Political Quotes

“thanks to the Former Members of Congress Association for bringing us together and for being an opportunity for those who us who served here together to continue to enjoy one another's friendship and company. I am going to reference one of my classmates and my roommate here in Congress, Derek Kilmer, who is not with us this morning. He said many times, and I want to repeat it, he said that they told him when he came here that if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog. He also went on to say something I agree with, that that was not his experience at all. Some of the closest friendships I have developed in my lifetime were born of the pressure-filled moments that we shared here together--people that I agreed with and people that I disagreed with. I served here for 12 years, but I had the very good fortune of having a bird's-eye view of this place for a lot longer than that. My uncle, Dale Kildee, with whom most of you in this room served, those of you who served here, was here for 36 years. I watched him often from that gallery. I also watched him up close and learned from him that you can fight hard for the positions you believe in. You can be passionate about the things you care about and still treat people with whom you have differences with dignity and respect. I hope when I came here that I did something to live up to the example that he set.”