[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 164 (Monday, November 18, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1683-E1687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE OF THE HONORABLE THOMAS S. FOLEY, FIFTH 
  DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON, SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN A. BOEHNER

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, November 18, 2013

  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, the Honorable Thomas S. Foley, former 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, died on October 18, 2013. The 
House took several steps to honor the former Speaker. Following House 
tradition, the Speaker's chair on the rostrum was draped in black and 
the Speaker's gavel rested on a black pillow. Outside the House 
chamber, Speaker Foley's official portrait in the Speaker's Lobby was 
draped in black. On October 22, 2013, the House adopted House 
Resolution 383, expressing the condolences of the House upon his death. 
On October 29, 2013, a memorial service was held in Statuary Hall 
celebrating the life of Speaker Foley. The following is a transcript of 
those proceedings:
       (The Honorable John A. Boehner, Speaker of the United 
     States House of Representatives)
       Speaker Boehner: Ladies and gentlemen, let us begin today 
     by acknowledging a great friend of this institution, Mrs. 
     Heather Foley.
       (Applause.)
       Speaker Boehner: Mrs. Foley, thank you for giving us this 
     chance to try to express the depth of gratitude that we owe 
     to Tom.
       An English poet once wrote, ``The noblest work of God is an 
     honest man.'' Well, Tom Foley was that and more. A leader 
     grounded in decency, in principle, he brought honor to 
     himself, to his family, and to this House. He did all these 
     things a public servant should do and, frankly, did many of 
     them better than the rest. Ask any of his peers and they will 
     tell you this, especially those who didn't share his 
     politics.
       Listen to Bob Dole, who around the time Tom became Speaker 
     called him ``a man of total integrity.'' Or ask Alan Simpson, 
     who said, ``Tom can tell you to go to Hell and make you feel 
     good about going there.'' And Henry Hyde, as fierce a 
     conservative as they come, who said of the man, ``I wish he 
     were a Republican.''
       There's also this from President George H.W. Bush, ``Tom 
     Foley represented the very best in public service and our 
     political system.'' One class act tipping his hat to another.
       Yes, the span of Tom's service and his record is 
     impressive, as is the sequence of his rise: Ag Committee 
     chairman, majority whip, majority leader, and Speaker.
       But it was his sense of fairness, his port-n-a-storm 
     bearing, that will always stand out for me. It's how he held 
     this institution together at a very difficult time, and it's 
     why those who come after us, who seek to know what it means 
     when we use that phrase, ``man of the House,'' or just what 
     it means to leave something behind, should look up the name 
     Thomas S. Foley.
       Today, we gather in the old Hall, joined by Presidents, 
     Vice Presidents, Speakers, and so many of our colleagues and 
     diplomats that Tom served with and to reminisce about this 
     man's service and a toast to his life.
       Welcome, and thank you all for being here.
       (The Reverend Patrick J. Conroy, S.J., Chaplain of the 
     United States House of Representatives)
       Reverend Conroy: God of Heaven and Earth, the work of Your 
     hands is made known in Your bountiful creation and in the 
     lives of those who faithfully live in Your grace.
       Today we especially remember the life and work of Tom 
     Foley, son of the very proud city of Spokane. His commitment 
     to furthering education in his own district, Washington's 
     Fifth, is testified to by the Ralph and Helen Higgins Foley 
     Library at Gonzaga University, his alma mater. It is named in 
     honor of his parents, who clearly did something right in 
     raising such a son.
       Tom Foley was a modest man whose impact on the public weal 
     beyond his district far exceeded any projection of ego 
     strength. May we all be inspired by his example to be men and 
     women impelled to improve the lives and prospects of our 
     fellow citizens while eschewing any honor or glory for 
     ourselves, and as he did, do our part to increase 
     understanding and respect across cultural divides.
       Be present with us this day, O God, as we mark his life and 
     remember his legacy. Bless this gathering and comfort us as 
     we comfort one another in remembering a great American and a 
     genuinely good man.
       Amen.
       (The Honorable Norman Dicks, United States House of 
     Representatives, Sixth District of Washington, 1977-2013)
       Mr. Dicks: Tom Foley was my friend, mentor, and colleague 
     in the House of Representatives.
       I first met Tom Foley at the University of Washington Law 
     School in 1965 during his freshman term. He was a brilliant 
     young man with a warm and friendly smile. It was his 
     intellect and love for this country that made him an 
     outstanding leader.
       He served as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee 
     and worked hard on the farm bill and food stamp legislation. 
     Bringing these two issues together allowed Chairman Foley to 
     build support in the House for both.
       Tom believed in, and practiced, civility and 
     bipartisanship. His view was that, after the elections were 
     over, Democrats and Republicans should work together to deal 
     with the national legislative agenda.
       Seeing Tom Foley's strong leadership qualities and belief 
     in getting things done for the American people, Speaker 
     O'Neill appointed Tom to be the majority whip. He was then 
     unanimously elected to be our majority leader and then our 
     Speaker in 1989.
       As Speaker, Tom worked closely with Bob Michel, the 
     Republican leader from 1989 to 1995. They remained great 
     friends after they left Congress. Later, President Clinton 
     named Speaker Foley to be our Ambassador to Japan.
       As a staffer to Senator Warren T. Magnuson, I worked with 
     Tom on the Spokane World's Fair in 1974. This project created 
     dramatic change for Spokane, the largest city in the Fifth 
     District.
       Tom was so proud to represent the people of the Fifth 
     Congressional District for 30 years. He always thought this 
     was his most important responsibility.
       It was a great honor for me that Tom Foley supported me in 
     my campaign to Congress in 1976. I was then privileged to 
     work with him and to receive his support as a Member of the 
     House, and I will always thank him for being such a good 
     mentor.
