C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gen tle lady for yielding.
Bill Young was my friend. Bill Young was a gentleman in every sense of the word. Bill Young was an example for us all. I will have the privilege of speaking on Thursday, at his request, at his funeral. Bill and I served on the Appropriations Committee for 23 years together; then I left when I became majority leader.
Bill Young was, as I said, a gentleman who cared about each and every individual in this House. More than that, he cared for each and every person who served in uniform in our Armed Forces; and he and Beverly displayed that, as Congressman Miller has said, on a weekly, daily basis.
I am a Democrat; Bill was a Republican. It didn't make any difference. He was an American, I was an American, and we served our country together. No one served it better than Bill Young. He chose to see our differences as slight and our common purpose as great. He always chose civility over partisanship.
He was a skilled legislator on behalf of the people of Pinellas County, Florida, on behalf of Florida, on behalf of his country, on behalf of the members of the Armed Forces and the defense of this country. He was a champion of our men and women in uniform, veterans and their families, all of whom, wherever they lived, he viewed as his constituents. This bill to rename the VA Hospital in Bay Pines, Florida, which I am proud to cosponsor, is a fitting tribute to his devotion to our veterans and our troops.
Though he represented Florida longer than any Member of this House in history, Bill was originally from a hard-scrabble coal mining town in Pennsylvania. It was there he learned many lessons about the hardships facing working families and the need to ensure that opportunities would be within their reach, and he never forgot that.
He was a great Member of this body, a very powerful Member of this body, an extraordinary, influential American. But to all of us, he was Bill; to all those he came in contact with, he was Bill. He was a person who understood the needs, the fears, the aspirations, the hopes of his people and the people of our country.
My thoughts are with Beverly, with Bill Young's family, and with the people of Florida's 13th District. This House has lost a great Member.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I heard from my friend, former Congressman Norm Dicks, today, and he asked me to submit this statement on his behalf. He had the privilege of serving with Chairman Bill Young for over thirty years on the Defense Appropriation Subcommittee, and said this about him:
Chairman Young did more for the men and women in the armed forces than anyone in Congress. Bill and Beverly made weekly trips to Bethesda and Walter Reed to see our wounded warriors and offered personal help to their families. Bill Young believed in bi-partisanship; the Defense Subcommittee almost always reported the Defense Appropriation bill with all Members, Democrats and Republicans, in full support. Bill was a great American, a great leader, and a great friend and he will be truly missed.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source