[House Prints, 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                          A Ceremony

                      Unveiling the Portrait

 
                             of

                        THE HONORABLE

                        BOB GOODLATTE


       


                 Tuesday, September 25, 2007
                   1300 Longworth Building
                       Washington, DC







                        COMMITTEE PRINT
 
                          A Ceremony

                      Unveiling the Portrait

                             of

                        THE HONORABLE

                        BOB GOODLATTE

     A Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Virginia
                        January 5, 1993-Present

                     Elected to the 103rd Congress
                Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture
          One Hundred Eighth and One Hundred Ninth Congresses

            [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                              PROCEEDINGS

                               before the

                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                     U.S. House of Representatives

                           September 25, 2007

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
                           WASHINGTON : 2008
41-293 PDF

_______________________________________________________________________

                               A Ceremony

                         Unveiling the Portrait

                                   of

                             THE HONORABLE

                             BOB GOODLATTE

                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                     U.S. House of Representatives

                      Tuesday, September 25, 2007

_______________________________________________________________________

                                [ iii ]

 
                      The Honorable Bob Goodlatte

    Representative Bob Goodlatte served as Chairman of the 
House Committee on Agriculture throughout the 108th and 109th 
Congresses from 2003-2006, convening 132 full and subcommittee 
hearings and guiding 38 bills under the Committee's 
jurisdiction to the President's desk to be signed into law. 
Since the start of the 110th Congress, Rep. Goodlatte has 
served as Ranking Republican of the Committee.
    Rep. Goodlatte has served on the House Agriculture 
Committee since first being elected to Congress in November 
1992. Before becoming Chairman of the full Committee, Rep. 
Goodlatte served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Department, 
Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry. An active 
subcommittee chairman, he held 14 hearings in the 107th 
Congress alone. The hearings covered a wide range of issues 
including implementation of the national fire plan, domestic 
nutrition programs, invasive species, and civil rights programs 
at the USDA.
    Rep. Goodlatte served as a conferee on the 2002 Farm Bill, 
working to provide programs to rural Americans who are in need 
of a stable farm economy, while providing suburban and urban 
Americans with the safest, most abundant and affordable food 
supply in the world. Rep. Goodlatte played a pivotal role in 
the creation of the rural broadband initiatives, including 
loans and grants, included in the 2002 Farm Bill. Programs such 
as the Broadband Access Loan program which provides loans for 
funding the costs of construction, improvement, and acquisition 
of facilities to provide broadband service to eligible rural 
communities help ensure that rural communities can participate 
in the incredible learning, business and communication 
opportunities the Internet provides. Rep. Goodlatte has also 
taken on leadership roles on issues such as welfare reform and 
forestry policy, working with his colleagues on the Agriculture 
and Resources Committees to introduce the President's Healthy 
Forest Initiative.
    Rep. Goodlatte represents the agriculturally diverse Sixth 
District of Virginia, which includes the beautiful Shenandoah 
Valley. Virginia's Sixth District, with its majestic mountain 
ranges, rolling hills, hearty forests, and green valleys, is as 
picturesque as it is agriculturally diverse. The district's 
7,600 farms produce a wide variety of agricultural products 
including livestock and poultry, fruits and vegetables, corn, 
wheat, barley, milk and dairy products, Christmas trees, 
nursery and greenhouse products, and forestry products. With 
2.4 million forested acres in the Sixth District, the forestry 
industry plays an important role in the district's economy.
    Rep. Goodlatte also serves on the Judiciary Committee and 
is co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus where he has 
worked to ensure that rural areas and smaller cities and 
counties can take full advantage of the advancements in 
Internet technology. He also serves as co-chair of the House 
Biotechnology Caucus.
    Before being elected to Congress, Rep. Goodlatte served as 
former Congressman Caldwell Butler's District Director from 
1977 to 1979, where he was responsible for helping constituents 
in the Sixth Congressional District. In 1979, he founded his 
own private law practice in Roanoke. He was a partner in the 
law firm of Bird, Kinder and Huffman from 1981 until taking 
office in 1992.
    Rep. Goodlatte is a graduate of Washington and Lee 
University School of Law and he earned an undergraduate degree 
in Government from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He and 
Maryellen, his wife of 32 years, live in Roanoke. They have two 
children, Jen and Rob.
                              ----------                              


