Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 9549, to designate the Elizabeth Furse Post Office Building in Hillsboro, Oregon. I thank all of my Oregon colleagues for their support on this bill. Elizabeth Furse served northwest Oregon in Congress for 6 years. She was the first woman elected to represent Oregon's First Congressional District which I am now honored to represent. When she was first elected, Elizabeth was only one of 48 women in the House. Today, there are 127 women, thanks in part to the courageous example set by Elizabeth and other early congresswomen. Elizabeth Furse was raised in a family that valued service and justice. Her father served in the British Navy when she was growing up in Nairobi, Kenya. Her mother launched an anti-apartheid women's group, and her grandmother was a commandant of the British Red Cross Voluntary Aid during World War II. Elizabeth knew that government has the power protect civil rights or to threaten them. Beginning at her first anti-apartheid march when she was only 15 years old, she continued her family's legacy of service by advocating for those at the margins and continuing through her work, speaking on this very floor of the House of Representatives, where she championed the issues of human rights and social justice. Elizabeth believed that Congress should look like the country it represents. Good policy comes when people of diverse backgrounds and experience shape it.…”