Moving to Work Expansion Act of 2014

Mr. Speaker, let me first thank the House for setting aside this time to appropriately reflect on and to celebrate the life of service of William H. Gray--Bill Gray, as we know him--who represented my hometown of Philadelphia so very well in this Congress. But as we're going to have a number of speakers, I'll have ample opportunity to talk. So I want to move to a process in which we can acknowledge some others who want to say a few words.

General Leave

I first ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material into the Record on the subject of this Special Order.

I now yield to the gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. Fudge), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, for an opportunity to talk about Bill Gray and his service to our Nation.

I thank the gentlelady.

Representing the city of Philadelphia was something that Bill Gray was born to do. He was just an extraordinary Member.

We have one of my colleagues who knew Congressman Gray and worked with him from her earliest days in public service, so I yield to my colleague, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz.

Let me ask that we place into the Record a number of letters from local elected officials back home in Philadelphia: Councilwoman Marian Tasco, State Senator Vincent Hughes, State Senator Anthony Williams, City Councilwomen Blondell Reynolds Brown and Cindy Bass, and State Representative Dwight Evans.

Marian B. Tasco, City of Philadelphia, City Council.

To the Members of the 113th Congress: Respectfully, I join

with friends, family and my constituents to submit this

letter for The Congressional Record memorializing a world-

class citizen, with a keen sense of purpose, a man of God, a

champion at the forefront of ending apartheid in South

Africa, and a man who humbly served the least of these. Over

the past 40 years, I have called The Honorable William H.

Gray III many things: pastor, my candidate, a mentor, my

congressman, and of greatest importance to me, my friend.

Undoubtedly, Bill Gray lived a beautiful life. Having

succeeded his father as pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church

in Philadelphia in 1972, I came to know Bill Gray very well.

He knew best how to engage the people he was charged to lead.

And, he knew how to help individuals identify their best

qualities and develop and expand upon them. I credit Bill

Gray for helping me to recognize my own ability to organize.

Compelled to be his campaign manager when he ran for

congress, and later his director of constituent services, he

was a mentor to me and others locally and nationally who

sought public office. He was instrumental in my run for

office and election as Philadelphia's first African American

City Commissioner, and strongly supported me in my bid to

become council person for the Ninth District. I am forever

indebted to him and grateful for his vision.

Admired for his commitment to the city of Philadelphia,

Bill Gray was a powerbroker who used his influence to provide

federal resources and opportunities to often underserved

communities. And though he walked amongst kings, queens and

heads of nations, he was never too busy to meet with his

constituents, return a phone call or help someone in need.

The passing of this gentle giant is untimely, yet I hope

all that mourn him will find comfort in knowing that Bill

Gray leaves behind a legacy of goodness that surely

withstands the test of time.

God bless Bill Gray and God bless America!

Marian B. Tasco,

Ninth District Councilwoman.

I now yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Sanford Bishop.

I thank the gentleman for that recitation of God's prayer.

Now you'll hear from someone who actually served with Bill Gray, who was his colleague in more ways than one, because Bill Gray was also a member of the greatest college fraternity. He was an Alpha. I now yield to the gentleman from New York, Congressman Rangel.

I thank the gentleman.

It is true that Bill Gray traveled a great distance in his life--born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to his date of expiration in London--but he did so much in that period of time to make this world a better place.

I want to yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) so she can talk about the life and legacy in service, the extraordinary public service, of our former colleague, Bill Gray.

I thank the gentlelady.

I didn't get a chance to travel with Bill Gray as a Member because obviously he was here before I arrived, and by the time I got here, he was gone. But I do remember flying on Air Force One with President Clinton, and we flew into the heart of Africa, and we walked into a meeting with President Nelson Mandela. And in talking with the President, I explained that I represented Philadelphia. He said, Bill Gray's seat. That will resonate for all of time that Bill Gray had such an impact that this man was able to walk out of prison after 27 years and become President in part because of the leadership on this House floor to do away with constructive engagement and say, No, we need as a Nation to take the right moral position, along with Congressman Dellums and others. Rangel was in it. It was indispensable to helping South Africa make that transition.

So I want to move from California now to another little, small, tiny State--I'm sorry, excuse me, Texas. Let me yield to the great gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Thank you.

