Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, a week ago, we had a roundtable in my district, and we invited, including Madam Speaker today, to come and listen to the workers.

Tamara, who works for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said that she is trying to figure out how to tell her son that he is not going to be able to have his birthday party. She is a young widow, single mother.

Veronica said that she has to take care of her parents and has to pay for their medicines and their copays, and it is really hard.

Lori said that workers at the IRS are trying to figure out how to pay for gas to get to work, parking, and childcare. And the taxpayer assistance office is closed, even though we have a new tax bill.

Kevin said the morale at the Bureau of Prisons is really tough. He lives 50 miles from work and is just about out of gas money.

Crystal said: We are public servants. We are not public slaves.

And Florence, who helps people get food stamps, is applying for them herself and waited 3 hours at a food pantry.

Madam Speaker, we need to get rid of the shutdown and pay the workers now.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I really appreciate the opportunity to come down and talk.

Our colleague from Alabama was talking about Martin Luther King, who also talked about the urgency of now. If there is a time for urgency, it is now to end the shutdown and pay the workers.

He also talked about and warned about that, if you wait too long, it can be too late. So this is the time to spare what is a growing disaster for all Americans from happening.

Wilbur Ross, our Commerce Secretary, said that he doesn't quite understand why these furloughed and unpaid workers might have to go to a food bank. He doesn't understand.

That is exemplary of the level at which this administration is completely tone-deaf and out of touch, that they don't understand how people--the beginning salary for a TSA worker at the airport is $28,000, and sometimes it goes up to maybe $43,000. Tomorrow will be the second paycheck that they don't get.

So a number of us in Chicago had a roundtable that included eight Members of the House of Representatives, Democrats, and Senator Durbin. Madam Speaker right now in the chair was at that roundtable. We heard from 18 different workers from different agencies talking.

Wilbur Ross ought to talk to Florence, who is helping people get food stamps and found herself having to apply for food stamps, for the SNAP program. She waited 3 hours at a food bank. Why? Because the lines are growing and growing and growing of people who, yes, need to get food on their tables and can't afford to do it.

Shame on Secretary Ross for not understanding what is going on out there.

We are hearing of people giving blood and plasma in order to have a few dollars to put food on the table. We are hearing about people running out of gas money, and that means that they can't get to work. This is money that comes out of their pocket while they are not getting paychecks.

Madam Speaker, to Mitch McConnell, who doesn't want to call bills that would actually get the government going, I say: Shame on you. Shame on you, Wilbur Ross. Shame on this administration. This is a crisis. This is a disaster that you are creating. You can end it.

So the demand is clear: End the shutdown; pay the workers.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to include in the Record a letter from Antonio, a constituent of mine affected by this showdown:

``I am an air traffic controller at O'Hare. This is already

a stressful job, but a job that I love. This shutdown is

adding an extra layer of stress to all of the controllers

across the country. Our day off are the time that we have to

decompress from work and focus on mitigating stress. With the

shutdown going past a month, we are stressing about bills,

how to put food on the table, how to pay for childcare, etc.

We don't have the luxury of escaping from the stress of the

job, because we come to the stress of worrying.

Finding out that our vision and dental benefits would be

billed to us, with the expectation that we pay out of pocket,

despite not having a paycheck for over a month, has only

added to that stress. This shutdown is going to be a massive

safety risk for the flying public if it doesn't end soon.

Controllers will retire or quit to find another source of

income. It would be heartbreaking to have to leave this job,

that I love so much, because I had to find a way to feed my

family. It would mean a lot to me if there was any way this

could be distributed to the other members of Congress. I feel

it is a very important message for them all to see.''

Everyday this week, I will be coming to the House floor to tell stories of everyday people who are affected by this Trump I Shutdown. It is time for President Trump to re-open the government and pay the hard-working Americans serving their country through public service.

Madam Speaker, on January 22, 2019, I missed recorded votes No. 44 and No. 45 due to travel delays.

