[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 138 (Tuesday, September 29, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H10053-H10054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING SENATOR KENNEDY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. This gives me a second opportunity to thank my 
colleagues for their forbearance tonight.
  Senator Kennedy was a friend, as are members of his family, including 
his son Patrick who is here tonight. It was

[[Page H10054]]

a privilege to have known him in lots of different ways. In my being a 
conservative Republican from Texas, and the Senator being a liberal 
Democrat from Massachusetts, many people wonder about this friendship. 
And therein lie many stories, but let me tell a couple tonight.
  The first one goes back to when I was a fairly junior Member of 
Congress. I don't remember what the meeting was about, but there was a 
meeting in the Capitol in a small room. I was late getting to the 
meeting, and apparently so was Senator Kennedy. When I walked in, there 
were no remaining seats around the table, but there were a couple of 
seats over by a window. In fact, there was only one seat empty, and it 
was next to Senator Kennedy who at that point I had not met. I felt 
like I had nowhere else to go, so I sat by Senator Kennedy.
  After we had been there about a half hour and were bored by the 
discussion that was going on at the table, we started talking. I 
mentioned to Senator Kennedy that, in fact, my grandmother had been 
from Boston, that I had enjoyed that part of the country many times on 
vacations, and we discovered that we had a mutual interest in sailing, 
although I have not gotten to do nearly as much of it as he has.

                              {time}  2100

  In any case, we spent the next hour just having a wonderful, friendly 
discussion. And that was the beginning of this friendship that I have 
referred to.
  Not long after that, I was at another meeting. Actually this was a 
conference meeting in the Capitol, where there were four or five 
Members of the House and four or five members of the Senate in 
attendance trying to work out the differences on a particular piece of 
legislation. What so happened at that particular meeting, I was at the 
table and so was Senator Kennedy. In fact, he was directly across the 
table from me. And we had had a relatively mild discussion of the 
issues at hand, and it was time for Senator Kennedy to speak.
  He stood up at the table, proceeded to lay into us Republicans as if 
we knew nothing about the issues at hand, made a very persuasive 
argument on his own behalf and on behalf of the issues that he cared 
about. The voice was so loud that, quite frankly, the walls of this 
small room were rattling. All the staff who were seated around the room 
were shaking. And I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. And 
here was the Senator with whom I had struck a friendship, and he was 
practically accusing all of us of not knowing what we were talking 
about on this particular legislation.
  Well, the Senator talked for 5 or 10 minutes, completely dominated 
the room, and there really wasn't much else to say, or at least no one 
felt like saying anything in response to the Senator. Well, when he sat 
down, he picked up a piece of paper in front of them, grabbed a pencil, 
which I was absolutely sure he was going to break in half. But instead 
of breaking the pencil in half, he scribbled a note on this piece of 
paper. And everybody in the room is watching him. And he throws the 
piece of paper across the table to me. And I'm thinking, what is going 
on?
  So I pick up the piece of paper. This must have been around July of 
that particular summer. I look at the piece of paper, and Senator 
Kennedy has written on the piece of paper, ``Lamar, what are you doing 
for vacation this summer?''
  You had to sort of be there to appreciate what had gone on in the 
previous 10 minutes and the friendship that this particular note to me 
showed.
  I very quickly folded the note up and put it in my pocket so no one 
else would see it. And, of course, everybody in the entire room was now 
wondering what was it that Senator Kennedy had written to the 
Republican across the table, Smith from Texas.
  I never have revealed that note until right now. But that does show 
not only friendship, but both stories and many others that I could tell 
I think reveal a larger point. And that is the public is probably not 
nearly as aware as they might be of the genuine friendships that occur 
in Congress between individuals who might not agree on many of the 
political issues but who can agree to be friends and appreciate each 
other's company.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. May I ask unanimous consent for 1 more minute?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 
2009, does not permit the extension of a Special Order speech by 
unanimous consent.

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