       We will always remember the legacy of Tom Foley. He 
     believed in the Congress, and he believed that this 
     institution could produce positive results for the American 
     people.
       His loving wife, Heather, supported him throughout his 
     career and took wonderful care of him during his long 
     illness.
       May God bless you, Heather, and the entire Foley family.
       (The Honorable Jim McDermott, United States House of 
     Representatives, Seventh District of Washington)
       Mr. McDermott: Good afternoon. I am Jim McDermott. I am a 
     House Member from Washington's Seventh Congressional 
     District, which is mostly Seattle. I knew Tom Foley for more 
     than 40 years, and throughout that time, he was a wonderful 
     friend and a sage mentor.
       In 1971, when I was a freshman State legislator, he took me 
     out to dinner in Seattle and suggested I run for Congress. I 
     was pleased by his regard for my career, but I knew better 
     since I was a freshman legislator. So I rejected it and ran 
     for Governor. I got creamed. Tom never said a word.
       Chastened, I returned to the legislature, determined to 
     learn as much as I could about the realities of governing 
     effectively and the challenges of the legislative role.
       When I finally ran for Congress in 1988, Tom was the 
     majority leader of the House. As I arrived for my first term 
     in 1989, Tom was about to become Speaker. I know now that he 
     was about to become the last Speaker of the whole House. He 
     believed that the Speaker was the Speaker for the whole 
     House, and he lived that to his very core.
       Today many will note Tom's devotion to the House of 
     Representatives and his learned knowledge of the history of 
     this organization. Sitting down with Tom and letting him tell 
     stories, you learned enormous amounts. He appreciated the 
     role of the House in our balanced structure of government. He 
     knew well the challenge of maintaining that fragile balance.
       So when he assumed the Speakership, he brought to it a 
     scholar's depth of understanding and a disciple's passion. He 
     led the House with fairness and comity, a style of leadership 
     we haven't seen--we recently have looked for it--but we have 
     not seen what Tom was able to do with both sides.
       Tom understood that the House could not perform its 
     constitutional function without evenhandedness and respected 
     the role of the minority. Tom was a Democrat, no question 
     about it. He was very clear about why he was a Democrat. He 
     believed in the legitimacy and the value of government. He 
     knew that government's duty was to improve the lives of 
     Americans, and he saw it as a noble obligation and worthy of 
     one's very best efforts at any time.
       When he became Speaker, he abandoned none of these 
     principles. He added to them a very nuanced appreciation of 
     the role of

[[Page E1684]]

     Speaker, and his certainty that the leadership of the House 
     required not a flame-throwing partisan but a measured, steady 
     pilot enlightened by an unmatched knowledge of, and love for, 
     the House of Representatives.
       Tom Foley's district was a sprawling, largely rural swath 
     of eastern Washington state; yet its essentially very 
     conservative voters reelected him for 30 years. They took an 
     urban internationalist and sent him back again and again. 
     They did so, and that was a persistent reaffirmation of his 
     unshakeable integrity, his superb legislative skills, and his 
     deep connection with the people of the Fifth District. He 
     always started his speech by saying, ``My highest honor was 
     to be elected Congressman from the Fifth District.'' I 
     believe that the voters recognized him as a great American.
       We share that sense of wry Irish humor, but Tom's charm and 
     wit were all his own. He was an extraordinary person and an 
     irreplaceable friend. I am grateful to have known him.
       Rest in peace.
       (The Honorable John Lewis, United States House of 
     Representatives, Fifth District of Georgia)
       Mr. Lewis: Mrs. Foley, bless you.
       There was a great minister, scholar, and abolitionist who 
     lived in New England in the 19th century. His name was James 
     Freeman Clarke, and he once made this statement: ``A 
     politician,'' he said, ``thinks only of the next election; a 
     statesman thinks of the next generation.''
       Speaker Tom Foley was a true statesman. He believed it was 
     an honor to serve the public good, and he brought respect for 
     the dignity of our democracy and the inspiration of our 
     mandate as a Nation to every moment of his service. He 
     believed it was our calling as Members of Congress to do what 
     we could to preserve and help create a more perfect Union 
     that has been in the making for almost 300 years.
       In all of my years knowing Speaker Foley and seeing him on 
     the floor or in small meetings, I never heard this man, this 
     good man, speak or say a bad word about anyone. I just have a 
     feeling that he was one who believed, if you couldn't say 
     something good about someone, don't say anything at all.
       As a leader, he believed he should build and not tear down, 
     reconcile and not divide. He stood for the principles of 
     diplomacy and mutual respect, even toward his opposition. He 
     did not subscribe to the politics of personal destruction.
       He knew that his work as Speaker, as a representative of 
     the great State of Washington or as a legislator was bigger 
     than his own personal values and ambition. He wanted to leave 
     a record of accomplishment that would have a lasting impact 
     on our society for generations to come. When he left the 
     Speaker's chair, it was the end of an era, a period, in our 
     history.
       Maybe, just maybe, his passing at this moment in our 
     history is just an elegant reminder of one simple truth: no 
     leader is greater than the cause he serves, and when our 
     lives are over, we will be remembered not for fame or 
     fortune, but for how we helped or how we harmed the dignity 
     of all humankind.
       I will never forget this prince of a man who led by example 
     and struggled to turn the tide of partisanship in Congress 
     back to constructive debate on the great issues. Every 
     leader, whether in politics or in the larger society, but 
     every leader in America could do well to take a page from Tom 
     Foley's book.
       (The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader of the 
     United States House of Representatives)
       Minority Leader Pelosi: Heather, Mr. President, Mr. 