                            About the Artist

    Dean Paules was trained in electronics, not art, but he 
pursued an interest in painting from his early years. While 
following a career in business, he also created award-winning 
landscapes of his native Pennsylvania and the eastern U.S.
    It was not until the mid-1980s that Paules turned to 
portraiture full time, after selling his successful plastics 
firm. Largely self-taught, Paules emerges a standout in a room 
of contemporary painters. Whether a Paules portrait emphasizes 
emotion or restraint, it is always a minutely detailed 
painting, unerringly true to life.
    His subjects include Nobel laureate Dr. George Hitchings; 
General Richard Ellis, Commander of SAC and NATO; Ralph Larsen, 
CEO, Johnson & Johnson; Peter R. Dolan, CEO & Chairman, 
Bristol-Meyers-Squibb; William W. Boechenstein of Owens Corning 
Fiberglass Corporation; David Johnson, CEO, Campbell Soup; 
Chuck Williams, Williams Sonoma, San Francisco, California; The 
Honorable Tom Ridge, Governor of Pennsylvania; The Honorable 
John Cornyn, Texas Supreme Court; The Honorable Tom Davis, 
Chairman, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, U. S. 
House of Representatives; and The Honorable Dick Armey, 
Majority Leader, U. S. House of Representatives.

       

                             P R O G R A M

Master of Ceremonies
                The Honorable Roy Blunt
Invocation
                Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
                Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives

Presentation of Portrait
                The Honorable Collin C. Peterson
                Chairman, Committee on Agriculture

Remarks
                The Honorable John Boehner
                The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
                The Honorable Dick Armey
Address
                The Honorable Bob Goodlatte

Acceptance of Portrait
                The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer
                Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Introdcution of the Artist
                Mr. Dean Paules
Benediction
                Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
                Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives

       The Unveiling and Presentation of the Official Portrait of

                      THE HONORABLE BOB GOODLATTE

                      TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007
                          House of Representatives,
                             Committee on Agriculture
                                                        Washington, DC.

                       REMARKS OF HON. ROY BLUNT

                          Master of Ceremonies
Mr. Blunt. Well, thank you for your attention and thank you for being 
    here. There is--I was asked if I wanted to participate in the 
    hanging of Bob Goodlatte and I said well, I can think of a number 
    of people first, but I am free, so I would be glad to do it. Like 
    everybody else here, I am so delighted to be here with Bob. He is 
    such a great guy, a great friend, a great member of this committee. 
    When I was a member of this committee, a great chairman of this 
    committee and I am pleased to be here. Before I ask Father Coughlin 
    to come up with the invocation, I would like to recognize a couple 
    of people, Randy Russell and Bill Lesher chaired the committee.
There you are, Bill. Randy, Bill, right over there at the door. They 
    chaired the committee, the fundraising committee for the portrait 
    and I know Bob and all of his friends, including me, are 
    appreciative of that. Also, Bob's wife, Maryellen, is here. 
    Maryellen is right here and she is the one that has put with the 5-
    day a week schedule this year. She is the one that has put up with 
    the 5-day a week schedule, not that I just didn't want to go very 
    long without somebody mentioning it. And Mr. Hoyer's got--we are on 
    blue screen on the floor out of his appreciation for the importance 
    of this event and we appreciate him managing it in that way, and 
    Bob's sister--Dorie Walmsley and her husband, David, are here, 
    right over here. And we are all pleased you are here. And Father 
    Coughlin, if you would come and let us get started with an 
    invocation.

                               INVOCATION

                      Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Reverend Coughlin. Thank you. Let us pray. The beauty of your creation, 
    Oh, Lord, is also the source of sustenance for us in food and 
    drink. The House Agriculture Committee maintains national policies 
    which assure your people here in the United States of the safest, 
    most abundant and affordable food supply in the world. For this 
    constant custodial and creative care by farmer and government, we 
    praise and thank you, Lord. Tonight we gather with members and 
    staff of the Agriculture Committee, past and present, to honor and 
    celebrate the contributions of the Honorable Bob Goodlatte as 
    chairman throughout the 108th-109th Congresses.
His efforts to protect our food supply, support the family farmer, help 
    feed the poor and promote healthy stewardship of our land, was 
    clearly focused, much appreciated and now part of the illustrious 
    history of this important work of government. Confident, Lord, that 
    Bob's ready smile is sustained by the loving relationship of his 
    wife, Maryellen, their children and friends. We suspect that such a 
    delightful continence really comes from the broad and sweeping 
    beauty of the Shenandoah Valley and so we are all anxious to see 
    your smile unveiled upon this committee room. Lord, smile on all of 
    us and this Nation, but especially upon those who love and care for 
    the natural gifts of this blessed land and your creative hand. 
    Amen.
Mr. Blunt. People in agriculture have had a good friend in Collin 
    Peterson for a long time, as has Bob Goodlatte, and I am pleased to 
    welcome Collin as he makes some official and important remarks.

