Alan Lowenthal: “I thank the gentlewoman from San Jose for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I am really humbled to have a chance just to say…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from San Jose for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I am really humbled to have a chance just to say a few words about George Miller and Henry Waxman. As a new Member, I have had the wonderful experience of spending my first 2 years as both Mr. Waxman and Mr. Miller kind of conclude a great career. A little bit first about George Miller: as we pointed out, he is a progressive, he has fought for the environment, he has protected it, he has been a leader in the Natural Resources Committee, and he has fought to protect public lands such as in the 1994 California Desert Protection Act and created Death Valley National Park and Joshua Tree. He was the chief sponsor of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act of 1992, also to protect the fish and wildlife. I came also to the legislature, to the Congress, after chairing education in California, and George Miller was a champion and a leader here, and we all looked up to him. As was pointed out already, he did great work on helping to draft the No Child Left Behind Act, and he was a great supporter of school modernization and community colleges-- finally, about George, passion, humor, respected by all, and a zest for political combat. On the other hand, let's see what people say about my good friend Henry Waxman. Like myself, Henry's grandparents were Jewish immigrants. We both served in the legislature. The Washington Post said that Henry Waxman is to Congress what Ted Williams was to baseball: a natural.…”