Leader Pelosi, Speaker Boehner, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R- FL), Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the Capitol on July 7, 2011.

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Speaker John Boehner at a brief press availability following their meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the Capitol. Below are the Leader’s remarks:

“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to pick up where you left off with that – His Holiness being a source of understanding in bringing the two parties in the House of Representatives together. For decades, really, Mr. Wolf, Chairman Wolf, Chairman Smith, Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen, Chairwoman Lowey, now Ranking Member Lowey, and Mr. Berman who was with us earlier, have worked together to understand better and help the Tibetan people.

“I’m very proud of the fact that we have come together under the dome of the Capitol a number of times to honor His Holiness. President Bush, President George Walker Bush, in 2007 was present to present to His Holiness the Congressional Gold Medal. At that time, he did so honoring the commitment of His Holiness to peace, to nonviolence, to human rights, and to religious understanding. A couple of years later, President Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama to the White House, and we were honored by that. But his association with our country and our presidents goes way back, when he was a very little boy and first became the Dalai Lama, President Franklin Roosevelt sent him a watch, recognizing his love, even as a little boy, for science and technology; it was a watch that had a phases of the moon on it. And it is always a source of great pride to us that this relationship between our two countries and leaders goes back so far.