[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 87 (Tuesday, May 23, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H2541-H2544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING REPRESENTATIVE DAVID N. CICILLINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Magaziner) is 
recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the 
minority leader.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, there are a number of Members who have 
come to express their gratitude to Congressman Cicilline.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), 
the Speaker Emerita.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and thank

[[Page H2542]]

you for bringing us together so that we can pay our respects and 
gratitude to the great Congressman from Rhode Island.
  On a personal note, just listening to his comments there, he and 
Congresswoman DeLauro have a competition about pizza. They don't know 
that most people come to San Francisco to learn how to make pizza. I 
say that in sharing the pride we take in our Italian-American heritage, 
and the knowledge that we have about food.
  In any event, I thank Mr. Cicilline for his great leadership in this 
Congress. He has been a champion on policy issues. He spelled them out 
here.
  I will never forget the day that he joined John Lewis, Katherine 
Clark,   John Larson, and others, to have a sit-in on the floor of the 
House.
  Mr. Speaker, they did not tell us that they were doing this because 
as leadership we would have said you are not allowed to do that. They 
could anticipate that I might say that. They just protected the 
leadership from having to make that statement, and they launched their 
sit-in on the floor of the House.
  It was very successful because, by coincidence, we had planned a 
rally about gun violence prevention, and they were having a sit-in on 
gun violence prevention on the floor of the House.
  The whole world found out about it because Mr. Takano spread the word 
through his telephone, even though the Republicans turned out the 
lights in the House and nobody could see what was going on in here. He 
spread the word through his telephone. Actually, it became a sit-in 
heard around the world. I thank Mr. Takano, John Lewis, and Mr. 
Cicilline.
  You heard him talk about the issues and the knowledge he has about 
them, the judgment he has about prioritizing and the legislative 
strategic thinking of trying, in the most possible way, to be 
bipartisan and to be transparent and to be accountable.
  Representative is a job title Mr. Cicilline has. It is his title, and 
it is his job description for representing the people of Rhode Island. 
He loves his district. He loves his State. He loves his country.
  By being a Representative, coming to the floor and speaking for those 
people, every time he did, he did so with great pride. Again, he is a 
man of many issues and many talents. He also has many ethnicities.
  When he came, I thought, oh, good, we have more Italian Americans in 
the Congress. I would see him at the Italian-American events. When I 
would go to Jewish events, he would be there as a Jewish Member of 
Congress. Of course, there was the LGBTQ+ community. So he was a man 
for all seasons, all ethnicities, all orientations. That made him a 
very great Representative for our entire country across the board.
  There are many Members who want time to sing the praises of this 
great man. I have many stories I could tell about how, in his role as 
leader in our Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, DPCC, he 
made our message more effective, by how he gave guidance to Members and 
how he mentored others after they came here.
  I give him some points for having been the mayor of Providence 
because when you are mayor you are a manager, you have to get things 
done. He brought that administrative skill to a legislative job, and we 
all benefited from it.

  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Magaziner for yielding time. As I say, we 
all have a lot to say about David Cicilline, and we will take other 
opportunities to do so. For tonight, I not only thank him for his 
leadership but for his leadership in this body and the rest. For the 
beautiful presentation he made about our country this evening, his 
patriotism, his service, his call to duty, and his being so effective 
in doing all of the above, I thank Mr. Cicilline.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, this really is a bittersweet moment. I am 
so honored to have the opportunity to be here tonight with colleagues, 
with the Speaker Emerita, to say a few words to honor our colleague, a 
dear, dear friend, Congressman David Cicilline.
  He embarks on a new challenge, president and CEO of the Rhode Island 
Foundation, one of the largest and oldest community foundations in the 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, it is more than pizza which separates Congressman 
Cicilline and myself, there really are more Italians in Connecticut 
than there are in Rhode Island. I know about San Francisco, but it is 
Connecticut and Rhode Island, and we go back and forth here. Our 
numbers in Connecticut are larger than your numbers any day of the 
year.
  Congress is a really wonderful, wonderful institution and a place to 
be. It really has to do with the people that you serve with. You make a 
lot of acquaintances in the House of Representatives, but you can count 
your friends probably on one hand, maybe two.
  David Cicilline has been my friend. That is a friendship that occurs 
in the good times and in the bad times, in those up moments and the 
down moments when you know that someone always has your back and is 
there for you, no matter what. David Cicilline has always been there 
for me no matter what.
  We had a bond from the moment he arrived in Congress. I kept saying 
``Chichilline,'' and he said, Cicilline. It was the Italian simpatico, 
a brother and a sister.
  It was my privilege to serve with David since he joined more than a 
decade ago, 12 years ago. He has distinguished himself as a fighter for 
Rhode Island, a champion for working, middle-class families everywhere. 
He doesn't shy away from a fight, and he knows how to get things done.
  He is a trailblazer for LGBTQ+ rights. The first openly gay mayor of 
a major U.S. city. In Congress, he has been a leading voice on human 
rights, civil rights, marriage equality, gun safety, antitrust, 
bringing back manufacturing jobs, and so much more--taking on the tech 
industry.
  His passion and his commitment to these causes has made him one of 
the most effective legislators in the House.

