[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 25, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: January 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  REMARKS OF CONGRESSMAN RICHARD E. NEAL FOR SPECIAL ORDER ON FORMER 
               SPEAKER THOMAS P. O'NEILL OF MASSACHUSETTS

  Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor for me to take 
part in this tribute for our dear former Speaker, Thomas P. ``Tip'' 
O'Neill, who died just as the new year began. That news was a sad 
ending to the holiday season for many of us. I would like to thank 
Chairman Joe Moakley for reserving this time for us to honor Speaker 
O'Neill's memory.
  I did not have the pleasure of serving here in the House under 
Speaker O'Neill, but I can say that I was able to benefit from his 
advice and counsel in the years that I knew him. We spent time together 
at many Massachusetts functions over the past 5 years and I was truly 
touched by the interest he took in me and my progress as a new Member 
of Congress.
  Speaker O'Neill was well-known for his story-telling ability. I found 
that when he recounted an incident from his career or something that 
happened here on the Hill, there was always a lesson to be learned. His 
stories were warm and full of humanity, much like the man himself. I do 
not have many pictures up on the walls of my office, but one I treasure 
is Speaker O'Neill greeting me with big smile and a hug.
  We hear so much today about what a chore politics has become. Elected 
officials are ``disillusioned'' and the public has ``lost faith'' are 
just two of the phrases we hear over and over. That was not the case 
with Tip O'Neill. He truly enjoyed the business of politics. There are 
many politicians who do not enjoy the day-to-day business of meeting 
people and dealing with their problems and concerns on a personal 
level. There was nothing Tip O'Neill enjoyed more than working his 
district and his neighborhood. He would ask people what was on their 
minds and delight in the give-and-take of political discussion, whether 
on the House Floor or in a corner coffee shop in North Cambridge. 
Perhaps only Hubert Humphrey of his generation enjoyed his work as much 
as Tip. As sad as the funeral was on January 10, there was also that 
feeling that we were celebrating 81 happy years of life. To truly enjoy 
one's work, and to also be a master at that career, is a rare 
combination. Tip O'Neill was the embodiment of that combination.
  There is another lesson to be learned from the life of Tip O'Neill: 
He treated all people with the same respect. It did not matter if you 
were the head of state of a foreign country or simply a neighbor of 
his--he gave the same respect and interest that all men and women 
deserve. That is why so many people thought of him as a close friend. 
He genuinely cared about people and made it his business to do what he 
could to help those in need. Today we are celebrating a great American 
life in politics by noting the major accomplishment of Tip O'Neill's 
career. The history books will record his 50 years in public office and 
10 years as Speaker of the House, but thousands of people will remember 
Tip because of the small things he did over the years: A kind word at a 
family funeral, help in finding a lost Government check, a phone call 
to congratulate a scholarship winner, getting a military case settled, 
a personal tour of the Capitol building. The list could go on and on. 
Tip O'Neill was a big man on the stage of American history, but it is 
through these little acts of kindness that we will best remember him.
  People are saying that Tip O'Neill's passing is the end of an era. 
Perhaps that is correct, but I hope the new era has a place in it for 
the quality we closely associate with Speaker O'Neill: compassion. As 
long as we remember to keep compassion in politics, we will be honoring 
Tip O'Neill.
  Mr. Speaker, again I thank Chairman Moakley. I would also like to 
express my condolences to Millie O'Neill and all the members of the 
O'Neill family. ``Mr. Speaker'' will be greatly missed.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in fond memory of Tip O'Neill. 
With his passing, our Nation lost a great leader and this institution 
lost a large piece of its heart and soul. Ask most Americans who they 
think of when they think of the U.S. Congress, and their answer still 
would likely be Speaker O'Neill. In so many ways, he embodied the best 
of Congress, and the best of the American people.
  Speaker O'Neill's passionate commitment and dedication to the 
democratic process left an indelible mark on the lives of so many. He 
understood the importance of, believed in the ability of, and fought 
for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. 
Tip's energy was poured into improving the everyday lives of working 
Americans. He instinctively understood that the true and best role of 
Government is in helping those who need help. He never forgot those 
people. He never forgot his roots. And, he never forgot his friends.
  I offer my warmest condolences and support to Millie and his family. 
Our lives were all improved by knowing Tip. We will long remember the 
humor, the warmth, the diplomacy and the fighting spirit of Tip 
O'Neill.
  Mr. KOPETSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise with great respect and admiration 
for Tip O'Neill and to join my colleagues in commemorating his service 
to the House of Representatives and our Nation. Speaker O'Neill's 
passing is a historic loss to this Nation and I offer my condolences 
and warm personal thoughts to the entire O'Neill family. The former 
Speaker's death was noted throughout our country. For the Record, I 
include a column from the January 16, 1994, issue of the Oregonian.

                  [From the Oregonian, Jan. 16, 1994]

                   If We Could Call One Final Witness

                            (By Steve Duin)

