Howard Berman: “I thank the Speaker. A great deal has been said about Tom Lantos this evening, wonderful, eloquent words that captured…”

“I thank the Speaker. A great deal has been said about Tom Lantos this evening, wonderful, eloquent words that captured just the profound effect that he had on this institution. Many serve in this institution. Some leave a mark on their districts of their presence here; some leave a lasting mark on the institution. It's hard for me to think of anyone who left such a mark around the world as Chairman Lantos did in so many different areas. You read that statement that David Dreier read earlier, and I'm going to read it again because it captures his love of this country. He and Annette, they were the greatest Americans because they knew what the alternative had been, and they paid back with their work and with their gratitude what America offered them. This is Tom Lantos' words after he is diagnosed with a very advanced stage of esophageal cancer, "It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress. I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country." He not only loved America; he hated tyranny and oppression.”