On the recordJune 12, 2001
I have great occasion to celebrate this moment and to tell my colleagues what a wonderful person Shirley Chisholm was. There was something about her, her gate, her mannerism, the smile that went across her face. It just sort of electrified the House when she took the well to express some disgruntled feeling about this Chamber that was not doing its job. I recall very vividly when Shirley first came to the House and she was assigned to the Committee on Agriculture. It was with great dismay that she felt she was being more or less relegated a position on a committee which was of no interest to her. She took the well, castigated the leadership on her side for having made this appointment, and then proceeded to take charge of that committee, and soon found out that food stamps was in the House Committee on Agriculture and just sort of revolutionized the whole approach of helping poor people with the food stamp program.
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