Political Quotes

“Today we mourn the loss of a colleague and friend. Newark lost its champion. Africa lost its informal ambassador, as Donald Payne exercised tremendous leadership and influence as a senior member and chair of the African Subcommittee. But with the passing of Donald Payne, I think it's important to note one other loss, because for millions of people around the world who never knew Don Payne, they lost a hero. Don knew that almost a billion of the world's poorest people lacked access to clean drinking water, that almost three times that number lacked access to sanitation resulting in the death every 15 seconds of a child needlessly to waterborne disease. One of the great privileges of my career in the House was working with Don Payne on the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act. Don Payne was a quiet Member of Congress, but he knew what was important. He was clear in expressing those needs, expressing what needed to be done; and his leadership, his work behind the scenes, as well as on the front lines, made it possible for the first time in our history for the United States to have a cohesive policy towards meeting the unmet needs of water and sanitation for these poor people, to set a very clear objective that within the next 4 years we would cut in half the number of people who lack access to this fundamental. Because of the leadership of Congressman Donald Payne, literally millions of lives have been touched, improved, indeed, saved.…”