Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor United Technologies on a monumental achievement--spending more than $1 billion on education and training for their employees. Since its inception under the leadership of George David 15 years ago, the Employee Scholars Program has been a vital source of ongoing education for UTC employees to obtain a degree, advance their skill sets, or gain knowledge in any number of fields. It provides for the costs of tuition, books, and fees up-front and allows employees to pursue their education at any accredited institution of higher education.

Through promoting a culture of lifelong learning, UTC has set an example for the entire corporate community of how to provide a benefit that will have lasting results for their employees, the company, and I daresay the economy. Over 30,000 employees have earned a degree through the Employee Scholars Program, and many others have been able to access coursework to improve their skills. The unique, and in my opinion exemplary aspect of this program is that the company does not require that the employee pursue education directly related to their current position. This allows UTC employees the freedom to choose what they want to study, whether they think it will help them in their current position, a future position, or an entirely different field altogether. It is my belief that ongoing learning leads to more productive workers and a more productive society.

I applaud UTC again for their sustained commitment to lifelong learning and commend them on the milestone accomplishment.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, Bruce Sundlun was a remarkable man and an outstanding public servant. His daughter Kara and son-in-law Dennis and their children are constituents of mine. I was fortunate to be chatting with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who was recalling his life. Senator Whitehouse delivered the eulogy for Governor Sundlun, and on behalf of Congressman Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, it is my honor as Democratic Caucus Chair to submit these thoughtful and poignant remarks for the Congressional Record.

Eulogy for Governor Bruce Sundlun as Delivered by U.S. Senator Sheldon

Whitehouse

What a man. What a life.

Bruce Sundlun's accomplishments--as a record-breaking

athlete, as a resourceful war hero, as a superb lawyer, as a

successful business entrepreneur, and as political leader of

our state--would each on their own be significant. You could

probably write a book about each. Together, packed all into

one energetic life, it makes Bruce Sundlun one of the most

accomplished and remarkable men in our state's history.

And that's not even counting five marriages, four children,

three unsuccessful runs for governor, two dead raccoons, and

one long escape on the loose, behind enemy lines.

There's really just no way to fit it all in.

Let me step into my role as a Sundlun staffer, and ask you

to think just of his brief four years as governor. Hit (on

Day One of his administration) by an unprecedented bank

failure affecting 300,000 Rhode Islanders, AND by the worst

budget deficit in state history, AND by an implosion of the

state's entire worker's compensation system, AND with the

urgent need to restore ethics in government, Bruce was the

man for that moment, and swung into his customary decisive

action.

The budget was promptly and fairly balanced and the whole

budget process improved.

Inventive solutions to repay the depositors and clean up

the RISDIC mess were found and implemented, and those at

fault were made to pay--over a hundred million dollars.

His worker's compensation reform moved the state from an

embarrassment to a model, moving what was then the business

community's worst problem completely off the problem list for

now going on 20 years.

As a problem solver, he had no peer.

And that alone would be pretty extraordinary. But there was

that ethics gap. So Bruce wrote Executive Order 91-One, the

ethics executive order that succeeding governors renewed

virtually unchanged. He reformed our Ethics Commission. He

changed the way we appoint judges, to reduce the politics. He

changed the way we fund elections, with a public finance plan

and donor limits. Through an intense storm of legal and

political opposition, he opened up the pension records;

putting an end forever to backroom special pension bills. He

got our State Police nationally accredited.

He even cleaned up the Capitol literally!

All that was extraordinary--but still not enough.

In the worst economic times the state had seen since the

Depression, with a shrinking budget, he decided to extend

universal health care to children--and started the program

that became Rite Care. Against immense opposition, he built

our new airport terminal. He embarked on the Westin Hotel,

the Convention Center, and the Providence Place Mall. He

finished the Jamestown Bridge and built the Expressway. And

even that's not the end of it.

It was an amazing burst of activity. I will bet that almost

every Rhode Islander, almost every day, is somehow touched by

something Governor Sundlun did.

And through it all, he drove his staff crazy. He was

irrepressible, impatient, imperial, unscriptable, combative,

frustrating, willful, constantly threw caution to the winds,

impossible to keep up with--he drove us nuts.

And we loved him.

We loved him because he was bold and brave, and was warm-

hearted and trusting and generous, and because he was willing

to throw caution to the winds to do what was right. We loved

him because he never once had us make excuses or try to shift

the blame.