                              {time}  1815

  He spoke himself about his fight to prevent gun violence, which is at 
his core. David was a founding member of the bipartisan coalition, 
Mayors Against Illegal Guns, led the sit-in on the House floor in 2016 
with the iconic John Lewis, Democratic whip Katherine Clark, my 
colleague from Connecticut   John Larson, and we did sit in the well 
here.
  The Speaker Emerita was right. We didn't tell the leadership because 
they would have said no, but we were convinced that we had to do it and 
to be here. That was to protest inaction on gun violence. David, like 
John Lewis, is not afraid to get into good trouble when fighting for 
what is right.
  He responded to the ongoing epidemic of gun violence in this country 
by authoring the assault weapons ban when I was there when people told 
him not to do it. They said, don't do it. He said, I am going to do it. 
And that passed in the House last July. Not an easy vote for some, but 
he knew that it was the right thing to do and he fought like hell to 
make it happen.
  Tireless champion in the fight for justice and equality. He fought to 
enact the Equality Act, the conscious of the House on this issue. He 
led the bipartisan passage for the Respect For Marriage Act, federally 
recognizing same sex and interracial marriage, which President Biden 
signed into law last August, a monumental achievement in advancing 
civil rights.
  He has been there next to me when we have fought together on so many 
issues for women and families--protecting the right to choose, push for 
pay equity, passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, passing the child tax 
credit, a passionate and eloquent voice standing up for middle-class 
and working families across the board, and a dedicated ally to do the 
work and be there with you in the trenches.   David Cicilline is not 
afraid to be in the trenches.
    David Cicilline may be leaving the House of Representatives, but 
his work continues, his legacy continues. I am so sad really to see him 
go. I am proud that he will now have an opportunity to build, to expand 
on so many of the issues and work that he did here in the Congress and 
further improve the lives of all Rhode Islanders.
  I know he will continue to be a fearless advocate for the people of 
Rhode Island and for the causes he believes in and the causes he 
believes are right.
    David Cicilline knows why he became a Member of the Congress. He 
understands the power of this institution;

[[Page H2543]]

its ability to transform people's lives. He didn't come like some these 
days to dismantle the institution, but to push the edge of that 
envelope which could help to make a difference for the people in this 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, we will miss him. What an honor it has been for me to 
serve with him and, more importantly, what a pleasure it has been for 
me to call him my friend and my brother.
  Next time I am in Providence, and I hope that will be soon, we can 
get a drink at Clementine Cocktail Bar and plan some good trouble 
together. May God bless him, my dear and wonderful friend. Without a 
doubt, I will miss him.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Rhode Island has 33 
minutes remaining.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Mr. Takano.
  Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Magaziner for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor for me to follow the Speaker Emerita 
and Ms. DeLauro in offering my words of farewell to my good friend,   
David Cicilline of Rhode Island.
  I thank Mr. Pocan for allowing me to go first. It was very gracious 
to allow me this honor to follow two such great Members who felt 
compelled to come to the floor, to make sure that our friend,   David 
Cicilline, knew how well he is thought of, what regard we hold him, 
what esteem we hold him in.
  I wish I could recount everything and to touch upon all that David 
has brought forward into this institution, the ideas that he has 
carried through his legislation could really fill up this whole hour 
and that would be unfair to the other Members who also wish to come and 
bid him an honorable farewell, but let me focus on just a few things: 
One, it was a great honor to be on this floor the day after the Pulse 
Nightclub shootings and to see David, along with the iconic John Lewis 
and Katherine Clark, take action to not just be frustrated, but to get 
into some good trouble. I was thinking that this moment needed to be 
amplified and so I took out my cell phone and started to stream the 
events when all the television cameras were turned off, the lights were 
turned out, and it was an entire night of all of the members of the 
Democratic caucus expressing their frustration at not doing more than 
thoughts and prayers.
  What happened at the Pulse Nightclub shootings touched the LGBTQ 
community, which David and I are members of, and I watched with great 
admiration at how David made sure to work with the Congressional Black 
Caucus to touch that sacred 1964 Civil Rights Act and to work with them 
to craft a bill that would add the words, ``gender identity and sexual 
orientation'' to that sacred document which protects so many classes of 
people in the United States and for which we still need to accomplish 
this act.
  I am honored and touched that David will entrust the Equality Act in 
my hands to get it across the line. He can be sure that he will be on 
the invitation list in the front row when the President of the United 
States signs that bill into law.
  Let me say as a final reflection that former Speaker Pelosi has 
always talked about this being the greatest intellectual resource, the 
Members, that is, the Members of this Congress are a huge intellectual 
resource. Let me say that no more is that exemplified than in the 
hearings that   David Cicilline held on antitrust.
  Antitrust is a complicated, dense topic. He spent months, actually 
years, pouring through the academic research and the views of law 
professors to understand antitrust law in our country, and he brought 
forward as witnesses the heads of Facebook and Google and contended 
with great economic forces in our country, but all in the service of 
making sure that average Americans have a chance at privacy, have a 
chance for competition; that not all the resources will get sucked up 
and not all the advantages are held by big corporate entities.

