Hoyer Floor Remarks on Naming Fort McHenry Visitor Center after Senator Paul S. Sarbanes

WASHINGTON, DC - This afternoon, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) delivered remarks on the House Floor urging bipartisan support for legislation to name the Fort McHenry Visitor and Education Center in Baltimore, Maryland after the late Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (D-MD). Below is a video and transcript of his remarks:

Click here to watch a full video of my remarks:

"I thank my friend, the gentlelady from Michigan. Congratulations to her on a victory her team had - I called her and hope she got the message. And to my friend, Bruce Westerman, who is as suited to be the Chairman of this committee as anybody by training and by values. And I thank him for his work on this legislation.

"And, of course, I thank my friend John Sarbanes. His father would be so extraordinarily proud of the service that he has given. And at the service I know he's going to be giving as a former Member of this body, but never a former friend.

"Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this legislation and in honor of my dear friend of almost 60 years, Paul Sarbanes. I had the privilege of serving with Paul for four years in the General Assembly. We were both elected in 1966 - I might say along with another gentleman whose name is Ben Cardin, who served in this body for 20 years and in the other body for three terms. We were both elected, we were all elected in '66.

"In that time, I came to respect his great intellect, wonderful wit, sense of decency, and profound integrity. He was a man of principle, guided by the ethics of his immigrant parents, the tenants of his Greek Orthodox faith, and the values of his Baltimore community. He instilled in those the same virtues in his son, John Sarbanes, who I have referenced. From drafting the first article of impeachment against President Nixon to spearheading the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which protects Americans from fraud in our financial markets, Paul Sarbanes made history.

"Paul Sarbanes was an historical Member of the United States Senate and of this Congress. And this bill recognizes Paul also fought to - who also sought to preserve our history and indeed our Constitution and our democracy. As Vice Chair of the Maryland War of 1812 Senate Bicentennial Commission, he worked to ensure that Americans remember the lessons from the nation's 2nd March of Independence.

"Naming the Fort McHenry Visitor Center after Paul is a fitting tribute to a man who not only secured the funding for the facility, but who was a lifelong champion for the Chesapeake Bay and its history. Fort McHenry is itself an extraordinary historic site. The rocket's red glare and the bombs bursting in air gave illumination to Fort McHenry. By adding Paul Sarbanes name to that visitor center at Fort McHenry, it will add further luster to the history of Fort McHenry. For Paul Sarbanes was a man of which this institution and this country could be extraordinarily proud and is therefore fitting and appropriate that we would add his name to a linchpin of our democracy and our victory for democracy.

"So I rise with Mr. Westerman, with Miss Dingell, with all his colleagues who served with him and who had least have heard of him - I rise to join my colleagues in supporting this legislation so that we can give the visitor center a name that ought to command the respect of all Marylanders and all Americans.

"My friend, a great member of this Congress and a great American, Paul Sarbanes. And I yield back the balance of my time."