        PRESENTATION OF THE PORTRAIT BY HON. COLLIN C. PETERSON

                   Chairman, Committee on Agriculture
Mr. Peterson. Thank you very much, Roy, and I am more than pleased to 
    be here with my good friend, Bob Goodlatte. Those of you who have 
    gotten to know me know that I quite often say what I think, so they 
    wrote down what I was supposed to say here. You don't know what 
    might come out of this mouth, so--and this is quite a turnout, 
    which I think attests to Bob's leadership and the friendship that 
    he has developed here in the House across the aisle, so I am not 
    surprised that there are so many people here today because Bob 
    Goodlatte, as I said, has been an outstanding leader for 
    agriculture and has earned the respect and admiration of his 
    colleagues on both sides of the political aisle.
I want to recognize Bob's wife, Maryellen, who is here with us today. 
    She has been recognized before. They have been married for almost 
    33 years. And in addition to being a great source of support for 
    Bob, she is also a very successful professional in her own right. 
    Their two children, Jennifer and Rob, are away at school, so they 
    couldn't join us here tonight, but I know that they are very proud 
    of their father's leadership and service and wish that they could 
    be here.
Bob and I have served on this committee together for more than 14 years 
    now. His district and mine don't have much in common, as far as 
    agriculture, although we both have a lot of hogs and turkeys at 
    home. And some people might say that that is not too different from 
    life here in Washington. This committee has a long tradition of 
    bipartisanship and some of the past leaders who have helped create 
    that legacy are here with us today and I know that Larry Combest is 
    here; former chairman, Charlie Stenholm, my predecessor. I don't 
    know if Charlie got in the room, yet or not. Who else is here that 
    I am missing? We have many of our committee members here.
As I said, most of the issues our committee considers aren't 
    politically charged, but this bipartisan tradition would not exist 
    without remarkable leaders who have dedicated themselves to rising 
    above politics to govern in the best interest of our Nation's 
    farmers and ranchers and Bob is one of those great leaders. I have 
    learned a lot from the great example that he set. Last year, Bob 
    set an active schedule of field hearings across the country to 
    prepare the committee to write the Farm Bill. We heard from people 
    representing many different regions and viewpoints and those 
    hearings gave us a strong start on writing a new Farm Bill and 
    without the work that Bob did, providing that leadership, we 
    wouldn't have been positioned as well as we were.
Working together over the past year and a half, we have, in my opinion, 
    put together a good bill that meets the needs of farmers and 
    ranchers nationwide and we are hoping that our friends across the 
    Capitol will see the wisdom and get moving over there. This is a 
    great time to recognize Bob's contributions to agriculture as he 
    continues the work that he has been doing on the committee for the 
    past 14 years. His portrait will remind us of the great things that 
    he has accomplished and all that he continues to contribute as a 
    leader on this committee.
And these are the official words, apparently. And so it is my great 
    honor to present this portrait of my friend, Bob Goodlatte, to the 
    House of Representatives on behalf of the House Committee on 
    Agriculture.
Mr. Blunt. The presenting and the unveiling are obviously two different 
    things and so we are going to get to that in a minute, but before 
    we do that, Bob has asked two of the Republican leaders, the 
    Majority leaders of our Majority, and the longest serving 
    Republican Speaker in the history of the Congress to come and speak 
    today and be with us today, and so John Boehner followed by Denny 
    Hastert followed by Dick Armey will come.

                      REMARKS OF HON. JOHN BOEHNER

             Minority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Mr. Boehner. I don't think I will get into a conversation about turkeys 
    or hogs. About four and a half years ago, maybe 5 years ago, Bob 
    came to me and he and I served on the committee together for 14 
    years and I was the chairman of the Education and Workforce 
    Committee and there was this rumor going around that I had an 
    interest in being chairman of the House Ag Committee. Before all 
    you gag out there, relax. So Bob came to me concerned about this 
    rumor. I said Bob, I have no intention of ever being the chairman 
    of the House Ag Committee, much to everyone's delight, most of you 
    in this room.
Bob Goodlatte has been a great member of the committee. He has done a 
    great job as the chairman of the committee and all of you in this 
    room are here because Bob works with everybody. And at the end of 
    the day, being chairman of a committee, working in this 
    institution, we are all privileged to work in, Bob has one of those 
    skills that you can't practice; you either have it or you don't. He 
    is a hell of a good guy, a nice guy and people like him. 
    Congratulations, Bob.