  That intellectual resource, that ground work that he laid, I am 
confident is going to work itself through this Congress because both 
sides care, both Democrats and Republicans, care about this issue.
  It was overshadowed by a much more attention-grabbing figure, and it 
was frustrating to me that more of America, more of the media could not 
pay attention to the important work that David Cicilline was doing.
  Mr. Speaker, I could go on for a lot longer, but that would be unfair 
to all the others here who want to pay their respects to a tremendous 
Member of Congress. Instead, I say farewell to David and thank him for 
his service, and I will miss him in this body.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. I yield to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse).
  Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to be able to be here today to 
salute my friend, a fine man, a good man, and someone who has served 
our country so admirably over the course of these last 12 years in 
David Cicilline.
  There is a quote from President John Adams that I want to share, our 
second President who once said: ``But I fear that in every assembly, 
members will obtain an influence, by noise not sense; by meanness, not 
greatness; by ignorance, not learning; by contracted hearts, not large 
souls.''
  There are many places in our country in which his fears ring true 
today, but one of the places where it does not is in Rhode Island 
where, for the better part of the last decade, the people of Rhode 
Island could rest easy knowing they had elected a leader who would 
serve them admirably. A leader whose common sense was on full display 
as a Member of the House leadership team.
  I can remember very early in my tenure in Congress 5 years ago 
learning from and being mentored by   David Cicilline as he chaired the 
House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, always willing to 
help a new Member navigate the experience of serving in Congress.
  His greatness was on full display during the course of the 
investigation that he led as chairman of the Antitrust Subcommittee. As 
his vice chair during that subcommittee investigation, I can tell you, 
Mr. Speaker, firsthand just how hard he worked day in, day out.
  The entrenched interests and the concentrated power that he fought 
against day after day to ensure that that investigation would be done 
and that ultimately the American public would benefit from it. Of 
course, his learning was on full display during the course of both 
Presidential impeachments over the course of the last 4 years, but, in 
particular, during the second impeachment when Mr. Cicilline and I 
stood together on the floor of the United States Senate when his 
fidelity to the Constitution and his role in defending our democracy 
was on full display to millions of Americans.
  He has been an effective Representative for the people of Rhode 
Island. He has been a tireless leader here in the United States 
Congress. He has done his country and his State a great service. He has 
been a dear friend, a dear, dear friend to so many of us in Congress.
  In the last 5 years I have been here on the floor for quite a few 
departing speeches from Members, people I considered friends. I have 
yet to come to one in which the Chairwoman of the Appropriations 
Committee, the Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, the 
Chairman of the Equality Caucus, the Speaker of the House, the former 
chairman of our caucus have all gathered, except for today. It is a 
reflection of just how special   David Cicilline is, the reach and 
breadth of the support and friendships that he developed within the 
House Democratic Caucus, which I believe will last long after he has 
left this hallowed Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, I say thanks to Mr. Cicilline, the gentleman from Rhode 
Island, for his service to our country. We will miss him, and we look 
forward to seeing him again.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Pocan).
  Mr. POCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Rhode Island,   
David Cicilline, for his great work in Congress. He has been an LGBTQ+ 
leader, he has been a progressive champion, he has been a Judiciary 
Committee leader, and he has been a mentor to many of us in Congress, 
including myself. I am going to really miss having him and his wisdom 
in Congress.
  I think a lot of people are going to miss him across the country. If 
you care about gun violence, you are going

[[Page H2544]]

to miss   David Cicilline. He was the author of the assault weapon ban, 
so important as we have shooting after shooting after shooting with an 
AR-15. His bill would help address that in this country. He always goes 
above and beyond. Every time in this Chamber when there is a moment of 
silence and no moment of action around gun violence, it is so 
disheartening for everyone around the country, but that day that has 
been talked about when he was one of the organizers sitting down and 
taking over this Chamber to have a moment of action is one of the few 
times, in fact, the only time that I saw that in my 10\1/2\ years in 
Congress.
  If you care about progressive values, you are going to miss   David 
Cicilline. He was a progressive caucus leader. As chair of the DPCC, he 
led in articulating our values for Democrats, and he did an amazing job 
in doing that.

