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Floor Speech

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Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, when we heard that Doug passed away, I asked several people the same question. They all agreed overwhelmingly: If something were to happen to this institution and only 10 of us survived and we had to build it up from scratch, Doug would be one of the 10 people we would want to start out with and maybe one of the top five or maybe even the top one, but everybody around here knows what a special guy Doug LaMalfa was.

I used to have a lot of discussion with him around this time back in the parlor, talking about the bills today, how to vote on this or that. As a politician, you can't resist it when you decide how to vote on something, what is the politically right thing to do, what politically will help me get reelected.

I never heard Doug talk that way. Doug always talked about the right policy, doing the right thing, and then selling it back home, which was one of the reasons why I think he was so special.

Another thing that was so special, in all the conversations I had with him, I never remember him saying anything negative about anybody. I say a lot of negative things about people, so I am really jealous of a guy like Doug LaMalfa who manages never to say anything bad about anybody.

One final thing, the other thing I know about Doug is we met every Thursday morning in a Bible study known as Capitol Ministries, which is really a Bible study for the erudite Christian, men of deep faith. I will tell you, Doug--a lot of people talk about it--was just such a good Christian. So in any event, a great Christian, a great Congressman, I will never forget Doug LaMalfa.

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