[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 420-421]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 COMMEMORATING THE LIFE OF MARIO CUOMO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Buck). Under the Speaker's announced

[[Page 421]]

policy of January 6, 2015, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, as the senior member of the New York 
delegation, it affords me a great honor to come from the Empire State 
of New York, where we have so many people we are proud of, but because 
Mario Cuomo represented the true nature of the American Dream, we from 
the State of New York would just like to laud the contributions that he 
has made, not just to Queens, where he was raised, not just to the 
great State of New York, but to those democratic principles that all of 
us believe in, and no one could articulate it the way our great 
Governor has.
  So many people have come to this country from faraway places, and 
somehow, when they succeed, some change their names, some change their 
attitudes, and some just absolutely forget how they got here and how 
they were perceived; but Mario Cuomo was different.
  Mario was so proud of the fact that his parents were immigrants. He 
was proud of the fact that they came here with nothing but a hope and a 
dream that their son would succeed. He succeeded in everything that he 
touched, from neighborhood arbitration, to secretary of state, to 
Lieutenant Governor; and, of course, the Nation remembers him as 
Governor and as one who articulated the principles not of the 
Democratic Party, but of the entire country at a Democratic Convention.
  Of course, he leaves behind a son who, for those of us who attended 
his funeral would have to say not only did he talk about his father in 
terms that made us all feel proud, but in that voice that he had, if 
you closed your eyes for one moment, you would see that Mario Cuomo did 
not die. He left his son to continue in describing the great 
opportunity that we have in this great country.
  I am so glad that so many New Yorkers are here. Because we are here 
for such a short period of time--we are in committees and 
reorganizing--the delegation has asked me to reduce my remarks to 2 
minutes, and I share that concern with the rest of our great 
delegation.
  It is my great pleasure to yield back the balance of my time so that 
the gentleman from New York, Joseph Crowley, may control the remainder 
of my time.

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