04/23/09 - Remarks submitted for the Congressional Record - I rise in sadness today and also in hope, as we commemorate the Armenian genocide that happened in the second decade of the twentieth century.

There is nothing easier than to forget the victims of history, and nothing more tragic, and for those very reasons, there is nothing more important than to remember them. And that is what we are here for.

The genocide of the Armenian people is a fact of history. It is a sad fact of history.

But the very fact that we are here, together in the U.S. House of Representatives addressing the issue is reason for hope. Armenians' determination to carry on, and in the United States' historic support for them, and in our joined determination to make sure that we recognize the facts of history--there is great humanity and hope.

I remain committed to the public recognition of the fact of the Armenian genocide . It is the only way to make sure we are forever vigilant to prevent genocide in the future.

I have hope, that we can all move forward, not in an exercise in collective guilt, but in the simple recognition of what happened, that a genocide was perpetrated upon the Armenian people, and that such a thing, quite simply, never should have happened and must never happen again.