Neil Abercrombie: “Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I take this action. The hearts of all of us here go out in sympathy to…”

“Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I take this action. The hearts of all of us here go out in sympathy to Patsy's husband, John, and her daughter, Gwen; to her brother, Eugene; to her staff in Washington and in Hawaii; and to her large family of friends and admirers. Mr. Speaker, I am devastated by her loss. Patsy Mink was more than my friend and my colleague; she was a true daughter of Hawaii. She was a person of enormous spirit and tenacity and inner strength. I will miss her terribly. I will especially miss her wisdom, her energy, her readiness to fight for principle. She fought all her life for social and economic justice. Throughout nearly 50 years of public service, she championed America's most deeply held values: equality, fairness, above all honesty. Her courage, her willingness to speak out and champion causes that others might shun resulted in tremendous contributions in the fields of civil rights and education. She has earned in my estimation an honored place in the history of the United States House of Representatives as the co-author of title IX, which guarantees equality for women in education programs. Every single woman in this Nation who today has the advantage of the capacity to command equal opportunity in education, and by extension in virtually every other field of endeavor, owes the impetus to that in modern times to Patsy Mink.”