[House Prints, 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
1300 Longworth Building
Washington, DC
COMMITTEE PRINT
A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA
A Representative in Congress from the State of Texas
January 3, 1965-January 3, 1997
Elected to the 89th Congress
Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture
Ninety Seventh through One Hundred Third Congresses
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
PROCEEDINGS
before the
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
U.S. House of Representatives
October 2, 2007
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2009
53-103 PDF
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A Ceremony
Unveiling the Portrait
of
THE HONORABLE
E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
U.S. House of Representatives
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
_______________________________________________________________________
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[ iii ]
The Honorable E (Kika) de la Garza
Kika de la Garza was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1964 and sworn in as a Member of the 89th
Congress in January 1965. He was a Member of the Committee on
Agriculture since 1965 and was elevated to the Committee
Chairmanship in 1981.
During his tenure as Agriculture Committee Chairman,
Representative de la Garza was one of our nation's top
agricultural policymakers. A nationally-known advocate for
American farmers and ranchers, he authored Federal policies to
strengthen the farms and rural economy; provide adequate price
and income stability for producers; expand U.S. agricultural
export opportunities; ensure the availability of affordable
credit for producers; properly fund agricultural research
activities; assure producers access to safe, effective crop
protection methods and other technology applications; promote a
diversified rural economy; ensure the safety of our nation's
food supply; and promote the protection of our natural
resources.
As Chairman, Representative de la Garza presided over the
drafting and successful enactment of three major omnibus farm
bills (1981, 1985, and 1990) that reformed the nation's
agricultural policies. He also guided to enactment efforts to
reduce the cost of agricultural programs through several
deficit reduction bills.
A long-time proponent of closer trade ties with Mexico,
Representative de la Garza helped rally Congressional support
that led to approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) in November 1993. His other accomplishments include
legislation to streamline the agricultural lending system,
strengthen Federal pesticide laws and various other measures to
assist American agriculture, encourage rural economic
development, and improve human nutrition.
Throughout his career, Representative de la Garza supported
and fought for government policies to foster better living and
economic conditions for all Americans. He worked hard and
successfully to provide Federal funds to much needed water and
sewer services to residents of impoverished Colonias in Texas.
A strong supporter of civil rights, Representative de la
Garza also worked for improved access to health care for the
elderly, veterans, and low-income individuals and for better
educational opportunities for all Americans. He supported
policies to improve the nation's infrastructure and maintain a
strong, cost-effective national defense.
Mr. de la Garza was born in Mercedes, Texas. He received
his LL.B. and J.D. degrees from St. Mary's University Law
School, San Antonio, Texas. During World War II, at age 17,
Representative de la Garza enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He later
attended the U.S. Army Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma,
and served as an artillery officer during the Korean conflict.
He is married to the former Lucille Alamia. They have three
children, Jorge, Michael and Angela, and seven grandchildren.
The de la Garza's make their home in McAllen, Texas.
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P R O G R A M
Master of Ceremonies
H.R. Bert Pena
Invocation
Father Daniel P. Coughlin
Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives
Presentation of Portrait
The Honorable Collin C. Peterson
Chairman, Committee on Agriculture
Remarks
Senator Pat Roberts
The Honorable Charlie Stenholm
Senator John Cornyn
The Honorable Ruben Hinojosa
The Honorable Solomon P. Ortiz
Address
The Honorable E (Kika) de la Garza
Unveiling of Portrait
Mrs. Lucille de la Garza
Special Guest
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Benediction
Father Daniel P. Coughlin
Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives
The Unveiling and Presentation of the Official Portrait of
THE HONORABLE E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA
REMARKS OF H.R. BERT PENA
Master of Ceremonies
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2007
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture
Washington, DC.
