[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 22, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H3671-H3675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1830
                    HONORING CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today to 
coanchor the Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour. For the 
next 60 minutes, we have a chance to communicate to the American people 
our great love for an American hero, Representative John Lewis.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the great State of 
California (Ms. Pelosi), my colleague and the honorable Speaker from 
the city of San Francisco.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and 
appreciate her calling us together for this Special Order for a very 
special person.
  This big picture of John Lewis was just put up here. ``Rest in 
Power,'' it says. You can't see from the TV, but over here in the front 
row is a big bouquet of white flowers. It is in a place where John 
usually sat in the front row of a section that many of the Members of 
the Congressional Black Caucus held fort, conspired sometimes, plotted, 
and made progress for the American people. It is appropriate that we 
have those flowers there where John sat for so many years.
  Jon Meacham, who is writing a book on John Lewis, told us yesterday 
on a Caucus call that when John was born, he was born into a garden. He 
loved to be in the garden. He loved to be with the chicks, as we know, 
the little chickens, and he loved to see things grow. He loved to see 
things grow.
  He lived his life in that way. He loved to see progress grow. He 
loved to see love and peace grow. He loved to see ideas grow, and he 
loved to see a more perfect Union grow.
  Many of our colleagues will have many things to say this evening, and 
because it is a Special Order, I don't have my usual 1 minute, which is 
endless, so I will be briefer and save some remarks for another time. 
But here is what I will say.
  John has always been about nonviolence. That was his spirit in 
everything that he did. He was respectful of other views and respectful 
of other people. In the spirit of nonviolence, Reverend Lawson taught 
that to him, to Dr. King, and the rest, and much of it was in the 
spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and much of the nonviolence that he put forth.
  In Sanskrit, Mahatma Gandhi's language, the word for nonviolence is 
``satyagraha.'' That word means two things: Nonviolence, and insistence 
on the truth.
  And John Lewis, nonviolently, always insisted on the truth. Whether 
it was a lunch counter, the truth of equality, whether it was upholding 
the Constitution, the truth of our Founders, in everything that he did, 
it was about truth and peace and love.
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record my statement, because, again, I 
am not used to not having endless time as the Speaker of the House, and 
I do know that our colleagues have a great deal to say.
  I will say one more thing: At the end of his life, end of his time in 
Washington, D.C., right before he was preparing to go back to Atlanta, 
just a couple of weeks ago, in the middle of the night, he decided--
early in the morning, 4 a.m.--that he was going to go, in the morning, 
to Black Lives Matter on the street.
  So one of the last official or public photos that we have of John 
Lewis is with the Mayor of Washington, D.C., and then alone, standing 
on that beautiful tapestry, ``Black Lives Matter,'' the connection from 
John, the boy from Troy, to Black Lives Matter, the future of a 
movement of which he was so much a part.
  May he rest in power. May he rest in peace.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, the Nation lost an icon; the House lost its 
most respected Member; and the Congressional Black Caucus lost the most 
senior member of our family.
  The Congressional Black Caucus is known as the conscience of the 
Congress, but John Lewis was known as the conscience of our Congress. 
One of the greatest honors of serving in Congress was that I had the 
possibility of serving with him.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of South 
Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), the majority whip.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I cringe often when I hear people talk about the 1960s 
as the civil rights movement. I always put an ``S'' on that.
  The Stono Rebellion was in 1739. It was a civil rights movement.
  Denmark Vesey's insurrection was in 1822. It was a civil rights 
movement.
  The Niagara Movement that led to the creation of the NAACP more than 
100 years ago was a civil rights movement.
  John Lewis and I met in October 1960 at a civil rights movement. For 
as long as there are people held in suppression, there will always be a 
movement for civil rights. However, in any movement there will be a 
few--sometimes only one--that rise head and shoulders above all others, 
and so it was with my good friend, John Robert Lewis.