                   REMARKS OF HON. J. DENNIS HASTERT

          Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

        A Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois
Mr. Hastert. Thank you, John. You know, I feel very honored to be asked 
    to say a few words at this official hanging, that is the way Bob 
    put it. But anyway, I am really honored that I can get up here and 
    speak before Dick Armey. As everybody knows, Dick Armey was always 
    a huge advocate for U.S. farm policy all the time that he was in 
    the leadership and you know, sometimes I just had to--hold him back 
    at the table a little bit, but it is a great honor to be here, 
    although, you know, if you are the former Speaker, you have no 
    official words, so there are no official words coming from this 
    dais at this time.
I just want to say it is an honor to be here to say a few words about 
    Bob and when Bob came and talked to me about the possibility of 
    becoming the chairman of the Ag committee, you know, I was one of 
    his greatest supporters. He is a person, in my book, that gives you 
    things that are a very, very straight shot. He understands, he 
    tackles things with an integrity and an intellectual honesty and a 
    fairness. And every time that I pulled him into my office, 
    sometimes at the 11th hour of passing a piece of legislation, when 
    somebody wanted to hold something, you know, hostage like a dairy 
    bill or something like that--and that will come, Steny. Don't think 
    it won't.
But anyway, Bob was willing to sit down, look at the facts, work out 
    ways, how we could work things out and then follow through. And it 
    happened time and time again. He is an honorable man, he is a good 
    man. He is a person that this institution can be very proud of and 
    I am honored to be here today to take part in the unveiling of this 
    portrait and may it hang here for many years in great solemnity and 
    Bob's ever present wisdom. So thank you very much and Bob, 
    congratulations.

                       REMARKS OF HON. DICK ARMEY

         Former Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Mr. Armey. Well, of course you can imagine my surprise and delight when 
    Bob called and asked me if I would speak here. Bob, I think, is one 
    of the few people who knew that I always had a secret hope that 
    someday my portrait would hang in here as opposed to me being hung 
    in here. But it was a delight for me, Bob, to say yes. For several 
    years of my life, I had the privilege of working in concert with 
    virtually every man or woman in Congress, the House or Senate, 
    Republican or Democrat, that wanted to move a bill and it gave me 
    an opportunity to really have a chance to see and appreciate my 
    colleagues on what I think is the essential task that we undertake 
    here, which is to try to make something happen for America.
During that period of time, I read a book by a professor at Cornell 
    University. I don't know what got over me. But I went ahead with 
    the book, anyway. The name of the book was Legislative 
    Entrepreneurship and it was a fascinating book. As an economist, I 
    have thought about entrepreneurship a lot, but generally, as it 
    applied to the business sector of the economy. But as a legislative 
    entrepreneur, I was described by this scholar as an entrepreneur, 
    as a person who is able, imaginative, creative, courageous, hard 
    working, and you will appreciate this, unrelenting and a general 
    all around creative pain in the backside who won't give up. And of 
    course, I admire such a person and as I finished the book , I sat 
    down and I made a little list from among my colleagues that I have 
    the privilege to work with who were, in my estimation, the greatest 
    entrepreneurial legislators in the body that I had the privilege of 
    working with and Bob Goodlatte was the first name on the list. I 
    have never forgotten that. The first guy I thought of.
If you think about the privilege, the great honor of having your 
    portrait hung in the Capitol and all the attributes that would 
    warrant such an honor and being a good person, a good person in 
    your heart, being a general well-liked colleague, certainly would 
    be part of it. Being a creative entrepreneur or legislator who 
    serves your district well would be part of it. But some place in 
    the category of a list of characteristics that we would look for in 
    a person to have that honor, in addition to all these other things, 
    is just good workmanship, a commitment to a task that sees it 
    through.
And as you know, seeing it through this Byzantine process requires a 
    person who will never give up and Bob, you are that kind of person. 
    I was so proud of you. Many times you came to me and apologized for 
    being a pain in the rear and I could only say I just wish everybody 
    were, because you were a legislator and you legislated well and I 
    was proud to be your colleague. Thank you.
Mr. Blunt. Only Dick Armey would find a way that pain in the rear would 
    be a positive attribute. Things change more quickly in Washington 
    than you think sometimes, which is one of the reasons we are 
    hanging this portrait right now, a couple of years earlier than I 
    would have chosen, Chairman, to hang it, but we are here for that 
    reason. We hoped, we expected that Secretary Johanns would be here 
    and he is not here right now, but the Acting Secretary, Chuck 
    Conner is. Chuck, are you back there somewhere? Right here. He 
    worked his way up to the front. Chuck, we are glad you are here.
And my four colleagues have all said the things that need to be said 
    about Bob Goodlatte. I will tell you that the first time I really 
    noticed who Bob Goodlatte was, I was the beginning of my second 
    term in the Congress. For some reason, even though we had been on 
    this committee together in my first term and I had a lot of respect 
    for him, I had never really seen him in action before until, as we 
    began our second term in the Congress, we brought a class action 
    reform bill to the floor.
And I remember it so well because Denny had just become the Speaker. I 
    had just taken his job as the Chief Deputy Whip and it was the 
    first time members had ever come to me, as they have often since, 
    said, why are we doing this? Nothing will happen over on the other 
    side of the building, this is just going to make people mad. And I 
    particularly watched Bob Goodlatte manage that bill on the floor 
    all day and I guarantee you, by the end of the day, our members who 
    didn't think this is something anybody could talk about, were all 
    eager to go home and talk about it because Bob Goodlatte knew how 
    to explain things in a way that people understood them.
And then he became chairman of this committee, his district and mine, 
    and we had both been in each other's districts a couple of times. 
    His district and mine are a lot alike and not only was I glad to 
    see him become the chairman of the committee, but I was also glad 
    to see that he also, he always put the work of the committee in the 
    context of the work we needed to do in the Congress. A great 
    chairman, a great member, a dependable friend and we are all 
    honored to be here with him, Bob Goodlatte.

