On the recordJanuary 11, 2024
I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to honor the life and legacy of our dear friend and former colleague, the extraordinary and the honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson. First, let me just send my deepest condolences to her loved ones. This Nation has lost a powerful force for good. When I was first elected, I served on the Science and Technology Committee with Eddie Bernice Johnson, and one of my very first congressional delegations, of course, led by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson was to visit technology companies in her district. She was adamant about making sure that I, as a new member, focused on the inclusion of women and people of color in all aspects of science and technology which led to my forming the Congressional Black Caucus' Tech 2020 and now Tech 2025 initiative. Nevertheless, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice insisted. She told me, as you probably have heard tonight and as she had always said: You have got to do the work. You have got to do the work. Now, the global HIV/AIDS initiative, PEPFAR, which has saved over 25 million lives, was actually talked about and begun when Congresswoman and then-Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson was chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. She organized the first meeting with President George Bush. I will never forget. She asked me what I wanted to talk about at the meeting. I said that I want to talk about all these people in Africa and throughout the world dying of AIDS.…
