Political Quotes

“I thank Chris for yielding. I just thank so many people on both sides of the aisle who came to the beautiful funeral that we had for Bill Pascrell in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson with the Bishop. One of the things you heard was that he spent his whole life in Paterson, New Jersey, and Paterson was how he identified: a tough, gritty, industrial city. He said what he pleased and always looked out for the little guy. That was true in Congress as well. The things that Chris Smith mentioned were all issues that the average person cared about: Having a good police force and fire department, being able to have good healthcare, consumer issues like the TICKET Act to make sure that the fans were properly cared for. This is what he was all about. He looked at Paterson and he looked at this place from the view of his neighbors. I thank what we call the Pennsylvania corner. They are not all from Pennsylvania, but they all were his biggest boosters in Congress. He saw them as his neighbors and his close friends in the same way that he saw the city of Paterson. I have one quote that I just have to read because it kind of summarizes everything about it. It is from the American author Tim O'Brien, who I think a lot of you know. It says: He was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, always there when you needed him, a believer in simplicity, directness, and hard labor. That was Bill Pascrell.”