A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2650 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, as the "Julia M. Carson Post Office Building".

Mr. President, Senator Lugar and I honor Congresswoman Julia Carson by urging the Senate to support the legislation, S. 2534, which will designate a U.S. Post Office in Indianapolis in her name.

The U.S. Postal Service recommended the Mapleton Station Post Office in Indianapolis be the location named in her honor. Congresswoman Carson was not only instrumental in the erection of the new Mapleton Station, which opened its doors at a new location on July 15, 2005, but she also attended the dedication ceremony for the new building on August 11, 2005. This new, attractive building will be a terrific sign of respect for her.

Congresswoman Carson was born on July 8, 1938, in Louisville, KY. When she was only 1 year old, Julia and her family moved to Indianapolis. Carson graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1955 and attended Martin University in Indianapolis and Indiana University- Purdue University at Indianapolis.

Julia Carson's political career began when she was working in the Indianapolis office of former Congressman Andy Jacobs, who served 15 terms as the Congressman from Indianapolis, 10th District, Indiana. Jacobs encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana House of Representatives. Elected in 1972, Carson served in the Indiana House of Representatives for 4 years. In 1976, after serving in the Indiana House, Julia Carson successfully ran for a seat in the Indiana Senate, where she continued to serve Hoosiers for 14 years. In that position, Julia Carson gave unfailing support to Indiana's successful ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and supported legislation to improve women's economic status, such as the bill she advocated to include household workers in the minimum wage.

After serving in the Indiana Senate, Carson became a trustee for Center Township of Marion County, an area comprised of downtown Indianapolis, where she instituted aggressive measures to help the city's homeless and trimmed the inflated welfare rolls by imposing new rules that required able-bodied recipients to work or attend school as a condition of receiving poor relief. In 1992, Julia Carson was declared Woman of the Year by the Indianapolis Star for her efforts to improve welfare and create a fiscal surplus in Marion County. Her dedication to Indianapolis continued to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1996, Andy Jacobson retired from the U.S. House of Representatives, and Carson successfully won his seat, representing what was then Indiana's 10th Congressional District. Representative Julia Carson is only the third woman and second African American to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana.

As Congresswoman, Julia Carson is best remembered for her leadership awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks for her instrumental role in the civil rights movement. Carson worked closely with Senator Evan Bayh on initiatives to establish a program that would promote more responsible fatherhood by creating educational, economic, and employment opportunities. She also worked with

Senator Richard Lugar to improve children's health care.

While in Congress, Julia Carson served on the Committee of Financial Services, the Subcommittee of Financial Services and Consumer Credit, the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Material, and the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. Carson was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Throughout her 10 years in Congress, Julia Carson worked tirelessly for the poor and forgotten.

Shortly after announcing her diagnosis with terminal lung cancer, Julia Carson died on December 15, 2007, at age 69. At her funeral service, those who spoke all said Carson, the daughter of an unwed teenage mother who worked as a housekeeper, never forgot where she came from. Therefore, it is only fitting that the Congress designate a post office in the name of Julia M. Carson in her hometown of Indianapolis.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5472) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2650 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, as the ``Julia M. Carson Post Office Building''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the sponsor of the legislation, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky).

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Donnelly) for 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to be recognized for as much time as I may consume.

Representative Carson advocated and represented with distinction Indiana's Seventh Congressional District from 1997 until she passed away in the winter of 2007.

The first woman and the first African American to represent Indiana's Seventh Congressional District, Congresswoman Carson worked her way up the ranks to be a prominent Member of this body and a friend and confidant to many of us.

H.R. 5472 was first introduced by Carson's close colleague, Representative Peter Visclosky of Indiana, on February 14, 2008 and was considered by and reported from the Oversight Committee on March 13, 2008 by voice vote.

The measure has the support of over 45 Members of Congress and affords us a chance to recognize and pay tribute before the American public to a woman whose life serves as a testimony to the American dream. Her story is an inspiration to those who face insurmountable odds and reminds us that we live in a country where anything can be accomplished with diligence in one hand and dedication in the other.

