[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[House]
[Page 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. FRANK. Mr. Speaker, I will begin by yielding to the gentleman 
from Guam (Mr. Underwood).
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me to 
speak on this.
  Mr. FRANK. I will yield to the gentleman to speak anywhere he wishes, 
other than Guam.
  Mr. UNDERWOOD. I wanted to take the time to pay tribute to David 
Bonior. In a way this is great, because, you know, you get to see all 
your friends. You do not have to wait until you pass away. This is a 
terrific opportunity to pay honor to our friend here.
  But I have an office with a very not-so-eloquent title of Non-voting 
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. It is always a curiosity 
to me, because he is the whip. He is supposed to count votes, and he 
knows I do not matter in that count. But it is really a mark of his 
approach to politics and his commitment to every member of the caucus 
that he has taken the time and the energy to support me in the various 
projects that I have had.
  When I first decided to run for this office, he received me very well 
and he took the time to try to understand some of the issues and some 
of the unique circumstances that we deal with. For a long time, and it 
is a mark of the high regard and the approach that David has taken over 
the years, for a long time I thought I was the only one that had a 
special relationship with him, but, as it turns out, he has got 
hundreds of these special relationships, and that is really a mark and 
a testimony to the terrific job that you have done.
  Mr. Speaker, despite all the trials and tribulations here, when 
people ask me who are some of the Members that you really admire, 
certainly he comes to mind.
  Mr. FRANK. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I just want to make two 
points.
  First of all, recently we did have a real eulogy for a Member who 
passed away, our late colleague Joe Moakley, and the outpouring of 
affection and respect for Joe Moakley was very impressive. I am in a 
position to tell you, as someone who was a neighbor to Joe Moakley's 
district, there was no one in this business that he admired more than 
David Bonior.
  One of the things Joe Moakley made his goal was when Dave Bonior ran 
for whip was to get Massachusetts Members to vote for him. So let me 
just past on that if Joe Moakley was still with us, you would be 
hearing from him his enormous respect and admiration for David Bonior.
  I want to thank him for one other thing. I am a great believer in 
free speech. I generally vote against it when we start telling adults 
what they can read and what pictures they can show of each other. But 
if I was going to amend the Constitution, I would make it illegal to 
use the words ``pragmatism'' and ``idealism'' as if they were in 
opposition to each other.
  The notion that the world should be divided between people who have a 
strong set of values and people who are effective is really a disaster 
morally. In fact, the more you are committed to a set of ideals, the 
more you are morally obligated to be effective in implementing those 
ideals. Otherwise, they are just something you put on in the morning to 
make yourself feel good. They do not do anybody else any good.
  I know of nobody else in politics who better exemplifies that 
synthesis. I know of nobody else who is equally a passionate idealist 
in politics because he has a vision of the world that he wants to have 
implemented, which would be a fairer and kinder and better world for 
people who are in need in various ways, and who, at the same time, 
understands that that gives him the obligation to be as effective as 
possible; fair but tough; understanding the rules and abiding by the 
rules; but putting everything every ounce of energy into it. And for 
his exemplifying that merger of pragmatism and idealism, for 
understanding that a tough-minded approach to political reality in fact 
is a necessary compliment to a commitment to a set of values you want 
to implement, I want to join in honoring David Bonior and thank him for 
what he has shown us.
  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to speak out of 
order for 5 minutes.)

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