Sample Speeches

Tribute to Sen. Frank Lautenberg
Remarks Of C. Edwin Vilade
Director

New Jersey State Society
Rayburn House Office Building

June 14, 2000

He has also been a leader on environmental issues, helping to write the Superfund, Clean Air and Safe Drinking Water Acts, among other significant legislation.

As ranking Democratic member of the Budget Committee, Sen. Lautenberg co-authored the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997 that has helped to produce the first balanced budget since 1969.and put us on the path toward protecting and preserving Social Security and Medicare.

There is so much more. But let me just sum up by saying that he has embodied in the Senate what we would to think are the finest qualities of a New Jerseyan: tough-minded, decisive, impatient with delay and persistent in the face of opposition.

He has represented the people of New Jersey as we would wish to be represented, served us as we would wish to be served.

In seeking a way to honor Sen. Lautenberg and his service to New Jersey , we kept coming back to his roots.

President Franklin Roosevelt once urged Americans to, "Remember, remember always, that all of us.are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."

Sen. Lautenberg has never had to be reminded. His parents shared the mingled hope and joy and fear of so many immigrants as they passed through Ellis Island on their arrival in the U.S.

So it is fitting that we honor Senator Lautenberg, and the memory of his parents, with a donation of $1,000 to Save Ellis Island, formerly known as the Ellis Island New Jersey Foundation. This Foundation is in the process of restoring and developing a long-term plan for use of the portion of Ellis Island over which New Jersey has been granted sovereignty.

Between 1892 and 1954, some 12 million immigrants passed through the U.S. Immigration Station on Ellis Island . Forty percent of Americans today can trade ancestry to those who came through Ellis Island .

This donation to Save Ellis Island! is a way for us to acknowledge the sacrifice they made, the dangers they faced, the new life they started - for us, their descendents.

Senator Lautenberg, on behalf of the New Jersey State Society, I am pleased to read this letter of acknowledgement.

And again on behalf of the New Jersey State Society, I thank you for your integrity, your selflessness, and your courage during your outstanding career of service to the state and the people of New Jersey .