Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding. Madam Speaker, I thank the dean, the gentleman from North…”

“I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for yielding. Madam Speaker, I thank the dean, the gentleman from North Carolina, for bringing us together. The delegation has done an awesome bit of tribute here to recognize Walter B. Jones, Jr., our colleague who has served so faithfully well. I will offer a few comments here. It has been a tremendous tribute. I do, in my initial comments here, want to extend my condolences to his widow and his family and his many friends and colleagues and, in a particular way, to his staff. To know Walter Jones is to love Walter Jones. I have to believe that the relationship that he had with so many and, in particular, his family and his extended family, his work family, had to be driven by that love, that compassion that was part of him. It was undeniable. It was so clearly presented by every step, every thought he shared. He was a person of deeply rooted faith. His Christian faith, his Catholic faith guided him. He was a pious individual who was not self- righteous but spoke with such integrity and such deeply rooted beliefs that our goal in life is to connect inextricably with everyone and to serve everyone. He understood the role of a legislator to be compassionate, to empathize, to be able to express to the many people who trusted in his leadership, to share what needed to be done here.…”