Sam Farr: “as Chair of the Democratic delegation from the great State of California, it is a great privilege and honor to introduce…”

“as Chair of the Democratic delegation from the great State of California, it is a great privilege and honor to introduce our newest Member of the United States Congress, former Senator, former ambassador, now Congresswoman, Diane Watson. I had the privilege of serving in the California State legislature with then Senator Watson for a long time, and I do not know if all the world knows what a leader, what a dynamic leader she is. She was first involved in education, an issue very dear to all of us here in Congress, as a teacher and then as a lecturer, a lecturer at Cal State Long Beach, which our colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Horn), was president of. She was the first African American woman elected to the Los Angeles Board of Education and, historically, became the first African American woman to be elected to the California State Senate. In the State Senate she chaired the Health and Human Services Committee for over 17 years. Her legislation is landmark legislation, setting up the California birth defects monitoring program. She also ensured quality for community care and residential care facilities. And most recently, she has served this Nation well as our ambassador to Micronesia.”