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“TRIBUTE TO DON YOUNG” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the in the House of Representatives section section on pages H4018-H4019 on March 31.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO DON YOUNG
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California (Miss Gonzalez-Colon) for 5 minutes.
Miss GONZALEZ-COLON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give tribute to Congressman Don Young.
For almost 50 years, Congressman Don Young proudly represented all Alaska. The dean of the House, as he was affectionately known, was the ninth-longest tenured Member of Congress. His passing last week leaves a huge void for his constituents, for this body, and certainly for so many of us who had the honor of personally knowing Don. For me, personally, I thought he was a mentor for many of the issues that we shared together.
Our paths first crossed when I was 20 years old and I was elected among a group of fellow young Republicans to meet Congressman Young when he visited the island to discuss its future political status. It was in that moment when I was able to witness firsthand his loyalty to the causes he deeply cared about, including Puerto Rico's quest for statehood.
Little did I know at that time that I would have the fortune and honor to serve alongside him in the U.S. House of Representatives, and to sit on the two committees he ever served on and chaired, the Natural Resources and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.
Congressman Don Young had a unique perspective when it came to Puerto Rico's fight for statehood and full equality as American citizens. He could relate because he moved to Alaska shortly after it was admitted into the Union as the 49th State.
As Alaska's sole Representative in the House, he understood better than anyone else the inequities under the territorial status and the opportunities that statehood brings. He knew what kind of fight we would be in for, and he was with us every step of the way.
He understood the difficulties of representing a non-contiguous district here in this body, and because of this, Puerto Rico found in him an immediate ally. He frequently visited the island and even served as an election observer in one of our most recent referendums, demonstrating once again his longstanding commitment to ensuring the island's 3.2 million American citizens had their voice heard.
When former Speaker Paul Ryan was giving a tribute to Congressman Don Young when he became the dean of the House, he said: You always knew where he stood, but more importantly, you always knew where you stood with him. And that is because he made no secret of his politics or his opinion.
He was a staunch supporter of utilizing domestic energy and mineral production and infrastructure development to spur economic growth. He also fiercely defended Alaska Natives' rights and worked tirelessly to ensure they were enabled to improve their lives and economic status. He was a loyal friend to organized labor and to his fellow veterans.
Congressman Don Young was a legislative force of nature. He was the primary sponsor of 123 bills that were enacted into law, including legislation for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in his first year in Congress. More often than not, he crossed the aisle on bills such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, women's rights, such as the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, and the Magnuson-Stevens Act, otherwise known as the Young-Studds bill, which revolutionized Federal fisheries management and preserved the commercial fishing industry in Alaska and across the country.
Mr. Speaker, Congressman Don Young's legacy will live on in every Alaskan, every Member who has served with him, and every staffer who has been fortunate to learn from him.
His passing leaves a big void. He touched our lives deeply in so many ways, and this House will never be the same without Don.
I pray for his wife, Anne; Congressman Young's two daughters; and his grandchildren.
Godspeed, Don Young, and gracias.
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WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Carter) for 5 minutes.
Mr. CARTER of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, March is Women's History Month, and I can't let this month pass without highlighting two barrier-
breaking public servants.
So many women have contributed greatly to Louisiana, but today, I want to take a few moments to celebrate two: Councilwoman Dorothy Mae Taylor and Congresswoman Lindy Claiborne Boggs.
A New Orleans teacher and activist, Dorothy led a fight for equality within the segregated school systems while serving as a PTA president. Under her leadership, the city's Black and White schools finally achieved equal funding.
While I didn't know it at the time, my educational experience as a boy growing up in New Orleans in the sixties and seventies would improve thanks to the work of Mrs. Taylor. During the civil rights movement, she successfully fought to desegregate New Orleans recreational facilities and register African-American voters.
She was a woman of many firsts: the first woman of color to be elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives; the first African-
American woman to hold the head of a State department; and the first Black woman and one of the first two women to serve on the New Orleans City Council, in 1986.
Councilwoman Taylor worked issues like criminal justice reform before they were popular. After a century of segregation, she was the first councilmember to move on a proposal to ban discrimination in Mardi Gras krewe membership, a move that paved the way for their eventual desegregation.
I was elected to the New Orleans City Council in 1994, the year that Councilwoman Taylor retired, but I am so grateful to have known her and to have had an opportunity to learn from her many pearls of wisdom.
Though she passed in the year 2000, she left a lasting mark on New Orleans, Louisiana, and our country.
Congresswoman Lindy Boggs lived a life of service and warmth, unafraid to break the glass ceiling while overcoming great personal loss.
Her husband, the Honorable Hale Boggs, served in Congress for decades until his tragic death in a plane crash. Following his passing, Lindy Boggs replaced him as Congresswoman Boggs and became the first woman ever elected to Congress from the State of Louisiana.
It takes a lot of inner strength to do that, strength we also see today from our current colleague serving as a Member of Congress from Louisiana, Congresswoman Julia Letlow.
In this very Chamber, Congresswoman Boggs fought tirelessly for equal rights for women and minorities. She also fought to make the House of Representatives more welcoming to women, successfully advocating for a women's-only space in a governing body that was more than 96 percent male. That room still exists today and is appropriately named the Lindy Claiborne Boggs Congressional Women's Reading Room.
Throughout her life, Congresswoman Boggs famously opened her home, her kitchen, and her heart to the people of Louisiana and the community she loved so much.
She passed in 2013, but we all uplift the memory of Congresswoman Boggs and Councilwoman Dorothy Mae Taylor for advancing issues that they had committed their entire lives to protecting and advancing voting rights, fighting against discrimination, providing healthcare to underserved members of our community, and fighting for humanity for people everywhere.
In the spirit of the Honorable Lindy Boggs and the Honorable Dorothy Mae Taylor, we say thank you for your incredible service, and we will continue the drumbeat of these issues here in Congress.
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