Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 105 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 105 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 143 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1997 No. 68 House of Representatives The House met at 9 a.m. Accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 3 min- I was pressed into service by a power The Chaplain, Reverend James David utes a.m.), the House stood in recess even greater than the Speaker's. Char- Ford, D.D., offered the following pray- subject to the call of the Chair. lie Johnson, our Parliamentarian, er: f asked me to be here this morning, and We know, O gracious God, that You he asked me at 3 o'clock in the morn- RECEPTION OF FORMER MEMBERS have called all people to do the works ing, a particularly unfriendly request, I OF CONGRESS of justice in our communities, our Na- thought. tion, and in our World. On this day, we The Speaker of the House presided. But all of us spend a lot of money not are especially aware of the contribu- The SPEAKER. On behalf of this to join your ranks. Senator Beall and tions of those who have served in Gov- Chair and this Chamber, it is a high my predecessor, Carlton Sickles, who ernment and have used their abilities honor and distinct personal privilege to held this seat, and I am so glad to wel- and gifts in ways that have strength- have the opportunity of welcoming so come back my good friend and col- ened the common good, enhanced the many of our former Members and col- league, Bev Byron from Maryland. We security of every person, and have leagues as may be present here for this have a number of Marylanders. Too shown compassion for the neediest occasion. We all welcome you. many of them are former Members. I among us. The Chair at this time would recog- am not going to mention all of your We acknowledge the high honor that nize the distinguished majority leader, names. But Lindy Boggs, I think prob- the citizens of this Nation have given the gentleman from Texas [Mr. ably only Bev Byron and Lindy Boggs them, and we pray that Your blessing ARMEY], who may well be on the way. have known me since long before I will be with them now and in all the We were in session until 4 this morn- went to law school even. years to come. Amen. ing. Many of you remember with fond- I am pleased to be here with you and f ness those particular events. welcome all of you back. It must be a Let the Chair proceed out of order, if great experience to come back and be THE JOURNAL he might. Since the distinguished gen- with your colleagues. This is an incred- The SPEAKER. The Chair has exam- tleman from Maryland [Mr. HOYER], ibly wonderful institution. We kid ined the Journal of the last day's pro- the Democratic nominee, is here, the about it. Obviously, there are tough ceedings and announces to the House Chair will recognize him prior to the times. You saw last night, I think, a his approval thereof. gentleman from Texas [Mr. ARMEY]. demonstration of that. Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour- The Chair would say after a 4 o'clock Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate nal stands approved. session, Mr. HOYER does deserve a you on your remarks last night, which f small round of applause for being here I thought were very appropriate. The on time. President, the Speaker, the Democrats, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mr. HOYER. I know that all of you and the Republicans in the House, com- The SPEAKER. Will the gentleman lamented the fact that you were not ing together to try to pass a budget from North Carolina [Mr. COBLE] come Members of the Congress of the United that nobody really thought was the forward and lead the House in the States last night, and you remember budget they would have selected, clear- Pledge of Allegiance. fondly those 3 o'clock in the morning ly, but it was a budget that obviously Mr. COBLE led the Pledge of Alle- sessions that we had, and you thought a very large number of folks, indeed, I giance as follows: to yourself, what a great institution think only 99 voted against it, felt was I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the this is. in the best interests of our country. United States of America, and to the Repub- I want to say that I am pleased to be I see Larry Hogan, another one of my lic for which it stands, one nation under God, here. Mr. Speaker, I am certainly predecessors. Unlike Glenn, he is still indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. pleased to be here with you. Last night constrained to sit on that side of the f was reminiscent of the first 100 days of aisle. Old habits die hard, right, Larry? the Contract With America, where it As a matter of fact, Larry's son ran RECESS seemed to me we never stopped meet- against me just a few years ago, now The SPEAKER. Pursuant to the ing. that I think of it. order of the House of Friday, May 16, Mr. Speaker? This institution, of course, generates, 1997, the House will stand in recess sub- He is not listening. That is typical of I think, incredibly strong friendships ject to the call of the Chair to receive what we Democrats, the kind of respect among us on either side of the aisle, the former Members of Congress. we get around this House nowadays. and although there is a great deal of b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H3071 H3072 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð HOUSE May 21, 1997 partisanship that has been reflected that you would never get the ink off, I try to create a better product by the over the last few years, more than thought. And that fellow is here. I friction of their passions and by the when I first came, which I think is worked for him for the last year I was friction of their ideas. lamentable personally, nevertheless, I at the University of Maryland and for 3 Each of you, having lived it, having think that as the newer Members get years at Georgetown Law School. He been there, having been here at 4 here, the longer they are here, the less was responsible, very frankly, not only o'clock in the morning, having been in partisan they become; not necessarily, for my being able to go to law school the conference committees, having as all of you have experienced, less con- but for the fact, I think, that I am been in the subcommittees, having victed of the principles with which here. Dan Brewster, former U.S. Sen- been in the hearings, each of you can they came, but less convinced that the ator from our State. do an immense amount to help younger folks who do not agree with them are The SPEAKER. I appreciate the gen- Americans learn that this is the inevi- not good Americans as well. tleman's intervention. I would say I table process by which freedom sur- I think those of you who are former can hardly give you a better example of vives and renews itself. Members are not Republican former the point you were making and I am In that sense, I think that this 27th Members or Democratic former Mem- trying to reinforce. Literally, there is annual meeting of the U.S. Association bers, but former Members who contrib- an organic chain of being that goes of Former Members of Congress is a pa- uted greatly to your country, to your back to the very founding of this Con- triotic meeting and that you serve a districts certainly, and your States, gress, and in that sense we owe all of patriotic service. but to this institution as well. On be- you a debt for having helped create the Last year, I was very proud when you half of DICK GEPHARDT and DAVID institution. honored my leader, Bob Michel, with BONIOR and VIC FAZIO and the rest of The other thing I would say to you: your Distinguished Service Award. the leadership, I am very, very pleased We need your help. This institution, This year, you are going to recognize a to welcome you back and to thank you like virtually every institution in gentleman who has gone on to serve his for the shoulders on which we try to America, is changing. Many of you country in new and even more famous serve as well as you did. were here before C±SPAN. At least a ways, although I doubt if he will travel Thank you very much. few of you were here before we went to much more as the U.N. Ambassador The SPEAKER. I want to note for the electronic recording of votes, and you than he did as a Member of Congress, distinguished gentleman from Mary- know the institution was different because he set the alltime record for land that the Parliamentarian arrived when you had to stay on the floor long one-man delegations to weird and ob- during his talk, but shortly after his enough to get through the rollcall.