Jack Kingston: “I know the gentleman from New York wants to talk about the budget, and we are going to yield the floor in a minute. But…”

“I know the gentleman from New York wants to talk about the budget, and we are going to yield the floor in a minute. But we need to pound that nail very deep into the wood of thinking here, because when we talk about it, here is a quote from Tip O'Neill who called Bob Michel ``the finest Republican that ever walked the floors of the House.'' There was a quote in the program from Speaker Foley, saying that he had always worked with him in a bipartisan fashion, that he was one of the finest Members of the House and they were very close personal friends. We are not talking about a partisan guy. We are not talking about a guy who is an in-your-face Republican in any way. We are talking about a guy whose first concern, his first thought in building a consensus, as the gentleman pointed out, is for what is best for the United States of America. And if it was not best, then you can be sure that Bob Michel would not lend his name to it.”