[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 138 (Tuesday, September 29, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H10053]
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 Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DELAHUNT. I yield the time to my friend and colleague.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Thank you. I just will conclude now because I know my 
friends and colleagues have their time to speak.
  I would like to say to each and every one of the folks who spoke 
tonight, thank you for being here tonight to pay tribute to my father. 
To the folks on both sides of the aisle that have been so generous to 
me, it's a great thing, being part of this House, to have colleagues 
treat you as one of their own, as a part of a collegial family of 
sorts, in a professional way but also in a personal way.
  The thing he loved so much about serving over in the Senate was the 
great friendships he developed there. I can tell you, having been 
through what I have been through in the last couple of weeks, I can 
appreciate personally what a difference it's made to have the friends 
that I've had in this Chamber be so supportive of me through this time. 
I want to thank all of my colleagues for their outpouring of support 
and affection from both sides of the aisle. It is in times like these 
where you really get to appreciate the fact that you work in a place 
where everybody appreciates and respects one another.
  I think that is the thing my father would want most for our country 
right now, for people from very divergent points of view to respect one 
another and respect this country, which was founded on an appreciation 
for difference of opinion. The reason why he had worked so well across 
the aisle on so many occasions on important issues was because he 
understood that this country can't move forward unless people work 
together in good faith.
  I think the thing that he found most distressing at any point in 
American history was when the country would stray from its foundation 
of believing that we could resolve our difficult problems through 
dialogue, because I think he knew personally, better than any other 
person in American history, what happens when people don't resolve 
their problems peacefully and, instead, resort to violence. I think 
that my dad is one of those people who believed in the democratic 
process. And at the end of the day, people saw what a difference his 
work made in their lives because of the work that he did within the 
democratic process, to make our country a better place for everybody to 
live in.
  Even though he was from a different station in life from many people 
that he worked to help, he didn't look at it from the point of view of 
socioeconomic background. He looked at it from the point of view that 
we're all human beings, that we all have a spark of divinity in us, and 
we all ought to treat each other with the same respect that we would 
want to be treated with ourselves. The golden rule, so to speak.
  That's why it didn't matter what the issue was. He believed in 
fairness for everybody because he would want his family to be treated 
the same way he would want every other family to be treated. But there 
for the grace of God, he was lucky enough to come from a family that 
didn't have to worry about paying for health care, education, housing 
or a pension to retire. He just knew that if he had come from a 
different family, he would hope that he wouldn't have to worry about 
the basic necessities of life that too many Americans have to worry 
about.
  And I respect that about him because through the power of example he 
showed me that you could be a person of conscience and really try to 
work to make the lives of those who didn't have it as well off as you 
better through the work that you did in public life. Through that, I 
think he showed himself as a patriot in more than one way. He not only 
wore the uniform of this country in the Army, but he wore the uniform 
in the sense that he fought in the Senate to advance the lives of 
people in this country through the policy work that he did as a United 
States Senator.
  So, again, let me thank all my colleagues for their great tributes. I 
look forward to paying him the biggest tribute that we could pay, and 
that is to make sure that the promise of health care for all is a 
promise that we ultimately achieve in this session.
  Mr. DELAHUNT. Thank you for sharing that with us, Patrick. Thank you 
for your service, and know that we love you.
  Speaking of reaching across the aisle, I'm going to expose him as 
someone who had great love and affection for Ted Kennedy, your dad, and 
a wonderful guy for whom Senator Kennedy had the highest respect, even 
though they agreed on very little. That's the senior Republican on the 
House Judiciary Committee, Lamar Smith.
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. I thank my friend from Massachusetts, Congressman 
Delahunt, for yielding. I also want to thank my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle for their forbearance tonight in not strictly 
enforcing the time limits.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

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