All of us have expressed our condolences to the Gray family, his lovely wife and three sons, but I want the Members to take note that we have with us this evening a number of Bill Gray's former staff members who are here and they are in the gallery, and I would just ask that we appropriately acknowledge their presence.

I would like to yield to the gentleman from the great State of New York, Congressman Meeks.

I thank the gentleman and also would like to thank all who have assisted the family at this time, including the United States Department of State, which assisted in dealing with some of the issues around the death of Bill Gray in another country. And I want to thank them.

I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

We have about 20 minutes left. The gentlelady's going to have 2 minutes, the speaker that follows her is going to have 2 minutes, and then we're going to be going down towards 1\1/2\ minutes from that point forward in order to make sure that everyone has a chance to make comments. And I will reserve the last 4 minutes for myself.

Mr. Speaker, I will place in the Record a number of letters from local elected officials: State Senator LeAnna Washington, State Senator Stack, and a number of State legislators, including my own, Vanessa Brown, and J.P. Miranda.

Senate of Pennsylvania,

July 3, 2013.

Dear Members of the United States House of Representatives:

It was with sadness an shock that I received the news of the

untimely passing of The Honorable William H. Gray, III.

Former Congressman Gray was a leader to African-American

elected officials throughout Pennsylvania, but he was first

and foremost a native son of Philadelphia. There is no

elected official in the city of Philadelphia that has not

been mentored or inspired by Congressman Gray. His legacy--

that of serving his constituents through not only his

Christian faith, but as an elected official--and his

dedication to ensuring a brighter future for young African-

American students through the United Negro College Fund--will

not be one repeated in our lifetime.

My condolences to all those who knew, respected, and loved

Philadelphia's Bill Gray. He will truly be missed on many

levels.

Sincerely,

LeAnna M. Washington,

4th Senatorial District, Philadelphia &

Montgomery Counties.

I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).

I thank the gentleman.

Bill Gray, for myself and my wife, for my parents, for tens of thousands of Philadelphians, was just a wonderful human being who did so much to help so many.

And I think it is appropriate that the Democratic leader has come to the floor to address us on the occasion of recognizing the service of someone whom she served with, and they were great friends. And so I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader.

I thank the gentlelady, and I thank her for her leadership in this House and her own extraordinary career that continues as we go forward.

I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Watt).

I thank the gentleman.

The Sunday after Bill Gray left Congress, he preached a sermon, where he said that he was chasing his mission. And his mission wasn't money. It wasn't being in Congress. It was serving people. And he was leaving the Congress to go lead this fine scholarship organization, the UNCF. He did an extraordinary thing in terms of convincing people of the likes of Bill Gates to write a billion-dollar check at one sitting. No one had ever gotten a check that large on behalf of young people in our country who seek an education. Bill Gray had the gift of being a Baptist preacher who was always optimistic.

I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota, Keith Ellison.

I thank the gentleman.

It was said by Ben Hooks on one occasion that we're all passing one by one and we should not get caught with our work undone. So Bill got his work done.

I yield to the gentlelady from the great State of New York, Yvette Clarke, who was born on the best day on the calendar. We share birthdays. But she is much more beautiful and brilliant than I.

Let me thank the gentlelady.

I yield to my fraternity brother and colleague from the great Commonwealth of Virginia.

November 21 is a great day.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

I thank the gentleman.

There are many who are honored to serve in this House. There are few who honor the House through their service. Bill Gray honored the House through his service.

But I knew Bill Gray as a preacher from north Philadelphia. He constructed the Philadelphia Mortgage Plan, the Philadelphia Insurance Plan, the guard against red-lining neighborhoods and green-lining neighborhoods in north Philadelphia and northwest Philadelphia. I saw him deal with the challenges of bringing resources for transportation and infrastructure and job training into Philadelphia as a member of the Appropriations Committee--which no one actually normally talks about. They talk about his chairmanship of the Budget Committee, but as an appropriator, he did a great deal to move our country forward.

So as I move to close, I want to thank his family for sharing Bill Gray with the rest of the world. Not just here in the Congress, but all around the world Bill Gray worked to make a difference.

And I want to thank his church family. Because on this Saturday, when he's funeralized, there will be people flying in from all over. But the people who he married and baptized, the people who he consoled on their sick beds, to them, he was their pastor.

