[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12338]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               GINNY BOUVIER, A POWERFUL VOICE FOR PEACE

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to sing the praises of Virginia 
Bouvier, who is a senior adviser for peace processes at the U.S. 
Institute of Peace and the director of its Colombia program.
  I have known Ginny for over 30 years. She is a powerful voice for 
peace and a strong, loving, generous spirit. I have seen her create the 
conditions, open up the spaces so that peace may take hold even during 
violent conflict.
  Around the world, but especially in Colombia, she has brought 
together people from different points of view, different walks of life, 
the powerful and the marginalized. She has worked alongside them to 
find common ground and common purpose in building peace.
  In all honesty, Mr. Speaker, Ginny is the very model of a life lived 
fully with intelligence, love, compassion, tolerance, and devotion. 
Right now, Ginny is under critical care at Georgetown University 
Hospital. I ask all my colleagues to keep Ginny and her family in their 
thoughts and prayers.

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