Xavier Becerra: “I think, Mr. Speaker, that the gentleman has just epitomized Frank Tejeda. This is a man who could have been in the…”

“I think, Mr. Speaker, that the gentleman has just epitomized Frank Tejeda. This is a man who could have been in the worst of pain, who could have been told moments ago that he had no more than 3 months to live, who could have known that the marine he was about to go run out there during rapid-fire, go out to save, had actually already perished, but yet he still went out there; who never had to really worry about expressing himself, because there was so much about him to express, but yet he never took it upon himself to say to anyone, feel sorry for me, be honored by my presence, recognize what I have accomplished, never once. This is a guy who would, as you said, he would walk in, and that is the way I think we all remember him, he would come in and take his seat right next to you, and there we would see him, the gentlemen from Texas [Mr. Ortiz] and Mr. Tejeda. As the gentleman from California [Mr. Martinez] also mentioned, you would see someone come in and sit next to you, then someone else would come, another person would leave. You were there, you were the anchors, and folks would come. We knew that the House of Representatives had a House that was righted because there was always that anchor there by the name of Frank Tejeda. I think we can all learn a great deal. I know I have learned because I know he was not the friend to me as he was to you, but just in his silence you learned so much.…”