  When we met the weekend of October 13, 14, 15, 1960, on the campus of 
Morehouse College, there was a little bit of an insurrection taking 
place. We, who were college students, felt that we knew how best to do 
things. We were not listening to Martin Luther King, Jr., and a few 
others, and so we asked King to meet with us. And he did.
  We went into the meeting around 10 o'clock in the evening. We did not 
walk out of that room until 4 o'clock the next morning. I came out of 
that room having had a Saul-to-Paul transformation. I have never been 
the same since.
  But listening to King's plea for nonviolence, I decided, along with 
most others, to accept nonviolence as a tactic. But not John Lewis. He 
internalized. It became his way of life.
  After going through a few issues of the 1960s, John got elected 
president of SNCC in 1963 and was summarily dethroned in 1966. But John 
then joined the effort, the Voter Education Project, where he directed. 
That was sponsored by the Southern Regional Council. And as he served 
as the director of the Voter Education Project in Atlanta, I became the 
chair of the Voter Education Project in Charleston, South Carolina, and 
we continued that relationship.
  He got married to a librarian, I got married to a librarian--though I 
did so before he did--and they became fast friends. Lillian and Emily 
became fast friends.
  I will never, ever get John Robert Lewis out of my system, because he

[[Page H3672]]

succeeded where I failed. It was a tactic for me. It was a way of life 
for John Lewis.


                             General Leave

  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the District 
of Columbia (Ms. Norton), the state of the District of Columbia.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California, 
Karen Bass, for leading this Special Order to our good colleague and 
friend, John Lewis.
  John and I were elected to the House of Representatives about the 
same time. Actually, he was elected a couple years before I was. But we 
were colleagues before either of us could have hoped to become Members 
of Congress. We were kids together in the Student Nonviolent 
Coordinating Committee, the youth arm of the Southern Civil Rights 
Movement.
  The difference between John and me is I was in law school so I went 
in the summer, and John was a full-time member, who left school in 
order to join SNCC. SNCC came out of lunch counter sit-ins. Ella Baker 
called us all together because it was clear that the Civil Rights 
Movement was developing a youth arm. And Ella Baker, the great elder of 
the Civil Rights Movement, decided all of us really should become an 
organization.
  John was not the first head of SNCC. Marion Barry was, because he was 
a lot more political than John, and he is remembered more today for his 
politics than for his civil rights acumen. When John was elected chair 
of SNCC, there was nothing political about it. His qualification was 
not that he was the strongest. His qualification was that he was the 
bravest.
  It is almost impossible to describe the risks John took in the more 
than 40 times he was arrested, because today, we are so used to civil 
disobedience. People right now are lying down on Pennsylvania Avenue 
after the George Floyd killing. I really want to call to your attention 
what it meant when John led young people to be arrested.
  Everybody has seen the film of his being knocked down as he marched 
in the front of the line; he had a concussion as a result of that. He 
never knew, as he led these marches, whether he would come out alive.
  Let me tell you about these marches when SNCC would kneel down and 
assume other nonviolent postures. On the other side, were not counter-
demonstrators. On the other side were not other people who were 
confronting us nonviolently. On the other side were the police leading 
white mobs. They were befuddled by the tactics of SNCC and the Civil 
Rights Movement. Because when you kneel down and are nonviolent, they 
didn't quite know what to do with you or about you.
  John, of course, will always be remembered as a Member of the House 
of Representatives, but as I close, I must say, it will be difficult, 
even for John to have done more in the House than he did in the Civil 
Rights Movement, to do more in Congress than he did for his country.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, his legacy to our country is that he devoted 
his life to fighting for justice and being a moral compass to our 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of 
Virginia (Mr. Scott).
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today for a solemn occasion. Tonight we honor our 
friend, brother, colleague, the conscience of the Congress, a true 
American icon: Congressman John Lewis.
  Words cannot convey the loss to this body as well as to the Nation, 
but very few can claim to have altered the course of American history 
the way that John did. He was a guiding light to all of us and was a 
leader trying to make America a more perfect Union. His steadfast moral 
leadership will be deeply missed, particularly at this complex time in 
our history.
  Those of us here today are standing on his shoulders. His historic 
life and legacy will undoubtedly live on, but we must be sure to 
continue his life's work, particularly when it comes to voting rights 
and restoring the Voting Rights Act. We must make some ``good trouble'' 
to honor his enormous legacy.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, Congressman John Lewis spent his life fighting 
racism and injustice wherever he confronted it, from Boy Scout sit-ins 
and other protests in the streets to championing bold, progressive 
policies in Congress, including the Voting Rights Act.

                              {time}  1845

  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Danny K. Davis).
  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker,

     To every man there is a way, a ways, and a way,
     And the high souls take the high way,
     And the low souls take the low.
     While all the rest on the misty flats drift to and fro.
     But to every man there is a way, a ways, and a way,
     And each man decideth which way his soul shall go.