     President, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Vice President, how 
     wonderful that Speaker Foley has two Presidents, two Vice 
     Presidents, and the good wishes of President George Herbert 
     Walker Bush that our distinguished Speaker quoted earlier. He 
     could never probably have imagined that when he came to the 
     floor on the first day to make his first floor speech. He 
     said, ``Public service is a free gift of a free people and a 
     challenge for all of us in public life to do what we can to 
     make our service useful for those who have sent us here.'' 
     Few fulfilled that charge with more courage, more conviction, 
     more civility than he.
       I take great pride in the fact that he's the first Speaker 
     to hail from west of the Rocky Mountains. He brought to 
     Congress a fresh perspective and a powerful voice that would 
     open doors of leadership to Members who represent the 
     diversity of our country.
       His first campaign was legendary in its civility. Before 
     the election was even over, his opponent, Congressman Walt 
     Horan, released a statement calling the campaign the cleanest 
     he had ever seen in his 22 years in office. In that spirit, 
     when Tom Foley came to Congress and as Speaker Foley, he made 
     campaign finance reform a priority. He sent legislation to 
     the President's desk that would ensure that our democracy was 
     a government of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, we 
     could not override the President's veto, but Speaker Foley's 
     commitment to a just democracy and fair elections serves us 
     as an enduring challenge to this day.
       Known for his ability to build consensus, Speaker Foley 
     never compromised on the conviction to do right by the 
     American people. When tragedy struck at the Fairchild Air 
     Force Base Hospital in his district, this longtime defender 
     of gun rights saw the need for sensible gun violence 
     prevention laws. Speaker Foley brought that bill to the 
     floor. He helped enact it--those bans--knowing that it would 
     not be well received in his district. But he did what he 
     believed, and he did it with courage.
       He matched that dedication to principle and courage with a 
     gift for diplomacy. Nearly 20 years ago, I was privileged--I 
     don't know why I was on the list, but I was invited to attend 
     a special dinner at the British Embassy to honor Speaker 
     Foley for his leadership. As fate would have it, President 
     Clinton, that was the day that you announced that you were 
     going to grant a temporary visa to Gerry Adams. Just a 
     coincidence.
       Needless to say, the mood of the evening was tense. Speaker 
     Foley, with his characteristic grace, reasoned that this 
     step--no matter how disconcerting at the moment to them--was 
     crucial to delivering an ever-elusive peace to Northern 
     Ireland, Ambassador.
       That remarkable ability to build bridges across great 
     divides would serve him well as Speaker and, later, as U.S. 
     Ambassador to Japan--something he took great pride in, as I 
     know you did, Mr. Vice President. His judgment was impeccable 
     and was respected, and many of us benefited from it.
       For me, in September 2008, I attended a G-8 meeting of 
     heads of Parliament, or Speakers--whatever they're called in 
     their particular country. All of the participants were 
     invited to lay a wreath at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. I 
     immediately called Ambassador Foley, as I called Vice 
     President Mondale, to ask what I should do. He replied, ``You 
     must participate. You will be the highest-ranking American 
     official,'' up until then, ``to lay a wreath at the memorial. 
     You cannot say no.''
       Now, that may seem easy now, but at the time, that was very 
     strong judgment, as, again, the Vice President also gave me.
       Such is the nature of a great man who believed, above all, 
     in the purpose of public service. It's about respect. 
     Diplomat, leader, Speaker--Tom Foley was the quintessential 
     champion of the common good. He spoke for the House he led 
     and the country he so loved.
       In his farewell speech--I started with his opening speech--
     in his farewell speech to the House, he said, ``Congress is 
     the place where we come together to speak the voices of 
     America and democracy, and it is the voice that is found to 
     echo resoundingly throughout the world.'' Throughout the 
     world.
       Heather, I hope it is a comfort to you that so many people 
     mourn your loss throughout the world and are praying for you 
     at this sad time. To you, Heather, and to the Foley family, 
     thank you for sharing Tom with a grateful Nation. His voice 
     will forever echo in our hearts, to all who strive to make a 
     difference through public service.
       As we count our blessings as a Nation, we know that God 
     truly blessed America with the life and leadership of 
     Speaker, Ambassador, and leader, Tom Foley.
       (The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Republican Leader of the 
     United States Senate)
       Senate Minority Leader McConnell: Thank you all for being 
     here. And, Heather, we honor you today. You were there all 
     along, guiding and accompanying Tom across all the peaks and 
     the valleys right to the end. We thank you for your spirit, 
     your generosity, and your example, which enlivened this 
     House, as well as your own, for many years. Welcome back.
       Now, given Tom's famous equanimity, it is somewhat ironic 
     that he decided to run for Congress in the first place. He 
     actually did it in a moment of anger. The day was July 16, 
     1964. The Beatles had just returned to Liverpool after their 
     first U.S. tour. President Johnson had recently signed the 
     Civil Rights Act and was on his way to a landslide victory 
     against Barry Goldwater that November. And a 35-year-old Tom 
     Foley was having lunch at the Spokane Club in downtown 
     Spokane.
       A gifted lawyer from a prominent local family and a trusted 
     aide to Scoop Jackson, Tom mentioned to the guys he was 
     eating lunch with that he was thinking seriously about 
     running for Congress--not this time, but the next time 
     around. At which point, one of his lunch companions bluntly 
     dismissed the idea out of hand and said:
       ``You'll never do it. You're like all young people. You 
     think the party's going to come to you with a Tiffany tray 
     and an engraved card and say, `Please, we humbly beg you, run 
     for Congress.' And that isn't the way it happens. People get 
     to Congress by wanting to run for Congress. You've got 
     excuses this year, and you'll have excuses next year and the 
     year after that.''