For those who served with him in the House, they learned a great deal from Bill Gray's service here, which is that it's not the length or the number of terms, it's what we do when we have the power to make a difference. He was truly an impact player.

As a tennis player, he had a great, aggressive net game. He played aggressively, and he always played to win. I thank the House and I thank my colleagues for taking out this time to recognize his service, his life, his legacy, and his leadership.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Let me thank my classmate, and we certainly owe him a debt of gratitude for the respect that he is allowing us to show on the floor of the House in honor of the Honorable William H. Gray, III. I, too, want to offer my sympathy to his wife, Andrea, to Bill Gray, who we often saw with him, and he would be really at his side. Bill and Andrea and Justin and Andrew, I offer to them enormous concern for the loss of this great, great champion.

I, too, want to lift my voice and say that Bill Gray wore many hats. On behalf of the faith community in Houston, the faith community in Texas, I want the Gray family to know that my pastors recognize and respected Bill Gray. In fact, when we would see each other, and I did not, as Chaka has said, have an opportunity to serve with him, but when we would see each other, he would ask about this pastor or that pastor, and it gave me a sense of friendship but also a sense of connectedness to Bill by saying, oh, they like you, too, or they said hello as well, because Bill was so respected.

If I might say on this floor, Bill Gray was a child of God. Although we are going to say so many things about him, I think it is appropriate to say that he loved his church and his ministry. My pastors across Texas are praying for his family.

I want to cite a few things that I think are so much a part of his DNA and his legacy, to be able to be a son of a mother and father who were premier educators in the life of historically black colleges, to be able to see him carry their leadership and move it to the United Negro College Fund, which is where I first came to know him, having not served with him in his work, but I knew him earlier because he and Mickey Leland were dear friends. And you can be assured that Mickey never

left Washington up here. Whenever he would come home, he would share his stories with us, who looked up and thought these stories of grandeur, of leadership, of good fights to make things better, and we would hear about Bill Gray, his friend.

I remember Mickey leading the Congressional Black Caucus and bringing them to Houston. Bill Gray was there, and they were talking about what a challenge it was to leave Washington, but they were glad to come to then not really the fourth-largest city in the Nation, but to come down South and show what the Congressional Black Caucus represented.

So I want to say that we are grateful for the courage but also the astuteness of his success: 56 years in the United Negro College Fund, $1.6 billion, $1.5 billion, one-half of that was raised under Bill Gray. He was serious about his work.

Sometimes we don't understand, and this is, of course, for the Congressional Record, because my Members do, but first are to be respected. And it should be known that our colleague, Bill Gray, was the first African American to rise to the level of leadership which he did. We say the words ``majority leader,'' we say the words ``chairman of the Budget Committee,'' we say the words ``chair of the Democratic Caucus,'' but he was the first. He will forever be in the annals of history, and I think it is absolutely key that that is the case.

I want to cite the bills, as my colleague from California said, I want to call them out: H.R. 1460, the Anti-Apartheid Action Act of 1985; and the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, H.R. 4868. Those were the guys who came together--we've mentioned Ron Dellums and the whole expanse of Members at that time who stood resolved that this Nation would not diminish its democratic ideals by engaging with South Africa. And I think courageously he took a stand that we are so proud of.

He was, of course, respected in Washington and appointed by the President as an adviser and received a Medal of Honor from the Haitian President Aristide. He took leadership and he took it with a great sense of dignity.

Let me conclude my comments by indicating that Bill Gray always had a smile on his face. He never stopped working. There were many times he came to my office not as a former majority leader but for an issue that he may have had. As I know he went into many Members' offices, particularly members of the Congressional Black Caucus. It was always uplifting, but Bill Gray always had a story of encouragement. He always had a smile and a deep laugh. He was a good man, and I want to leave this floor by saying good men, good people die young. But what we will always remember is that Bill Gray walked in giant steps, not because of his height but because of his service to America, his love of God, his love of people, and his love of his family. He will be forever missed, and he will be forever remembered. God bless him. God bless his family, and God bless his service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of a great American, Congressman William ``Bill'' Gray, who served more than a decade in this great body.

Today, Members of both the House and the Senate and people around this great Nation mourn the passing of a legislator, a politician, a pastor, a teacher, a public servant and most of all a larger-than-life patriot.

