Political Quotes

“I think that Members now know that yesterday we lost a wonderful, decent, extraordinary former Member of this body. Madam Speaker, as you know, he was from your State. His name was Vic Fazio. Some of you served with him. Most of you did not. He retired in 1998 from a very successful career. Many of us in this House, who served with him and who remember him fondly, are grieving the loss of Vic Fazio. He was, until my dear friend Ben Cardin came to the Congress, my best friend. They were two of my best friends. Vic and I were very, very close. Many others in the Congress of the United States would say the same thing, who served with him, that they were close to him. Vic Fazio had an extraordinarily successful life. He was 79 years of age. He was a leader and was a cardinal in the Appropriations Committee from his first year on the Appropriations Committee. He and an extraordinary Republican, who died just 8 months ago, who we remembered on this floor, another dear friend of mine, Jerry Lewis, also from California, co-chaired the Legislative Appropriations Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. They did so in a way that enhanced the sense of importance of this institution and of the collegiality that was possible in this institution. We said that when Jerry Lewis died. It is true when his partner now of that era has passed away. It is an era that we ought to remember and hopefully replicate. Vic Fazio was a ``Member's Member.'' He was an institutionalist.…”