Had I been present, on Roll Call No. 44, I would have voted YEA (Passage of H.R. 328); and on Roll Call No. 45, I would have voted YEA (Passage of H.R. 676).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with you a letter from Antonio, a constituent of mine affected by this shutdown. He says:

I am an air traffic controller at O'Hare Airport. This is

already a stressful job, but a job that I love. This shutdown

is adding an extra layer of stress to all of the controllers

working around the country. With the shutdown going past a

month, we are all stressing about bills, how to put food on

the table, how to pay for childcare, et cetera. We don't have

the luxury of escaping from the stress of this job because,

when we go home, the stress just continues as worrying.

Finding out that our vision and dental benefits would be

billed to us with the expectation that we pay those bills out

of our own pockets, despite having no paycheck for over a

month, has only added to that stress. This shutdown is going

to be a massive safety risk for the flying public if it

doesn't end soon.

I have more from Antonio, which I will include in the Record later.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of an outstanding progressive warrior: Lynda DeLaForgue. Co-director of Citizen Action/Illinois, the largest progressive public interest organization in the state, Lynda has left an indelible mark on laws and policies that directly impact our families and institutions. A skillful, smart and strategic leader, she has had an outsized impact-- one that has made untold thousands of people's lives better. While her death last weekend is a tremendous loss for all of us who worked with her, admired her and loved her, her legacy will remain strong for decades to come.

Lynda liked to quote Eleanor Roosevelt, and one of her favorite quotes was this one: ``A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water.'' Lynda took those words to heart. In fighting against payday loans or for affordable health care, Lynda was ``Eleanor Roosevelt''. She was the epitome of ``persistence''--fighting for financial protections, green energy solutions, or democracy reforms. Whether you served in local, state or federal government, when Lynda reached out you knew she would have facts, solutions and people behind her. And you knew that she would not give up until she had succeeded .

I first met Lynda when she worked for the Illinois Public Action Council as a door-to-door canvasser, office manager and voter registration organizer. She expanded her role to work on consumer issues--health policy, financial protections, marriage equality, and energy--always being sure to link policy to the real people and to organizing. In 1997, she became associate director--and three years later co-director--of Citizen Action/Illinois. While there, she and co- director William McNary made Citizen Action/Illinois an innovative and effective organization, recognized throughout Illinois and the country.

Throughout her career, Lynda focused on an underlying idea: that we can empower people to demand and organize on their own behalf to win a more just, fair and opportunity-filled society. It is an idea easier to state than to achieve, but Lynda knew the keys to success: to have convictions, persistence, and to work hard. She also knew the power of organizing and building coalitions. Lynda led by example, and she always took time to mentor and train her staff and provide solid counsel to her allies and aspiring young organizers and leaders. There is no one who combined all these attributes more than Lynda.

Even as she struggled with colon cancer, Lynda kept her eyes on the task at hand. She was actively engaged in leading the progressive political coalition that she built. She used her own experiences with the health care system to promote reform and access. She was on the phone with my office talking about the possibilities before us in the 116th Congress even as she was getting her chemo-therapy treatments.

Lynda brought the same joy and passion to her private life as to her justice work. Everyone enjoyed being with Lynda. She was interested in others and interesting to be around. She was excited to travel, whether exploring her French roots or discovering new avant-garde artists. Above all, she was devoted to her family: her sister Laura, her children Katy and Jordan, and her life partner Brian Reizfeld. To them, I extend my sincere sympathy and my hope that they will take some comfort in knowing how many people loved and are inspired by Lynda.

As Eleanor Roosevelt told us, ``One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes . . . and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.'' Lynda DeLaForgue chose to live a life of conviction and action. I will miss her very much.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of the most important people in my life for the last twenty years, my treasured friend and Chief of Staff, Cathy Hurwit. After two decades of working by my side, supporting, counseling, directing, and making all things happen, Cathy is retiring at the end of this year.

I think it says a lot about Cathy that she began her service to our county right out of college as a VISTA volunteer. Having never previously been west of the Hudson, she spent a formative year working on a migrant housing project in Davis and Weber Counties in Utah. Her project fixed up homes, developed a community health center, and worked with the children. That year set the stage for Cathy's never-ending commitment to do everything she could to make life better for everyday people.

