Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise tonight with a heavy heart to pay tribute to someone who has been a valued adviser and a dear friend to me in my 10 years in this House. Congressman Ike Skelton has served the Fourth District of Missouri and the Nation with honor and integrity for 34 years. And let me just say that his presence will certainly be missed by me and by so many others. As a freshman member of the House Armed Services Committee in 2001, I looked to Ike, then our ranking member, as a mentor and a guide on so many critical and complex issues facing the committee. Later, as the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, his commitment to our troops and our security truly set the standard for all of us on the committee. And the example he set helped to bridge the partisan, geographical, and personal differences that have too often plagued us and stood in the way of progress. {time} 1940 Ike Skelton has truly made a profound difference in advocating for and leading on behalf of our men and women in uniform to make sure that they always had the tools and the resources that they needed to do their job, do it well, and to come home safe. Of course, as much as I have admired him as a leader on national security, let me just say that I have also felt a very separate and even more personal connection to Ike as well. Ike Skelton, like me, has for many years lived his life with his own disability.…”