       Well, Tom didn't like this little piece of armchair 
     psychology one bit, and he was determined to prove them 
     wrong. So he got up from the table, walked over to the 
     library across the hall, stuffed himself into a phone booth, 
     and called Western Union. Within minutes, a telegram had been 
     sent to Senator Jackson back in Washington saying that Tom 
     had just resigned his job and was headed to Olympia to file 
     for a run.
       Then Tom called his bank and found out he didn't have any 
     money. His cousin Hank had to loan him the filing fee.
       Oh, and the filing deadline was the next day.
       So Tom had no cash, no plan, and virtually no time.
       But he had the smarts. He had a sterling reputation. He had 
     the backing of Senator Jackson. And now, he had the 
     motivation.
       And he did it, and for the next three decades, Thomas 
     Stephen Foley would devote his life to the people of eastern 
     Washington's Fifth Congressional District--with grace, 
     intelligence, wit, and a profound respect for others, 
     including his political adversaries,

[[Page E1685]]

     and an abiding gratitude for the trust and confidence of the 
     people he was elected to serve, from Walla Walla to Northport 
     and all the wheat country and timber towns in between.
       Tom always looked the part. Even his classmates at Gonzaga 
     High School called him ``the Senator.'' And I dare say that 
     if most Americans were asked to conjure up in their minds the 
     image of a Congressman, the man they'd like to see would be 
     him. To most people, it seemed as though Tom were born to 
     serve here. And in a remarkable 30-year congressional career, 
     he proved they were right. He proved that he didn't just look 
     the part, he knew the part, and he played it well.
       Tom and I weren't on the same side on most issues. His 
     faith in government was, shall I say, a little more robust 
     than mine, but we shared a deep respect for the institution 
     and a belief that working with the other side, particularly 
     at a time of divided government, is no heresy when it enables 
     you to achieve some good for the Nation.
       That kind of comity is sometimes viewed as old fashioned 
     around here, but that's never been true. The parties have 
     always disagreed, but it hasn't kept them from working 
     together from time to time to solve problems that we all 
     recognize.
       Tom knew that. He practiced it. He took flak from time to 
     time for being a little too friendly with Republicans, but I 
     don't think he ever doubted the wisdom of his approach, even 
     in defeat. As Tom often said, ``The first vote you need to 
     earn is your own.'' It was a principle that served him very 
     well, and it's one that I think says a lot about what the 
     legacy of the gentleman from Spokane will be. We honor his 
     service and his memory.
       May we draw all the right lessons from both. (The Honorable 
     Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the United States Senate)
       Senate Majority Leader Reid: For 4 years, I served in the 
     House of Representatives with Speaker Tom Foley. During the 
     time I served there, he was the majority whip. I also served 
     with the man who would succeed Speaker Foley as leader of the 
     House, Speaker Newt Gingrich. Newt and I don't agree on too 
     much, but when he wrote in last week's Time magazine that Tom 
     Foley was a pragmatic man, a person of great integrity, and a 
     genuine patriot, I couldn't agree more with Newt.
       This is what Speaker Gingrich wrote: ``I have nothing but 
     fond memories of serving with Tom Foley. We worked together 
     when we could, competed when we had to, and cooperated for 
     the national interest as far as possible.''
       I, too, have fond memories of my time serving in the House 
     with Tom Foley. I offer my condolences to Heather who, as we 
     all know, had a strong voice in the House, at least when I 
     was there. She was tremendous, always there available to help 
     us; and she was his greatest influence politically in his 
     whole life.
       Tom learned his practical style of politics from his 
     mentors, Senators Scoop Jackson and Warren Magnuson, who were 
     both from the State of Washington. Speaker Foley gained his 
     pragmatism from being a Member, as we've heard from Norm 
     Dicks and others, as a Member and then chairman of the House 
     Agriculture Committee, one of the Chamber's most bipartisan 
     committees.
       But I credit much of Tom's down-to-earth demeanor to his 
     Western upbringing. You see, he was the first Speaker of the 
     House of Representatives to be born west of the Rocky 
     Mountains. He cut an imposing figure. He was a big man 
     physically and had this wonderful smile and great voice. He 
     was always gracious to young Members like me.
       One day, when I reflect back, as we get a little older, and 
     we've all had that experience, or most of us, you can't see 
     like you used to, and somehow he didn't bring his reading 
     glasses with him. And he was desperate. He had to read there. 
     He was managing what was going on on the floor and he 
     couldn't see. So I was the first person he saw, and he said, 
     ``Find me some glasses. I don't care where you get them.'' 
     And I wanted to adhere to his wishes, so I didn't care where 
     I got them. Somebody left them laying on a desk, and I 
     grabbed them, and he was so happy to get those glasses 
     because, as has happened to all of us, he just couldn't see 
     and he needed to see. Well, it was my honor and pleasure to 
     find him some glasses to help him see that day.
       But a vision as to where the country needed to go he always 
     saw clearly.
       (The Honorable Robert H. Michel, Minority Leader of the 
     United States House of Representatives, 1981-1995)
       Mr. Michel: Heather, members of the family and President 
     Clinton, President Obama, and all my former colleagues and 
     friends of Tom, all of you, it was my good fortune to have 
     visited Tom with my former right-hand man Billy Pitts a few 
     days before Tom died. I am so grateful to Heather for making 
     that visit possible.
       We thought it was going to be just a visit of a couple of 
     minutes, and it ended up we were speaking for an hour about 
     the days gone by, not unlike so many others we had over a 
     relationship of more than 40 years. We both were able to say 
     our piece in an atmosphere of mutual respect, open-
     mindedness, and, most of all, trust.
