Political Quotes

“I appreciate the time to come to honor Joe Pitts. Congressman Smith, I appreciate your organizing this evening so we could thank Joe Pitts for his many years of service to not only this Chamber, but also to the public in general. Madam Speaker, of course, Joe is retiring after 20 years of service to this institution and to the American people. He served, as has been said, 24 years in the Pennsylvania Legislature. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Joe Pitts, is a hero for conservatives. He fights daily for families, for unborn children, and for persecuted Christians around the world. I know firsthand about his work for persecuted Christians because one of the first overseas trip opportunities that I had as a Member of Congress was to travel with Joe Pitts to the country of Egypt to advocate on behalf of persecuted Christians. I had the chance to sit there with Joe as we both talked about the plight of the Coptic Christians in the country of Egypt. We sat across the table from Hosni Mubarak, who, at the time, was the President of Egypt, and we let him know of the concerns that we had and that the American people had for Christians who were treated unfairly for no other reason than because of their beliefs and their faith. Joe Pitts has been a friend and a colleague since we were first elected. He and I were first elected back in 1996. We started here in January of 1997. He has worked tirelessly as chairman of the Values Action Team since the late 1990s.…”