Sheila Jackson Lee: “I thank the gentlewoman from Alabama, and I thank her particularly for her persistent leadership and for her generosity…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from Alabama, and I thank her particularly for her persistent leadership and for her generosity with inviting so many Members to her district. We have enjoyed meeting her local officials, and we have enjoyed meeting the leadership of that great city and its great history. We make a personal commitment to her that as we travel through Selma--and it captures the essence of a town of great history--that we recognize that there is a need to invest many dollars to preserve this great city and to preserve its history. We thank her for her leadership. To the manager, the gentleman from Michigan, let me thank you very much for your eloquent statements. Isn't it important, Mr. Speaker, to see the number of leaders of our leadership--the majority leader, the minority leader, the whip, and the minority whip--here on the floor of the House joining us in this momentous occasion? Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege of working for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, obviously at a very, very young age. It was in that atmosphere, out of their office on Auburn Avenue in Georgia, that I got the sense and the feeling of the moment of the history of Selma.…”