Prepared Ramarks Of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi At Her Meeting With Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Statement

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SPEAKER PELOSI: It is indeed a personal as well as an official pleasure and privilege to welcome Prime Minister Berlusconi back to the Capitol. As you all know, he gave us the honor of an address to a joint session of Congress a few years ago, and now he is back to this Capitol.

It's a very important visit that the Prime Minister is making to the United States. As you know, he just came from a visit with the President. As he was there, we were presenting on the floor of the House a resolution to express the sympathy of the American people and the support of the American people for those affected by the earthquake in Abruzzo in April.

It meant a lot to me because I had the opportunity to visit Italy in 1980, as a part of an official delegation. I wasn't a Member of Congress yet at the time of the earthquake in Southern Italy; I saw firsthand the courage and the strength of the Italian people then, and I know it is there now.

So we welcome the Prime Minister in a spirit of friendship, admiration, and affection on the part of the people of the United States to the people of Italy. Officially, we know that America has no better friend in NATO than the country of Italy. We're eager to hear about what happened at the meeting with the President, but we know that Italy has stood side-by-side with the United States on many occasions, and we're appreciative of what Italy is doing to fight terrorism in Afghanistan.

So we welcome him here today to our country - discovered by an Italian, named by an Italian, and built by Italian-Americans. And to this Capitol, where the artist of the Capitol is Constantino Brumidi - so the spirit of Italy and the legacy of Italy is all about us every day.

And again, I want to welcome the Prime Minister - thank him for his friendship to the United States and we look forward to hearing his remarks.

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