REMARKS OF H.R. BERT PENA
Master of Ceremonies
Mr. Pena. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening,
distinguished Members of the House and the Senate. The Deputy
Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Conner, is here and other
distinguished colleagues from the Bush Administration. Honored
guests and ladies and gentlemen, my name is Bert Pena and I am the
Master of Ceremonies tonight for the official action by the
Committee on Agriculture to formally unveil the portrait of the
Honorable E Kika de la Garza, a Congressman from Texas, Member of
the Texas Delegation and of the Committee on Agriculture for 32
years and Chairman of the Committee for 14 years.
We have a full program tonight, and my first duty, as Master of
Ceremonies, is to call on the chaplain of the U.S. House of
Representatives, the Honorable Daniel Coughlin, to deliver the
invocation. Father Coughlin.
INVOCATION
Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Father Coughlin. Let us pray. Father God, America the beautiful is not
only blessed with awe-inspiring beauty, it also produces the
safest, most abundant and affordable food in the history of
humanity. By the constant custodial care of farmers, herdsmen and
this government, you have led us to a land of plenty, making of us
a people grateful and gracious and generous.
Tonight, Lord, it is most fitting, during Hispanic Awareness Month,
that we celebrate with Members and staff of the House Committee on
Agriculture to remember the leadership and service of Chairman Kika
de la Garza. By divine providence, you brought him here to serve on
this Committee and then he was selected by his colleagues to be
Chairman of the Agriculture Committee until he stepped down in
1994. But over those years, under your inspiration, guidance and
the help of others, his efforts, with three major omnibus farm
bills, reformed the nation's agriculture policies.
So Lord, we celebrate tonight with his wife, Lucille, family and
friends because to this day, he is a man of balance. Family life
and government work, faith and human labor, farm policies and the
civil rights of minorities have always been a part of his
background, his daily life and his hopeful vision for America that
offers equal justice for all.
May his own memory of this place this evening, the people who
surrounded him during his work here and this portrait give him
great joy and be balanced by the gratitude of many and the just
reward, Lord, that you have promised to faithful servants who live
and serve both now and forever. Amen.
Mr. Pena. Thank you, Father Coughlin, for that very important message
and beautiful invocation. It is now my pleasure to introduce the
Chairman of the Committee, the Honorable Collin Peterson, for the
presentation of the portrait.
PRESENTATION OF THE PORTRAIT BY HON. COLLIN C. PETERSON
Chairman, Committee on Agriculture
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Bert, and welcome, everybody, to the
House Committee on Agriculture and we are pleased to see so many
familiar faces here. Some of you folks I haven't seen for a while.
Welcome back. Senator Harkin. You got the bill written? You ready
to go? I have learned that. Well, we are glad to have you here, Mr.
Chairman. And I am pleased to be here to be part of the ceremony
and honor my good friend and mentor, my Chairman, Kika de la Garza.
When I came in 1990, I was way back down on the end of the last
row. I don't even think Kika could even see me down there. I tried
to behave myself and I didn't do it all the time, right, Kika? But,
I did most of the time.
But Kika, as you all know, served in the House of Representatives for,
I guess a little over 30 years, from 1965 to 1996. He was
appointed, as a lot of us on the Committee, to serve on the House
Agriculture Committee during his first term in Congress and he was
named Chairman of the Agriculture Committee in 1981, after former
Agriculture Committee Chairman, Tom Foley, was chosen to serve as
Majority Whip. He was Chairman during the drafting of three farm
bills in 1981, 1985 and 1990. He then served as Ranking Member
during the 1996 Farm Bill.
During the 104th Congress, Pat Roberts, who is here someplace--where is
Chairman Roberts?
Mr. Roberts. Right here.
The Chairman. There he is. Move up to the front here. You are a
prominent person, Pat. During the 104th Congress, Pat Roberts
succeeded him as Chairman. Come on up here. Charlie, come on up
here. We might as well get you guys organized. Pat Roberts is with
us tonight. He is going to share a few words, as well as
Congressman Charlie Stenholm, who we all know served on this
Committee for a long time, and served as Ranking Member prior to my
becoming Ranking Member. And as I said, we are pleased to have all
these leaders in agriculture. We have a lot of Members here. I am
not going to start trying to name them, because I will forget
somebody and screw up and be in trouble. But we appreciate you all
being with us tonight.