Julia Carson was born in Louisville, Kentucky on July 8, 1938 to a single teenage mother. Despite her apparent disadvantages, Congresswoman Carson overcame the odds she was dealt by fate and achieved extraordinary goals and objectives by faith.

As a young girl, we learned that Congresswoman Carson shouldered a host of jobs in order to support her family, including waiting tables, delivering newspapers, and serving as a farm hand. In other words, our friend had to work for what she got and had to toil greatly to get where she got.

Julia Carson was first introduced to politics in 1972 when Congressman Andy Jacobs encouraged her to run for the Indiana House of Representatives. She served as a member for 4 years, and then moved on to the Indiana Senate, where she held a seat for 14 years. In 1990, she was elected as a Trustee for Center Township of downtown Indianapolis and was responsible for running the welfare office. Over the course of merely 6 years, Carson managed to take a $20 million debt and turn it into a $6 million surplus.

On November 25, 2007, it was reported that Julia Carson had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which took her life. We are certainly at a loss for a dear colleague, and believe me, Julia Carson will be missed by this body.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) for 2 minutes.

(Mr. HILL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, my colleague and friend, Julia, was an exemplary woman, a loyal patriot, and a formidable political force. She has also left us with someone who is just as capable as she. And at this time, I would like to recognize our new colleague, and her grandson, the gentleman from Indiana, Representative Carson, for 5 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, in memory of our dear colleague and courageous colleague, let us pass H.R. 5472 and designate the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 2650 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, as the ``Julia M. Carson Post Office Building.''

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of a dear friend and respected colleague of mine, Representative Julia Carson, and strongly support the underlying bill, H.R. 5472, ``To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2650 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Indianapolis, IN, as the ``Julia M. Carson Post Office Building.''

Born in poverty and racial segregation to a teenage single mother in 1938, Julia Porter Carson worked her way up through politics to become one of the most influential people in central Indiana. Julia Carson had a long career as a public servant.

In 1965, while working as a secretary at UAW Local 550, she was hired away by newly elected congressman Andy Jacobs to do casework in his Indianapolis office. When his own electoral prospects looked dim in 1972, he encouraged Carson to run for the Indiana State House of Representatives, which she did; she was elected in 1972, serving as a member for 4 years. In 1976, she successfully ran for the Indiana State Senate.

In 1990, she was elected as a trustee for Center Township that covers downtown Indianapolis, and was responsible for running welfare programs in central Indianapolis. Carson served 6 years as a trustee, creating a $6-million surplus from the office's $20-million debt. Carson employed an aggressive workfare program and anti-fraud procedures to quickly erase the enormous debt, while still providing much needed emergency services to the poor of Indianapolis. Her budget-balancing feat earned compliments from both sides of the political spectrum, including that of republican county auditor John Von Arx, who said, ``Julia Carson wrestled that monster to the ground.''

In 1996, Julia Carson made history by becoming the first African- American woman Indiana has ever sent to Congress. Despite all her accomplishments and success, she never forgot her roots; she always remained true to herself and her beliefs. With all her success and accomplishments, she could have moved to a better neighborhood but chose not to. To the day she died, Julia Carson's home telephone number was in the Indianapolis phone book.

In all my years in Congress, I am not sure I can remember anyone as dedicated to their constituents as Julia was. She reached out to senior citizens, mothers of men and women serving in Iraq, crime victims and those struggling to pay the rent. She sent cards and routinely showed up at funerals and hospitals and front doors. She worked to find work for young men who were coming out of prison. She helped crime victims who were seeking justice.

While I didn't always agree with Julia politically, I always enjoyed working with her and her welcoming smile. She was a great woman and a dedicated public servant. While I was lucky to serve with her in this body, I was luckier to call her my friend. It is right that we honor her in the community that she served by naming this post office in her memory.

I'd like to thank the gentleman for yielding his time.