  John Lewis always took the high road, always giving of himself in 
such a way that you knew that he was gracious and kind.
  John had faith.
  Like John, I grew up in rural America, went to a one-room school, 
never had a new schoolbook. But John had the faith of a mustard seed 
and said: If you want to move a mountain, just say to the mountain be 
moved. And if it wouldn't, then you get you some dynamite, 
nitroglycerin, TNT, and blow that sucker down.
  That was John Lewis. May he rest in peace.
  Ms. BASS. Now that he is no longer with us, we have to live up to his 
legacy and protect the right to vote for all Americans. As we continue 
to face challenges due to the coronavirus and issues of systemic 
racism, we must protect our democracy and elections, even in the midst 
of adversity.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, we are all heartbroken. We all are 
speechless. We all are committed to John Robert Lewis' beloved 
community.
  Each of us have been touched without ceasing for the spirit he led us 
in acknowledging, even in anger, that there was the beloved community.
  He loved his wife and his family and his extended brothers and 
sisters, all the way from Alabama to Georgia. I am reminded of his 
ability to love Dr. Martin Luther King. It is a testament of a man that 
is able to extend love and not to show envy but to learn and to seek 
knowledge. John did that, which allowed him to carry that all the way 
to the fights of today.
  Dr. King said: ``John Robert Lewis, are you the boy from Troy?'' He 
loved to tell that story. He loved to tell that he preached to the 
chickens, but his voices were heard by kings and queens.
  John Robert Lewis, a saint walking on Earth.
  I am reminded of our days in front of the South African Embassy, 
arrested, against genocide, or fighting against the children in cages. 
John never stopped his fight.
  And so I come today to honor him in this brief moment that we have, 
to be able to say, Isn't it good that a saintly man walked on this 
Earth and reminded us of the beloved community?
  I am very glad to say that I knew, and the world knows John Robert 
Lewis, ``the boy from Troy.''
  Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of this body and the Committee on the 
Judiciary, as a colleague of a great and beloved man, and as a member 
of a generation that directly benefited from and was inspired by his 
work in the Civil Rights Movement, I am proud but heart-broken to 
participate in this tribute to an American original, our friend and 
colleague, the late John Robert Lewis who died last Friday, July 17, 
2020, in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 80 years old.
  But what amazing things my friend John bore witness to in those eight 
decades.
  John Robert Lewis was a lifelong warrior for a more just, equitable, 
fairer, and better America, one of the Original Big Six, and a giant of 
the Civil Rights Movement.
  John Lewis was one of the original Freedom Riders who challenged 
segregated interstate travel in the South in 1961.
  He was a founder and early leader of the Student Nonviolent 
Coordinating Committee, which coordinated lunch-counter sit-ins.

[[Page H3673]]