The United States, the State of Pennsylvania and Congress have lost a true hero in Congressman Bill Gray. My heart went out to his family, and the constituents he represented upon learning of his passing last week. Congressman Gray was a true patriot and devoted his time here on earth to serving others in his district, state, country, and around the world. His presence with us will be deeply missed, but I know that his legacy will live on for decades to come.

Congressman Bill Gray was born on August 20, 1943 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but he spent most of his childhood in Florida, where his father served as the president of Florida Normal and Industrial College, which later became Florida A8zM University.

Congressman Gray, like his father, was a strong supporter of education and leading advocate for strengthening America's educational systems. He earned several degrees: a bachelor's degree in 1963 from Franklin and Marshall College, a Master's of Divinity in 1966 from Drew Theological Seminary, and another Master's in Church History from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1970. Additionally, he was awarded more than 65 honorary degrees from America's leading colleges and universities.

Born into a family of ministers and educators, Congressman Gray carried on his family traditions until his death. At an early age, he accepted his calling to become a preacher, and from that day, he proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus in the church, in the community, and even in the halls of Congress. His faith was unshakable and undeniable; it was evident that he lived his life based upon what he preached.

Congressman Gray was the pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia for more than 25 years, a church pastored by his father and grandfather. Under his leadership, the congregation grew to more than 5,000 plus members, and the church served tens of thousands citizens in the community.

In addition to his church ministry, Congressman Gray served as a faculty member and professor of history and religion at St. Peter's College, Jersey City State College, Montclair State College, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Temple University. He spent countless hours outside of the classroom preparing students for success.

Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1978, Congressman Gray was a persistent voice for equal rights, educational access, and opportunity for all persons, in the United States and abroad. He pushed tirelessly for more economic aid for Africa and was a leading critic of the South African apartheid.

In 1985, Congressman Gray was elected as the first African American Chair of the House Budget Committee where he introduced H.R. 1460, the ``Anti-Apartheid Action Act of 1985'', which prohibited loans and new investment in South Africa and imposed sanctions on imports and exports with South Africa. This bill was an instrumental precursor to the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 (H.R. 4868). Congressman Gray played a leading role in shaping United States policy toward South Africa, and awakening America to the moral imperative of ending apartheid and other injustices abroad.

In 1989, Congressman Gray was elected to serve as the chairman of the Democratic Caucus and later that year was elected Majority Whip. He was the first African American to hold these positions and his success inspired a generation of African American elected officials.

In 1991, Congressman Gray resigned from Congress to become the president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund, UNCF, America's oldest and most successful black higher education assistance organization. As president, Congressman Gray led the UNCF to new fund-raising records while cutting costs and expanding programs and services. Approximately one-half of the more than $1.6 billion raised in UNCF's history was collected during Congressman Gray's tenure.

During the Clinton Administration, Congressman Gray served as President Clinton's special adviser on Haiti. He assisted President Clinton in developing and carrying out policy to restore democracy to Haiti. As a result of his commitment to Haiti, Congressman Gray and President Clinton received the Medal of Honor from Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Congressman Gray will always be, in a word, a giant--of Philadelphia, of Congress, and of our country. He was a leader and a trailblazer for the people he represented. His mission was to help people live better lives, to do the work of his Christian faith, to advance the moral evolution of humankind, to make public policy that provided education, and to bring justice and joy to all human beings one decent act at a time.

Congressman Gray's strong, powerful, and influential voice will be missed. Philadelphia, the United States and the world have lost a great statesman in Congressman William ``Bill'' Gray. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

I thank my colleague for setting up this Special Order.

Bill Gray was a total guy. He would have been able to handle this; that's for sure.

I do want to start by offering my condolences to the family, to Bill Gray's religious family, his community, and actually all Philadelphians who knew him and not only respected him, but loved him and admired him for the work that he did on behalf of Philadelphia and on behalf of the Nation and on behalf of the world.

I think we've all heard a bit about his extraordinary public service both here, of course, in the House and also then when he went on to, of course, help lead the United Negro College Fund.

What I wanted to say was a little more personal. I think my colleague knows this. Congressman Fattah knows some of this history. But when I first decided to run for elected office, I went first to City Councilwoman Marian Tasco, who was part of the northwest coalition of elected officials who

came out of the community that was Bill Gray and the people who he supported and provided inspiration to. She was interested in helping me run for the State senate, and she said, Well, Allyson, I'm going to help you out, but there's one really important person you're going to need to be on your side.

