Howard Berman: “it is fitting that we take time in this particular appropriations bill to pay a small tribute to our retiring colleague…”

“it is fitting that we take time in this particular appropriations bill to pay a small tribute to our retiring colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Vic Fazio). Because while Vic's imprint is in so many areas of public policy in this institution, his work for this particular institution and this particular subcommittee has made all of our lives better and I believe has made the institution much stronger. With all of the exhilarations of public office and the trials and tribulations, the reasons one thinks about leaving this place, whether it is the other party ending our entitlement program to control of the institution, whether it is even the kind of situation we are in now, the news that Vic Fazio had decided to leave this institution, to no longer make the House his home, was perhaps, for me, the most unsettling of all. I have known the gentleman from California for 25 years. He is a consummate political pro. He is a man of tremendous intelligence, incredible patience, great warmth and, as much as anything else, a man of total dependability.”