  He helped organize and was the last surviving person who addressed 
the multitude at the March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his 
immortal ``I Have A Dream'' speech on the steps of the Lincoln 
Memorial.
  John Robert Lewis was born on February 21, 1940, the third of 10 
children, to Eddie and Willie Mae (Carter) Lewis near the town of Troy 
on a sharecropping farm owned by a white man.
  After his parents bought their own farm--110 acres for $300--John 
shared in the farm work, leaving school at harvest time to pick cotton, 
peanuts and corn.
  Their house had no plumbing or electricity. In the outhouse, they 
used the pages of an old Sears catalog as toilet paper, that seems too 
much to bear but John was empowered by his history.
  His family called him ``Preacher,'' and becoming one seemed to be his 
destiny.
  John often said he drew inspiration by listening to a young minister 
named Martin Luther King on the radio and reading about the 1955 
through 56 Montgomery bus boycott.
  John Lewis met Dr. King in Montgomery, Alabama in 1958, who was 
touched by a letter John had written him and sent him a round-trip bus 
ticket to visit.
  When John arrived at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church for his 
appointment, Dr. King greeted him thusly: ``Are you the boy from Troy? 
Are you John Lewis?''
  John said, ``I am John Robert Lewis, giving his whole name.
  But Dr. King henceforth would affectionately call our beloved John, 
``the boy from Troy''.
  But in 2011, at a White House ceremony, President Barack Obama 
awarded John Lewis the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's 
highest civilian honor, and said this about the boy from Troy: 
``Generations from now, when parents teach their children what is meant 
by courage, the story of John Lewis will come to mind; an American who 
knew that change could not wait for some other person or some other 
time; whose life is a lesson in the fierce urgency of now.''
  The first time John Lewis was arrested was in February 1960, when he 
and other students demanded service at whites-only lunch counters in 
Nashville, the first prolonged battle of the movement that evolved into 
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
  John's advocacy was fierce and joyful, as embodied in his common 
refrain to involve oneself in the actions and passions of one's time 
``to get in the way, make necessary trouble.''
  Less than two years after that August 1963 day, in the shadow of the 
Lincoln Memorial, in March 1965, John led over 600 foot soldiers across 
the Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Alabama, in a march demanding the 
right to vote. John's protest against injustice was met with violence 
by Alabama State Troopers.
  He was beaten and his skull left bloodied, the horror left bare for a 
nation to see on television.
  That incident, immediately known and forever remembered as Bloody 
Sunday, led to the passage and enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 
1965.
  It was my personal honor to accompany John on countless pilgrimages 
to the Edmund Pettus Bridge to remember and acknowledge those common 
persons with common dreams and uncommon courage and love for the 
promise of the country.
  In 1986, John Lewis was elected to the United States House of 
Representatives from Georgia's 5th District and served in that role 
until earlier the evening when the sun set on his heroic and 
extraordinary life.
  John was the conscience of the Congress, widely beloved and revered 
on both sides of the aisle and the Capitol.
  His moral authority was colossal because he had seen the worst of us 
but he always appealed to the best of us and never ceased to inspire us 
to strive to create the beloved community.
  It is no exaggeration to say he was a man, the likes of which we 
shall not see again.
  As news of John's passing reverberates across the United States and 
around the world, John would want us to reflect not on his death, but 
his life and the unfinished necessary work ahead of us.
  John never took his eyes off the prize and to his last days, 
continued to march and stand in solidarity with those protesting 
injustice and inequality.
  I remember getting arrested with John, Congressman McGovern, former 
colleagues Jim Moran of Virginia and John Olver of Massachusetts, and 
our late colleague Tom Lantos, for protesting the genocide in Darfur at 
the Embassy of Sudan on April 28, 2006.
  John Lewis led us in the sit-down demonstration on the House floor to 
protest the Republican Congress' refusal to take up gun violence 
prevention legislation in the face of the tragic mass shootings that 
plague our country.
  And in his final act of civic engagement and civil disobedience, John 
Lewis stood in the middle of Black Lives Matter Plaza showing 
solidarity and the continuity with the now global movement fighting 
galvanized by the horrific murder of George Floyd to peacefully protest 
for justice and equal treatment in the criminal justice system.
  Mr. Speaker, John Lewis was among the finest Americans this country 
ever produced.
  He lived a consequential life and his legacy is all around us, in the 
realization of talent and opportunity of millions of persons who walked 
through the doors of progress that John Lewis helped open.
  I hope it is comfort to John's family and loved ones, that people the 
world over are mourning his death but celebrating his life.
  A fitting and proper means of paying tribute to John Lewis's 
extraordinary life is for the Senate to immediately take up and pass 
the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, landmark legislation to 
protect the precious right to vote for all persons and to ensure that 
our democracy has the tools needed to remain strong.
  I ask the House to observe a moment of silence in memory and thanks 
of John Robert Lewis, the boy from Troy, who became a leader who helped 
change the world.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Meeks).
  Mr. MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, John Robert Lewis was short in height, yet he 
was a giant. John Robert Lewis was a humble man but fierce for justice.
  John Robert Lewis talked softly, but roared like a lion when it was 
time to fight for freedom, justice, and equality for all humankind. He 
said there was one race--the human race.
  He is an individual that compelled a Nation to change, to make it 
better. His voice will echo in this Chamber forever.
  It was my honor and pleasure for 22 years to serve with the Honorable 
John Robert Lewis.
  May he rest in peace and rise in power.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
David Scott).
  Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, John Lewis' mother and his 
grandmother named him John after John the Apostle, the disciple, the 
Scripture says, whom Jesus loved, John the Beloved.
  And John Lewis dedicated his life to building the beloved community.
  And one more thing. John Lewis, being named after John, Jesus' 
Apostle, it must be noted that the Apostle John was the youngest of the 
disciples. John Lewis was the youngest of our civil rights leaders who 
spoke at the momentous March on Washington.
  God bless John Lewis, and we thank God for sending him our way.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Green).
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to say thank you to a friend 
and a great warrior.
  I thank you, dear brother, for being the sermon you preached. You 
walked your talk. It is said that a great person will always rise to 
the occasion, but it is also said that the greater person makes the 
occasion.
  He was an occasion-maker, and he rose to the occasion on the Edmond 
Pettus Bridge. And for this, many of us who are here tonight are here 
because he marched into brutality.
  So tonight, I thank you, dear brother, for being able to withstand 
what many of us could not and would not. I rise to just say thank you 
and to let you know that we will never forget you, and we will always 
make it perspicuously clear that we are here because you were there.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Clarke).
  Ms. CLARKE of New York. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor a great 
man, Representative John Lewis.
  This past Friday, July 17, our country lost one of its greatest 
heroes, a true patriot, who literally put his life on the line in the 
pursuit of justice and fairness in our society.
  The Honorable John Lewis was a penultimate hero who embodied the 
struggle for human rights and dignity. He was a fierce civil rights 
warrior, who refused to abide by the Jim Crow laws of the South. He 
embodied what it means to be a public servant, putting his life on the 
line and the people above his own self-interests.
  I am so honored and privileged to have served with John Robert 
Lewis--John Robert Lewis, who was a dancer, a man who loved to have fun 
but was convicted for the right to vote, convicted as an activist for 
civil rights and civil liberties.

