[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1686]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2240
         EXPRESSING APPRECIATION FOR REPRESENTATIVE DALE KILDEE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schauer). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, today on the floor, we had a rare occasion 
when we were able to congratulate one of our colleagues, Mr. Kildee 
from Michigan, for casting his 20,000th vote.
  It was a great opportunity for us to show our appreciation and 
affection for a Member who is extraordinarily well respected and, I 
would say, even loved by his colleagues.
  It is unfortunate that so much emphasis in the media is placed on the 
partisanship that occurs here in the House. We do have strong 
philosophical differences, but on a personal level, we respect each 
other, and have genuine affection for each other. That extends even to 
our staff.
  A few weeks ago, we had a similar situation when we had the 
unfortunate passing of Congressman Boehner's chief of staff. She was 
eulogized here on the floor by both Democrats and Republicans, and I am 
so pleased that we have been able to show, again, that we do care for 
each other personally in this House, because that is not the image that 
people have of us.
  I want to go back to speaking some more about Dale Kildee. There is 
nobody in this House, or very few people in this House, who feel any 
stronger about my philosophy than I do. I have the greatest respect and 
admiration for Mr. Kildee. As Mr. John Boehner said today on the floor, 
that is what he calls him, and that is what I have always called him. I 
have had the great pleasure to serve with him on the Education 
Committee as well as on the Page Board.
  I want to say that I have learned a great deal from serving with Mr. 
Kildee. He is a fabulous role model for us all. As was said today, he 
is always a gentleman. He is always very calm. He always gives the 
impression--and I believe it is a true impression--that he cares a 
great deal about the people he is dealing with and about the people he 
is serving. He loves the House, and he does his job with great 
thoughtfulness and diligence.
  I want to say that he is, I think, a great role model for all of us. 
It has been my pleasure to be able to serve with him, again, on the 
Education Committee, on the Page Board and here in the House.
  I think the comments that were made about Mr. Kildee today were 
comments that we all agreed with. There was great applause after each 
one of the sets of comments that were made, and I think that it was, 
again, a terrific example of how we may differ philosophically on 
issues but of how we care for each other on a personal level and of how 
we respect each other despite our philosophical differences.
  I want to pay my tribute to Mr. Kildee for the wonderful service that 
he has given to the people of his district and to his steadfastness in 
coming to this floor day, after day, after day and for voting and for 
missing only 27 votes in 33 years and for being in a very elite group 
of people who has served in the House of Representatives and has cast 
20,000 votes.
  Mr. Kildee, we love you and respect you, and we hope you are going to 
be around to cast many more thousands of votes.

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