Joe Crowley: “I will be brief. I just wanted to take an opportunity, especially from this side of the aisle, to hear from someone who…”

“I will be brief. I just wanted to take an opportunity, especially from this side of the aisle, to hear from someone who worked with Mike, who had great admiration for him, and that is myself. When I was a young man, elected at 36 years of age back in 1998, one of the first people I met on the other side of the aisle--not from my home State--was Mike Oxley. He had great admiration for my predecessor as well, and they were good friends, Tom Manton. Mike was also my chairman. I served on the House Committee on Financial Services after the attacks of 9/11, and one of the great tributes I think I can give to Mike Oxley is he was, in large part, responsible for the passing of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, also known as TRIA, something that was desperately needed after the events of 9/11 to shore up the financial services industry and industry all around the country and real estate. In so many, many ways, he understood the ramifications that not having that backstop could potentially have for our country. He saw to it that a bipartisan bill was agreed to. So I have nothing but fond memories of Mike. I was very saddened when I heard of Michael's illness. I know he is missed by his family. On a lighter note, this week we will play the annual congressional baseball game. I am sure that if my colleagues were here on the floor, Coach Doyle in particular would be pointing out that he and Mike had a good friendship. Mike was also a good basketball player.…”