       As I said in an article in The Post the other day, when Tom 
     became Speaker, he suggested that we get together once a 
     week, talk over the affairs of the House, one week in my 
     office and the next in his, something that had never been 
     done before. While we disagreed over policy and jousted with 
     each other politically, the meetings were highly productive 
     because underlying them was the faith and trust we had in 
     each other. We could talk about anything, knowing that our 
     discussions would remain private unless we decided otherwise. 
     I don't think there is anything more important in the 
     relationship between political leaders than trust.
       Never was that bond tested more than it was in January 1991 
     when I implored Tom to bring to the House floor a resolution 
     that Steve Solarz of New York and I had introduced 
     authorizing then-President Bush to engage in military action 
     in Operation Desert Storm to drive Saddam Hussein out of 
     Kuwait. I was convinced that Tom opposed military 
     intervention, and I know that a good many of his caucus were 
     strongly opposed as well. It was an exercise of political 
     courage and personal decency for Tom to agree to bring the 
     resolution up for an open debate and recorded vote under 
     those circumstances, but he did.
       We had one of the most spirited, but civil and informative, 
     debates in which I had been privileged to participate in all 
     my 38 years in Congress. We prevailed in the final outcome 
     that day, but I would have been proud of the House and proud 
     of our Speaker regardless, because the House demonstrated to 
     the world that it was truly a deliberative and democratic 
     body.
       Tom and I always struggled to find common ground between 
     our two sides. When there were issues upon which we could not 
     agree, we could at least use common courtesy in the way we 
     conducted our politics. That isn't just good manners; it is 
     good politics.
       But win, lose, or compromise, the way we argue can be as 
     important, in the long run, as the decisions we reach.
       I so admired Tom's grace and civility. I also admired his 
     understanding and natural feel for the personality and the 
     distinctive culture of the institution. He was so dedicated 
     to its preservation and protection. Tom was chosen to lead 
     the House in a very difficult time. Through it all, he was a 
     gentleman of the House and a fair and honest broker and a 
     worthy adversary.
       And maybe we both knew that our days were numbered. We were 
     too conditioned by our personal and political upbringing to 
     assume that we had the market cornered on political principle 
     or partisan superiority. We knew, too, that there would 
     always be a distinction and separation between campaigning 
     for office and serving in office. We were, I guess, pupils of 
     the old school.
       Tom knew that a House Member has three essential jobs: to 
     deliberate, to debate, and to be effective. He knew that if 
     we wanted to be effective in the House, you just can't go 
     around shouting your principles; you have to subject those 
     principles to the test of open debate against those who do 
     not share those principles. But true debate is not possible 
     unless the Golden Rule is applied, which simply means that 
     you treat your fellow Members the way you, yourself, want to 
     be treated. Tom believed in that rule, and he practiced it 
     from the day he came to the House and all during his time as 
     Speaker of the House.
       Tom Foley was proud to be a Member of this House. I share 
     that deep pride in this great institution, and I guess that 
     is one reason we were able to work together. We both saw the 
     House of Representatives not as a necessary evil, but as one 
     of the great creations of a free people.
       On our last day in Congress, on November 29, 1994, Tom did 
     me the great honor of inviting me to the Speaker's podium to 
     preside over the House while he gave his farewell remarks 
     from the well. Incidentally, that was the first time in 40 
     years a Republican had been on that rostrum. When we stood 
     side by side at the podium on that last day of the 103rd 
     Congress, we knew that we were icons, I guess, of a bygone 
     era. As we visited for the last time 20 years later, I think 
     we felt good about that. We both took great pride in knowing 
     we had made things happen, that we found good ways to solve 
     difficult problems and make the House a working institution.
       Now Tom takes his place among the great public servants 
     immortalized in this Hall of Statues. He is most worthy of a 
     presence here. I know, because of his great love for this 
     institution, that his spirit will dwell here forever. I only 
     hope that the legislators who now walk through here each day, 
     so consumed by the here and now, will feel his spirit, learn 
     from it, and be humbled by it.
       That's what I have to say in honor of my dear friend, Tom 
     Foley.
       (The Honorable William J. Clinton, 42nd President of the 
     United States)
       President Clinton: Mr. Michel may be 90 years old, but he 
     has the spirit of a man half his age and the wisdom of one 10 
     times his age. We thank him for his remarks.
       Heather, I thank you, and, Mr. Speaker, I thank you for 
     giving those of us who worked with, knew, and cared about Tom 
     the chance to be here today. I thank you, Heather, for all 
     you did to make his work possible and better.
       Mr. President, thank you for being here, and Mr. 
     Vice President, Vice President Mondale, and all the others 
     who have spoken before me.
       Shortly after I was elected President, I invited Speaker 
     Foley and Leader Gephardt to come to Arkansas to see me to 
     tell me everything I didn't know that was about to happen to 
     me, which Tom Foley proceeded to do in that calm, restrained, 
     balanced, lyrical way.
       Tom told me not to be lulled by Bob Michel's friendliness, 
     that he was a very

[[Page E1686]]

     tough adversary, but I could make a deal with him. He told me 
     not to be intimidated, Mr. Speaker, by your bellicosity 
     because you were a brilliant politician, but in the end, we 
     would find a way to do business. He turned out to be right 
     about both things.
       His leadership made possible things that mattered to me a 
     lot. Being President is a matter of trying to do what you 
     promised to do when you ran, trying to respond to legitimate 
     impulses that are coming out of the political system across 
     the range, and trying to deal with the unanticipated 
     developments. And if you ignore any of them, you cannot 
     prevail. And if you can't work with the Congress, it's very 
     difficult.
       Tom Foley, therefore, was pivotal in our landslide victory 
     for my economic plan and deficit reduction plan, because we 
     won by one vote in the House. And that runaway victory was 
     made possible by the Speaker and everybody else that voted 
     for it. But also, we just celebrated the 20th anniversary of 
     the Family Medical Leave law, the 20th anniversary of 
     AmeriCorps. They are now part of the pillars of our sense of 
     common citizenship.
