades-long career fighting for the rights guaranteed to all Americans 
under the United States Constitution.
  In his time as executive director at the ACLU of Florida, Mr. Simon 
oversaw landmark work defending the rights of LGBTQ Floridians, 
protecting immigrants, reforming our criminal justice system, 
protecting free speech, preserving women's health, and strengthening 
the right to vote. The rights that Floridians enjoy would not be the 
same without the tireless work of this champion of liberty.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call Howard Simon my dear friend, and I 
join my fellow Floridians in thanking him for his thoughtful and 
compassionate work to safeguard our civil liberties and for helping to 
make the United States a more perfect union for us all.

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