Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, the public doesn't oftentimes get to see this part of Congress where Republicans and Democrats come together to honor a true friend on days on which we agreed and disagreed, but I think Jan Schakowsky summed up the earnestness of our pal and Tom Suozzi, as well, in describing the sincerity of Bill Pascrell. As we close out this memoriam to him tonight, my memories of him will always be with his Frank Sinatra coat on that sparkled. He loved the Sinatra song, ``The Summer Wind,'' a glass of red wine, and a good cigar. Nobody could say al dente the way that he did with food. If you were out with him in a restaurant, he would share with the waiter the quality of the food and sometimes go back into his favorite restaurant, La Perla, to give them advice on how the pasta should be made. He was really proud of being Italian. He spoke parts of the language, and as noted here, poetry. He was well-read, he read everything. Sometimes you would not have thought of that as he eviscerated somebody he didn't like and then call them a friend 15 minutes later. I call attention because I do think that during my time here in the Congress there are fewer people like Bill Pascrell, and I think we can lament that as a fact. I think that there was nothing about him that was performative, there was nothing about him that was theater, and he never thought that for 1 minute his job was to entertain the American people.…”