Cathy Hurwit is well known on Capitol Hill as one of the most knowledgeable, savvy, brilliant, literate, helpful, visionary, hardworking, effective, strategic and relentless progressive leaders. She is the go-to person for staff and members inside the Congress as well as advocates, constituents and lobbyists outside. She is a skilled organizer who knows how to move a progressive agenda.

Cathy's history on the Hill began forty years ago. She served on the staff of Congressman Toby Moffett (D-CT) as Energy Policy Director from 1976 to 1979. She then worked as advisor to the Subcommittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources of the House Government Operations Committee from 1979 to 1982, followed later by two years for Congressman (now Senator) Ed Markey (D-MA) from 1987 to 1989 as his Legislative Director.

Cathy then left the Hill to become the Legislative Director for Citizen Action, a multi-issue coalition of progressive organizations from 1988 to 1997, overseeing campaigns that blocked President Reagan's efforts to deregulate natural gas--while passing legislation to protect homeowners from utility shutoffs, winning worker and community ``right to know'' about toxic emissions and promoted Patients' Bill of Rights in Congress and around the country. Through that period, I became friends with Cathy through our mutual work with our Illinois affiliate.

The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, one of the great public employee unions in our country, hired Cathy as their Legislative Affairs Specialist from 1997 to 1999--until I was able to lure her back to the Hill as my Chief of Staff. By then she had vowed never again to work in Congress, but I am grateful that she came back to get me started, and even more grateful that she stayed!

Cathy has built and led incredible staffs in our office over the last twenty years. At the heart are my Deputy Chief of Staff, Kim Muzeroll, who is the glue that holds our D.C. office together, and Leslie Combs, my fabulous District Director who oversees a renowned constituent service operation. Along with Cathy, they make up a team of powerful women who have been in charge of our staff since my very first day in Congress.

Alumni of our office have served in the White House, as Chief of Staff to Nancy Pelosi and others, as Deputies to Cabinet Secretaries, and major leaders in not-for-profit and labor organizations. All of them benefited greatly from Cathy's mentoring and still consider themselves part of Team Schakowsky.

As I write this Extension for the Congressional Record, I still find it impossible to imagine future sessions without Cathy Hurwit right next to me, strategizing about how to move our progressive agenda forward. Her expertise in health care made it possible for me to write portions of the Affordable Care Act. Opportunities like that will hopefully come again soon. Cathy tells me that she will still be available to help, and I will be certain to test that. She remembers all the complicated details of so many issues and bills, the struggles and the victories, the names of all the players on every side of the issues. Her institutional memory is exhaustive. (There are some people who should hope that Cathy does not write a book!)

Even when she leaves, Cathy will be a force to be reckoned with. She has a lifelong commitment to social justice and to working for progressive change. I am sad that this phase is over knowing I have a lot more to learn from Cathy. My precious friend, as you leave the Rayburn Building, know that you have dramatically improved so many individual lives, including mine. And, more importantly, that you have made life better for millions of people who, through your work, now have access to health care and hope for a better future.

Cathy will be deeply missed in our office and throughout the Hill. I look forward to maintaining our partnership in the ongoing struggles for justice, equality and peace. From the bottom of my heart, I thank her for her service.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague from Ohio for introducing this legislation and shepherding it through committee and onto the floor.

The SMART IoT, Internet of Things, Act is a product of bipartisan cooperation. As I did during subcommittee markup, I want to thank Chairman Latta and Congressman Welch for their leadership on this issue, going back to the IoT Working Group in the 114th Congress.

This bill will require the Commerce Department to survey the varieties of connected devices available and examine the Federal role in this space. The study conducted under this bill should serve as the foundation for future legislative efforts as we work to ensure that Internet-connected devices are deployed to the benefit of the American consumer.

The SMART IoT Act is being considered under suspension of the rules after committee consideration under regular order. After a series of hearings on the Internet of things, Republican and Democratic staff worked together on a discussion draft of the bill.

Earlier this year, we held a legislative hearing where we heard testimony from the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Chamber of Commerce, and Intel. That hearing raised several issues that we should continue to examine; including privacy, security, and safety. We are leaving major consumer protection issues unresolved in this area and other areas.

