Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman. {time} 2030 There are many who are honored to serve in this House. There are few who honor the House through their service. Bill Gray honored the House through his service. But I knew Bill Gray as a preacher from north Philadelphia. He constructed the Philadelphia Mortgage Plan, the Philadelphia Insurance Plan, the guard against red-lining neighborhoods and green-lining neighborhoods in north Philadelphia and northwest Philadelphia. I saw him deal with the challenges of bringing resources for transportation and infrastructure and job training into Philadelphia as a member of the Appropriations Committee--which no one actually normally talks about. They talk about his chairmanship of the Budget Committee, but as an appropriator, he did a great deal to move our country forward. So as I move to close, I want to thank his family for sharing Bill Gray with the rest of the world. Not just here in the Congress, but all around the world Bill Gray worked to make a difference. And I want to thank his church family. Because on this Saturday, when he's funeralized, there will be people flying in from all over. But the people who he married and baptized, the people who he consoled on their sick beds, to them, he was their pastor. For those who served with him in the House, they learned a great deal from Bill Gray's service here, which is that it's not the length or the number of terms, it's what we do when we have the power to make a difference.…”