[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 118 (Monday, July 22, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H4707-H4708]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR REPRESENTATIVE SHEILA JACKSON LEE

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I invite my Texas colleagues, particularly, 
and others who may want to come up to honor our colleague, Sheila 
Jackson Lee.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor our colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee. It is 
strange to be here and not see her at a microphone because we know her 
as the outspoken and the oft-spoken colleague in this House.
  When I was elected back in 1994, Sheila and I were part of a very 
small Democrat class of 13. Even then, certainly, and even last year or 
even a couple of months ago, I never thought that I would be 
memorializing her after an illness that took her far too swiftly.
  She is an icon in Houston and in Texas politics. She always showed up 
for her constituents, just as she always showed up here. She chose to 
spend some of her final days helping those who were trying to recover 
from Hurricane Beryl, personally passing out food and water and 
connecting families to necessary assistance.
  Sheila is known all over Houston for being a fighter for her 
community. Here in Washington, she was certainly a fierce advocate for 
many causes, but particularly racial justice and equality. She was 
responsible for our Nation now recognizing in the bipartisan effort she 
made with Senator Cornyn Juneteenth as a Federal holiday to recognize 
the horrors of slavery and our recovering from them.
  She fought relentlessly to end the scourge of community violence in 
her work on the Violence Against Women Act, the Sentencing Reform Act, 
the Kimberly Vaughan Firearms Safe Storage Act.
  Of course, she treasured her children, Erica and Jason, and her 
grandchildren, Ellison and Roy, as well as her dedicated staff members 
here in Washington and in Houston.
  She graduated with honors in the first Yale University class to 
include women. She was a trailblazer there, as she was here, and a 
mentor to many. While a demanding boss, she had a great sense of humor, 
a side many do not remember. She seemed to be everywhere and involved 
in just about everything here, providing inspiration to many with her 
determined advocacy.
  The stories from her former staff members who knew her best attest 
that she played a major role in their professional development and 
provided a launching pad for their careers.
  With the bipartisan support of so many here, I ask that all join our 
delegation in a moment of silence for our

[[Page H4708]]

respected colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee. Let's be inspired by her 
legacy to meet the challenges that we face.

                          ____________________