Earlier this month, in Chicago, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the passage of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which included provisions that I worked on to include and improve the safety of children's toys. Advocates there discussed how more work needs to be done to ensure that children's toys are safe.

Someone mentioned how smart toys are becoming more and more available, and questions were raised: Are these smart toys able now to track our kids and where they are? So, the technologies have changed the safety of toys, and we have to be sure that we are looking at that.

Our anger over misuse of consumer data has been bipartisan, but we have not yet come together on solutions. I am hopeful that we will be able to change that in the coming months.

As many Members of this body are aware, I have introduced the Secure and Protect America's Data Act, which I believe is a good starting point to begin discussion.

I continue to urge my Republican colleagues to bring their ideas to the table so we can work together to find common ground. American consumers deserve action.

For now, I am pleased to move forward on legislation where we have reached consensus like this. I look forward to continuing our cooperation on this legislation as it moves to full committee in the weeks ahead.

Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr Speaker, I rise today to honor the distinguished career of Jonathan Lavin. After 45 years of dedicated service in the field of aging, Jon will be retiring as President and CEO of AgeOptions, the suburban Cook County Area Agency on Aging, on October 31st.

Jon Lavin is a leader, innovator, advocate, and a mentor who has trained many advocates to fight for the needs of seniors, including Kris Sadur and Maribeth Stein who went on to work in my district office helping constituents. As the former executive director of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens and as a member of Congress, I am one of many who have learned from Jon. He is my friend, and I will miss working with him as he steps down from his current role.

Jon combines serious policy knowledge with a commitment to service and making real improvements in people's lives. Jon earned a master's Degree in Public Administration and a bachelor's Degree in Government from the American University in Washington, D.C. After working for the City of Chicago Department on Aging for five years, he went on to spend the next 40 years shaping AgeOptions to be what it is today; one of the most respected Area Agencies on Aging in the country. His oversight of a staff of 40 and coordination of grants and contracts to more than 45 different community agencies, have enabled AgeOptions to serve 523,000 older adults living in more than 130 communities.

In Illinois, Jon Lavin is the go-to person when it comes to identifying the needs of seniors and then working to meet them. Some of the positions he has held are: Vice President and Legislative Committee Chair for the Illinois Association of Area Agencies on Aging, past Board Director of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, and Co-Chairman of the 2015 and 2017 American Society on Aging Annual Conference in Chicago. He was a delegate to the 1995 and 2005 White House Conferences on Aging, former member of the National Council on Aging Board of Directors, and former President of the Illinois Coalition on Aging.

In his mission to continually advocate for the most vulnerable older adults in the region, he has pioneered many innovative programs. Those include the care coordination units to assure appropriate care planning for the frailest older adults, one of the original demonstration programs to protect older adults from abuse and neglect, the Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program created to protect Medicare beneficiaries against fraud and abuse, and the development of the first long-term care ombudsman program in the region.

As a true advocate, Jon has promoted the need for public and provider educational outreach and greater access to state and federal benefit programs. His administration of programs like the Red Tape Cutters Program and BenefitsCheckUp have provided millions of dollars in program benefits for eligible older adults and persons with disabilities. AgeOptions also leads the renowned Make Medicare Work Coalition (MMW), which works with partner agencies to educate and explain the intricacies of health insurance and Medicare, as well as Medicaid's critical health and long-term care benefits for seniors.

Jon's commitment to providing support for caregivers led to the creation of the National Family Caregiver Support program in the Older Americans Act to ensure that family support givers were recognized and funded.

The talent of Jon Lavin has not gone unnoticed. He received the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging's Excellence in Leadership Award in 2017 and Distinguished Director Award in 1992. He is the 1994 recipient of the Phyllis Pinkerton Award for Leadership in Advocacy and Make Medicare Work Coalition recognized him at their April Summit for his dedicated service. In May, Metropolitan Asian Family Services presented him with its 2018 Community Service Award for his ``dedicated, continued support and advocacy on behalf of the ethnic elderly population through various public benefit programs.''

