Erica Lee Carter

Mr. Speaker, today, we gather to honor and celebrate the remarkable

I rise today to honor three

Madam Speaker, I did not expect to be here today. We had a bipartisan agreement, and we were set to vote on Wednesday. It was bipartisan and bicameral, yet, at the eleventh hour it was pulled, doing injustice to the American people.

I call for that same agreement to come to the floor so that we can regain the trust of the American people, keep our government open, and do what they have asked us to do, which is fund disaster relief and provide vast, important services across our Nation.

I also rise because this may be my last time in the well. It has been my honor to be a voice for the 18th Congressional District and bring an important vote back to this House in memory of my mother, the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, fighting for justice, freedom, access to healthcare, women's rights, human rights, and economic opportunity for all.

She always fought for it to be a more perfect union and for America to live up to her promise. I think that we should do well to remember that when we have these discussions today.

May her legacy live on in this body and live on in this Nation forever. It has been a true honor to be with my colleagues, but I ask that we do what is right in this season of giving for the American people and bring the bipartisan agreement back to the floor for a vote.