There are many famous stories about Chairman de la Garza. Mr. D, as
many people knew him, often talked about his own experience of the
American Dream and referred to his roots as a shoeshine boy in
Mission, Texas. Anybody who spent any time with Kika in Washington
knows the famous submarine story. And I hope, Kika, that you will
share that story with us one more time here in the Agriculture
Committee tonight. But that is up to you.
Kika was a constant defender of American agriculture. When farm
programs were unfairly singled out for deficit reduction, he never
hesitated to bring out what became known simply as The Chart, which
is right over here. Anybody that served on the Agriculture
Committee has seen that chart more times than they want to think
about. And as you can see, Kika's chart simply showed the fact that
for all the attention farm spending receives, you really can't get
much deficit reduction from it. There isn't much there below that
little line on the bottom which represents how much agriculture is,
even if you got rid of all of it. Right, Kika?
During his first year as Chairman in 1981, Kika had to deal with,
perhaps, the most difficult farm bill ever written, as some other
folks might--Pat might disagree with that. Near the end of that
process, he was asked how he liked being Chairman and he told them
that the only hard job he ever had was harvesting asparagus. Is
that right? I got it right.
Kika has received many honors. There is an elementary school named in
his honor and is it in La Hoya, La Hoya, Texas? And the National
Resources Conservation Service established the Kika de la Garza
Plant Materials Center in Kingsville, Texas in 1981. And then there
is the Kika de la Garza Institute for Goat Research at Langston
University in Oklahoma. And I can think of a few folks that they
might have singled out, but for good reason, they chose Kika,
because Kika has been a tireless advocate for America's farmers and
ranchers and will be remembered always as a great lawmaker, a great
leader and a great friend.
His portrait shows him back at home in Texas where he and his wife,
Lucille, have retired. I have been down to visit them. It is a
great part of the world, and a good place to be in the wintertime.
A lot of my constituents are down there. I can probably campaign
down there just as well as up home. And as it hangs in our hearing
room, which it now is doing at a place of prominence, it will
remind us always of Kika's great legacy of leadership and the
beautiful, bountiful agricultural landscape that our Committee is
privileged to represent.
So I am pleased, on behalf of the House Agriculture Committee, to be
here this evening, to take part in the ceremony and honor my great
friend and mentor, Kika de la Garza. Congratulations.
I am going to introduce Mr. Roberts, Senator Roberts. Were you in here
when I asked Tom if he had the farm bill done?
Mr. Roberts. No.
The Chairman. I can ask you, too. You guys have got to get going over
there. Anyway, Senator Roberts and I have also been good friends
and as a former Chairman, I am expecting great things out of him
over in the Senate to help pull things together because he knows
what we have to go through. We are pleased to have you here this
evening, Mr. Chairman, and we welcome our good friend.
REMARKS OF SENATOR PAT ROBERTS
Mr. Roberts. Thank you, thank you. Frank, are you still back there? Oh,
Frankie. All right. That is my wife, Frankie. She is the speaker in
my house and I was talking about a member. I just had a suggestion,
Bert, if people would step forward about five paces, so that will
let some people out on the patio come in, if they want.
And I would like to ask staff members who have served here so long just
to take the member chairs. Mario, why don't you take the lead? You
always did before. Why don't you take the lead? And Bert, why don't
you--well, no. No, you got to do this. Mario, grab some of your
staff guys that I remember. Go up here and just sit over here with
the Members. Okay, sit down over there. I am trying to create more
room so people out there on the patio can get in. Those that are
not trying to leave the premises by a hanging rope. All right.
Settle down, settle down.
