[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H10942-H10943]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE DAVID E. BONIOR, MEMBER OF CONGRESS

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, this is not the time to recount the full 
Congressional career of Dave Bonior, because he continues to build on 
that record, but I would like to speak for a moment about the way that 
he does the job of whip, the job he is leaving within the House now.
  We all know that there is a strong competitive streak in Dave Bonior. 
We have seen it on the baseball field, we have seen it in close votes, 
but we also see that in everything he does he exudes decency and 
civility.
  Civility has been talked about so much in this House in recent years. 
When I say Dave Bonior exudes civility, I mean that it is really 
contagious. And when I look at his staff, some of his staff here with 
him today, I know that they would agree with me that they do their jobs 
better and probably would agree that they are better people because of 
their association with Dave Bonior and the way he does his job, which 
helps them do their job, and helps all of us here in Congress do our 
job.
  It is a remarkable ability that Dave Bonior has to improve the 
performance of everyone round them so that competition does not mean 
meanness, and it does not lead to a lack of civility.
  The way you do the job as whip, Dave Bonior, is a model for every 
public servant. We will talk about all you have done in your 
Congressional will career later after we are congratulating you for 
your election as Governor. But, for now, I want to thank you for what 
you have done for each of us individually here in the House of 
Representatives.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from Indiana.
  Ms. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I was sitting in my office planning to do some work 
before I drive back to Indianapolis, and saw this very special man was 
being praised today, a man who is worthy of praise, a hero who has 
earned his medal of honor, if you will.
  David Bonior knew Julia Carson before Julia Carson knew David Bonior. 
When I first declared my candidacy for this august body, he was one of 
the first people who obviously believed that I was going to get elected 
and came out to Indiana to do what he could with his resources and his 
brain power.
  Even beyond that, David Bonior has struck me as the perfect 
illustration of family values. A lot of us get up to the microphone, 
and we tap dance about family values and we waive the flag and my 
country tis of Thee and God bless America. But David Bonior has never 
missed the mark in terms of what is great and good and right for the 
American family and the United States of America. He is a gentleman's 
gentleman, he is a politician's politician, he is a family man par 
excellence.
  I do not want to look at him because I am going to cry, but I love 
David Bonior and I want to tell you that.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Neal).
  Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I, like Julia Carson, was 
sitting in my office and I heard the tribute, and I wanted to come over 
for just a couple of seconds and highlight I think Dave's contributions 
to this institution, but, most importantly, to the American family.
  David Bonior's sense of America is community, and what he means by 
community is a place where nobody is ever to be abandoned and nobody is 
ever to be left behind.
  One of the best speeches I ever heard on this House floor came the 
night that David led us in opposition to the NAFTA treaty, when he 
raised the question for all of us here that night of what the Edmond 
Pettis Bridge meant to a generation of Americans, and what it meant to 
cross that bridge, what it meant to have a sense of justice and 
fairness and equity in this life, a catholic sense of justice; 
fairness, equity, the notion that you just cannot walk by the poor, 
that you just cannot abandoned them and turn your back, that government 
is there in the end to help them.
  Another thing I am going to say about David, in an institution that 
really troubles me, because many of the people that have gotten here on 
both sides of the aisle, they have run this institution into the ground 
day in and day out with their diatribes on what has always been wrong, 
and then they abandon in the next breath term limits, they abandoned 
the line item

[[Page H10943]]

veto, they abandon things like disturbing the Constitution based upon 
every whim that moves along.
  Not David Bonior. David Bonior believed in something, and for too 
many people that have come to this institution for the last few years, 
their beliefs are bland. Their beliefs are based upon the emotion of 
the moment, there is no long-held view of anything.
  It has been an honor for me to serve with David, and, most 
importantly, I supported you when you ran for these jobs and was glad 
to do it. The manner in which you carried yourself day in and day out, 
you could be as fierce a partisan as there was, but you loved this 
institution, and, most importantly, you loved the community that we 
call the American family.
  Thanks for all the goods things you did, Dave.
  (Mr. FRANK asked and was given permission to speak out of order for 5 
minutes.)

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