Lois Capps: “Mr. Speaker, I, with great sadness, rise to pay tribute as well to our dear colleague, Jo Ann Davis. As other women in…”

“Mr. Speaker, I, with great sadness, rise to pay tribute as well to our dear colleague, Jo Ann Davis. As other women in the Congress know, there is a sisterhood among many women Members. This weekend, we lost one of our sisters to a disease that has fostered another kind of sisterhood throughout the Nation, breast cancer. And while Jo Ann would have chosen to confront her disease in private, she bravely and valiantly decided to take her experience to improve the experiences of other women in that sisterhood. She did so by advocating for the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act and other legislation that would improve the lives of those who suffer from this disease. I was also proud to work with Jo Ann on the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act. Together we worked, one from the west coast and one from the east, to extend to Federal firefighters the same presumptive disability rights offered to most city and State firefighters. I enjoyed working with Jo Ann on this issue, especially as she showed so much her dedication to firefighters and their families. I will, however, most fondly remember the many mornings I and several others spent with Jo Ann at prayer breakfast on Wednesday mornings at the C Street House, as we will gather in sadness and sorrow tomorrow. We were bound together, several of us, through personal experiences with cancer.”