That was not his style. ``Never complain; never explain.''

We all remember his Bruce-isms:

``Always touch base with those concerned before taking

action.''

``How fast would you get it done if the Russians were in

South Attleboro?''

``When you've won, stop talking, close your briefcase and

leave.''

``Message to Garcia.''

``Who, what, where, when; don't bother me with why.''

The phone calls, at all hours, that began with no ``hello''

and ended with dial tone.

The road shows known to his staff as ``Dome on the Roam'',

or more precisely, ``Bruce on the Loose.''

And sometimes just that big foxy grin.

We saw that his qualities of friendship and loyalty had an

almost physical force; that he had your back even if you made

mistakes (no one ever was thrown under the bus); and that he

was a better friend the more the chips were down.

Politics is full of fair weather friends; Bruce Sundlun was

your stormy weather friend. Politics is full of people who

take tiny cautious steps with their finger up constantly

testing the winds; Bruce stepped boldly down the path he

thought was right, even if that meant stepping right in it.

People wonder what lives on after they die. Well, Bruce, we

do. And every one of us has been changed: made better, and

stronger, harder-working and more resourceful, by your

vibrant elemental force in our lives.

We've gone on to be judges and lawyers, to run state and

federal agencies, to become Senators and councilmen and

Lieutenant Governors, banking leaders and senior partners in

national accounting firms, but none of us ever will be more

proud of anything than the simple title: ``I was a Sundlun

staffer.''

Soozie and Marjorie, Tracey and Stuart and Peter and Kara:

Thank you. Thank you for sharing your husband and father with

our state. For those who loved and were changed by him, I

thank you. For those who knew and were touched by him, I

thank you. And for those who never knew him directly, but

whose lives are better today because of what he did, I thank

you.

As I close, I want to take you back to a scene from that

wonderful movie I saw as a kid, ``To Kill A Mockingbird.'' As

you'll recall, Atticus Finch takes on the courageous but

unpopular defense of a black man wrongfully accused of rape.

At the end of the trial, Atticus's daughter Scout--proper

name Jean Louise--is up in the gallery of the courtroom, with

the black townspeople, who aren't allowed down on the regular

courtroom floor. The courtroom floor empties, but they

remain, and slowly stand. As Atticus packs his papers

together, closes his bag, and walks out, an elderly man leans

down to the little girl and says, ``Stand up, Miss Jean

Louise. Your father's passing.''

At the end of this service, as Bruce is taken to his

gravesite after 91 years of a life well and fully lived, we

will all stand up. And rightly so. A governor will be

passing.

John Brennan was a venerated citizen of my hometown, East Hartford. He served his country, his state, and his community in several elected, appointed, and volunteer positions; most recently he presided as a Judge where he served until he was 93, and did so with vigor, and a sense of humor. Growing up in East Hartford when you're poor John Brennan, if you were type casting, you'd say he looked like Henry Fonda, and we along with his beautiful wife Mary, raised four children, Susan, Jack, Peter, and Tome, all of who I was fortunate to know, and know how devoted to their father they are. At his funeral service it was his youngest son Tom, who gave the eulogy on behalf of the family, there is so much I could say about John Brennan, he commanded blind respect and rightfully so. Nothing I could say however captures the feeling, the sentiment, the public servant, and the father as Tom Brennan's remarks on his father that follows.

Eulogy Honoring the Life of Judge John D. Brennan

(By Thomas S. Brennan)

First of all I'd like to thank everyone for coming to join

our family today. I know how absolutely thrilled my father

would be to see all of you here, even though I know also that

he was a little disappointed to have only made it to the age

of 94, when he was still in his youthful prime with so much

left to be done. But in many ways he almost was still in his

prime, and I think that said a lot about how he lived his

life--he never lost his youthful enthusiasm and he had a

genuine appreciation for whatever the moment offered. He was

someone who from the beginning was endowed with many gifts

and he made use of those gifts in a variety of arenas

throughout his life.