My name is Pat Roberts and I am pretty much an antique piece of--now,
come on, settle down, people. This is good stuff. I wrote this. All
right, okay. Keep going, keep going. You are not done. I remember
sitting clear back on the Republican side where you couldn't move
for a lot of different reasons. Hi, Dale. I am just fine, thank
you. You sure got a lot of staff, Collin. Always screwing things
up. And my time has expired. It is about time for Fred and Randy to
knock over the--that is an old joke.
All right. Okay, listen up and I can get this done. My name is Pat
Roberts. I am pretty much of an antique piece of House Agriculture
Committee furniture, now stored in the Senate Assisted Living Home
across the way. I spent 28 years, 12 as a staff bucket toter, 16 as
a Member of this Committee. Now, it is important to remember that
for 26 of the 28 years I was in the Minority. However, I had very
important duties other than my primary job as administrative
assistant to a great Congressman, Congressman Keith Sebelius, a
Member of this Committee. You all remember Keith. If you don't--I
messed them up. That was his great quote. You can use that if you
like.
My primary duties on the Minority, as a staffer, were to learn the art
of ice sculpturing for Mario. I was to file Vernie's legal papers.
I was to arrange flowers for Diane. I was to get buckets of ice for
Bert and the Majority Members--we didn't get any buckets of ice on
our side--and remind the Chairman that it was Chip Connelly, not
Chips Connelly. We met in 1336A to work out the CBO mark. I didn't
give a damn for about 26 years and then all of a sudden I was
Chairman and I really gave a damn. And we made the mark one time by
actually counting up a conditioning grain and then we drank it.
Mel Thompson was my sidekick in the Sebelius office and by doing all of
these unbecoming duties for the Majority, as a Member of the
Minority, as a staffer, we received one three-way light bulb a
month and two rolls of toilet paper. That was during the days when
Tip O'Neill really ran things. We had discipline. And in Kika-land,
we also had a great staff. My job was to make sure that Bill
O'Connor's agriculture program policy encyclopedia was kept in
order, so I simply wiped his brow. John Hogan was our brilliant
barrister. And there is a story to that.
John had an appealing kind of explanation to everything legal, but he
would clear his voice about every minute and a half. And so we had
a pool in the Minority, every time Ed Madigan would have,
basically, John give a report and on how many times John would
clear his throat. But you had to nail it. You had to nail it
exactly on the number. Joe Skeen picked 18, Bill Emerson had 17, I
had about 22. We all got through and it was right on 18 and that
was it, and Joe Skeen smiled broadly, knowing he had won about a
$50 pool, because nobody had ever nailed it. When I got up and said
John, would you explain that one item to me one more time? Emerson
and Skeen jumped right up and said that is not fair.
Chuck Hilty of Madigan fame had me press his orange and yellow and
green and mauve shirt, all the same shirt. Diane and Wonder Woman
kept us in line. I will never forget the days, after the revolution
in 1994, when the Majority staff actually discovered the basement
rat hole where our staff worked. And I remember the staff director,
I don't know who it was, Vernie or maybe it was Bert and it might
have been Mario. He said you mean people actually inhabited this
place? Yes, we did.
But I digress. That is a Senator's privilege. Kika de la Garza, my
friend, my colleague, respected Chairman Emeritus of the always
then powerful House Agriculture Committee. Kika's attributes and
many accomplishments are listed in his biographical sketch.
Amazingly, for an esteemed Member of Congress, they are all true.
And in a day and age where bipartisan is better now described as
bipolar, I do long for the good old days in the House Agriculture
Committee, where, when I became a Member, we passed Stenholm-
Roberts amendments, too many to mention. Then after the 1994
revolution, many Roberts-Stenholm amendments. And then a little
later, just Roberts amendments. And then I quit and I went to
assisted living.
The days as Chairman, when I would be listening to my colleagues across
the aisle and began to fearlessly jot down notes of rebuttal, that
is when Dale Wayne Moore, now of department fame, would whisper in
my ear, ``Sir, you are the Chairman now. You have the votes. You
don't have to say anything.'' So I just let Tom Harkin go ahead and
say whatever he wanted to say. Actually, Tom was in the Senate
then. That wasn't true. The reason we were successful in some
things during those rather raucous times was due to the experience,
the wisdom, and the commitment of our Chairman Emeritus, who always
put agriculture first.