I invite my colleagues to join me in honoring Jon Lavin for the work he has done for the older adults of suburban Cook County. I am confident that Jon will continue to put his passion and his experience to use in advocating for older Americans and their families. I thank him for his invaluable service and wish him the best of everything in his future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Keith Kelleher, one of the greatest organizers I have ever seen, for his hard work and dedication as he retires on September 14, 2018. Keith's lifelong commitment to organizing for social and economic justice has improved thousands of lives and created fair work environments and policies that will continue to give workers good wages, health care, and safe work environments.

Keith Kelleher was the President of the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois/Indiana/Missouri/Kansas since its creation in April 2008 until April 2017. He was a field organizer, Lead Organizer, and Head Organizer of Legacy Local 880 in Chicago, and Head Organizer of United Labor Unions Local 222 in Detroit prior to that.

In his 39 years of work as a labor and community organizer, Keith pioneered the organization of fast food, home care, child care and other low-wage workers--growing Legacy Local 880 from just seven members in 1983 to more than 70,000 members by 2008, and growing SEIU HCIIMK from 83,000 members in 2008 to more than 92,000 members by 2014; and winning living wages and first-ever healthcare for tens of thousands of Illinois workers.

Keith was the Field Director of the national SEIU's ``Homecare Task Force'' from 1996-1998. He traveled, researched, and visited the homes of home care workers in more than ten states, beginning the work which led to the organizing of hundreds of thousands of home care workers across the country.

Today, more than 600,000 home care and child care workers in more than fifteen states across the country are united in SEIU, fighting for a better standard of living for themselves and their families, and joining with nursing home and hospital workers to become a national movement for quality care and quality jobs.

Keith Kelleher was a founder and leader in the national SEIU Homecare Council, which was composed of leaders of over 15 local unions. He was a board member and then Vice-President of the SEIU Illinois State Council, which grew from 70,000 to over 120,000 members during his years of service.

As an organizer, Keith Kelleher trained hundreds of rank and file leaders and organizers over his career. He helped found the Helen Miller Member Education and Training Center (METC) which has trained thousands of Homecare and Child Care workers, as well as helping to found the SEIU HCIIMK Homecare and Child Care Health Trust, which brought first-time health care to more than 15,000 home and child care workers.

His conviction, integrity and foresight helped initiate several grassroots organizing initiatives, like the Grassroots Collaborative ``Fight for $15'' and ``United Working Families.''

He was a founder and leader of the ``Chicago Jobs and Living Wage Campaign'' and the ``Big Box Living Wage Campaign'' from the 1990's to the 2000's, which led to increases in the Chicago and Illinois minimum wage and benefited hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Chicago and Illinois workers.

In the 1990's, as a State Representative in Springfield, I was honored to work with Keith on legislation to raise the wage of state- employed home care workers in a campaign dubbed ``Give Me Five,'' a $5 an hour minimum wage. I was indelibly inspired by the heroic women of Local 880 who, along with Keith, taught me to never give up!

Rising to the top of his union, Keith was elected as an SEIU International Executive Board Vice-President in June 2008, a position he held until 2017.

In recognition of his historic accomplishments as a visionary, organizer and labor movement leader, I rise today to offer my heartfelt gratitude and congratulations to Keith Kelleher for all he has done to improve the jobs and living conditions of thousands and thousands of people and to provide hope to millions more.

I thank Keith, and best of luck to him in his retirement from SEIU. My hope is that I will continue to see him leading in the ongoing struggle.

Mr. Speaker, Beatrice Shapiro Lumpkin came roaring into the world in 1918 in New York City, the daughter of Russian immigrants. An activist for social justice from her earliest days, Bea credits her parents with teaching her the importance of collective action in the face of social injustice, a principle that has guided her life.

In the 1930s, Bea threw herself feet first into the social and political struggles transforming the nation during the Great Depression. She attended rallies and stood on street corners denouncing Hitler and the wave of fascism gripping Europe. She participated in the 1930 National Hunger Protest that saw one million unemployed people descend on their state capitols demanding relief. Bea joined the fight for unemployment insurance and Social Security--all before she graduated from high school in 1934.

Bea enrolled in Hunter College, a free college for women where she studied chemistry. At just 18, she took time off from school to accept the challenge of organizing New York's laundry workers, a campaign that resulted in 30,000 people (mostly women) organized under the newly- formed Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO).