My father often described his childhood growing up in East

Hartford of the 1920s as an almost idyllic ``Huck Finn'' sort

of existence--kids running free playing baseball down in the

meadows, riding a rope swing into the Connecticut River or

racing carrier pigeons that neighborhood kids would keep in

backyard coops. Like many of the Irish back then, his father

worked on the trains and would release the carrier pigeons

when he was way down the lone toward New York. In that era,

those pigeons making their way home might very well have

sailed past Yankee Stadium when Babe Ruth was slugging a home

run, or over houses where families were gathering around a

radio waiting for FDR to speak, before circling down over the

farms and tobacco fields that once surrounded this town. It

was a simple working class world and he grew up during the

Depression, so there wasn't any choice then but to make the

most out of whatever you were lucky enough to have.

The arrival of World War II took him far away from the

innocent small town life and it became one of the defining

experiences of his life. The world was suddenly opened wide

and he was thrilled to be riding on the tide of history. And

of course, to hear him tell it, it was one giant adventure--

we never knew

war could be so much fun. He especially loved to tell us old

stories of how he and his Army buddies played pranks on one

another all the way across the Pacific but there was one

story in particular I always liked: It was right after the

war had ended and he was on an island off of South Korea

where he had been assigned to accept the transfer of all

Japanese back to Japan. It just so happened that there had

been a tailor who had worked on the island for the

previous 40 years who was originally Japanese and so his

family was extremely upset that he was being forced to

completely uproot everything. My father had ordered him to

bring all his things in a suitcase and be on the dock

ready to leave the next morning. When the appointed hour

arrived, he saw that practically the whole town had come

out to bid goodbye to the old tailor, nearly all of them

in tears. So he looked around for a minute, gathered in

the scene and then called the tailor forward before the

crowd and announced to everyone (in his best gruff

military voice): ``You are free to stay'' at which point

the entire town erupted in chaotic celebration, they

lifted my father up and carried him through the streets on

their shoulders. To me, that moment expressed something

essential about him--that he felt pretty instinctively

that a certain humanity and practicality should determine

a decisions, rather than blind adherence to some order

from headquarters. And also that though he could have a

tough exterior, it wasn't very hard to penetrate beyond it

and ultimately he always was guided by a very innate sense

of fairness.

After the war, he returned home to East Hartford and

remained there for the rest of his life. He practiced law,

built a family, became involved in local politics, was

elected Mayor and later appointed as a judge in the

Connecticut Superior Court. Many of you here today knew him

through the variety of activities that evolved out of his

many years of public life in town. In East Hartford, he was

in his element, he flourished and he never wanted to live

anywhere else.

Long before we had Google to research any topic or answer

any question, there was John Brennan. And when you spoke to

him, you were instantly transported back over a remarkable

span of history by someone who could remember all the details

and bring the back to life--in fact, you were actually

talking to someone who remembered speaking to veterans of the

Civil War. He was renowned for his ability to recall little

known historical facts and had immediate access to a treasure

trove of information that he would eagerly dispense on

subjects as diverse as the dates of the major battles of the

Boer Wars or the work of some obscure German poet. But

despite his ability in this arena, it was always balanced

with a pronounced disregard for anything that smacked of

``unnecessary pretense'' or ``excess'', which perhaps

explained his lifetime loyalty to Maxwell House coffee, Prell

shampoo, and $5 sunglasses. In fact, my sister reminded me

yesterday that he was perfectly happy to drive his Buick into

the ground, much to the dismay of the salesman down at Dworin

Chevrolet, of course. And always, no matter how distinguished

his career in the law may have been or how adept he was with

the life of the mind, he took a certain pleasure in making

fun of himself too, as if he were really just a regular guy.

So if I were to say now that he had an ``indefatigable''

spirit, he would feign an innocent look, lean forward

helpfully and add ``tireless too''. As if he didn't know what

the word meant. It was one of his favorite jokes and in fact

I have since stolen it for myself.

He reached mandatory retirement as a Superior Court judge

in 1986 and then continued to work for another 24 years--

almost a full career for some people. He loved being over at

the courthouse in the middle of the action, surrounded by the

friends and comforts of his profession and he showed little

sign of stopping, right up to the age of 93. So we knew it

was trouble when the day finally came that he said he didn't

want to go to work anymore.