       Now, I have had Republicans and Democrats come up to me and 
     tell me what a difference the family leave law made for them; 
     young people who belong to both political parties who 
     believed in citizen service and participated in AmeriCorps. 
     He helped make those things possible, too.
       And one of the things that I always appreciated about him 
     and marveled at how he could be brutally honest in the 
     kindest way.
       It is true, as Leader Pelosi said, that he had a conversion 
     of sorts on the whole question of assault weapons because of 
     an experience he had, but he was very clearheaded. He told me 
     when we succeeded, in no small measure thanks to the 
     leadership of then-Senator Biden, and putting the assault 
     weapons ban back in the crime bill, he said, ``You can leave 
     this in here but there will be a lot of blood on the floor if 
     we pass this. Many of us will not survive.''
       I will never forget the argument I had with him. I said, 
     ``Tom, I'm from Arkansas. Both my Senators voted for this. 
     I'm still going to carry it next time.'' He said, ``Yeah.'' 
     He said, ``In 4 years. It's the same thing with your economic 
     plan. People will see that it works and people will see that 
     they did not lose their guns and they still got to defend 
     their homes and go hunting and be in sports shooting 
     contests, but we all have to run before they know any of 
     that. We have enough uncertainty now. If you put this in 
     there, there will be a lot of carnage.''
       And I thought he was wrong, but he was right. And he lost 
     that election by 4,000 votes. I would be a wealthy man if I 
     had a dollar for every time in the last 20 years I have found 
     my mind drawn to that conversation.
       Was it worth his public service? We had 8 years of 
     declining violent crime for the first time in the history of 
     the country. We did prove that it did not interfere with 
     people's Second Amendment rights, but the price was high.
       What I want to tell you is, appropriate today, that Tom 
     Foley, as nice as he was, as civil as he was, as much as he 
     loved his colleagues of both parties, was one tough guy. This 
     is a man who took up martial arts in his sixties. Now that I 
     am there, I respect it even more.
       He risked the broken bones and the torn ligaments and 
     everything. He was tough and he walked clear-eyed into the 
     House, and we put those votes together and the crime bill 
     passed. And those of us who supported it at least think 
     America was much better off as a result. But he knew that, 
     even in the spirit of bipartisanship and compromise, being in 
     public service and making difficult decisions was inevitable 
     and not free, and he paid the price.
       Before I came here, I read all the letters that Tom Foley 
     and I wrote to each other. That is a great thing about having 
     a library. Somebody will dig that stuff up for you. Now, here 
     is the one that means the most to me. It says the most about 
     him. He loved being in the House. It hurts to lose anytime, 
     but it really hurts if you're the Speaker, and he knew his 
     district, it turned out, way better than I did, at least 
     4,000 votes better than I did.
       Bob Michel talked about what they did on November 29, 1994. 
     This letter was written to me on November 16, 1994, signed by 
     Tom Foley and Dick Gephardt and Bob Michel and Newt Gingrich, 
     asking that the administration send to the lame-duck session 
     of Congress the legislation to implement the general 
     agreement on terrorism and trade which established the World 
     Trade Organization which I believe has played a major role in 
     lifting more people out of poverty in extreme circumstances 
     in very poor countries, in the last 20 years, than anything 
     else.
       He was, in short, dying inside, heartbroken, and he still 
     showed up for work, and he still believed that the purpose of 
     political service was to get the show on the road.
       I will never forget this letter as long as I live. Dick was 
     hurt, too. He was going from majority to the minority, but 
     Tom Foley had lost his seat in a district he loved. I talked 
     to him about the wrinkles and curves of that district I don't 
     know how many times. But he was doing his job.
       I asked him to go to Japan, just as I asked Vice President 
     Mondale to go to Japan, for a very simple reason. After our 
     wartime conflict, they became one of our greatest allies and 
     one of the greatest forces for democracy and security and 
     freedom and growth in the world. They had a tough time in the 
     1990s. They had their collapse well before we did, and I 
     always believed that the rest of the world was 
     underestimating the Japanese people, their brilliance, their 
     creativity, their technology, their resilience, and I wanted 
     them to know that America still cared.
       And when Fritz Mondale was there and when Tom Foley was 
     there, they knew America cared.
       So I leave you with this. I think they had a good time 
     there, and I think they enjoyed it. I know he did. There were 
     seven Japanese Prime Ministers in my 8 years as President. We 
     are not the only people that have turmoil. The best 
     politician was Prime Minister Obuchi. Tragically, as a young 
     man he had a stroke. He endured for 43 days after his stroke, 
     and when he died I suppose in a busy world full of things to 
     do, it was something of an anticlimax. I was appalled when I 
     was the only leader of a major country that came to his 
     funeral. But I flew all the way to Japan, spent 7 hours, so 
     that I could go. I liked him, I admired him, and I thought he 
     had set forth a direction that gave Japan the best chance 
     they had to succeed until Mr. Mori took office.
       At the end of the funeral, young Japanese women appeared 
     with trays of flowers, and in the site, his ashes were on a 
     high wall that was totally made of flowers of the rising sun, 
     and every person there, beginning with his wife, went up and 
     bowed to his ashes and put a flower on the table until 
     thousands and thousands and thousands of flowers were there 
     creating a great cloud.
       He was succeeded as Prime Minister by one of his close 
     allies, and the ally said this--Tom Foley and I stayed there 
     for hours and then we went home and watched the rest of it on 
     television until every person had put their flower there, a 
     testimony to the importance of citizenship and believing in 
     the institutions of your country. But the current Prime 
     Minister said this of his friend, ``I wonder if he ever 
     dreamed, and if my friend dreamed, I wonder what his dreams 
     were. Whatever they were, I hope they have all now come 
     true.''
