[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2240]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING WADE HENDERSON

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, we are nearing the end of Black History 
Month. We had a special program yesterday recognizing foot soldiers of 
the civil rights movement. It reminded me of a man who is a foot 
soldier up here in Washington, Wade Henderson.
  Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference 
on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund. 
He announced he is going to be retiring after 20 years as the head of 
that organization at the end of this year.
  Wade Henderson has worked with Republicans and Democrats both to 
bring about change in our country. He was largely responsible for work 
on the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act when it passed and had 
been working on trying to get it renewed in this Congress. He worked in 
a major way on the Fair Sentencing Act that took away the disparity in 
crack and cocaine sentences that was wrongful.
  Before he came to his position at the Leadership Conference, he was 
active in the NAACP here in Washington, where he was the bureau 
director, and he worked on other issues with the ACLU and other groups 
on civil and human rights.
  When Wade Henderson came to the Capitol, he was a voice of 
conscience. He and Hilary Shelton, together with the NAACP, are two of 
the most conscientious men I know. They have served this country well. 
I will miss him in his retirement. I appreciate the remaining time he 
has. He is a foot soldier. I thank him for his service.

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