Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my departing colleague, Representative Ike Skelton. I did not get to work closely with Representative Skelton, but I want to say it's the small things that make a difference. There was one day my sister, who had been working for the Pentagon at the time, was part of the Quadrennial Defense Review team, the QDR team. When they had that hearing, the chairman invited me right up to the podium with the committee members to be there during that presentation, and that was a great honor. I would like to say that despite his political views in other areas, I never sensed that he treated me any differently because of my sexual orientation, and I think he fully respected me as a Member of this body. It was really those small things and the courtesies that he showed me that made him stand out in my mind as an inspirational leader of this body who will be sorely missed. It will only be a short period of time, no doubt, until his name appears on a battleship or aircraft carrier, and I look forward to visiting that one day. ____________________”