Now, I am going to tell the infamous submarine story and how we, as
upstart Republicans, gave Kika a miniature, but genuine submarine
from which his story evolved. But the last time I mentioned the
submarine story, and this is a true story, Lucille was standing up
here and she gave me a sharp elbow to the ribs and said, ``Oh, now
you have got him started. We will never get out of here.'' That is
a true story. So Kika, no submarine story, but another one, and a
little bit shorter. It was 1994, ladies and gentlemen, and I was
sitting in front of the television in the Dodge City headquarters.
It was slowly dawning on me that for the first time in 40 years
there would be a new House Agriculture Committee Chairman. More to
the point, it would be me.
I thought of my dad. I thought of my mother. I thought of my family,
and all of the farmers and ranchers in Kansas. All of the great
colleagues and staff I had worked for. I thought of my family, and
the awesome responsibility. I was damn near in tears, when someone
tapped me on the shoulder and said I had a long distance telephone
call from someone whose name he did not understand. So I answered
hello and Kika said, ``I think I have to learn to call you Mr.
Chairman.'' I stammered back, ``Oh, no. No, no, no, Mr. Chairman.
You will always be the Chairman of the Committee. You will be
Chairman Emeritus. You will not be a Ranking Member. But I thank
you for the call and the congratulations.'' There was a pause and
then Kika said, ``I didn't call you to congratulate you. I just
want to know what I am going to do with all of my stuff.''
After that was all done, he agreed to sit down with me and to give me
some advice and counsel. And I suppose that this may end up on
YouTube or something, but we settled on the wellness center and so
there we sat, in the bubble up tubs. There were two. And at any
rate, we were exchanging ideas on pending legislation, on
agriculture program policy, on Members of the Committee. That was a
hoot. And I told him I was concerned over parliamentary procedure.
After all, no Republican had to worry about that or an OMB score
for 40 years. He said don't worry. I will be your parliamentarian
and he was. Every time somebody would offer an amendment over
there, he would put his hands over his mouth and say don't worry,
that will not score. We tried that two years ago and asked about
the GAO study. And I would say you know, didn't I recall there was
a GAO study about that two years ago and the score didn't meet, and
would the gentleman consider withdrawing his amendment. And we got
through it.
Ladies and gentlemen, all of us come here to make a difference. We are
fortunate here tonight to honor a man who has made a positive
difference in the lives of every American and many people in
foreign lands. A good man, a humble man and the Chairman of the
House Agriculture Committee, always. Kika and Lucille, we love you.
It has been a privilege to serve with you and an honor to be able
to call you a friend. I salute you, sir. Thank you.
The Chairman. Well, Charlie, I know that is a hard act to follow, but
we now are pleased to have another great leader of the House
Agriculture Committee for many, many years, somebody I learned a
lot from. I will say, for both Kika and Charlie, for those of you
out here that aren't happy sometimes with what I do, I learned a
lot from these guys, so if you are looking for somebody to blame.
Anyway, we are privileged to have Charlie Stenholm with us, former
Ranking Member and a long-time Member of the Committee and also a
Member from Texas.
REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE CHARLIE STENHOLM
Mr. Stenholm. Kika and Lucille, this has been a mission of a lot of
pleasure that you have brought to Cindy and I. And my wife, Cindy,
is back out here. The family sacrifices and the family
contributions to all of us who have had the privilege of serving in
the United States Congress are well known to everyone, but, quite
often, are understated. And I have to say that I am one of those
that benefited greatly from the inspiration and leadership that you
gave, not only on the Agriculture Committee, but how you led your
life and sharing your family from time to time. That is special.
