Jerry Lewis: “I simply wanted to rise to let the House try to remember the good old days of the House of Representatives. It was just…”

“I simply wanted to rise to let the House try to remember the good old days of the House of Representatives. It was just after the election of 1978 that the real bomb-throwers came to the Congress. I mean there were the likes of Newt Gingrich, Jerry Lewis, Jerry Solomon. I remember saying to Jerry one time, I do not sell life insurance, I help people buy it. We were the only 2 insurance agents in our class. He said, my, God, I wish I had thought about that. Many of us, Jerry, have mellowed. But also in this business, while we come with preestablished notions about the way the world should work in the toughest business in public affairs, you do not understand that working with other people and recognizing that most issues have little to do with partisanship, per se, compromises, the way you move towards your objective in terms of the future of the country, not a Member in the House has done more of that kind of growing than Jerry Solomon. He has made a tremendous contribution to the House. He has told us all time and time again that we can work together if we will. And while he pounds his hand on the table, at the same time with a soft velvet glove he gets an awful lot of work done that very few people will understand.”