Expressing Sorrow of the House at the Death of the Honorable Juanita Millender-McDonald, Member of Congress from the State of California

Floor Speech

EXPRESSING SORROW OF THE HOUSE AT THE DEATH OF THE HONORABLE JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD, MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

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Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Madam Speaker, JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD touched our lives in different ways. I chair the California Democratic delegation, and I can tell you that our delegation is literally heartbroken over the loss of JUANITA.

We meet every Wednesday as a delegation to sort through the issues that face us not just as a Congress but as a State. And although we know JUANITA for her leadership in the Nation, those of us in California are very proud of the special things she did for our State.

There will be an empty spot at our meeting every Wednesday.

She was a trail blazer, as has been mentioned, a first so often: the first California African American woman to chair two committees in the California Assembly; the chairperson of the House Administration Committee. But when I think of Juanita, I think of someone who had tremendous dignity, tremendous style, tremendous poise. She knew that she was a first, and it was important to her that she accomplish these firsts with an eye to being a role model for young people around the country and, indeed, around the world.

As Chair of the Committee on House Administration, where I also serve, she worked so diligently to make sure that every vote would be counted, that all Americans would be treated fairly and without discrimination, and she was so happy to provide that leadership as chairwoman of the committee. It is so unfair that we have lost her from that position so prematurely.

Today, we mourn the passing of a great American, but we also celebrate the legacy of public service that she leaves behind. Juanita Millender-McDonald left this Chamber as she entered it, with poise and spirit, fighting for those who could not fight for themselves.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her husband, her five children, her grandchildren, and we mourn her passing, not just today but every day.

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