Bea moved to Buffalo in 1942 where she married and had two children, Carl and Jeanleah. She and her husband amicably divorced and Bea went to work for Western Electric. Bea still found time to organize a Wallace for President Committee in support of Progressive Party Candidate Henry Wallace's bid for the presidency. At a fundraiser for Wallace, Bea met her partner and the love of her life Frank Lumpkin. As an interracial couple, they encountered many hard looks and racial slurs.

The two married in 1949 and moved to Gary, Indiana, where they had two more children, Paul and John. Bea and Frank were an impressive team. When they discovered that the septic tanks in their predominantly African-American neighborhood had contaminated the water wells, they organized their neighbors and launched a seven-year battle that won them safe drinking water.

In 1962, Bea and Frank moved to Chicago, where for decades they were involved in every civil rights struggle--and there were many. They joined the fight for fair housing, against lynching, and against segregation.

Bea began her career in education at age 47 when she became a Chicago Public School teacher. She later became an assistant math professor at Malcolm X College, publishing numerous groundbreaking books on the multicultural roots of mathematics and science. To this day, she is an active member of the Chicago Teachers Union, never missing a rally, always fighting for the rights of teachers and their students who deserve a quality education.

In 1983, Harold Washington, former Illinois State Senator and U.S. Congressman, ignited the hopes and dreams of Chicagoans across the city when he ran for and won election as mayor. Bea and Frank were on the frontline of the campaign and remained committed supporters throughout his administration.

That same year, the Republican Governor of Illinois proposed a budget that slashed funding for basic human needs. Bea and Frank responded to the call to join the Crisis March to Springfield. They walked 200 miles to the state Capitol with a group organized by Illinois Public Action, stopping for meetings in small towns, talking to the media as they went, and being met for the last mile by more than one thousand supporters. The Governor capitulated and the cuts were restored. As the

organizer of that march, I had the opportunity to begin a never-ending friendship with Bea and with Frank that lasted until he died.

Bea wrote many books, but her most acclaimed is Always Bring a Crowd: The Story of Frank Lumpkin Steelworker, that chronicles Frank's battle against Wisconsin Steel. On March 28, 1980, Wisconsin Steel closed its plant with no notice. Three thousand workers lost their jobs, their last paycheck, their benefits and their pensions. With Bea at his side, Frank formed the Save Our Jobs Committee. Their fight would last 17 years and win those workers $19 million.

Bea participated in the formation of the Coalition of Labor Union Woman in 1974, remains involved in the organization, and continues to mentor young trade union sisters.

To this day, Bea remains active on the national and local stage. She is an activist member of the Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans, fighting to protect and expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. She is a familiar face at demonstrations, peace vigils, and rallies. She has joined countless picket lines including in front of laundries, as she did as a young organizer, still fighting for workers' rights.

By example, Bea Lumpkin has demonstrated how one person's passion for social justice can transform families, communities and societies. For the last one hundred years, Bea has devoted her life to improving the condition of others, from exploited laundry workers in New York City to unemployed Steel workers in Chicago, from union women fighting for equality in the workplace to seniors demanding affordable health care.

It's impossible to feel cynical about the potential of ordinary people to shape history when one thinks about the indelible mark Beatrice Lumpkin has had on so many lives. Her relentless and passionate pursuit of justice has inspired me to be a better person and fills me with hope for the future.

Mr. Speaker, in the 1930s, Bea threw herself feet first into the social and political struggles transforming the nation during the Great Depression. She attended rallies and stood on street corners denouncing Hitler and the wave of fascism gripping Europe. She participated in the 1930 National Hunger Protest that saw one million unemployed people descend on their state capitols demanding relief. Bea joined the fight for unemployment insurance and Social Security--all before she graduated from high school in 1934.

Bea enrolled in Hunter College, a free college for women where she studied chemistry. At just 18, she took time off from school to accept the challenge of organizing New York's laundry workers, a campaign that resulted in 30,000 people (mostly women) organized under the newly- formed Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO).

