[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24287-24288]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING TOM FOGLIETTA

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a former Member of this 
body and friend who passed away this week, someone who left a profound 
mark on his community, his Nation, and this institution. Whether it was 
his dedication to our friends in the international community or the 
working people in his own community, Tom Foglietta was special, a man 
with a common touch and high ideals. With Tom we always knew he was 
someone who would fight, who was with us to the end regardless of the 
odds or the politics of the matter. His fight to keep the Philadelphia 
Navy Yard open is legendary.
  As I reflect on his time in the Congress, I remember a man who 
understood what it meant to bring the values of his constituents to 
Washington. A fellow Italian American, Tom and I often discussed how it 
was our parents' example serving on respective city councils, his in 
Philadelphia, mine in New Haven, that inspired us to enter a life of 
politics and give back to the communities that had given us so much.
  Living out his lifelong dream as an ambassador to Italy, I will never 
forget how he knelt down in prayer for the victims in the Cavalese 
cable car tragedy, sending a powerful message to the world that America 
weeps for the sons and daughters of its allies as if they were our very 
own. In turn, the Italian people loved him as he loved them.
  Throughout his career, whether it was his work in Italy, to secure 
the peace in Haiti, to forge a democracy in

[[Page 24288]]

South Korea, Tom Foglietta understood that America's role in the world 
was rooted in moral leadership, in common values, humility and 
humanity.
  I will miss so many things about our friendship, dinners with the 
gang, eating pasta with gravy, his cooking in my kitchen.
  I will miss his friendship, his moral leadership. We all will. Grazi, 
Don Tomaso. His passion for people knew no bounds. For that he will 
forever be in our hearts.

                          ____________________