First time I met Kika de la Garza was in Crosbyton, Texas. He came out,
was kind enough to come out and campaign for Charlie ``Who'' that
wanted to become the next Congressman of the 17th District of Texas
to replace Omar Burleson. Kika comes out to Crosbyton and we have a
full house, 300, 400 people there and he gets carried away, tells
the submarine story and a few other things and promised the people
in that audience that if they elected Charlie Stenholm, he will
guarantee I will be on the House Agriculture Committee. Fast
forward a couple of months or about a year, I get elected, we are
in, the Steering and Policy Committee is meeting. There is one slot
left on the House Agriculture Committee and I am still not on it.
Kika goes to Speaker Tip O'Neill and by the way, Pat, he gave you one
too many rolls. Kika goes to Speaker O'Neill and said, ``Mr.
Speaker, you got to help me. I was out in Crosbyton, Texas. There
were 4,000 men and women from west Texas in that audience and I
promised them that if they elect Charlie Stenholm I will see that
he gets on the Agriculture Committee.'' I forgot the part of the
story, he crawled into the office and begged because this was--
well, the Speaker honored Kika's request and I got on the House
Agriculture Committee.
And then we had a lot of experiences past Crosbyton. You know, we were
in Prague, Czechoslovakia before the fall of the Iron Curtain,
doing a Memorandum of Understanding with Charles University and
Texas A&M University in dealing with their beginning to communicate
with each other. And no matter whether we were in Prague,
Czechoslovakia or we are dealing with Secretary Niconav, the
Secretary of the Soviet Union, or whether we were in Italy at the
World's Wine Fair, Kika always managed to communicate in their
language. Five languages, always perfectly communicating with a
slight Spanish accent to each of the languages. But he was able to
communicate.
I remember once we were appearing before the Rules Committee. Claude
Pepper was the Chairman of the Rules Committee at the time and
Claude looks down at Kika and he says, ``Mr. Chairman, you have an
ag bill you would like to bring before the House?'' ``Yes, sir.''
``Do you have your ducks in a row on this bill?'' And Kika says,
``Mr. Chairman, I am trying to put my ducks in the wagon, but they
keep jumping out. But we will do the best that we can.'' How well I
remember that.
There is a special quality in all of us, and I look out and see so many
colleagues, friends from Texas, Madam Speaker, glad to see you here
today. I know Kika is, also. But as we look out, it is the
friendships that we make and the associations that we have and
those things that nothing will ever take away from us. And just as
I began, I say Kika and Lucille, you have made a great contribution
to the Stenholm family and I know I speak for everyone here that
has come to know you and appreciate you. Those that served with you
and those who worked with you and those who have followed you ever
since, we appreciate you.
And now in closing, I want to share a little bit of news that probably
no one is aware of. You have already heard reference to the
submarine story and I am not going to go into that. And Lucille, I
am far enough away from that elbow. But you know, if today you were
to go down this street to the 17th Street entrance to the World War
II memorial, you would enter on the south side, which is
appropriate for one of the most prominent Members from the South,
Mr. Chairman. There is a series of commemoration plaques that show
the action on the Pacific front during World War II. Along that
wall is one sculpture that commemorates the contribution of
agriculture to our national effort in World War II.
And immediately after the sculpture commemorating agriculture is, you
guessed it, a submarine. So agriculture comes before submarines one
more time. Did Kika strike again? Or should we be thinking of
naming a submarine for Kika de la Garza? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Pena. Ladies and gentlemen, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi,
has just arrived. I will recognize the Speaker now, so she may
deliver her remarks this evening.
REMARKS OF SPECIAL GUEST THE HONORABLE NANCY PELOSI
SPEAKER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Speaker Pelosi. How exciting it is to gather in this room to honor Kika
de la Garza, Mr. Chairman. This is the second portrait unveiling in
this room that I have attended, Kika. The first I attended was for
Speaker Foley in honor of his being Chairman of the Agriculture
Committee. How wonderful that he brought that important value and
that important issue to the speakership. I don't have that
credential as Speaker, because I told them at the time that we did
have one farm in San Francisco. It was a mushroom farm and it was
indoors. But nonetheless, I have a full appreciation of your
leadership and the contribution that agriculture has made to the
war effort at that time and to the strength of our country and our
balance of power.
