Speeches

“Celebrating Cinco de Mayo has become an annual tradition here in the Capitol; I wanted to ensure that we had an opportunity to come together again this year. I would like to acknowledge some of our distinguished guests: our guest of honor, the Mexican Ambassador, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, distinguished guests from the Latino community, senior officials from the Obama Administration.”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his very kind words. I thank you for giving, yielding your special order that you have practically every night that the Congress is in session to talk about jobs for the American people, to instead allow us to use this time to come to the floor to say ‘Hail to the Chief.'”

“It’s about our economic security, keeping America number one competitively, and it is about the personal security of America’s families. Steny has said over and over again, when we ‘Make It in America,’ when we manufacture in America, America’s families can make it in America.”

“Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge Republicans in Congress to work in a bipartisan way to address the number one priority of the American people – creating jobs – instead of pursuing an extreme and divisive legislative agenda that will undermine women’s health.”

“As you are aware, we were just briefed by the Administration on the action taken in Pakistan on Sunday and the apprehension of Osama bin Laden. Earlier today, I called President Bush to congratulate him and thank him for the leadership role that he had played in this quest over the years. I have also placed a call to President Clinton to thank him. As you may recall in the ‘90s, he declared Osama bin Laden public enemy number one for America. So both of those presidents have been on this trail for a while.”

“When we unveil a statue, Governor Snyder, it is always a special occasion for us in the Capitol, but when it happens to be one of one who has served in the Congress, that is a rarity. A President who has served in the Congress, that gets pretty personal as well. Because we come together here to honor the character, courage, and civility of a former proud Member of the House of Representatives – indeed, again, a former Minority Leader – President Ford.”

“House Republicans are voting to break that promise, jeopardizing the health and economic security of America’s seniors. Seniors know what the Republican budget means. All of you here that want hands off your Medicare know hands off means end what they’re trying to do, end Medicare and shift health costs to seniors, no.”

“Thank you Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentle lady for yielding and for her forceful leadership in promoting women’s health. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, when I was in high school a long time ago, I participated in an extemporaneous debate contest. One of the contestants there, a friend of mine drew from the bowl a slip that said ‘Do Women Think?’ Do women think? Now this was a long time ago but even then we thought that was a startling question. Do women think? The young lady who drew it, she was really a girl in high school, spoke with great grace and strength about women and won the debate. Which we hope to do today.”

“Good afternoon. It is truly a privilege to be here with the Hunger Fast Coalition because what they are doing is pointing out, in a more eloquent way than anything we could ever say about the urgency of decisions we are making here in Congress.”

“Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming. We can move down this way – I think you’ll be glad that you did when we show Geraldine’s speech. Thank you all for coming this afternoon, because we may be getting votes called shortly we’re going to begin even before many of our friends arrive. But I want to thank you for coming, when we originally invited you to join us today we had planned a celebration of the magnificent contribution to our country of two great women leaders – Senator Barbara Mikulski, now the longest-serving woman in the United States Senate and Geraldine Ferraro, our colleague in the House of Representatives who made history by being the first woman on the national ticket, we all know that. We also know that after we sent you the invitation to come for that celebration this afternoon’s proceedings turned into a celebration of Gerry’s life. “