Jimmy Panetta: “I thank the gentleman for yielding and for having this Special Order in which we rise, remember, and recognize one of…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding and for having this Special Order in which we rise, remember, and recognize one of our country's civil rights champions, one of America's heroes, my friend, our colleague, and, yes, the conscience of Congress, Congressman John Robert Lewis. Now, unlike some other Members that spoke earlier, even though John was a fellow Member of Congress, he was a fellow Member on the Ways and Means Committee, I have to say I never got used to having John Lewis as a fellow colleague. As Mr. Kelly alluded to and said, I should say, we do have a family here on the Ways and Means Committee, but it was clear that John was that favorite child. All of us were in awe as to everything he did and everything that John stood for. And that is part of the reason why my wife and I took our two daughters down to Selma, Alabama, this last March to walk arm in arm with John Lewis across the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the last time. Now, obviously, with the ceremonies this week in John's passing we have been thinking a lot about John, but this past weekend I could not get him out of my head. And it resonated with me the most when my wife and I took our two daughters up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and we stood on the battlefield, in that cemetery and at that monument and read the speech that President Lincoln gave to consecrate that hallowed ground. And I can tell you it reminded me of the lifelong fight of John Lewis.…”