Yet even near the end of his life, when he was going

through radiation treatments, his face could light up at the

sight of a simple cup of chowder that my sister might bring

over to the hospital for him. Or he would shuffle outside to

the hospital parking lot, take a sip out of a flask of

bourbon that my brother had smuggled in, look around and say

``Isn't this the life!'' And he really meant it. That was his

rare gift--to be able to genuinely appreciate and make the

most of whatever the moment held and still find an upside to

it. If you asked him how he was feeling, he'd say ``Raring to

go!'' and it really wasn't much of an exaggeration. And his

amazing work ethic refused to quit. Just a few weeks ago, he

woke up from a nap and asked my sister Suzie where he was and

what day it was. So she told him, it's Wednesday and you're

at home''. He sounded absolutely aghast in his response:

``Home? What am I doing home in the middle of the week--I'm

supposed to be at work!'' In a way, he was kind of like one

of those characters from an old John Wayne movie that you

just couldn't keep down, where even after being hit with 100

rounds from the enemy, he would still somehow stagger back to

throw that one decisive final grenade.

So today we lay to final rest an old soldier who embraced

battle and celebration with equal relish, who demonstrated

that he could not just endure, but do it with ``pizzazz'' and

certainly for far longer than we had any right to ask for. It

was once said, by the Civil War veteran and Supreme Court

Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes, that ``to act with enthusiasm

and faith is the condition for acting greatly''. To our

father and your friend, we can now rightfully say without

hesitation: you met that test--mission accomplished. Of

course we will miss you greatly, but you had one heck of a

run and we're really very grateful and proud of that. And so

we promise to pass along your sense of humor, to keep telling

our favorite stories about you and to still be toasting you

at some cocktail hour far into the future with warm memories

to always keep you very much alive in our hearts.

Mr. Speaker, on Tuesday, December 13, 2011, I missed rollcall 918. Had I present, I would have voted ``no.''

I thank the gentleman from California. I thank him for his leadership on this issue, as he has repeatedly taken to this floor in talking about what I think is thematically something that America is in tune with, and that's the understanding and the commitment that we need to return to manufacturing, we need to return to our industrial base, we need to enhance our innovative skills, we need to make things here in America. So Make It in America has become our agenda. Over the last several weeks, there have been more than 1,000-plus town forums and hearings where people have discussed the concept of creating jobs and making things here in America. We all know that for every manufacturing job, that creates four other service- sector jobs. And this is vitally important.

I visited a company with its president, Bing Murphy. The company is called Industrial Air Flow Dynamics. IAFD is a manufacturer in the State of Connecticut. They make everything right here in America. They compete with foreign companies. They're begging to make sure that they get more skilled workers lined up to do something that is extraordinarily unique in manufacturing.

And a recent study and survey in the State of Connecticut indicated that in the State alone, 2,500 manufacturing jobs were going unfilled because of a lack of skills or the appropriate training, and the need, oftentimes, for the small entrepreneur and manufacturer, who doesn't have a huge human resources department, to sort through applicants and to make sure that there's this opportunity for them to do that. But we're hoping to pilot and lead the way in making sure that we're matching skills with manufacturers as we continue to focus on making things here in America. We all know, as the gentleman from California has pointed out, that when you make it in America, every American can make it.

We have an opportunity that is quickly going to disappear, and that is the supercommittee. We have taken the position within the Democratic Caucus that there's a very simple equation: that job creation equals deficit reduction. Let me say that again: Job creation equals deficit reduction. We know from CBO scoring that just getting unemployment-- which is at an unacceptable level of more than 14 million-plus Americans and 25 million Americans that are underemployed--that if we get the figure of 9.1 percent unemployment to below 7 percent, we cut the deficit by a third. There is no other silver bullet. There is no other item before us that brings that extraordinary relief that I know people on both sides of the aisle desire.

This supercommittee, by embracing jobs has an opportunity, unprecedented opportunity without a cloture vote that is used to block, and has been used in the Senate, for over 497 bills that we've passed, or without poison pill amendments in the House to allow an up-or-down vote on job creation, the President's proposals, the proposals that have been put forward by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. And while we may disagree in terms of our approach and methods, we all agree about jobs and so why not embrace this opportunity to create jobs.

If this should fail, it will fail because we didn't embrace job creation. We didn't embrace the concept of making things here in America. We didn't do what Bing Murphy has been doing back in Connecticut, and other manufacturers, focusing on and refusing to do anything other than the patriotic thing, which is to invest in your people, invest in a commitment to America, invest in our manufacturing base so that we can put this country back to work, grow the economy and lower the deficit at the same time.

