Hoyer Floor Remarks Honoring the Life of Former Congressman Vic Fazio
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Press Release
For Immediate Release:
March 17, 2022
Contact Info:
Margaret Mulkerrin 202-225-3130
WASHINGTON, DC – House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) spoke on the House Floor today to pay tribute to former Congressman Vic Fazio. Below are a transcript of his remarks and a link to the video.
“Madam Speaker, I think that Members now know that we lost yesterday a wonderful, decent, extraordinary Member – former Member of this body. Madam Speaker, as you know, he was from your state. His name was Vic Fazio. Some of you served with him. Most of you did not. He retired in 1998 after a very successful career. Many of us in this House who served with him and who remember him fondly are grieving the loss of Vic Fazio. He was, until my dear friend Ben Cardin came to the Congress, my best friend. They were my two best friends, and Vic and I were very, very close and many Members in the Congress would say the same thing who served with him.
“Vic Fazio had an extraordinary life. He was 79 years of age. He was a leader and was a Cardinal in the Appropriations Committee from his first year on the Appropriations Committee. And he and an extraordinary Republican who died just eight months ago, who we remembered on this Floor, another dear friend of mine, Jerry Lewis, also from California, co-chaired the Legislative Appropriations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. They did so in a way that enhanced the sense of importance of this institution and of the collegiality that was possible in this institution. We said that when Jerry Lewis died. It is true when his partner now of that era has passed away. It is an era that we ought to remember and hopefully replicate.
“Vic Fazio was a Member's Member; he was an institutionalist. He cared about each and every one of us irrespective of the letter next to our name. He cared about process, he cared about substance, he cared about the integrity of Members, he cared about their well-being and how they were treated as Members. In fact, it was Vic Fazio in 1989 led the effort to reform the pay and benefits of Members, and in that process, at that point in time, Members could make about $25,000 to $30,000 in what was called honoraria. It was a payment from private sector interest to Members for giving a speech. Vic and the colleagues with whom he worked, worked together to, a) eliminate honoraria, and to make sure, however, that Members could live decently in this town, an expensive town in which to live, with a salary that was appropriate. All of you who get your paychecks can thank Vic Fazio that they are substantially above what they otherwise would have been but for his and other reformers' actions were.
“Vic Fazio lost his wife, Judy – I lost my wife, Judy – our wives knew one another. I lost mine 25 years ago, and he lost his some years ago and the sadness of his life is that he lost a daughter very early in life and he never got over that. It was a deep, deep scar in his heart. The good news is that after the death of Judy, he married a woman whose name is Kathy. I don't know whether Kathy is watching today, but if she is, we send her our love, and our sympathy, and our thanks for the life of Vic Fazio and the contribution he made to his country, to his state, and to our nation, and to this institution, to give us an example of wisdom, of acceptance of others, of lifting others up irrespective of that small letter next to their name because he knew that all of us were Americans, chosen by our neighbors, which is the only way you can get here, to serve them, to represent their views in this body, and to make weighty decisions on their behalf that will have consequences for them, and as we do today, consequences for all the world.
“For 20 years, Vic Fazio was the voice of Sacramento and Yolo County in the Congress. One of Vic’s lasting legacies was the designation of 3,700 acres of protected wetlands in Yolo County. Perhaps, Madam Speaker, we can name that territory after Vic Fazio. He was effective because he reached across the aisle and worked closely with Republicans, and as I mentioned, Jerry Lewis. When the Legislative appropriations bill came to the Floor, we were all proud because it was not a partisan bill. It was a bill for the institution and for the people. So we remember a man of intellect, of integrity, and a warm and genial nature who was proud of his service, proud of the Congress, and proud of his colleagues. Madam Speaker, I would ask we all rise and have a moment of silence to remember a great, great Member of this House, Vic Fazio.”
Click here to watch the video.
“Madam Speaker, I think that Members now know that we lost yesterday a wonderful, decent, extraordinary Member – former Member of this body. Madam Speaker, as you know, he was from your state. His name was Vic Fazio. Some of you served with him. Most of you did not. He retired in 1998 after a very successful career. Many of us in this House who served with him and who remember him fondly are grieving the loss of Vic Fazio. He was, until my dear friend Ben Cardin came to the Congress, my best friend. They were my two best friends, and Vic and I were very, very close and many Members in the Congress would say the same thing who served with him.
“Vic Fazio had an extraordinary life. He was 79 years of age. He was a leader and was a Cardinal in the Appropriations Committee from his first year on the Appropriations Committee. And he and an extraordinary Republican who died just eight months ago, who we remembered on this Floor, another dear friend of mine, Jerry Lewis, also from California, co-chaired the Legislative Appropriations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. They did so in a way that enhanced the sense of importance of this institution and of the collegiality that was possible in this institution. We said that when Jerry Lewis died. It is true when his partner now of that era has passed away. It is an era that we ought to remember and hopefully replicate.
“Vic Fazio was a Member's Member; he was an institutionalist. He cared about each and every one of us irrespective of the letter next to our name. He cared about process, he cared about substance, he cared about the integrity of Members, he cared about their well-being and how they were treated as Members. In fact, it was Vic Fazio in 1989 led the effort to reform the pay and benefits of Members, and in that process, at that point in time, Members could make about $25,000 to $30,000 in what was called honoraria. It was a payment from private sector interest to Members for giving a speech. Vic and the colleagues with whom he worked, worked together to, a) eliminate honoraria, and to make sure, however, that Members could live decently in this town, an expensive town in which to live, with a salary that was appropriate. All of you who get your paychecks can thank Vic Fazio that they are substantially above what they otherwise would have been but for his and other reformers' actions were.
“Vic Fazio lost his wife, Judy – I lost my wife, Judy – our wives knew one another. I lost mine 25 years ago, and he lost his some years ago and the sadness of his life is that he lost a daughter very early in life and he never got over that. It was a deep, deep scar in his heart. The good news is that after the death of Judy, he married a woman whose name is Kathy. I don't know whether Kathy is watching today, but if she is, we send her our love, and our sympathy, and our thanks for the life of Vic Fazio and the contribution he made to his country, to his state, and to our nation, and to this institution, to give us an example of wisdom, of acceptance of others, of lifting others up irrespective of that small letter next to their name because he knew that all of us were Americans, chosen by our neighbors, which is the only way you can get here, to serve them, to represent their views in this body, and to make weighty decisions on their behalf that will have consequences for them, and as we do today, consequences for all the world.
“For 20 years, Vic Fazio was the voice of Sacramento and Yolo County in the Congress. One of Vic’s lasting legacies was the designation of 3,700 acres of protected wetlands in Yolo County. Perhaps, Madam Speaker, we can name that territory after Vic Fazio. He was effective because he reached across the aisle and worked closely with Republicans, and as I mentioned, Jerry Lewis. When the Legislative appropriations bill came to the Floor, we were all proud because it was not a partisan bill. It was a bill for the institution and for the people. So we remember a man of intellect, of integrity, and a warm and genial nature who was proud of his service, proud of the Congress, and proud of his colleagues. Madam Speaker, I would ask we all rise and have a moment of silence to remember a great, great Member of this House, Vic Fazio.”