And if I didn't know that, Chairman Peterson would be reminding me
every minute, so it is an honor to join him, Chairman Peterson,
Charlie Stenholm, my Ranking Member of whom we are very proud and
former Chairman, but now Senator Roberts, to honor this great man.
I was in McAllen, Texas last week and I saw firsthand the affection
and respect that the people of the region have for Kika and for
Lucille. At every stop they were cheered, kissed, hugged and
revered. And I could see, visiting McAllen and Edinburg and other
parts there, why Kika and Lucille wanted to go home. What a
beautiful area, an agriculture area and a patriotic area, Mr.
Stenholm. Very patriotic area contributing greatly in every way to
the strength of our country.
And so here we are, honoring Kika for 32 years of service in the
Congress of the United States, 1965 to what is it, 1997? My
goodness. I had the privilege of serving under him for part of that
time and I saw firsthand a remarkable list of achievements that
would be the envy of any Member. A founding Member of the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He put the issues of that great
community on the national agenda and for that, we are all in your
debt, Kika. He amplified the voice of Hispanic Members and Hispanic
people throughout our country.
As the first Hispanic to lead a standing House Committee, imagine that,
imagine the history of that. Chairman de la Garza left a very
enormous mark on farm policy. One of his most impressive
achievements was stiff competition, mind you, for that designation,
his successful shepherding of three farm bills as Chairman of the
Agriculture Committee. Three farm bills, Collin.
The Chairman. I don't think I----
Speaker Pelosi. We didn't even realize what an accomplishment that was
until a couple of months ago. Tom Buis, stop laughing so loudly
here. As Chairman Peterson and many up here will tell you,
completing a farm bill is a heavy lift. Enacting three is nothing
short of remarkable. Chairman de la Garza presided over the
presentation of those three farm bills and that is a reflection of
his love and understanding of farm country and rural America. As
Chairman, Kika de la Garza streamlined farm loan programs,
protected family farmers with emergency assistance in the very
difficult times of the late 1980s, strengthened rural America and
our nation's nutrition programs and he has many, many more
accomplishments.
It is wonderful to have Chairman de la Garza back in Washington. I see
Angela and other members of the family and certainly, his dear and
beloved and beautiful Lucille. I congratulate you on receiving this
tremendous honor and think it is a real tribute. We have Senator
Harkin, we have Senator Cornyn from Texas, we have many, many
Members of the House and that speaks eloquently to the very
distinguished leadership of Kika de la Garza. Although he has been
gone 10 years now, he is always part of the legacy of this
Congress. Thank you, Kika de la Garza, for your patriotism and for
your leadership to our country. Thank you, Kika.
Mr. Pena. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you, Chairman Peterson,
Senator Roberts and Charlie Stenholm. I would like to recognize
three key Members of the Texas delegation, beginning with Senator
Cornyn, who has graciously come over from the Senate to speak
tonight. Senator Cornyn.
REMARKS OF SENATOR JOHN CORNYN
Mr. Cornyn. For a Member of the United States Senate, I will be
uncharacteristically brief, since Senator Roberts has said just
about everything that could be said. And I always look to him for
guidance on a variety of issues, but particularly, when it comes to
agricultural issues. I am a humble barrister by profession and
while I have consumed vast quantities of agricultural products
during my lifetime, I don't consider myself an expert.
But I do want to say just a couple of words of appreciation to Kika de
la Garza and his wonderful family and say, coming from Texas, he is
a Texas legend and somebody who has done so much for our state and
to advance not only the cause of agriculture, which employs,
roughly, one out of every five Texans, but obviously has made a
tremendous impact here in Washington and across our nation and
literally, around the world. So Kika, thank you for allowing me to
come by and share just a few words of appreciation. Thank you for
your great service, the tremendous impact you have made on this
great Nation and this is a fitting tribute for those many years of
wonderful service. Thank you.
