Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee was laid to rest this week in Houston after losing her battle with cancer on July 19. The 74-year-old longtime congresswoman’s signature bill in recent years was HR 40, which would create a U.S. commission to study reparations for African-American citizens.
Jackson Lee took up the mantle of introducing the bill every session of Congress after the late Rep. John Conyers of Michigan left office. But after more than 30 years, the legislation has yet to be passed. As a result, Jackson Lee and other members of Congress and advocates urged President Joe Biden to take executive action.
However, the White House repeatedly said the president believed the commission should be established through Congress. During Thursday’s White House press briefing, theGrio’s Gerren Keith Gaynor asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre whether Biden would reconsider taking executive action to honor Jackson Lee’s legacy in his final six months in office.
Jean-Pierre said, “We want to help in any way to get that legislation done.” The presidential spokesperson also noted that Biden met with Jackson Lee’s family in Houston this week and offered his condolences.
“She was a hero. She was beloved, obviously, by the people in Texas, in Houston, and the community that she represented,” said Jean-Pierre, “but also beyond that — certainly her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and in Congress more broadly.”