                     ADDRESS OF HON. BOB GOODLATTE

               Former Chairman, Committee on Agriculture
Mr. Goodlatte. Wow. Well, this is truly a great honor. I thank all of 
    you for coming. You know, as we have been leading up to this, I 
    have been thinking, you know, this is pretty neat, the last few 
    days. Everybody is coming and the response is just so great. And 
    then I started to see people on the floor today and they all told 
    me they were coming to the public hanging and I started to get a 
    little nervous and then I remembered that the last time we did 
    this, for Larry Combest, who I am very honored is here, I talked 
    about hanging a Texan and Dick, we will do that for you any time 
    you want.
And I see a number of Texans who are here to enjoy this public hanging, 
    but I want to thank all of these leaders of the Congress, but 
    first, I want to say, to Father Coughlin, I don't know that I have 
    heard in a long time, anybody articulate so well what this 
    committee does and what we stand for and what we try to accomplish 
    here as what you just did and so thank you very much. That was a 
    wonderful blessing.
All of the people who have agreed to come and speak are people that I 
    hold in the highest regard. They have all proven themselves as 
    outstanding leaders here in the Congress and that includes, I've 
    got to say something nice about Steny, because he is going to speak 
    after me, but let me just say that our current Majority leader 
    reflects all of the values that Dick Armey articulated--he is the 
    same kind of legislative entrepreneur that Dick described and he is 
    a very determined and accomplished leader and I have a great deal 
    of respect for him. I have had the opportunity to work with him for 
    many, many years and I thank him very much for not only 
    participating today, but for working with me across the aisle on 
    many, many things.
I also very much appreciate the leadership that we receive on our side 
    of the aisle from John Boehner. He was preceded by Tom DeLay. And 
    then before him, by Dick Armey. And Dick also reflects those same 
    work ethics that we worked so hard on with the Contract With 
    America and so many other things. And Denny Hastert is the longest 
    serving Republican Speaker of the House in the history of the 
    Congress and did so with great distinction and led us through many, 
    many legislative accomplishments and many, many challenges, as 
    well. Roy Blunt, with whom I have had the opportunity to work, as a 
    member of his Whip team for many years is a dear friend and I thank 
    him for agreeing to run this program.
And finally, Collin Peterson. Collin and I serve on, what I think, is 
    the most bipartisan committee in the Congress and that isn't 
    because we don't ever fight, it is just that we don't know always 
    who is going to be on which team when we start the fight. But it 
    was a great pleasure to have him as my ranking member and we worked 
    very hard in leading up to the writing of the farm bill and I agree 
    with him that the product that this committee produced was a very 
    fine farm bill and I hope that we will see it through to fruition 
    when we are through with figuring out some of the issues related to 
    it and see what the United States Senate does, but it has been a 
    pleasure to work with him as his ranking member, as well. And that 
    bipartisanship will continue under his chairmanship though I am 
    very much in favor of rotating back again as quickly as possible.
But I really think that, rather than me try to articulate what this 
    committee stands for other than to say that we work very, very hard 
    every day to make sure that America's farmers and ranchers and 
    agri-businesses and America's consumers can expect to have the 
    safest, most affordable, most abundant food supply in the world and 
    that our job is to make sure that the playing field is fair and let 
    the free enterprise system work and those farmers and ranchers and 
    everybody else will get the job done. That is the mission of this 
    committee. And I think that over the years, with the leadership of 
    my predecessors on the committee, since I have been here--Kika de 
    la Garza, who, by the way, is going to have a portrait hanging 
    again here in just a few weeks, and Pat Roberts and Bob Smith and 
    Larry Combest--we have worked hard to accomplish those goals. So, I 
    thank all of them. My other ranking member was Charlie Stenholm and 
    I very much valued his contribution to the committee for many, many 
    years.
Now, I need to thank some people, not just because of the hard work 
    that they have done, but because they are dear friends that I have 
