[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12278]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE CARRIE MEEK, MEMBER OF CONGRESS

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I know that I will have an 
opportunity to pay tribute to the distinguished gentlewoman from 
Florida (Mrs. Meek) at a later time, but I simply wanted to not have 
this Record close, after she has made such an eloquent statement to her 
colleagues, without commenting on what she means to those of us who 
have had the privilege of serving with her and on what she means to 
Florida and to the Nation.
  The gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek) is a renaissance woman. She 
is one who will come to the floor with passion, but also with 
knowledge. She is one that is unbeatable in debate because she is not 
one who memorizes or tries to recapture facts she does not know. She 
speaks both from the heart, but as well, from an internal, deeply 
embedded sense of knowledge of humanity and the needs of our people, no 
matter who they are.
  I have heard her quote from those who many of us only read about, and 
we will miss the eloquence of a stateswoman who can turn heads and 
minds on issues that they thought they would come to the floor and vote 
in the opposite way.
  It is well known that we expect to be fortunate enough to be able to 
serve, those of us who may get reelected, with her distinguished son. 
But what I would say, Mr. Speaker, that I want the Record to be able to 
account for as she gives her remarks this evening, is that she is a 
great woman, a woman of affection and love, and that we love her; and, 
as well, she has been someone who has, in the deepest of need, she has 
gone there and responded to the need, but also she has solved the need. 
That is for her constituents in Florida, that is for the people of the 
United States of America, and those who may call upon her, who do not 
know her but see her as a soldier or sojourner for truth.

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