Paul Tonko: “Thank you to the gentleman from the great State of Georgia. It's an honor to lend my voice to that of several of my…”

“Thank you to the gentleman from the great State of Georgia. It's an honor to lend my voice to that of several of my colleagues as we pay tribute to Representative John Dingell from the great State of Michigan. I am only in my third term in the House of Representatives so I can't profess to have known John Dingell as long as most of my colleagues who have known this great gentleman for quite some time. But as anyone serving in this House soon learns, it doesn't take very much time to know John Dingell and to assess the greatness of this individual, one who carries himself with great humility, which I believe is his hallmark of representation. His identity with common folks through our many conversations about the richness of the Polish culture and the embarking upon the American Dream of immigrants of that persuasion and of all persuasions who have tethered that dream for the betterment of individual and family opportunities is, I think, what drives this individual. His motivation to be a public servant is obvious. It's well-documented by his many years of service--57 years in this House and dating back to 1938 as a page. His service to this Nation through the military, all of that driven, I believe, by the great, deep-rooted sense of opportunity that is borne by this Nation to many of those immigrants who traveled here and then developed that dream through generations to follow.…”