“The list goes on and on of our colleagues that Congresswoman Eshoo mentioned. For all of these Members, public service has been a calling, a cause, and a core facet of their character. California has been proud to have them as our representatives in Congress. For those of us who served with them, it is an honor to call each of you ‘colleague;’ for some of us a very, very special honor to be considered your friend. We all wish you, we wish of you much success in the years ahead, we look forward to coming, to continuing our work together on behalf of our great Golden State of California. Your service in Congress added to the luster of our Golden State."

“We’re bringing up a rule that says we should take up, have a suspension authority. Let’s bring the middle income tax cut up under suspension. I believe, and I am willing to take the chance, that this House would give over two-thirds of a vote to the middle income tax cut. A tax cut which gives – oh, do I detect your smirk to mean that you don’t think Republicans will vote for a middle income tax cut, Mr. Sessions? Should I take it to mean that you will continue to hold middle income tax cuts hostage to giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country? The unfairness of it is appalling, the fact that it increases the deficit is disgraceful, and that it does not create jobs is a big mistake for us to make."

“So, in terms of spending cuts, we’re on the record having voted for about $1.6 trillion. In terms of entitlement reform, over a trillion dollars already, and more savings to be gained in further discussions on the subject. A strong down payment. What is missing are two elements that the President has put forth in his budget: growth, investments in infrastructure. Yes, the President has called for investments in infrastructure – to build the infrastructure of America and to create jobs, to grow our economy. And where are the revenues? Where are the revenues? Regardless of the cuts, or the changes in entitlements, more demanded in terms of what seniors would have to pay into Medicare and at what age that would happen, while the Republicans refuse to touch one hair on the head of the wealthiest people in our country..."

“The American people want us to work together. We are in agreement on this subject. Why? Why, my Republican colleagues, can we not vote on something where we have agreement? Where we have fairness? That will work to create jobs, to reduce the deficit, and will again, have fairness. This is the heart of the matter that is holding us here as the public watches – what is this about? This is about the $250,000 line that the President said in the campaign that he would honor and that this legislation today brings to bear."

“It is fitting that the “[Thomas] P. O’Neill Jr. Federal Building” will stand alongside the office building named for Tip’s dear friend, colleague, and partner in public service: former President and House Minority Leader Gerald Ford. As Speaker Boehner indicated, they’ll be neighbors. Indeed, reflecting on their long partnership, President Ford once said: ‘Tip O’Neill [is] an outstanding political leader and patriot who always carried the torch for the Congress and the American people.’ Carrying the torch. This statement captured the essence of Tip’s success: his extraordinary leadership; his unflinching patriotism; his belief in the common good; his devotion to the unending fight to ‘form a more perfect union.’"

Today, we honor the legendary leadership of Speaker Tip O’Neill. We’re all happy to do that. We honor his lifetime of leadership and service to our great nation. What a great patriot he was. This belief in the promise of equality and opportunity for all. His dedication to progress for all Americans..."

“We still have work to do to continue the American recovery. If the Republicans had cooperated at all with President Obama in the last two years, we’d be much farther down the road to recovery. We cooperated with President Bush but they would not offer an ounce of cooperation to President Obama and our economy has paid the price. We have reaped the benefits of some of what happened in the two years when we were in the majority and President Obama, in the first two years of his term. But so much more could have been done with some cooperation from the Republicans'

“But if you need only to see how we differ, just look at the Ryan-Romney-Republican budget. Their blueprint says we’re going to end Medicare, we’re going to make seniors pay $6,000 more as we end Medicare and we’re going to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country. That’s not fair. That’s not balanced. But that is what would happen if the Republican bill were to become law, it would enact the Ryan bill.'

“Mr. Speaker, this Republican Majority is prepared to adjourn the House of Representatives to leave for the August District Work Period without accomplishing what the American people have sent us here to do. They want us to create jobs, they want us to reduce the deficit, and they want us to give a middle income tax cut, which the President has suggested and the American people overwhelmingly support. Instead we have no jobs agenda, no tax cuts for the middle class, no farm bill, no Violence Against Women Act, no cybersecurity strategy, no balanced, bipartisan plan to prevent the sequester. The only thing the Republicans have done is to increase the uncertainty that threatens another debt crisis and undermines our economic growth.'

'The bill provides for fairness to the middle class and ends uncertainty, as I mentioned. The Republican alternative, which says: 'not only do we want to give 100 percent of the American people a tax cut, we want to give a bigger and better tax cut to people making over $250,000 year.' Two percent of the American people. In order to do that, we greatly increase the deficit, we would incur borrowing from other countries including China, and to top it all off, in order to give a tax cut to the wealthiest people in our country, we have to increase taxes for the middle class in order to pay for it. If you make over a million dollars a year the Republican tax proposal will give you a tax cut of $160,000 on average. And on average America's middle-income families would have to pay $1,000 more in taxes...'