    had the privilege of working with for many years. First of all, as 
    Roy noted, this doesn't happen without the support of a lot of 
    people and if you look on the back page of the program, you will 
    find those individuals and organizations who helped make this 
    possible, but it also is not possible unless somebody takes the 
    lead on that. And Randy Russell and Bill Lesher have done just 
    that. Randy and Bill should actually conduct this program, but they 
    wanted to hear from these folks, so I thank them very, very much 
    for, really, a year and a half of hard work to accomplish this 
    goal.
And there were other members of the portrait committee, the informal 
    group, if you will, that worked so hard on this. Rachel Goldberg, 
    who is with Lesher and Russell; Randy Hinaman and Laura Bell, who 
    have worked with me for almost 16 years now in the political 
    trenches; Shelley Husband, my Chief of Staff in my Congressional 
    office; Kevin Kramp, who is the Deputy Chief of Staff on the 
    Republican staff here on the committee; Bill O'Connor, the Chief of 
    Staff, is here, as well, and I thank him for leadership over all of 
    those years. He has served many Republican leaders of this 
    committee and has done so with great distinction. And then, the 
    last two people that I want to mention, in that regard, are the two 
    most important of all.
First, Debbie Smith. That is right. Debbie was hired, originally, I 
    think, by Chairman de la Garza, and worked for the Majority. She is 
    very smart, too, by the way. When the Republicans got the majority, 
    she worked for us for 12 years and then when Collin took the 
    chairmanship, she went back to working for Collin. But with one 
    condition and that condition was that she would continue to work on 
    this committee and she has put in, literally, hundreds of hours of 
    time to make sure that everything went smoothly throughout the 
    entire process, even traveling to Pennsylvania with Maryellen and I 
    to visit our wonderful artist and his wife, who you will hear from 
    in just a moment, to meet them and they are a wonderful couple, but 
    Debbie has seen this through from start to finish and so I thank 
    you very, very much for doing that.
And then, of course, finally--and you will see in a moment my best way 
    of expressing my appreciation--but my wonderful wife, Maryellen, 
    who has, without a doubt, made it possible for me to be able to do 
    this job. When she married me 33 years ago, I don't think she had 
    any idea. And I was very smart not to tell her. But she has been my 
    partner throughout all of this and we want to make sure that she is 
    properly recognized, so give her another round of applause.
Now, for those of you, who for some reason or other I haven't 
    recognized, I apologize, but everybody in this room is very 
    important to me and we want to include you all in the official 
    record of this, so there is a guest book outside and if you haven't 
    had the opportunity to sign that, I hope you will take the 
    opportunity to do that because you will find your signature will 
    appear in the official report o fthis event.
And then lastly, let me just say, although you haven't seen his work or 
    heard from him yet, I will tell you that I have tremendous respect 
    for our artist, Dean Paules, and his wife, JoAnn, who has helped to 
    shepherd this whole process through, as well. He is, in my opinion, 
    a remarkable artist. I have told people the good news is that he is 
    so lifelike and accurate in his work, that it looks just exactly 
    like me. The bad news--well, actually, there is no bad news. So I 
    thank him, both of them, as a matter of fact, as well.
So Mr. Whip, I think with that, I hope I haven't forgotten anybody, but 
    I thank everybody. Let me just say that the committee staff, both 
    the Majority and the Minority, and whoever is in the Majority or 
    the Minority, are the best staff that anybody could expect to find 
    on any committee in this Congress and my Congressional staff is the 
    best staff that you will find in any Congressional office. So I 
    thank all of them. There are many of them here and many former 
    staff members, as well, many of whom have gone on to do great 
    things. I thank you all for coming back today. This is truly a 
    great honor and I am very much humbled by your presence here today 
    and may God bless each and every one of you.
Mr. Blunt. Maryellen gets to do the official unveiling here.
[Portrait unveiled]
Mr. Blunt. The next thing on the program, it says my very good friend, 
    the Majority leader, gets to accept the portrait. I don't know what 
    would happen if he rejected the portrait, but I am betting he 
    accepts and he is going to come and do that. Steny Hoyer.