       I did not know Tom Foley well enough to know if he ever 
     dreamed, or if he did, what he dreamed. But I know when he 
     sat with me that day and watched that sacred experience, I 
     saw the well of common humanity we all share across all of 
     our interesting differences.
       He gave his life to our country, and I hope his dreams have 
     all come true.
       (The Honorable Barack H. Obama, President of the United 
     States)
       President Obama: To Heather and the Foley family, to Tom's 
     colleagues and friends, President Clinton, Vice President 
     Mondale, former Speakers, and those who preceded me, I am 
     honored to join you today to remember a man who embodied the 
     virtues of devotion and respect for the institution that he 
     led, for the colleagues that he served alongside, and, most 
     importantly, for the citizens that he had the honor to 
     represent.
       Unlike so many of you, I did not have the privilege of 
     knowing Tom personally. I admired him from afar. But like 
     millions of Americans, I benefit from his legacy. Thanks to 
     Tom, more children get a head start on success in school and 
     in life, more seniors receive better health care, more 
     families breathe easier because they know their country will 
     be there for them in times of need. And all of them--all of 
     us--are indebted to that towering man from Spokane.
       I think, in listening to the wonderful memories that have 
     been shared, we get a sense of this man, and we recognize his 
     humility. He often attributed much of his success to good 
     luck--and he may have had a point. Leader McConnell told the 
     story about his first race. There were a couple of details 
     that got left out. On the way to Olympia to file the 
     paperwork for his first congressional campaign, apparently 
     Tom blew out a tire, so he and some friends hitchhiked to a 
     service station to get it fixed. And then, as they approached 
     the outskirts of the city, they ran out of gas, so they 
     pushed the car up the hill, coasting into town just before 
     the deadline. And Tom went on to win that race by a 
     resounding 54 votes.
       So there's no question that there may have been some luck 
     of the Irish operating when it came to Tom Foley, as well as 
     incredible stamina. But what led him to make history as the 
     first Speaker of the House from west of the Rockies was not 
     luck. It was his hard work, his deep integrity, and his 
     powerful intellect, and, as Bob Michel so eloquently and 
     movingly stated, his ability to find common ground with his 
     colleagues across the aisle. And it was his personal decency 
     that helped him bring civility and order to a Congress that 
     demanded both and still does.
       Which brings me to a final point. At a time when our 
     political system can seem more polarized and more divided 
     than ever before, it can be tempting to see the possibility 
     of bipartisan progress as a thing of the past--old school, as 
     Bob said. It can be tempting to wonder if we still have room 
     for leaders like Tom; whether the environment, the media, the 
     way that districts are drawn, and the pressures that those of 
     us in elected office are under somehow preclude the 
     possibility of that brand of leadership. Well, I believe we 
     have to find our way back there.
       Now, more than ever, America needs public servants who are 
     willing to place problem-solving ahead of politics, as the 
     letter that President Clinton held up indicates, as the 
     history of the crime bill shows. We are sent here to do 
     what's right, and sometimes doing

[[Page E1687]]

     what's right is hard and it's not free; and yet that's the 
     measure of leadership.
       It's important for us who feel a responsibility to fight 
     for a cause to recognize that our cause is not advanced if we 
     can't also try to achieve compromise, the same way our 
     Founders saw it--as a vital part of our democracy, the very 
     thing that makes our system of self-government possible. 
     That's what Tom Foley believed. That's what he embodied. 
     That's the legacy that shines brightly today.
       On the last day that he presided as Speaker, Tom described 
     what it should feel like to serve the American people in this 
     city. He spoke about coming to work in the morning and 
     catching a glimpse of the Capitol. And he said that it ought 
     to give anyone a thrill, a sense not only of personal 
     satisfaction, ``but very deep gratitude to our constituents 
     for the honor of letting us represent them.'' And Tom never 
     lost that sense of wonder.
       It's interesting--as I read that passage, what he wrote, 
     the first time I visited Capitol Hill, Tom Foley was Speaker. 
     I was a very young man and I was doing community work, and I 
     remember seeing that Capitol and having that same sense of 
     wonder. And I think now about Tom Foley being here, doing 
     that work, and inspiring what might have ultimately led me to 
     be interested in public service as well.
       When we're standing outside these magnificent buildings, we 
     have that sense of wonder and that sense of hope. And 
     sometimes the longer you're here, the harder it is to hang on 
     to that. And yet Tom Foley never lost it--never lost that 
     sense of wonder, never lost the sense of gratitude. What a 
     privilege he felt it was to serve. And he never forgot why he 
     came here--on behalf of this Nation and his State and the 
     citizens that he loved and respected so much.
       And so, as a country, we ought to be grateful to him. And 
     to Heather and to the people of the great State of 
     Washington, thank you so much for sharing Tom with us.
       God bless Tom Foley. God bless the United States of 
     America.
       Speaker Boehner: Mr. President and to all of our speakers, 
     thank you for your testimonials.
       In keeping with tradition, at this time, I would like to 
     ask Leader Pelosi to join me as we present Mrs. Foley with a 
     flag flown over the Capitol on the day of the Speaker's 
     passing and a copy of House Resolution 383, a resolution 
     expressing the House's sincerest condolences.
       (Presentation made.)
       (Mrs. Heather Foley, wife of the Honorable Thomas S. Foley)
       Mrs. Foley: Thank you, President Obama and President 
     Clinton. I so appreciate you coming to honor and celebrate 
     Tom's life.
       Thank you, Norman Dicks and Jim McDermott, our wonderful 
     friends. Let me acknowledge Congressman Lewis and former 
     Congressman and Republican leader Bob Michel, who have both 
     always been great friends to Tom and me.