It's an interesting district. My district in the State senate represented northwest Philadelphia mostly and where Bill Gray lived, his house there, and much of the northwest coalition and also part of northeast Philadelphia and then eventually part of the suburbs, as well. So it is a really interesting and integrated community. It is about 40 percent African American.

I went first to see one of his chief aides. I went to see Jerry Mondesire. I'm not sure you're supposed to name names here, but it's a Special Order and we can do some of that. I went to talk with him about who I was and why I wanted to run and what I hoped to accomplish in the State senate. He thought it made some sense and gave me the opportunity to set up that meeting with Congressman Gray. I came to see him here at the Capitol actually to meet him. I think he was in the whip's office at the time, a very grand office. He was a grand man of real stature. It was a good meeting. It was actually a very good meeting, and he did agree to be supportive. We ended up working together and worked hard and won a very competitive primary. I was not the only one running in that primary who went on to win in the general election.

Congressman Gray always was supportive and encouraging, particularly when I decided to run for Congress. When I got elected to Congress, the district was very different. It didn't represent the northwest. It was a very different coalition I had to build for that. But he met with me and gave me some good advice about what to do here as a Member of Congress. He said I should serve on the Budget Committee. I'm not even sure I understood at the time that he was the chair of the Budget Committee, the first African American chair of the Budget Committee and the power he lent to that. I took his advice, and I think it was good advice. It gave me a chance to really rise here fairly quickly in Congress.

What I really want to say is that he was a man who brought great intellect, great commitment to public service, a real understanding of relationships between people and how you forge those relationships and you build on those relationships to find common ground and get things done. He did that for Philadelphia, and he did that here in Congress. He was, as I say, a spiritual leader and really made such a difference to the city.

I did get to hear him preach a couple of times; and when I went to Bright Hope to hear him preach, it was Easter morning. That's kind of a special time to be at Bright Hope, as in many churches across this country. I remember that I brought my son, who is now well-grown, and he was only about 11 or 12 at the time. I asked my son afterwards what he thought of the service and what he thought of the preacher, and my son, good Jewish boy that he is, he said, You know, Mom, it kind of makes you want to believe.

And I have to say that Bill Gray made us all want to believe not only spiritually, but believe in this country and the greatness of this country and what we could accomplish. For that, I will be always indebted and grateful to have known him, to honor his memory, and to share in the sadness at his loss and to wish his family not only condolences, but great memories of the man Bill Gray was.

I thank the gentleman from Philadelphia for yielding and for giving us this opportunity to sing the praises of a great man, Chairman Bill Gray, Democratic Whip Bill Gray.

Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege just a few weeks ago of receiving a call from Bill Gray. And I said, oh, it was just out of the blue, wanting to know how my family was doing, challenging my husband to tennis, as always, telling him is he ready to get beaten by me, and this or that.

He said, I just want to know how things are. And he asked me how things were going here, just a call of friendship. And it was just so remarkable to me that about 2 weeks later we had the word.

He told me he was going to Wimbledon, he was taking his sons to

Wimbledon. He was going to go. He loved tennis.

And then when we got the word, it was just so strange, and I felt that God had really truly blessed me because I had that opportunity to speak with him, just out of the blue and within a matter of weeks before his passing.

I did have the privilege of serving with him. As I look around and see all these much younger Members, maybe they didn't all serve with him, but they knew of his great leadership for our country.

Anybody who did serve with him, or knew of the leadership of Bill Gray, knew that he was, in a word, a giant, a giant of Philadelphia, a giant of the Congress, a giant of our country. He was a leader and a trailblazer, a proud Representative of the people of Philadelphia. He just loved his district, a man who left his mark on the history of his city.

His time in Congress was an extension of his family business, public service, serving the community, acting on the values of his faith, giving back to his neighbors and the less fortunate.

Others have spoken about how he made this choice. This is a man who could have done anything in life. He had the talent. He had the stamina. He had the energy, the values and the rest. He was a success in anything he strove to do, but he chose the path that his family had laid out for him, ministering to the needs of people.

In the House of Representatives, Congressman Gray will forever stand as a first. He was the first African American to serve as chair of the Budget Committee, a very big deal, the first African American to serve as the majority whip in the House.