       Tip O'Neill, a hefty argument against term limits, died 
     before they went on trial last week in Seattle. The five-term 
     speaker of the House reached his limit, at 81, in a Boston 
     hospital on Jan. 6. Cancer knocked him down; a heart attack 
     finished the job.
       Rep. Mike Kopetski, D-Ore., was on one of the four planes 
     that carried House members to O'Neill's funeral Mass in 
     Cambridge. He was one of the lucky ones who slipped inside 
     St. John the Evangelist, the small brick church where O'Neill 
     was baptized, but Kopetski never got comfortable.
       Bunched outside in the cold, Kopetski knew, were hundreds 
     of mourners who had a better claim to his pew. They were 
     constituents, and Tip O'Neill never shut his door to a 
     constituent.
       Joseph Dinneen once wrote that the burning ambition of an 
     Irish kid was to get to work: ``Then he could join the gang 
     on the corner and live.'' In his 34 years in Congress, 
     O'Neill never forgot the gang on Barry's Corner in North 
     Cambridge, or their kids or their kin.
       As John Gimigliano--John the Cobbler--told The New York 
     Times, ``He was my favorite friend. He invited me to 
     Washington. He says, `I got the red carpet here for you. When 
     you come, you get to walk on it.'''
       That a red carpet exists anywhere on Capitol Hill galls 
     many term-limit fans; they'd like to jerk it out from under 
     the tenured residents of Congress. Take Don McIntire, who 
     didn't see the contradiction Thursday night in ripping 
     O'Neill while sipping single-malt Scotch.
       ``Tip O'Neill is an excellent argument for term limits,'' 
     said McIntire, a property-tax-limit gladiator in Oregon. ``No 
     one more than Tip O'Neill typified the imperial Congress. The 
     best argument for term limits is the Congress and its sorry 
     history.''
       Those fighting words would earn McIntire a bloody nose on 
     Barry's Corner, but they are popular sentiments at McCormick 
     & Schmick's. O'Neill didn't seem all that imperial to the 
     bricklayers and cab drivers on the bar stools in Cambridge. 
     They knew him too well; he came home too often.
       McIntire has a general aversion to political candidates. 
     ``What's gone wrong,'' he said, ``is that we have governments 
     where candidates make a difference. We should have a system 
     where it doesn't matter which ding-dong gets into power 
     because they can't hurt you.''
       Then there's Sherry Bockwinkel, who headed the campaign for 
     term limits in Washington, the passage of which House Speaker 
     Tom Foley, D-Wash., is challenging in a Seattle federal 
     court.
       Bockwinkel's rage was originally directed at her 
     congressman, Norm Dicks, a Democrat who's been locked on the 
     Hill for 17 years. She thought he was a lousy 
     environmentalist, a warmonger and a victim of his own 
     arrogance.
       On more than one occasion, the voters disagreed. So 
     Bockwinkel campaigned for term limits. ``We want regular 
     people in Congress, not elitists,'' she said. ``We left 
     England because we didn't want a dynastic ruling class. We're 
     being ruled by the very people we had a revolution over.''
       The revolution is still on, and members of Oregon's 
     delegation are on different sides. Rep. Elizabeth Furse, one 
     of the 110 new members to Congress in 1993, believes terms 
     limits are the only way to dismantle a seniority system that 
     holds back women and minorities.
       Rep. Peter DeFazio has his own term-limit bill, although he 
     noted, ``We don't have a problem in Oregon. We automatically 
     limit people. We've thrown out Wayne Morse, Al Ullman and 
     Denny Smith. Oregon is very adept at rejecting people.''
       That penchant for rejection gained Kopetski a seat in 
     Congress, but--even as he exits--he rejects term limits.
       ``I don't think people understand what they're doing,'' he 
     said. ``They're giving more power to lobbyists, congressional 
     staff and federal agencies. You can't control the staff, or 
     the lobbyists, or the bureaucrats. You only have a direct say 
     on your legislator.''
       Tip O'Neill believed that if long-term commitments were a 
     vital part of a marriage, they were a positive aspect to his 
     relationship with the friends he left behind on Barry's 
     Corner.
       ``I used to be for term limits,'' said Jim Peterson, a 
     longtime family friend and one of the pallbearers at 
     O'Neill's funeral, ``but I jumped over the fence. He asked, 
     `Do you want to get rid of the farmer, the doctor, the 
     teacher as soon as they've gotten up to speed? It doesn't 
     make any sense.'''

  Mr. HUGHES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the 
true giants in American history, the late Speaker of the House, Tip 
O'Neill.
  There is no one who I admired more throughout my political career 
than Tip O'Neill. He embodied everything that was good about politics 
and public service. Tip had a sense of right and wrong, and an 
understanding of politics, like no one I have ever known.
  I was very fortunate to have gotten to know Tip O'Neill during my 
first term in office, when he was serving as majority leader. I learned 
so much from him.
  His years in Government gave him the perspective, and the political 
instincts, which enabled him to see way beyond what most others saw 
occurring in the political arena. That is what made him so effective as 
a leader.
  As a person, he was a one-of-a-kind. On the outside, he was big, 
gruff, and intimidating, but on the inside, he was a sweetheart of a 
guy. He took a personal interest in everyone's problems, from his 
constituents at home to his colleagues in the House. Tip made you feel 
special for he talked just to you. It was this enormous generosity 
which really defined Tip as a person, and endeared him to everyone he 
knew.
  I will never forget the years he came into southern New Jersey to 
campaign with me. Tip knew that I represented a largely Republican 
district, and that most of my supporters were business people and 
others who were generally more conservative than him. As a result, he 
was always unsure what to say. I always told him, just be yourself.
  Invariably, it would take Tip all of 5 minutes before he had the 
audience wrapped around his finger. He would start by pleading guilty 
to being a liberal and a big spender. Then once the audience got over 
the shock, he would explain to them what he meant: That he believed in 
spending more money on education, Social Security, cancer research, 
wastewater treatment, and so many other programs that are important to 
people, and which improve the quality of life in our country.
  By the time he was finished, people would be lined up to shake his 
hand and tell him how much they appreciated him.
  That is the Tip O'Neill that I knew: A man who was generous, funny, 
true to his beliefs and blessed with the natural instincts and 
attributes of a great leader.
  There will never be another Tip O'Neill. His loss was a great one for 
our country, but his legacy will always live on. I am grateful that I 
had the opportunity to get to know and work with this truly wonderful 
man.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Klink). The question is on the 
resolution offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Frank].
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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