On the recordJanuary 11, 2024
During my first term in Congress as a freshman member of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, we had a hearing at which we heard from a young woman researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who had taken the very first image ever of a black hole. Congresswoman Johnson, my chair, Chairwoman Johnson, took us to places that no one has been. She was constantly reaching and asking for more. In this term of Congress, I can't think of a time in which we have had a special order that has been bipartisan, but, for EBJ, we do, because that is who she was. When people were glad-handing and taking photos, she was cutting deals. The Chips and Science bill that got done under her leadership--and I spent a lot of hours on the phone with EBJ on that one--I watched her mastery on how that was going to get cooked up, because we are the House, and we think it starts with us, but the Senate had their vision. She changed my life. Her story is an American story, and it is an America-at-its-best story. Her legacy is profound, her friendships were enormous, and I will always remember what she taught me.
