Remembering John Lewis

Floor Speech

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Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I rise today with deep sorrow and strong determination.

I am feeling deep sorrow over the loss of one of our Nation's great moral leaders and a dear friend of mine, Congressman John Lewis.

As anyone who had ever met John knows, he was incredibly kind. He was a man who had seen so much of our Nation's history and written so much of our Nation's history, and yet he still treated everybody with dignity and respect. I have been honored to serve alongside him in the House and to become his friend.

He was so supportive of me when I decided to run for the U.S. Senate. In fact, I will never forget how knowing that he believed in me helped give me the courage to jump into a race against an incumbent Senator.

I am grieving the loss of my friend.

I am also determined. Congressman Lewis dedicated his entire life to the fight for justice and equality. I am determined to do everything I can to do my part to ensure that his life's work continues.

John Lewis came from very humble beginnings. He was one of 10 children of Willie Mae and Eddie Lewis, who worked as sharecroppers. Making a living off the land has always been hard, but it was even harder in the 1940s in the Deep South, where racism and discrimination were as relentless as the Alabama Sun.

Faith in God was essential, and John had that faith in abundance. As a child, he wanted to be a preacher, and he certainly could have been. From reading Bible verses to the family chickens as a child to speaking alongside Dr. King at the March on Washington at just 23 years old, to his message at the 55th anniversary of Selma earlier this year, John had a preacher's ability to inspire all of us.

Like a preacher, John knew that words alone aren't enough. When words come from the pulpit on Sunday and then they show up on the street on Tuesday, that is when the change really happens. John Lewis certainly showed up over and over and over again. He sat down at lunch counters. He sat in the front of buses. He spent his 21st birthday in jail after blocking the entrance to a theater that refused to sell tickets to people who look like him.

He was arrested more than 40 times, beaten by Klansmen, and nearly killed marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

He never stopped showing up and causing ``good trouble.'' Just 6 weeks before he died, he stopped by the Black Lives Matter Plaza here in Washington, DC. It was the last time he was seen in public.

Time and again, John Lewis put his life on the line in order to protect people's fundamental rights, including the right to vote. John knew that words alone can never be enough, and we have to be willing to take action.

Late last year, the House passed the Voting Rights Advancement Act. It would restore section 5 of the Voting Rights Act that was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2013. For 228 days, this important bill has been gathering dust on Leader McConnell's desk--228 days of inaction.

Senator Leahy is reintroducing the bill in the Senate as the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important bill. It is time to pass it and get it signed into law in Congressman Lewis's honor.

At the 55th anniversary of Selma in March, John reminded us what is at stake. He said this:

We were beaten, we were tear-gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here.

He added this:

I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give in. We're going to continue to fight. . . . We must use the vote as a nonviolent instrument or tool to redeem the soul of America.

I have seen the soul of America, and that soul looks a lot like my friend, John Lewis. I urge us to take up the Voting Rights Act in John's name and to pass it as soon as possible and ensure that his legacy lives on.

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