Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for arranging for this opportunity for the Ways and Means Committee to come together to honor our brother, John Lewis. Just listening to my colleagues gives me a greater sense of just how privileged we all have been. I think we often take for granted the people who are around us, and I don't think we can ever take John for granted, but to a certain extent, when I arrived here, I got used to seeing him on the floor. And it is hard to come to this floor without having a little bit of anticipation that, of the many privileges that come with serving our country in this place, the one privilege that I could always count on was that, even on those tough days when the job wasn't so great, we could always plan on seeing John Lewis and getting some encouragement from him. I met John before I came to Congress, just about 8 years ago, through my Uncle Dale. Dale Kildee served here for a long time. He served almost a quarter of a century with John and loved John--still does. I have talked to Dale about John quite often. That was a relationship that led to me wanting to make sure that I tried to develop that same relationship and, of course, becoming a member of the Ways and Means Committee. We spend so much time together, despite the fact that we haven't been able to the last couple of months. As a committee, we spend an enormous amount of time working together and having meals together and talking to one another.…”