Honoring Tom Foglietta

HONORING TOM FOGLIETTA -- (House of Representatives - November 19, 2004)

(Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a former Member of this body and friend who passed away this week, someone who left a profound mark on his community, his Nation, and this institution. Whether it was his dedication to our friends in the international community or the working people in his own community, Tom Foglietta was special, a man with a common touch and high ideals. With Tom we always knew he was someone who would fight, who was with us to the end regardless of the odds or the politics of the matter. His fight to keep the Philadelphia Navy Yard open is legendary.

As I reflect on his time in the Congress, I remember a man who understood what it meant to bring the values of his constituents to Washington. A fellow Italian American, Tom and I often discussed how it was our parents' example serving on respective city councils, his in Philadelphia, mine in New Haven, that inspired us to enter a life of politics and give back to the communities that had given us so much.

Living out his lifelong dream as an ambassador to Italy, I will never forget how he knelt down in prayer for the victims in the Cavalese cable car tragedy, sending a powerful message to the world that America weeps for the sons and daughters of its allies as if they were our very own. In turn, the Italian people loved him as he loved them.

Throughout his career, whether it was his work in Italy, to secure the peace in Haiti, to forge a democracy in South Korea, Tom Foglietta understood that America's role in the world was rooted in moral leadership, in common values, humility and humanity.

I will miss so many things about our friendship, dinners with the gang, eating pasta with gravy, his cooking in my kitchen.

I will miss his friendship, his moral leadership. We all will. Grazi, Don Tomaso. His passion for people knew no bounds. For that he will forever be in our hearts.