John Joseph Moakley: “before we begin, I really want to take this opportunity to congratulate my dear friend for many years and the new…”

“before we begin, I really want to take this opportunity to congratulate my dear friend for many years and the new chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), in his new position and wish him a reign filled with fairness and fair process and a record number of open rules. My good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), has set a very good tone for his chairmanship. He ran the recodification task force. And as my Democratic colleagues, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Frost) and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), will attest, he was bipartisan, he was fair, and he always acted as a gentleman. The task force came up with a way to make the House rules clear and more orderly. I also want to thank the Parliamentarian, Charlie Johnson, and his colleagues, Tom Duncan and John Sullivan, Muftiah McCartin and Tom Wickham, for their very outstanding work on recodification. Mr. Speaker, I do not think enough people realize the depth of knowledge and expertise advising the Chair requires, but these people do the Congress an excellent service and deserve our appreciation.”