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The presiding officers are chosen by the Speaker of the House, 
Nancy Pelosi at the time, and she, she chose four Members to preside, 

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and I was shocked that I was one of them. And I was a 
freshman and a black woman, and that was something special.

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And also presiding with John Dingell. I remember this one moment, 
and John Dingell came to the floor, and I was presiding in the chair,

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and there was John Dingell speaking about the Affordable Care Act 
and describing how he had introduced health care legislation

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when he first came into the Congress and that his father had 
introduced it before him and that there he was standing there to,

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you know, usher in the passage of the Affordable Care Act. 
And I remember, you know, being in the, in the chair at the time,

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and I was standing and listening. I was listening to him, and it was 
the, one of the most powerful moments that I’ve ever experienced

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because it was the arc of history right there in the House Chamber. 
And I have a gavel. I use the gavel that I was, that I was presented with.

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I had gaveled in the Affordable Care Act, but it’s also the 
gavel that was used to close it out when it came back.