                              {time}  1830

  If you care about democracy, you are going to miss   David Cicilline. 
Being an impeachment manager is a huge undertaking. You have, trust me, 
all kinds of people around the country who disagree with you saying all 
sorts of interesting things. David did an amazing job in standing up 
for this country and for everyone who cares about our democracy in that 
role.
  If you care about consumer issues, you are going to miss   David 
Cicilline. As the chair of that subcommittee on the Judiciary Committee 
dealing with antitrust and tech issues, he was fighting on behalf of 
consumers so that we could have more affordable cost of goods, so you 
didn't just have a few monopolies running everything.
  If you care about equality and LGBTQI+ rights, I guarantee you are 
going to miss   David Cicilline. He was the chair of our Equality 
Caucus for a very long time, and he was the lead author of the equality 
bill.
  Most importantly, David has been a role model for LGBTQ youth across 
the country. It is not easy still, even in 2023, to be out and gay, 
especially in this body with people who still are attacking trans kids 
as a last gasp against equality. David has been our leader and a senior 
member of the Equality Caucus, and we so respect all of the work that 
he has done.
  I am going to miss his positive leadership style, I am going to miss 
his commonsense vision, but, most importantly, I am going to miss his 
friendship.
    David Cicilline has been a great mentor to many of us. We know he 
is going to do great back in Rhode Island, and I, too, am going to get 
to Clementine's.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut 
(Mr. Larson).
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my 
colleagues. I was fortunate to hear the ``deaness'' of our delegation 
speak earlier.
  I am not very good at farewells or good-byes. I am far better at 
hellos. We could never say goodbye to such an engaging, compassionate 
and caring individual, which is reflected in the legislation that he 
has put forward, reflected in the way that he has represented the 
people of Rhode Island, how he has engaged himself on this floor with 
individual Members, what he has done time and again, leading with his 
heart, but using that great brain power and strategy to get things done 
on behalf of people.
  I know it has been mentioned about our beloved colleague, John Lewis, 
and staging that sit-in here on the floor, but I believe that that is 
something that everyone who was serving here at the time will never 
forget.
  Again, it was his leadership, it was his compassion, and it was his 
heart. He is a man amongst men who demonstrates that daily.
  I love and respect him. I will miss him but not for long, because we 
will always be together. By now, I think just about the whole Congress 
is headed to Rhode Island for a drink at Clem's.
  I thank him so much for his service. I thank him so much for his 
commitment to the people of Rhode Island. The country is better off 
because   David Cicilline has served and represented the people of 
Rhode Island here in the people's Chamber.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
on the topic of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Rhode Island?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MAGAZINER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 
distinguished congressional career of one of Rhode Island's finest 
public servants and my good friend, Congressman   David Cicilline, who 
will be retiring from the House this week.
  A born and raised Rhode Islander from a proud Italian and Jewish 
family, David served as a State representative before making history 
being elected as the first openly gay American to be mayor of a major 
city.
  In his two terms as mayor of Providence, David restored ethics and 
vitality to city hall, and he was then elected to represent the First 
Congressional District in 2010.
  For over a decade, David has served the people of Rhode Island with 
honor, courage, and decency in the House of Representatives. Through 
his work on the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Cicilline has 
become a nationally recognized leader in the fights to prevent gun 
violence and enforce antitrust laws to protect working Americans.
  As chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, David has helped lead 
the charge for LGBTQ+ rights. David also served ably on the House 
Foreign Affairs Committee, chairing the Middle East, North Africa and 
Global Counterterrorism Subcommittee in the last Congress and he served 
multiple leadership roles in the House Democratic Caucus.
  Our Nation will always be indebted to   David Cicilline for his role 
in holding former President Trump accountable for inciting the deadly 
assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. David cowrote 
the Articles of Impeachment as the attack was still in progress and 
ably served as a House impeachment manager.
  I know I speak for many of my colleagues when I say how much I will 
miss David's energy and intellect in the House, but David's lifetime of 
service is not yet complete. Come June, he will be taking on his new 
role as president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, one of the 
Nation's foremost community foundations.
  I look forward to working with him in his new role, and I join all of 
Rhode Island in thanking him for his many years of dedicated public 
service to our State.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________