Bea moved to Buffalo in 1942 where she married and had two children, Carl and Jeanleah. She and her husband amicably divorced and Bea went to work for Western Electric. Bea still found time to organize a Wallace for President Committee in support of Progressive Party Candidate Henry Wallace's bid for the presidency. At a fundraiser for Wallace, Bea met her partner and the love of her life Frank Lumpkin. As an interracial couple, they encountered many hard looks and racial slurs.

The two married in 1949 and moved to Gary, Indiana, where they had two more children, Paul and John. Bea and Frank were an impressive team. When they discovered that the septic tanks in their predominantly African-

American neighborhood had contaminated the water wells, they organized their neighbors and launched a seven-year battle that won them safe drinking water.

In 1962, Bea and Frank moved to Chicago, where for decades they were involved in every civil rights struggle--and there were many. They joined the fight for fair housing, against lynching, and against segregation.

Bea began her career in education at age 47 when she became a Chicago Public School teacher. She later became an assistant math professor at Malcolm X College, publishing numerous groundbreaking books on the multicultural roots of mathematics and science. To this day, she is an active member of the Chicago Teachers Union, never missing a rally, always fighting for the rights of teachers and their students who deserve a quality education.

In 1983, Harold Washington, former Illinois State Senator and U.S. Congressman, ignited the hopes and dreams of Chicagoans across the city when he ran for and won election as mayor. Bea and Frank were on the frontline of the campaign and remained committed supporters throughout his administration.

That same year, the Republican Governor of Illinois proposed a budget that slashed funding for basic human needs. Bea and Frank responded to the call to join the Crisis March to Springfield. They walked 200 miles to the state Capitol with a group organized by Illinois Public Action, stopping for meetings in small towns, talking to the media as they went, and being met for the last mile by more than one thousand supporters. The Governor capitulated and the cuts were restored. As the organizer of that march, I had the opportunity to begin a never-ending friendship with Bea and with Frank that lasted until he died.

Bea wrote many books, but her most acclaimed is Always Bring a Crowd: The Story of Frank Lumpkin Steelworker, that chronicles Frank's battle against Wisconsin Steel. On March 28, 1980, Wisconsin Steel closed its plant with no notice. Three thousand workers lost their jobs, their last paycheck, their benefits and their pensions. With Bea at his side, Frank formed the Save Our Jobs Committee. Their fight would last 17 years and win those workers $19 million.

Bea participated in the formation of the Coalition of Labor Union Woman in 1974, remains involved in the organization, and continues to mentor young trade union sisters. To this day, Bea remains active on the national and local stage. She is an activist member of the Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans, fighting to protect and expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. She is a familiar face at demonstrations, peace vigils, and rallies. She has joined countless picket lines including in front of laundries, as she did as a young organizer, still fighting for workers' rights.

By example, Bea Lumpkin has demonstrated how one person's passion for social justice can transform families, communities and societies. For the last one hundred years, Bea has devoted her life to improving the condition of others, from exploited laundry workers in New York City to unemployed Steel workers in Chicago, from union women fighting for equality in the workplace to seniors demanding affordable health care.

It's impossible to feel cynical about the potential of ordinary people to shape history when one thinks about the indelible mark Beatrice Lumpkin has had on so many lives. Her relentless and passionate pursuit of justice has inspired me to be a better person and fills me with hope for the future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the artistry and craftsmanship of The Village Press, founded in 1903 by Frederick W. Goudy in Park Ridge, Illinois. Goudy modeled his Village Press venture on the world-famous ideals of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement, inspired by Nature and expressed through artful, traditional, hand-wrought crafts. Goudy's publication of the William Morris essay, Printing, was awarded prizes at the 1904 World Exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri. The Village Press also produced The Door in the Wall & Other Stories by H. G. Wells, Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, and more than 160 other literary works.

In 1947, the United States Library of Congress held a retrospective exhibition of the work of Frederick W. Goudy and The Village Press, which received critical acclaim.

The Village Press was extraordinary due to Frederick Goudy's legendary typeface design. Typefaces have distinct personalities that help convey ideas, just as images and words do. The handsome, hand- forged elegance of typefaces designed by Frederick Goudy earned international fame. Many of Goudy's more than 100 magnificent typefaces are still in popular use today, including Copperplate Gothic, Californian, Italian Old Style and Goudy Old Style.

