Hilda L. Solis: “buenos noches, America. Today we stand here in celebration of a dynamic woman, this woman here, this face that many of…”

“buenos noches, America. Today we stand here in celebration of a dynamic woman, this woman here, this face that many of us here in the House have come to know, and I as a new Member am proud to say I that was able to witness her intelligence, her tenacity, her wherewithal, a true steel magnolia, a true profile in courage, someone who fought even the last few days that we were arguing about welfare reform, how important it was for us to decide upon providing women with the ability to have child care because if they chose to go to work and could find work, the only way they were going to escape poverty was to be able to get child care. And she fought tooth and nail even sometimes against our own leadership, and many of us stood with her. I learned a great deal from her, her compassion, and she did shower us with support and friendship. And as a new Member here in the House, she was someone I looked up to in our Committee on Education and the Workforce, always moving me, pushing me along: "Hilda, keep going. Do not give up. Stand up to those people. Do not let people make you turn your back." She taught us a powerful lesson. She is the first in many categories in her own State and somebody who should be given the dignity and honor to stand with us forever, and that is by paying tribute to her and in either having a commissioned portrait or a statue, a woman to represent us, so proud, and throughout the world.…”