Steny Hoyer: “I know that all of you lamented the fact that you were not Members of the Congress of the United States last night, and…”

“I know that all of you lamented the fact that you were not Members of the Congress of the United States last night, and you remember fondly those 3 o'clock in the morning sessions that we had, and you thought to yourself, what a great institution this is. I want to say that I am pleased to be here. Mr. Speaker, I am certainly pleased to be here with you. Last night was reminiscent of the first 100 days of the Contract With America, where it seemed to me we never stopped meeting. Mr. Speaker? He is not listening. That is typical of what we Democrats, the kind of respect we get around this House nowadays. I was pressed into service by a power even greater than the Speaker's. Charlie Johnson, our Parliamentarian, asked me to be here this morning, and he asked me at 3 o'clock in the morning, a particularly unfriendly request, I thought. But all of us spend a lot of money not to join your ranks. Senator Beall and my predecessor, Carlton Sickles, who held this seat, and I am so glad to welcome back my good friend and colleague, Bev Byron from Maryland. We have a number of Marylanders. Too many of them are former Members. I am not going to mention all of your names. But Lindy Boggs, I think probably only Bev Byron and Lindy Boggs have known me since long before I went to law school even. I am pleased to be here with you and welcome all of you back. It must be a great experience to come back and be with your colleagues. This is an incredibly wonderful institution. We kid about it.…”