                       ACCEPTANCE OF THE PORTRAIT

                          Hon. Steny H. Hoyer

             Majority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Mr. Hoyer. Roy really stole my line. I didn't know what would happen if 
    I said, I looked at it and of course, Dean, I would not do this, 
    you understand, because JoAnn would be very upset with me, but if I 
    looked at it and say no, I don't think we will accept this, there 
    would be, of course, a revolution in the room. Mr. Speaker, I am 
    glad to be with you, sir. Mr. Majority Leader, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to be here and participate in this program with my very 
    good friend, Bob Goodlatte. Maryellen, you have been married 33 
    years and you know him better than any of the rest of us in this 
    room. But I will tell you, those of us who do know him from a 
    different perspective and not as well, have great respect and 
    affection for him. Serving in the Congress of the United States is 
    a great honor. There is only one way to get to the House of 
    Representatives, of course, and that is to be elected by your 
    neighbors and friends. You cannot be appointed to the House of 
    Representatives. The only way you get to be the chairman of the 
    committee is to be reelected on a relatively regular basis. 
    Actually, a regular basis, because if it is relatively regular, you 
    get out of line.
And it is a testament to, I think, our system, that those who become 
    chairmen, notwithstanding the fact that many times they get there 
    because they are a senior member, not always, but they are members 
    who have earned their stripes through the years, not only on the 
    committee. Roy Blunt spoke to it, Denny Hastert spoke to it, Dick 
    Armey spoke to it. You get to know people as they move through the 
    chairs. You get to know their judgment, their wisdom, their 
    willingness to work, because in order to become a chair, you have 
    to have worked hard. You have to know your subject.
And Bob Goodlatte has the reputation on both sides of the aisle as 
    being somebody who is a hard worker, an honest person who knows his 
    subject. And he works across the aisle. As I said, Bob Goodlatte 
    and I are good friends. He works across the aisle on issues that 
    are not necessarily agricultural issues. For instance, he and Rick 
    Boucher do a lot of work on technology issues, on which he is 
    extraordinarily knowledgeable, and he understands the relationship 
    between technology and farming. And Dick, as Roy was talking about 
    your enthusiasm for farming, I thought to myself of your FRAC Act. 
    All of you have heard of the FRAC Act. It is the Farm Relocation 
    and Closure Act. I have to explain that to some who don't 
    understand. I won't go into it, but I am very pleased to be here.
On behalf of Speaker Pelosi and myself, and the Speaker, as Speaker 
    Hastert well knows, of the whole House. Dick and I have been the 
    leaders of our parties' partisan offices, but I accept this on 
    behalf of Speaker Pelosi and the House of Representatives, not as a 
    partisan, but as an admirer, as someone who knows that the House of 
    Representatives is well-served on both sides of the aisle but 
    conscientious and yes, courageous, people who are prepared to 
    ignore their parties sometime and perhaps, even from time to time, 
    displease their constituents if they believe it is in the best 
    interest of their country and of the interests that they serve.
And so on behalf of the House of Representatives, it is a great honor 
    for me to accept this portrait. Dean, it is a beautiful portrait. 
    It is a portrait, I know, of Maryellen, and you included Bob in the 
    picture. A tip of the hat to the people paying, I suppose, but in 
    any event, it is a great honor, because Bob Goodlatte represents 
    the best that is in the Congress. Not a partisan warrior, although 
    at times we are all that, but a person who sees his duty as making 
    this country better, serving not just the farm community, but the 
    millions of us that the farm community feeds.
Bob, we are honored to accept this portrait and we are honored by your 
    leadership in the Congress of the United States. Congratulations.

