[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14958]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                CIVILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino) for 3\1/2\ minutes.
  Mr. MARINO. Mr. Speaker, I am certainly not going to be 3\1/2\ 
minutes at this point. I had some notes. But that's what I usually do 
when I get up with notes, go away and I try to speak from the heart.
  I have been watching this, and it's very frustrating. And first let 
me say, there's no one who should go without health insurance. I have a 
daughter who has a disease for which there's no cure, none whatsoever. 
She will be lucky to live to her late twenties. So it's critically 
important that there be a method by which we can get some help to pay 
for treatment, not only for her, but for every child out there and 
every human being.
  But aside from that, I go to the gym every morning at about 6:00, and 
I work out with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and on my 
side of the aisle. The camaraderie is extraordinary. We joke with each 
other. We help each other in the weight room. We spot each other. We 
talk about our families. We even talk about politics. But it's civil. 
And I would really like to have the whole floor, as well as the 
American people, see how we communicate with one another in that gym in 
the morning.
  But I am asking that every person be civil. The Republicans have been 
called Nazis, terrorists, people that don't want to take care of 
children and seniors--and that's wrong. We can have ideals, we can have 
a belief, but we need to be civil about it. And we need to give an 
example and show an example to the American people that we're adults 
and that we can have different views. And that's what a democracy is 
about. We don't have to make it personal. We don't have to aggrandize 
it to get attention, to call names.
  So I'm saying to my colleagues, I'm reaching across. I have not been 
uncivil. I will not do it. I will criticize my colleagues if they do 
it. But let's use this moment to show the American people that we can 
have a dialogue, we can have arguments, but to keep it civil; because 
when the dust is settled, America is going to be better for it, and the 
Congress is going to be much better for it.

                          ____________________