Frederick Goudy remains America's superstar designer of the shapes that dress our words. His designs bridge the gap between the print and digital ages with an elegance and energy that are eloquent--and timeless.

Mr. Speaker, like so many of my colleagues, I rely on Judy Schneider of the Congressional Research Service. A long-time Hill staffer with 42 years of Congressional experience, she is a valued source of guidance and trusted source of information. Tomorrow, Judy will receive the Congressional Management Foundation's first Staff Lifetime Achievement Democracy Award, and I can think of no one more deserving of that honor.

Judy literally wrote the book on Congressional procedures--The Congressional Deskbook--which she co-authored with Michael Koempel. In addition to giving us this written reference guide, Judy is always available to give personal guidance. Her knowledge and her creativity are both invaluable and legendary.

When I got to Congress, one of the first things I did was reach out to Judy to train my staff and me. She taught us how to use sometimes arcane rules and procedures to get things done. Whenever we had a question about committee or floor procedures or wanted to know about Congressional precedent, we called Judy Schneider. We still do today. Judy is always available to answer our questions--and to let us know the questions we should have been asking, then answer those as well.

Throughout her career, Judy has served to help all of us on the Hill and many off the Hill understand how Congress was designed to work, how it actually works and how we could make it work better. Her commitment to public service, her love of the institution and its people, and her willingness to share her gifts are evident. Judy is valued and a valuable resource, and she is also my friend.

I congratulate Judy on winning the Democracy Award, and thank her for all the help she's given me and so many others. I look forward to benefitting from her wisdom for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw my colleagues' attention to the Out of Reach 2018 study recently issued by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). The findings of this report are sobering, although perhaps not shocking: in no state, county, or metropolitan area in the United States can a full-time minimum wage worker afford a modest two-bedroom rental home, without spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent alone. Furthermore, there are only 22 counties nationwide where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a one-bedroom rental home.

According to the study in the Chicago area I represent, an employee, working 40 hours per week, would need to earn at least $22.69 per hour to afford a simple two-bedroom rental home. Today, a worker earning Illinois' minimum wage of $8.25 must put in 99 hours of work per week to afford rent and have enough left over for other necessities. At the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, a worker would have to put in, at least 122 hours per week--the equivalent of three full-time jobs--to reasonably afford rent at the fair market price.

Think about the impact on individuals and families. The NLIHC reports that many low-income renters are forced to settle for substandard rental housing options, where property maintenance is not a priority of property owners. Even still, many Americans are forced to spend more than half of their limited incomes exclusively on rent, leaving them without enough resources to pay for essentials such as child care, health care, or transportation. Family life takes a hit when mothers and fathers must work so many hours away from their homes, often leaving their children alone. What purpose does it serve to create more and more minimum-wage jobs, if Americans must to work two or three of them just to be able to afford a place to sleep?

According to this study, not only do minimum-wage working Americans feel the burden of the high housing cost, so too do senior citizens and those with disabilities living within our communities. The NLIHC study found that 71 percent of extremely low-income households spend more than half of their incomes on housing alone. Persistent underfunding has resulted in 3 out 4 low-income households, eligible to receive federal aid, to be left unassisted.

Now, as the FY2019 appropriations process moves forward, think about what we can do to

help address this crisis. Not only do we need to reject the Trump Administration's budget cuts which, according to the report, ``would, if enacted, lead to the largest reduction in affordable housing and community development investments in decades'' and result in the loss of rental assistance for 200,000 families. Instead, we should increase funding for Housing Choice Vouchers, the national Housing Trust Fund, public housing and project-based rental assistance.

And, of course, we need to replace the $7.25 federal minimum wage with a living wage by passing H.R. 15, the Raise the Wage Act.

I want to congratulate the National Low-Income Housing Coalition for giving us such critical information about how the inadequacy of the federal minimum wage, coupled with the unaffordability of housing, is creating day-to-day crises for millions of Americans. We can solve those crises by investing in housing and providing workers with a better deal and better wages.