Mr. Speaker, I knew Julia Carson for more than 20 years. I served with her in the legislature, and I got to know her very well. She was a great public servant in the Indiana legislature and she was a great public servant in the Congress of the United States.

Now, we've had several speakers here today, and I'm not going to repeat everything that they have said, but I would like to leave you with this departing thought about Julia:

Julia had a difficult childhood; she had a difficult life growing up. I have talked to Julia many times about her reaching to the point where she became an elected official in the Indiana Legislature and she actually became a Member of Congress.

I can't tell you how proud she was to be a Member of this august body. It was the highlight of her life. Other than her family, I don't think there was anything else that she felt better about than becoming a Member of Congress.

I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that one of the biggest honors, and if Julia is looking from above, I know she's got a big smile on her face right now, and to have a post office named in her name would be the highlight of her career. And so it's with a great deal of happiness that I have the opportunity to speak on her behalf to acknowledge her great accomplishments in the Congress of the United States.

We all know about Julia's political points of view, but more importantly, I think I want to leave with this body that she was so proud to be one of the Members of the Congress of the United States. And I know that she would be very proud to have this post office named in her honor.

I rise today to honor one of Indiana's finest, Julia Carson. I knew Julia for more than 20 years, and am a better person for it. She was a dear friend and her spirit will unarguably live on not only in the halls of Congress, but in the neighborhoods of Indianapolis where she touched the lives of so many.

I am pleased we are able to recognize her by dedicating a post office in her hometown of Indianapolis in her honor. She had an enormous presence in Indianapolis and was always striving to help those in need. Julia embodied the true meaning of a ``liberal''--a woman who was always fighting for those without a voice.

She championed civil rights and walked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. fighting for equality. She was to me, and so many others, a true hero. Julia was not only proud to be a Member of Congress and represent the fine people of Indianapolis, but she was constantly amazed at how far she had come.

As many know, Julia had a difficult upbringing but only used those experiences to strengthen and shape her political views. Julia constantly reminded us all how fortunate we are to be Members of Congress. I am so honored to have known Julia for so many years and to have worked so closely with her.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5472, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2650 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Indianapolis, IN, as the ``Julia M. Carson Post Office Building,'' introduced by my distinguished colleague from Indiana, Representative Peter Visclosky. Through this important resolution, the House of Representatives will give final tribute to our colleague, sister, mentor and friend.

As a member of this House, I have been privileged to work with some extraordinary men and women. Julia Carson was an extraordinary woman and an extraordinary champion of justice and equality. Julia Carson was a powerful force for change in this country and was an articulate champion for the poor, homeless and those who suffered from discrimination and racial injustice.

As the first woman and first African-American elected to represent Indianapolis in Congress, Julia truly represented and will be remembered as an American hero. Julia was so keenly committed to those who could not speak for themselves and could not help themselves. A longtime legislator in the Indiana State Legislature and advocate for her community, Julia's history, by its very nature, directed her to the fight for those who, like herself, grew up with very little, but yet could look to this great country and actually believe that they could achieve their dreams.

Julia Carson who grew up poor and lived through segregation was elected in 1996 to the U.S. House of Representatives. Among many, one of her biggest achievements came in 1999 when she successfully pushed through legislation granting the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement.

Congresswoman Julia Carson lived her life to the fullest extent. She left few stones unturned. Her passion for family and community was unparallel. Though she was only a member of this body for 11 years, her life and legacy will last an eternity.

Representative Carson was a true advocate for and of the people. For over 35 years she worked tirelessly for her community and she was the greatest example of humility, self-determination, fortitude, strength and resilience. She will always be remembered for her advocacy of the most disadvantaged and she will truly be missed.

It is because of the legacy of Congresswoman Julia Carson that I rise today in support of the naming the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2650 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, Indianapolis, IN, as the ``Julia M. Carson Post Office Building''. Though Julia is no longer with us, we can still honor her.

Mr. Speaker, we must never forget the life and legacy of a woman who touched the hearts and minds of so many. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.