Americans simply want one thing. As they sit across their dinner tables this evening and have these discussions with their spouses, all they want is the simple dignity that comes from a job. We have an agenda. We have an opportunity. Let's not spoil this chance. Let's take advantage of this opportunity that we have before us to unite the country, put them back to work by making things here in America.

I commend the gentleman for his ongoing work, and I commend our colleagues that have come to the floor this evening to express this deep and abiding concern about jobs, deficit reduction, putting this country back to work, embracing innovation, embracing education, and investing in Americans so that we can succeed.

Thank you so much, and I commend the gentleman from California.

Madam Chair, on October 5, 2011, I was not present for rollcall votes 747-759 due to the death of a close family friend. If I had been present for these votes, I would have voted: ``aye'' on rollcall vote 747; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 748; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 749; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 750; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 751; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 752; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 753; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 754; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 755; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 756; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 757; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 758; ``aye'' on rollcall vote 759.

Amendment No. 23 Offered by Mr. Cohen

Mr. Speaker, I was unfortunately unable to cast a vote on rollcall 745 on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 4, 2011. Had I been able to vote on H.R. 2608, I would have voted ``yea'' on its passage.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this legislation. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said about the National Labor Relations Act, which created the National Labor Relations Board, that ``by preventing practices which tend to destroy the independence of labor, it seeks, for every worker within its scope, that freedom of choice and action which is justly his.'' This legislation today would seek to undermine that freedom of choice and action by giving employers the ability to penalize workers who choose to exercise their right to organize and encouraging companies to move their jobs overseas. Make no mistake, the majority is using a disagreement with one decision made by the NLRB as an opportunity to make sweeping changes at the expense of the rights of workers across the country. This is not what the American people want and is not the direction we should be heading as a country.

Instead the opportunity we must take advantage of is the mandate that the American public has given us which is to work together to ensure that we are doing everything we can to create jobs and get our economy going again. This divisive piece of legislation will only hinder that effort to work in a bipartisan manner to reach the goal of reducing the unemployment rate and thus reducing the deficit. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill and to get to work on creating jobs and growing our economy.

Mr. Speaker, by the direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

I am honored to join the gentleman from New York, the gentleman from California, and the gentleman from Maryland.

Martin Luther King once described the need to act as the ``fierce urgency of now.'' Nothing is more important to the American people, nothing is more important to anyone listening to this broadcast than seeing this country go back to work.

Representative Garamendi talked very eloquently about Make It in America. People want to see jobs created in this country and want to see Americans back to work because we all know that when we put America back

to work by making things here in America, that it provides the opportunity for every American to succeed.

The President has called upon Congress to act. He did so in a speech last week. We need to respond now. He did so in bipartisan fashion, citing bills that have come from both sides of the aisle. Congress as an institution should be about the vitality of ideas that you heard expressed here this evening but then turned into a plan of action that sees us lowering our unemployment rate.

It is simply unacceptable that Congress would dawdle while 14 million Americans are unemployed and a sum total of 25 million Americans are underemployed. The time schedule that Congress has here should be expanded so that we're working every day to see that Americans are put back to work. Fourteen million Americans are crying out for the President's proposal to be enacted, to see this body take action. They are tired of the endless bickering between both sides and want to see action taking place in this body. My colleagues have outlined very specific proposals that will achieve those goals.

We've just witnessed one of our colleagues who spoke so eloquently-- and I'm referring to Mr. Tonko from New York State--about what has happened to his community, his district, the very character of which was changed because of a calamity, more than a 500-year level storm that ravaged the States of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont and left people not only destitute in terms of their very homes and their livelihood, but again, seeking what is fundamental to this country, a certain sense of fairness and shared sacrifice and commitment to helping out fellow Americans. What better way than rebuilding our country and starting with those communities that have been ravaged. The youth that could be employed immediately in our urban and rural areas. The rebuilding, as Mr. Garamendi has said, of roads and bridges and sewage systems. And fire departments and public schools with broadband to light up the desktops of our children and the blackboards and white boards, if you will, of our teachers so that we can once again assume our rightful position as the preeminent economic leader in this global economy.

We had Professor Dr. Joseph Stiglitz speak before the caucus today. And he said it very clearly--that job creation equals deficit reduction. We are not talking across the aisle here; we need to come together as Americans.