[[Page H3674]]

  And I will forever hold dear the moment that we landed in Ghana 
together, invited by the President of Ghana for the Year of Return, and 
to see the wonderment in his eyes of visiting a space where it all 
began for all of us 401 years ago.
  May he rest in peace and rise in power. The Honorable John Lewis will 
never be forgotten. We all hold onto his legacy.
  Ms. BASS. To honor Mr. Lewis, the first thing we need to do is to 
pass legislation restoring the Voting Rights Act and get it signed. We 
know the credibility of our elections has already shown early signs of 
concern during several State primaries and voter suppression cases, 
coupled with the fact that people are going to have to vote in 
dangerous conditions, cannot be ignored. I know that if Mr. Lewis was 
still with us, he would be leading that fight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Johnson).
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, much has been said about my 
friend, teacher, and mentor, John Lewis.
  He was a family man, married to Lillian for 44 years, and to that 
union bore a son, John-Miles, who is with us today.
  Along with John Lewis' brothers and sisters, he was number three of 
ten. He has a large extended family. And that family entrusted John to 
the world. And for 33 years, he was our colleague. For 14 years, he was 
mine.
  I just want to say to the family that we here in Congress feel your 
pain. We appreciate your sacrifice in allowing John to do what he did 
for the world and for Congress. I want you to know that we stand with 
you, we feel your pain, and we will never forget your dear brother, 
uncle, cousin, whoever he was to you. We will never forget him. We know 
that he loved you.
  He would depart this place to go to the family reunion during the 
summer down in Alabama where the family still owned hundreds of acres 
of land that they farmed even when his two sharecropping parents gave 
birth to John. And so he was a family man. Thank you, family, for 
entrusting him to us.
  Ms. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, there are no words to 
describe the pain that many Americans are feeling right now as we 
grapple with the loss of our conscience, our friend, our inspirational 
leader, John Lewis.
  I am heartbroken. I am honored and humbled to have served alongside 
him, to have had him take my children, as he has done for so many 
Americans in the Faith and Politics movement through a historic march 
in Selma, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
  During one of those trips I was lucky enough to have my daughter 
Laura and son Ray join me. Because of school obligations, they had to 
leave early and were going to miss the march across the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge. John wasn't about to let that happen.
  He took the three of us in his car with him and we drove through 
Selma, as he told them what it was like and what he went through. They 
were both entranced by him and the story he was telling that was filled 
with graphic violence of what they endured as they fought for equal 
rights.
  At the end of it, my daughter Laura, who was about 14 years old at 
the time, struck by what he had just told her, rather innocently asked 
him, ``Mr. Lewis, did you ever have fun?''
  There was a pregnant pause and then John got the biggest smile on his 
face. He told us that yes, they did. ``And in fact, at night, we'd 
pitch our tents and sit around campfires and we'd sing and dance,'' he 
said. His smile then got broader as he remembered. ``I can still see 
Andy Young doing the jitterbug in his coveralls. And he could dance . . 
. he could dance.''
  Despite everything John endured, they were still young and full of 
life.
  One of the most inspiring memories I have of John Lewis is from 2009, 
when we were fighting to pass the Affordable Care Act. The day before 
we passed the bill, hateful protestors spewed racial slurs and spit on 
John Lewis, Andre Carson, and Emmanuel Cleaver. Tensions were high 
after that. The next day at Caucus, I asked John to speak. He brought 
the Caucus to its feet, evoking the Civil Rights movement.
  He said: ``Pay no attention to what went on yesterday. We have to 
learn, as we did in the Civil Rights Movement, to look past this and 
keep our eyes on the prize. So, I ask you to stay calm and stay 
together.'' As he was walking away from the mic, he paused, and then he 
stepped back up and said, ``Forty-five years ago, I walked across the 
Edmund Pettus bridge arm in arm with fellow citizens who believed 
strongly in Civil Rights. We faced far more difficult crowds than we 
are facing out here today. Let's lock arms and go across the street and 