He sounded the alarm, not only about the injustices of apartheid in South Africa, but about what America and Congress could do to end it.

He broadened the reach of his public service beyond Congress, helping send more young people to college, as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, and how excited he was about that.

He did everything with gusto, whether it was serving as a Member, as a chairman, as the whip, and then to have his values be the focus of his work at the United Negro College Fund.

To serve alongside Bill Gray, I'm sure all of my colleagues will attest, was to be inspired by his passion and his commitment, by his focus on the future, and by his belief in the common good. It was an honor and privilege to know him as a colleague, a special privilege for any of us who had that privilege to call him friend.

We only hope it is a comfort to his wife, Andrea, whom he adored. I hope it is a comfort to Andrea and to William IV, to Justin, and to Andrew, that so many people mourn their loss, are praying for them at this sad time.

Well, he went doing what he enjoyed, at Wimbledon. Watching Wimbledon all weekend, all I could think of was Bill Gray being there.

So many people loved him. So many people share the grief of the Gray family. All I can say is that, knowing him over all of these years, he lived life to the fullest.

Though he left us too soon, what he packed into his years of life and service and leadership was something so remarkable. So that's why I thank the gentleman for recognizing Bill Gray and giving us the opportunity to do so on the floor with the admiration and affection that you have brought to this meeting this evening through all of the voices of our colleagues.

I'm sure we'll be saying more and more about Bill Gray. He wasn't into titles. He liked having the titles, but he liked the friendship of being called Bill Gray.

To my colleague, Congressman Chaka Fattah, it was a great day, November 21.

But let me just say this: I want to thank you for your leadership. It is very appropriate that we're here on the

House floor, a place where Mr. Gray's power was most profoundly felt, and that you, being his successor in office, would lead us through what, for many of us, is a day of celebration and commemoration of his life.

On behalf of the people of the Ninth Congressional District, I'm here to express our most profound condolences to the family of Congressman Bill Gray and, as I've said, to celebrate his life and the legacy that he's left for all of us.

Trailblazer, man of God, outstanding husband, father, preacher, skilled negotiator, consensus builder, majority whip, and servant leader, these are just a few of the words that describe the Honorable William H. Gray.

As a pioneering Member of Congress, William H. Gray III was an industrious public servant who worked diligently to provide equal rights, education, and service to the people of his district and, indeed, our Nation. He was a trailblazer for so many who have followed in his footsteps in the House of Representatives, including myself, and paved the way for many more to follow.

Congressman Gray represented the Second District of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1991. He was the first African American to become majority whip of the House of Representatives in 1989, the third-ranking House leadership position. He also served as the first African American to serve as the chair of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives and was a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Foreign Operations.

Congressman Gray, along with many of the CBC at that time, led the effort back in the mid-1980s to end U.S. support of apartheid. When he retired from the House of Representatives, he went on to become president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, where he led the efforts to raise more than $2.3 billion for HBCUs, which was extraordinary.

I'm sure my colleagues have recounted over and over and over all that he has done. I'm just putting an exclamation point because I think it's worth repeating that the people of this Nation need to know what an outstanding servant, Congressman, and preacher Congressman Bill Gray III was. We miss him dearly.

He was passionate about education and believed it was the greatest tool towards a brighter future. I believe my colleague, Congressman Fattah, and he must have melded DNA--or maybe it's a Philly thing. I don't know. But certainly I know that this is the legacy that he has left for Congressman Fattah, for all of us to follow.

Congressman Gray hails from a long lineage of preachers. Before coming to Congress, Congressman Gray served as the pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church in north Philadelphia, where he served as pastor for 35 years. He was a real renaissance man who had been able to manage several careers throughout his lifetime. He succeeded his father, William H. Gray, Jr., who preached there for 22 years, and his grandfather, William H. Gray, Sr., who served there for 24 years. While in Congress, he returned to Philadelphia on weekends just to preach. He leaves an amazing legacy that will never be forgotten and that will be a part of our Nation's history for generations to come.

During this time of grief, I hope that his family and all of us will find solace in our memories and comfort will be bestowed upon the family and loved ones at this time of their bereavement. I will continue to keep the family and his parishioners and those who hold him dear in my prayers and hope that the Lord will continue to be with them at this time.