Remembering Senator Harry Reid

Good afternoon everyone. It is indeed a great honor to join this tribute to the towering titan of public service, Senator Harry Reid. Wasn't it deeply moving for all of us to hear Alana and Rory and Leif and Josh and Key speak so lovingly of their father? You, his children, along with his many precious grandchildren, his darling great-grandchild, are his greatest pride. But hearing you speak about him shows us what a source of strength you are to him. Of course, the love and happiness he shared with his adoring and beautiful wife, Hondra, was a source of joy to all of us who know them. All of us here today are here personally to celebrate the life of our dear friend Harry. Some of us, including two presidents of the United States and vice presidents, members of both the Senate and House are also here officially to salute a legendary statesman. I have the privilege as Speaker of the House to bring the sympathy of the House of Representatives where Harry once served. Chuck will say not as long as he served in the Senate, but I do lay claim to Harry because that's where I first met him. I wasn't in Congress then, but he was in the House and he was running for the United States Senate. It was 1985, in time for the 86th election. George Marcus is here, who took up his cause in San Francisco. My husband Paul is here, and Harry was a high priority for us in winning the Senate. So I'm, as Speaker of the House, pleased to join our distinguished Majority Leader, Danny Hoyer, our members of the Nevada delegation, Dina Titus, Steve Horsford, and Susie Lee, to bring greetings of all of our colleagues. To some we are all viewed as a great person. I have a great deal I want to say about Harry, but you know Harry. He was a man of few words, and he wanted everybody else to be a person of few words. And again, we'll go to the phone calls because I immodestly say that I probably got hung up the most by Harry Reid. Two or three times a day for 12 years. That is official working days, sometimes Saturday and Sunday. But anyway, even if we had a really succinct conversation, Harry, subject, this. Problem, this. Timing, this. Even if it was that succinct. Click. Click. So sometimes I even called him back and said, Harry, I was singing your praises. I was thanking you for the great job you did in the legislation and the rest. I don't want to hear it. Click. I even said to him when he was announcing his retirement, I want to have a big dinner and invite all of your friends that you've served with in the past in the House, in the Senate, and the rest. I don't want to do it. But I want to sing, you know, for them to sing your praises. I don't want to do it. Save the money. Feed the poor. Harry Reid. His modesty made him unique, you might say, in politics. But his humility was rooted in his strong values from a humble childhood rising from searchlight to the spotlight. And becoming one of the most celebrated and consequential Senate leaders in history. Yet throughout his more than four decades of public service and even at the highest levels, he never forgot his North Star. To fight for working families like his own and to fight for Nevada. Indeed, Harry loved his home state. You know that. He did everything he could to ensure Nevadans' voices were heard. Whether protecting the state's natural environment or its political environment, especially its coveted role in the presidential selection process. To observe Harry Reid and legislate was to see a master at work. Fearless, strategic, knowledgeable, and brilliant. You know, he was a pioneer. He saw it like a pioneer. As Harry, as Senate leader, few could rival Harry's understanding of his senators, their states, their needs, their ambitions. And in all of our conversations, I never heard Harry say an unkind word about any of his Senate colleagues, Democratic or Republican. In the 12 years we served together as leaders in our respected houses, I had the privilege of seeing his mastery firsthand. Rescuing American families with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, protecting hardworking consumers with the Dodd-Frank Reforms, and championing the passage of the Affordable Care Act, just to name a few, under the leadership of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. When he retired, and we would no longer be speaking constantly on the phone, he came to my office. This was when he announced his retirement. He said, Nancy, I have something for you to remember me by. I thought it might be a handwritten note or a special photo. Instead, he unveiled a massive, bald eagle, stuffed, but the wings still capable of fluttering in the breeze. Shocked, I said, Harry, did you go hunting and kill an endangered species? He said, no. He died flying into a power line, and I called him Sparky. Whether symbolic of his patriotism with the bald eagle, his environmentalism, or his dry sense of humor, and dry it was, it is one of the finest and most curious gifts I've ever received, and a subject of great question in the Speaker's office. Today, this majestic bird has flown from the Senate Leader's office over to the Speaker's office, appropriately and with his permission, now called Harry. For his great legislative achievements, his most enduring public legacy will be that he was beloved, a word not often used to describe political leaders. He was beloved by his colleagues, by his staff, by maintenance workers, and by the Capitol Police, and as the Leader mentioned, with whom he served as a young man, as a Capitol Police officer, truly beloved by all, because he treated everyone with dignity and respect. Next week, Leader Schumer and I will have the solemn privilege of welcoming Harry back to the Capitol, to Lyon State, a proper tribute for an historic, patriotic American. May it be a comfort to Landra and the beautiful family, all who love him, that so many Americans mourn with you at this sad time. Paul and I, who love Landra, who loves Landra and love Harry, send you our personal sympathy and love. God truly blessed America with the life and legacy of Harry Reid. May he rest in peace.