pass this bill.'' And we did. We marched across the street, through the 
protesters and passed the bill.
  In 2016, I worked with John to take another stand. This time, we were 
calling for a vote on the House floor on a bill to address the epidemic 
of gun violence in America. After the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook 
Elementary, the House didn't take a single vote to address gun 
violence, until Democrats took the majority in 2019. In 2016, after the 
shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, John and the rest of the 
Democratic Caucus had had enough. He called on the Caucus to join him 
in causing some 'good trouble'. With that, we held a sit-in on the 
House floor demanding justice.
  Most recently, we worked together to strengthen Social Security. 
Social Security is our nation's number one anti-poverty program and is 
a lifeline for millions. It needs to be strengthened so it's there for 
future generations too. Last summer we stood together outside the 
Capitol highlighting how important these benefits are for seniors, 
especially for Black seniors. He said:
  `I grew up in rural Alabama, 50 miles from Montgomery, outside a 
little town called Troy, and I remember how seniors lived before they 
had Social Security. Most of the seniors in my district in Georgia 
depend on Social Security for the majority of their income. Without it 
almost half of Black and Latino seniors in this country would be living 
in poverty. That's not right, that's not fair, and it's not just. 
Social Security is more than a right, it is a promise. A promise people 
paid into to secure their future. We can do better, we can do much 
better.'
  This year, even when battling cancer, he continued this fight.
  I've been proud to call John Lewis a friend over my time in Congress. 
In 2016, I was honored to work with the Bipartisan Policy Center and 
Representative Tom Cole to establish the Congressional Patriot Award. 
John Lewis and Sam Johnson, who passed away earlier this year, were the 
first recipients. They were both authentic heroes. One held in 
captivity by the VietCong and tortured and nearly beaten to death; the 
other held captive by the Alabama Police, clubbed and beaten. They both 
had a genuine focus on doing for others, not themselves. They were 
humble, gracious, and kind, yet warriors for their cause.
  John Lewis has forever changed our country. His legacy will live on 
in the policies and lives he changed. We must continue to follow his 
lead and cause good trouble.
  Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the heroic 
life of Congressman John Robert Lewis and his historic contribution to 
the nation we know and love today.
  In September 1957, the Little Rock Nine walked into history as they 
walked up the front steps of Central High School. It was a pivotal 
moment in history.
  John said this moment inspired him in his own leadership as an active 
member of the Civil Rights Movement.
  I had the pleasure of calling John a friend, as did many of my 
colleagues, and will cherish the time we had together in the people's 
House.
  John joining me as legislative cosponsors to expand the Little Rock 
Central High National Park boundary is a highlight of my congressional 
service.
  John will truly be missed, but long remembered. As the USNS John 
Lewis sets sail as a new class of naval vessel, we are reminded to 
carry on his legacy of dignified leadership.
  I join all Americans in honoring the remarkable life of John Lewis. 
Martha and I offer prayers for his family and for all those he inspired 
and who thus grieve over his loss.
  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on Friday, our country 
lost Congressman John Lewis, an inspiring individual who stirred so 
much important change.
  I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to Congressman John 
Lewis' family, friends, and staff. Congressman Lewis will always be an 
icon of courage to promote equality and freedom. I will always cherish 
his thoughtful and cheerful encouragement during our time serving in 
Congress together.
  Congressman Lewis was especially appreciated by his neighbors--the 
people of South Carolina.
  We will always remember Congressman Lewis for his many significant 
accomplishments. And although he is no longer with us, his legacy will 
always live on. My prayers are with the Lewis family during this 
incredibly painful time.
  Ms. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in the passing of Congressman John 
Lewis, I have lost a dear friend, Georgia has lost a true leader, and 
our nation has lost a civil rights icon.
  John Lewis and I first met upon my arrival to Congress nearly three 
decades ago. Yet, by

