To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, New York, as the "Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building".

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3957) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, New York, as the ``Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building''.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3957, which was introduced by Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, New York, as the Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building.

Essie Cynthia Jenkins served the communities of Jamaica, St. Albans, Springfield Gardens, and Rosedale, New York, for 12 years as a New York assemblywoman. She made history by being the first African American woman elected to represent southeast Queens. Ms. Jenkins served as chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Affirmative Action and a delegate to both the Governor's and White House Conferences on Libraries. She was also instrumental in the State's decision to make a 250-bed Veterans' Home to St. Albans in the 1980s.

Prior to her career in public service, Ms. Jenkins was a librarian for 23 years, working in every southeast Queens branch library. In 1966, she earned a Master of Library Science degree from Pratt Institute. It was around this time when she met her husband, Joseph Jenkins. The two had a son, Joseph Jenkins, Jr., who credits his mother's strong spiritual beliefs and active membership in the Springfield Gardens United Methodist Church with his decision to become an ordained minister at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Bay Shore, Long Island.

Ms. Jenkins, sadly, passed away on October 31, 2001, at the age of 77; however, her passion for learning lives on. Her undergraduate alma mater, the University of Louisville, named a scholarship in her honor, known as the Essie Jenkins Torchbearer Endowment, established in 1999. Since then, many young people have had the opportunity to go to college, thanks in part to the dedication and trailblazing efforts of this remarkable woman.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 3957, and with that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, we have no other speakers and are ready to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it was stated in my remarks previously that Ms. Jenkins, sadly, passed away October 31, 2001. I think from her faith background and for her children, it was a sad day, but it was also a happy day, because every time we remember those such as we are remembering today, there was a birth and there was a death-- and we are remembering the death--but in between there is a dash or a space. Those lives that we memorialize today on the House floor are in that dash or space. So, for me, the dates mean a birth and a death, but it is the nondate in the middle that makes what we are doing here today so special in the lives of these individuals.

With that, I would urge all to support H.R. 3957, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to sponsor H.R. 3957. I urge its quick and unanimous passage and ask all Members to join me in honoring one of southeast Queens' best and a memorable public servant, Cynthia Jenkins.

Let me, at this time, also thank my colleagues from the New York delegation who all signed onto this bill, because Cynthia was a history maker. She was the first African American woman in Queens County to be elected to the New York State Assembly. She was elected because of the work that she did prior.

For 22 years, she worked as a librarian and made sure that every single library in southeastern Queens would remain open. She, in fact, worked in every library in southeastern Queens. She fought hard on behalf of libraries and those who enjoyed their services, even preventing many branches from closing in a time of cutbacks. She wanted to make sure the children had a safe place to go to learn after school. She also had various programs within the public libraries.

As indicated, when servicemembers returned from Vietnam, it was Cynthia Jenkins who played an integral role in opening the State Veterans' Home in St. Albans at the veterans' facility. That facility still exists and continues to serve thousands of veterans to this very day.

In addition, her advocacy on behalf of civil rights was inspiring for many at a time when civil inequality was rampant. She was instrumental in trying to make sure that there was a district where an African American could run for Congress one day--the seat that I hold today.

She also was the founder of Social Concern, which took care of young people, older people, and seniors who were frail and had to stay in their homes and helped make sure they got the food and quality health care that they needed.

Indeed, Cynthia Jenkins, a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, a member of the community, was a long, hard fighter who did not know how to take ``no'' for an answer when she was trying to make sure that the community received its due.

Today, I ask all of my colleagues to honor this public servant who was dedicated to her community, dedicated to libraries, dedicated to literacy, dedicated to the commitment of social and racial equality, and that we unanimously pass this bill memorializing the late Cynthia Jenkins, our assemblywoman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks), the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H.R. 3957, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, New York, as the Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building.

Cynthia Jenkins worked as a librarian, community activist, and civil rights advocate after moving to Queens from Louisville, Kentucky. In 1969, while working for the Queens public library system, Cynthia cofounded the Black Librarians Caucus, to address racial inequalities in the public library system, as well as an educational action program, the Social Concerns Committee of Springfield Gardens, Inc.

In 1982, Cynthia became the first African American woman elected to public office in southern Queens, winning a seat in the New York State Assembly. For the next 12 years, she worked tirelessly on behalf of her constituents, focusing particularly on educational issues.

Cynthia passed away on October 31, 2001, at the age of 77. She continues to be remembered for her dedicated public service and for always fighting for the principles she believed in.

Mr. Speaker, we should pass this bill to honor the life and public service of State Assemblywoman Cynthia Jenkins.

I thank Representative Meeks for introducing this bill.

I urge its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the following measures, which are post office-naming bills, en bloc: Calendar No. 585, H.R. 43; Calendar No. 586, H.R. 451; Calendar No. 587, H.R. 1391; Calendar No. 589, H.R. 3085; Calendar No. 590, H.R. 3957; Calendar No. 591, H.R. 4189; Calendar No. 592, H.R. 4443; Calendar No. 593, H.R. 4919; Calendar No. 595, H.R. 5106; and Calendar No. 584, S. 2523.

I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read a third time and passed, en bloc, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc, with no intervening action or debate.