[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 48 (Thursday, March 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H3810-H3811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    MOMENT OF SILENCE IN REMEMBRANCE OF HONORABLE VICTOR FAZIO, JR.

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I think that Members now know that 
yesterday we lost a wonderful, decent, extraordinary former Member of 
this body. Madam Speaker, as you know, he was from your State. His name 
was Vic Fazio. Some of you served with him. Most of you did not. He 
retired in 1998 from a very successful career.
  Many of us in this House, who served with him and who remember him 
fondly, are grieving the loss of Vic Fazio. He was, until my dear 
friend Ben Cardin came to the Congress, my best friend. They were two 
of my best friends. Vic and I were very, very close. Many others in the 
Congress of the United States would say the same thing, who served with 
him, that they were close to him.
  Vic Fazio had an extraordinarily successful life. He was 79 years of 
age.
  He was a leader and was a cardinal in the Appropriations Committee 
from his first year on the Appropriations Committee. He and an 
extraordinary Republican, who died just 8 months ago, who we remembered 
on this floor, another dear friend of mine, Jerry Lewis, also from 
California, co-chaired the Legislative Appropriations Subcommittee of 
the Appropriations Committee. They did so in a way that enhanced the 
sense of importance of this institution and of the collegiality that 
was possible in this institution. We said that when Jerry Lewis died. 
It is true when his partner now of that era has passed away.
  It is an era that we ought to remember and hopefully replicate. Vic 
Fazio was a ``Member's Member.'' He was an

[[Page H3811]]

institutionalist. He cared about each and every one of us, irrespective 
of the letter next to our name. He cared about process. He cared about 
substance. He cared about the integrity of Members. He cared about 
their well-being and how they were treated as Members.
  In fact, it was Vic Fazio in 1989 who led the effort to reform the 
pay and benefits of Members. In that process, at that point in time, 
Members could make about $25,000 to $30,000 in what was called 
honoraria. It was a payment from private sector interests to Members 
for giving a speech.
  Vic, and the colleagues with whom he worked, worked together to 
eliminate honoraria and to make sure, however, that Members could live 
decently in this town, an expensive town in which to live, with a 
salary that was appropriate. All of you who get your paychecks can 
thank Vic Fazio that they are substantially above what they otherwise 
would have been, but for his and other reformers' actions.
  Vic Fazio lost his wife, Judy, and I lost my wife, Judy. Our wives 
knew one another. I lost mine 25 years ago, and he lost his some years 
ago. The sadness of his life is that he lost a daughter very early in 
life, and he never got over that. It was a deep, deep scar in his 
heart.
  The good news is that after the death of Judy, he married a woman 
whose name is Kathy. I don't know whether Kathy is watching today, but 
if she is, we send her our love and our sympathy and our thanks for the 
life of Vic Fazio and the contribution he made to his country, to his 
State, to our Nation, and to this institution.
  To give us an example of wisdom, of acceptance of others, of lifting 
others up, irrespective of that small letter next to their name, 
because he knew that all of us were Americans, chosen by our neighbors, 
which is the only way you can get here, to serve them, to represent 
their views in this body, and to make weighty decisions on their behalf 
that will have consequences for them and, as we do today, consequences 
for all the world.
  For 20 years, Vic Fazio was the voice of Sacramento and Yolo County 
in the Congress. One of Vic's lasting legacies was the designation of 
3,700 acres of protected wetlands in Yolo County. Perhaps, Madam 
Speaker, we can name that territory after Vic Fazio.
  He was effective because he reached across the aisle and worked 
closely with Republicans and, as I mentioned, Jerry Lewis.
  When the legislative appropriation bill came to the floor, we were 
all proud, because it was not a partisan bill. It was a bill for the 
institution and for the people.
  So we remember a man of intellect, of integrity, and a warm and 
genial nature who was proud of his service, proud of the Congress, and 
proud of his colleagues.
  Madam Speaker, I would ask all of us to rise for a moment of silence 
to remember a great, great American and great Member of this House, Vic 
Fazio.
  The SPEAKER. The Chair asks all Members in the Chamber, as well as 
Members and staff throughout the Capitol, to rise for a moment of 
silence in remembrance of the Honorable Victor Fazio, Jr.

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