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the time of that meeting, he had already made a profound impact on my 
life. It was because of his early work on the advancement of the Civil 
and Voting Rights Acts that I can stand here and address you today.
  His grasp of the nuances and complexities of public policy, paired 
with his genuine personality, made him a dynamic presence in this 
Chamber. When he spoke, everyone--regardless of party or politics--
listened. When he sang--like he did when we were jailed together 
following a nonviolent protest at the Embassy of Sudan--peace ensued. 
His stories captivated, his advice educated, his sermons inspired, and 
his speeches motivated. He brought the same passion he had as an 
activist to the halls of Congress, where he spent his career 
representing Georgia's 5th district.
  It is impossible to properly eulogize John Lewis with only words--for 
he was a man of action. We would therefore all do well to reaffirm our 
commitment to the preservation of equality and justice in his honor, 
which is necessary now more than ever before.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish to offer my condolences to John Lewis's family 
and to thank the Congressman for a life full of ``good trouble.''
  Miss GONZALEZ-COLON of Puerto Rico. Mr. Speaker, for so many of us, 
serving in the U.S. Congress is the achievement of a lifetime. But by 
the time John Lewis arrived to this chamber, he had already built a 
historic legacy, as one of the Greats of the Civil Rights Movement. A 
man of inspiration and hope, committed to the struggles of freedom and 
justice, John had to put himself on the line and defend social justice 
throughout his whole lifetime.
  America has lost one of its great leaders. John never relented in 
fighting for what he felt was right, yet he always sought the good in 
others. Having suffered bigotry and violence, he would not let himself 
be dragged down by hate.
  It is a privilege to me, to have been able to know and serve in 
Congress with such a champion of equality and civil rights. Humble as 
the truly great are humble, serene and kind, but John was strong in his 
convictions. In his office he displayed mementos of our nation's crude 
history of segregation and the events of the struggle that he still 
remembered as if it were yesterday. I was privileged to have 
conversations with him asking about his experiences, in which he gladly 
spent much longer time than the usual congressional meeting. In his 
gaze as he spoke you could see an inner peace that filled the room and 
seemed magical.
  John Lewis always supported the right of Puerto Ricans to choose 
their own future and achieve full equality as American citizens, and I 
was able to count on him as cosponsor of the Puerto Rico Statehood 
Admission Act (H.R. 4901). He also joined in our effort to recognize 
the valor and sacrifice in battle of the Puerto Rican soldiers of the 
65th Infantry Regiment as cosponsor of the measure to establish the 
13th of April as National Borinqueneers Day.
  In the same spirit of justice and equality, he asked me to be the 
Republican co-lead for the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (H.R. 
3114), a piece of legislation that seeks to end discrimination in 
adoption and foster care agencies across the nation, forbidding 
discrimination against children, youths, families and individuals on 
the basis of religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender 
identity) and marital status in the management and delivery of child 
welfare services. I did not hesitate to say yes. Discrimination is 
discrimination whether you are talking political or social issues.
  Representative Lewis' gallant defense of equality and justice 
extended to the struggle for the rights of the LGBTQ community. I was 
proud to join him in the Equality Act, which would extend by law the 
protection against discrimination under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to 
LGBTQ individuals. The march towards true justice on which John Lewis 
spent his life goes on: it is up to us to continue it. There will be 
other bridges to cross, and his courage should inspire us to cross 
them, but always with love and care for all people.
  May John's loved ones be comforted by the knowledge that his memory 
will continue to inspire many generations who are learning from his 
words, about inclusion and about fighting hatred with love. I Thank 
John (he never wanted me to call him Congressman or Mr. Lewis).

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