Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank Congressman Tonko so very much for yielding. He was a dear, dear friend of Louise. I rise today to really…”

“I thank Congressman Tonko so very much for yielding. He was a dear, dear friend of Louise. I rise today to really highlight the sunshine that Congresswoman Louise McIntosh Slaughter really was to all of us. I am reminded of that day when those two planes landed in Rochester, New York, her beloved community. It was a bright, sunny day, but it was almost amazing as the buses drew up to the place of her funeral and the lines and lines of Rochester citizens, her constituents, who were lining up two by two, waiting to come to honor her. That was a true testimony to what Louise Slaughter and Bob, her husband, were to that community. They loved that community, and that community loved her. Eighty-eight years of youth, because she was young, vibrant, and ready. I am delighted to acknowledge so much that she did in the areas of women's rights and empowerment, the arts, healthcare, the battlefield preparedness, economic revitalization, the environment, and social justice, and, of course, her work dealing with the issue of genetics that, really, a lot of people in Congress didn't even understand, but Louise with her expertise in microbiology, there she was educating all of us. As far as her leadership on the Affordable Care Act, she was one of the soldiers and generals who made sure that it passed, and as well her great work in dealing with the Violence Against Women Act and the STOCK Act to make sure that we, as Members of Congress, did the right thing financially.…”