[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S7885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MARCIA FUDGE

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, 10 years ago this summer, we lost a 
longtime friend of mine and colleague, a remarkable public servant, 
Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
  When Marcia Fudge, then the mayor of Warrensville Heights, a 
Cleveland suburb, won the special election to Stephanie's seat to 
represent the 11th Congressional District, including Cleveland and the 
home where Connie and I live, she had big shoes to fill, but Marcia 
rose to the occasion. For the past decade, she has been a fighter for 
my hometown of Cleveland and the east side suburbs into Akron and all 
the Ohioans she serves.
  On the Education and Workforce Committee, she has become a senior 
leader who knows how to get things done. She stands up for Ohio's 
teachers, students, and families.
  Marcia also joined the Agriculture Committee, perhaps not initially 
seen as a natural fit for someone with an urban district like hers, but 
she understands that farm bills are not just about crops. They are food 
bills, economic development bills, conservation bills, research bills, 
and nutrition bills. She and I--and I am the first Senator in half a 
century to be on the Ag Committee for some of the same reasons 
Congressman Fudge is on this committee. We have worked together to 
write two farm bills.
  This year, we both served on the bill's conference committee, and we 
fought House Republican efforts to erect more bureaucracy to gut 
nutrition programs in Ohio that families rely on. These are programs 
for people making $8, $10, $12 an hour who don't have quite enough 
income to feed their families. We won that fight.
  Tomorrow the President is scheduled to sign the bipartisan farm bill 
we passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both Houses. 
Congresswoman Fudge and I worked to right a century-old wrong and get 
Central State University the 1890 land grant status they deserve. That 
designation isn't just a rhetorical honor; it means more opportunities 
for funding and research in partnerships with industry--the sort of 
results that Marcia delivers for her district.
  She is a leader among her colleagues. As head of the Congressional 
Black Caucus, she led the fight on so many issues, including working to 
ensure that all Americans have a voice in their government.
  A few years ago, we held a field hearing on barriers too many Ohioans 
face exercising their most fundamental right--the right to vote. Marcia 
was a star in that hearing. It came in the wake of a despicable Ohio 
law and, frankly, years of attempts at voter suppression by Ohio 
Republicans--a despicable Ohio law that cut the number of early voting 
days in half.
  We know exactly whom these laws are aimed at. Marcia testified about 
how these suppression tactics hurt communities of color. Unfortunately, 
it has gotten worse--limiting absentee balloting, restricting 
provisional balloting--and the Supreme Court, a Court that puts its 
thumb on the scale of justice in support of corporations over workers, 
a Court that puts its thumb on the scale of justice to support Wall 
Street over consumers, and a Court that rubberstamps all these 
restrictions on voting.
  I look forward to continuing our fight alongside Marcia against these 
tactics straight out of the Jim Crow era. I know Marcia will continue 
to be a leader. There is no doubt, even before her election to 
Congress, that Marcia was a force to be reckoned with: a former mayor, 
a former congressional chief of staff, and former national president--
as important as anything she has done, I think in her mind--of Delta 
Sigma Theta. She still helps lead efforts to bring Deltas from around 
the country to the Hill each year for Delta Days. Hundreds of driven, 
ambitious, smart, committed, empathetic talented Black women come to 
our Nation's Capitol to meet with Members of Congress and make their 
voices heard. They have an incredible role model in Marcia Fudge.
  I am grateful, Congresswoman Fudge, to have you as my Congresswoman. 
I am proud to call you a colleague and a friend.

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