                       INTRODUCTION OF THE ARTIST

                            Mr. Dean Paules
Mr. Blunt. There is an important introduction of the artist, Dean 
    Paules, on the program. You will want to read that later, but Bob 
    wants him to come up, and I do, too, and talk a little bit about 
    the portrait. I will also mention that Senator Harkin, the chairman 
    of the Senate Ag Committee, just came in. Senator Harkin is right 
    over here. And I can assure you, Senator, that both Chairman 
    Peterson and Mr. Goodlatte had optimistic thoughts about the good 
    work you were doing on the Senate side on the farm bill. Dean.

                         REMARKS OF DEAN PAULES
Mr. Paules. When Congressman Goodlatte mentioned that his wife 33 years 
    ago would never have expected to be in this position, he and his 
    wife, 33 years ago, I am happy to say that I wouldn't believe that 
    I would be here, in my life, 55 years ago, and I thought that would 
    be greatly appreciated by my wife, since I got it right. Anyway, 
    one of the nice things about the portrait business is the folks you 
    meet and the folks who are being honored for their achievements. 
    And this is the aside that really is the important part of this 
    business and I am glad that I am having a part in the program that 
    Congressman Goodlatte is involved with and I thank you for the 
    privilege of being able to be a part of this program and my 
    congratulations to Mr. Goodlatte for all of these accolades that I 
    have heard given to him, but I hope that it represents the best of 
    he and his wife. I was wondering whether, when they came to the 
    portrait, which one they looked at first. Who looked at what first. 
    Which one of the portraits. Thank you very much.
Mr. Blunt. Thank you, Mr. Paules, thank all of you for being here. 
    Father Coughlin, you want to come and see if you can rival that 
    first prayer and thanks for being here to honor Bob. Bob, thanks 
    again for your great work and your great leadership and for all of 
    us, your great friendship.

                              BENEDICTION

                      Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Reverend Coughlin. A concluding blessing. Lord God, we acknowledge you 
    as the source of growth and abundance. Pour out your blessing upon 
    this Nation. Make our land truly productive that we may always 
    enjoy a rich harvest with grateful hearts. The farmers, ranchers, 
    herdsman, agricultural teachers and scientists truly respect the 
    good earth and the work of others. May the agricultural committee 
    of this Congress build on its success of the past and learn from 
    setbacks in the efforts to serve others and create laws that will 
    increase production and protection. May you hear the prayers of 
    hardworking people and enhance their labor with human dignity, 
    lasting justice and true effects on America's economy and high 
    moral standards. Finally, bless the honorable Bob Goodlatte, his 
    wife, Maryellen, their children, family and friends. May this 
    celebration provide a sense of accomplishment and inspire even 
    greater work in the future as you nurture them with health and 
    happiness and increase their faith and love. God bless us with a 
    rich abundance, Lord God. Amen.
[Whereupon, at 6:45 p.m., the ceremony was adjourned.]

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                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                             109th Congress

                   BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia, Chairman

RICHARD W. POMBO, California,        COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota,
    Vice Chairman                        Ranking Minority Member
TERRY EVERETT, Alabama               TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania
FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma             MIKE McINTYRE, North Carolina
JERRY MORAN, Kansas                  BOB ETHERIDGE, North Carolina
WILLIAM L. JENKINS, Tennessee        JOE BACA, California
GIL GUTKNECHT, Minnesota             ED CASE, Hawaii
ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina          DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California
TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois         DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
TOM OSBORNE, Nebraska                JIM MARSHALL, Georgia
MIKE PENCE, Indiana                  STEPHANIE HERSETH, South Dakota
SAM GRAVES, Missouri                 G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
JO BONNER, Alabama                   HENRY CUELLAR, Texas
MIKE ROGERS, Alabama                 CHARLIE MELANCON, Louisiana
STEVE KING, Iowa                     JIM COSTA, California
MARILYN N. MUSGRAVE, Colorado        JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado
RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas              JOHN BARROW, Georgia
CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, Jr., Louisiana  EARL POMEROY, North Dakota
JOHN J.H. ``JOE'' SCHWARZ, Michigan  LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa
JOHN R. ``RANDY'' KUHL, Jr., New     RICK LARSEN, Washington
York                                 LINCOLN DAVIS, Tennessee
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina        BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky
K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio
MICHAEL E. SODREL, Indiana

                                 ______

                           Professional Staff

                William E. O'Conner, Jr., Staff Director
                      Kevin J. Kramp, Chief Counsel
                  John Haugen, Communications Director
                Robert L. Larew, Minority Staff Director

                                 
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