We witnessed this past weekend what can happen when America decides to be unified in common cause, as we did and as we responded after the events of September the 11th. We need to respond to the crisis at hand, which is 14 million Americans that are unemployed, the devastation that it has wreaked on our economy, what it's meant to our housing, what it's meant to our education system, what it's meant to our manufacturing base that Mr. Garamendi has talked about time and again on this floor. That's what we have to do--reinvest in Americans. And in doing so, as Dr. Stiglitz, the preeminent economist in this country, has indicated, we can both reduce our deficit by more than 25 percent and put America to work. What we need is action from this Congress, from this House of Representatives.

Bring the President's bill to the floor. If you won't bring the President's bill to the floor, then engage the select committee that has a very specific timeframe with deadlines and dates and no cloture votes in the Senate, no poison pill amendments in the House, an up-or- down vote on jobs. That's what the American people are demanding. That's what you gentleman have so eloquently put forward here.

Thank you again, Paul, for organizing this Special Order. And I think John Sarbanes said it well. The gentleman from Maryland spoke eloquently about the need for us to act and the need for us to act now.

It has been a storm. It has been a hurricane for the 14 million people that are unemployed, and for their families; and all Americans are asking is the simple dignity that comes from being able to look across the table at your spouse and your family and let them know that they are safe and secure because you have a job and you are providing for them.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of my life-long friend, Mr. Thomas Sheridan.

Tom Sheridan and I grew up together in our hometown of East Hartford, Connecticut. We attended Saint Rose's School where we were taught by the Sisters of Notre Dame and were teammates playing football for Pappy's Black Knights; I was the quarterback, he was the center.

After graduation Tom went on to serve with distinction during the Vietnam War earning several medals including the Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and a Presidential Unit Citation.

At the close of his military service Tom came home to Connecticut to be with his beautiful wife, Nancy, and raise their two sons who were the greatest joys of his life, Kevin and Brett,

Tom became a successful attorney and later served the Connecticut General Assembly as the Clerk of the House. It was one of the greatest moments in my career when I had the honor to appoint him Senate Clerk, where he served until his final days with distinction, integrity, and fairness.

Tom will be dearly missed and it is my honor to remember my friend today before this esteemed body.

Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise today to inform my colleagues of the recent passing of The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi, who was the Titular Archbishop of Bellicastrum and the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, on July 27 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was 73 years old.

Archbishop Sambi was born in Sogliano at Rubicone (Forli-Cesena), Italy on the 27th day of June, 1938. He was a respected scholar who had doctorates in both theology and canon law and spoke Italian, English, French and Spanish. He was ordained to the priesthood for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro on March 14, 1964, and began his distinguished career in the diplomatic service of the Vatican's Secretariat of State in 1969.

His overseas assignments included sensitive postings to Cameroon, Cuba, Algeria, Nicaragua, Belgium, India, Indonesia and Cyprus. In 2000, Archbishop Sambi led discussions with Israeli religious and political leaders

orchestrating Pope John Paul II's historic visit to Jerusalem. As the Papal representative to Israel in 2002, Archbishop Sambi reportedly helped end a 39-day standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants, who had holed up inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Sambi as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States on December 17, 2005, and he was installed in early 2006. Shortly after his appointment, he toured the damage left by Hurricane Katrina. He was deeply involved in efforts to introduce Pope Benedict to American Catholics and he accompanied the Pope during his April 2008 visit to the U.S. and hosted him at the Apostolic Nunciature, where the Pope held a historic private meeting with five victims of clergy sexual abuse. In September of 2010, he presided at a Mass to mark the 13th anniversary of the death of Blessed Mother Teresa, which coincided with the U.S. Postal Service's issuance of a commemorative stamp in her honor.

Archbishop Sambi received numerous tributes and honors over the years, especially for his ecumenical activities and efforts to increase and secure access to religious sites in the Holy Land.

Like many of my colleagues, I had the honor of knowing Archbishop Sambi through my friend Luca Ferrari, the former Minister Counselor for Public and Legislative Affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Italy here in Washington. The Archbishop was always willing to gently inform us on theology as well the critical international issues of the day. He was an amiable conversationalist and a good friend, and will be greatly missed by so many of us here in Washington, DC, as well by family, friends and colleagues around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to conclude by urging all of our colleagues to join me in paying tribute to Archbishop Pietro Sambi's service to international relations and understanding, and to express our condolences to his family for their loss. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.