       And of course, I thank Senator Harry Reid and Senator Mitch 
     McConnell for traveling a long way from the Senate to the 
     House to remember my husband.
       Also, I want to thank the Special Envoy from Japan, 
     Minister Masahiko Komura and Ambassadors Sasae, Anderson, and 
     Westmacott, plus the diplomatic delegations, for coming.
       I owe a special debt of gratitude to Speaker Boehner for 
     making this memorial service possible. Without his caring and 
     competent staff, this event would not have happened.
       When my husband was Speaker, we had about one person who 
     handled this kind of work. The Speaker has been most gracious 
     and helpful, and I applaud him for that.
       I want to say a few words about my husband. As you probably 
     know, I worked for him for years as an unpaid staffer. I did 
     not plan to do this when I married him in 1968. I was sort of 
     wooed into being a volunteer for just a little while to see 
     how things go, and I remained for the full time he was here. 
     I should say that I stayed here unpaid, and that it was a 
     great adventure. Every time I thought of leaving, he would 
     suddenly assume a new position, and it was a great good 
     fortune of my life to be along for the ride and to see what 
     happened next.
       Early on, I discovered that my husband was a wonderful 
     teacher. David Barner has written the nicest note about this, 
     and I think he was right on the mark. I can look back and say 
     that his father taught him about fairness, patience, and all 
     the virtues everyone has mentioned today.
       There was a story that Tom's father, who was a superior 
     court judge, could sentence you to death and you would thank 
     him. But when I think back, and what I thought at the time is 
     I'm not sure where his good judgment came from, how he 
     understood the limits of power--and there are enormous limits 
     to power--that we must all work together and how much courage 
     he often displayed when defending what he believed was right. 
     Some of it must have been the result of his Jesuit education 
     and his experience as a debater.
       A friend of his is here who knew him and debated with him, 
     and he told me that at 16 he was just a wonderful, great man, 
     even though he was just a young man at that time. I never 
     knew really exactly why he always knew the right thing to say 
     and do. Perhaps it was his honesty and his resolve to keep 
     his word. I don't know.
       I think back on our almost 45 years together, and I think 
     of the long, long meetings that perhaps best displayed his 
     ability to reason with people. One of them was in the late 
     1960s at Shadel Park High School in Spokane. Tom had accepted 
     the challenge of a man whose name I think was Virgil Gunning 
     who was opposed to any form of gun control, and he claimed 
     that Tom was for every form of gun control. So Tom agreed to 
     appear at this forum in this local high school, and Virgil 
     ran ads in the newspapers and was able to attract--I think he 
     also ran them on the radio and television--an audience of 
     about 700 people. Tom stood on the stage for 5\1/2\ hours and 
     answered all of Gunning's allegations with reasons that I 
     never would have thought of. There were endless questions in 
     the audience. There were bumper stickers waved about the 
     Hungarians limited their guns and that's why they lost their 
     freedom, something to that effect.
       I can remember Tom saying that he was not for repealing 
     laws that limited a citizen's use of cannons and rockets, 
     that he didn't think you were entitled to have a missile silo 
     right there in the backyard of your house.
       At first, the audience was hostile, but at the end, Gunning 
     made a fatal mistake. He asked everyone to stand up and then 
     he pleaded for money to pay for the hall and the ads, and 
     people who were already standing, they just walked out.
       I had spent a good deal of my life overseas at this time, 
     and I was mesmerized to watch this. It wasn't like, you know, 
     dealing with the Pakistanis or going to school there or 
     living in Greece or Egypt, as I had done. It was something 
     very different.
       I learned over the years, and I was able to see Tom reason 
     with all kinds of people and with all kinds of interesting 
     arguments. He could always see another side to something. I 
     got to see him in action with Presidents and politicians on 
     both sides of the House and both sides of the Capitol. He was 
     somehow able to walk others through their demands and show 
     them where they were asking too much and where they might be 
     right. He was not afraid to take a position that a 
     constituent or a colleague might oppose and explain why.
       I can remember the Pacific power administrator who came to 
     get more goodies being told that it was time that the Pacific 
     Northwest perhaps limited its demands and look in other 
     directions to get more power. I'm sure they are still here 
     asking for it, but anyway. But at the time, they agreed.
       He was a man of principle. He was not afraid to compromise. 
     He believed there was honor in compromising. When he nearly 
     lost the election in 1980, he did not retreat to the life he 
     enjoyed as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, as 
     many would have done. Instead, he became Democratic whip and 
     started his climb up the leadership ladder.
       I was appalled. I had gotten used to his position as 
     chairman, and I was on good terms with the staff. Suddenly, 
     all of these people were going to lose their jobs. We 
     couldn't take all of them with us to the whip office. The 
     budget was not that large. So I got used to it, and then he 
     moved up the ladder again and again.
       It would have been the easy thing to stay as chairman of 
     the Agriculture Committee, and I should have known that this 
     extraordinary man was destined for extraordinary things. I'm 
     afraid I've kept you too long. Thank you so much for coming 
     to salute the life of a great man.
       Thank you.
       Reverend Conroy: Dear Lord, as we close our time together, 
     send Your Spirit of peace and consolation upon us, who mourn 
     the loss of the honorable former Speaker of the House, Tom 
     Foley.
       He was a glowing example, an icon of what it means to be a 
     man for others. His decades of service to his home State of 
     Washington, and to our great Nation, will be long appreciated 
     by those whose lives are forever blessed by his life's work 
     and dedication.
       May Your angels come to greet our beloved Tom, and may 
     those who mourn him here be consoled with the knowledge that 
     for those who love You, everything is turned to good.
       Amen.

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