On the recordJanuary 25, 1994
I want to thank my friend from Massachusetts for giving me this time to pay tribute to Tip O'Neill. I want to join all the members of the delegation to pay tribute to a man the likes of which we may not see again in our lifetime, former Speaker Tip O'Neill. I join with my colleagues from the Bay State in putting forth this resolution expressing the profound sorrow of the House of Representatives upon his passing. Although I am a Republican, I am also an Irish-American who cut his political teeth in the Massachusetts House of Representatives over which Tip O'Neill presided many years ago. The Speaker's legacy is long and great in the State House in Boston, and those who serve in the legislature there to this very day feel the power and the influence of the gentleman from Cambridge. The mark he left on that body will not soon fade from memory, but what is even more impressive is for me to come down here to the Nation's Capital and to the floor of the U.S. House each day and reflect on the stature of such political giants as Tip O'Neill, the power he wielded for so many years and the wisdom and passion with which he wielded that power earned him the respect and admiration of his fellow citizens of the United States and moreover of people all over the world. He was one of the most recognizable figures in the annals of American politics in the 20th century, and he was also one of the most revered.