The Chairman. We are going to officially accept this portrait on behalf
of the House of Representatives and we have the Speaker here and
she is the appropriate one to do that, so at this time, I think we
will have Lucille come up and we will unveil the portrait and then
the Speaker will officially accept it and then we will hear some
words from Kika. So if the rest of the delegation wants to come up
from Texas, Hispanic Caucus, the more the merrier.
[Portrait unveiled]
Speaker Pelosi. So on behalf of the Congress of the United States, it
is a great honor to accept this magnificent portrait of Chairman
Kika de la Garza. For a long time to come, anyone who visits the
Congress, visits the Agriculture Committee, will see the energy,
the dedication, the patriotism in this great portrait of Kika.
Congratulations, Kika. You are looking good.
The Chairman. Ruben. Before we have Kika speak, I am going to have the
current Member from Kika's district say a couple of words, Ruben
Hinojosa, my good friend.
REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE RUBEN HINOJOSA
Mr. Hinojosa. Thank you, Collin. I appreciate very much the opportunity
to say a few words. I was very pleased to hear Father Dan and Bert
Pena open the program and delighted to hear Chairman Collin
Peterson and former Chairman Pat Roberts, now Senator Roberts, from
Kansas; Charlie Stenholm. But I also want to acknowledge many of
the current Members of Congress and former Members of Congress who
are here today. I especially want to recognize all of the Members
of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who are here to pay their
respects to the founder, together with Congressman Roybal from
California. These two men and a few others were the ones who
started the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which today celebrates
its 30th anniversary, and we thank each and every one of you who
are here today.
I am pleased to be here with my wife, Marty, and my family, all of us
to honor a great American and a great Texan, the Honorable E Kika
de la Garza. I am very proud to represent the Congressional
District, number 15 from Texas, that Congressman de la Garza
represented, honorably, for over 32 years. When Kika became
Chairman of the this House Agriculture Committee, he was the first
Hispanic, since 1917, to chair a House standing Committee in the
House of Representatives. To hear the words of our speaker, Nancy
Pelosi, in recognizing him for his outstanding and extraordinary
work as Chairman, it gave me great pleasure because I can look up
to Congressman de la Garza, whom I replaced after his retirement,
and look forward to someday trying to do some of the great work
that he did.
During that 15-year tenure as Chairman, Kika successfully led the way
for the House to pass the three omnibus farm bills that were
mentioned earlier. Although we are here tonight to honor his work
on the Agriculture Committee, through the unveiling of his official
portrait, Kika did not just confine his work in Congress to
agriculture issues. In 1976, he became one of the founding Members
of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which he chaired from 1989 to
1991. A strong supporter of civil rights, safeguard for minorities,
Kika fought for improved access to healthcare for the elderly and
for veterans, bettered living conditions for lower income
individuals and the impoverished, and increased access to
educational opportunities for all Americans.
In closing, Marty and I want to recognize his wife, Lucille, who has
been his strongest supporter and who, I am sure, is very proud to
be here tonight to see her husband, Kika, get this well-deserved
honor. Kika and Lucille, my sincere congratulations and thank you
for all your public service to our great country and the great
people of south Texas. God bless you.
The Chairman. Thank you, Ruben, and we have been joined by the Ranking
Member, the current Ranking Member of the House Agriculture
Committee, former Chairman, whose picture we just hung here, we
hung him two or three weeks ago and we are going to hang Kika
tonight. But Bob, we are glad to have you with us. So ladies and
gentlemen, without further ado, my Chairman, always my Chairman,
the Chairman Emeritus of the House Agriculture Committee, Kika de
la Garza.
REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA
Mr. de la Garza. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman. I want to commend you on the great work that you are
doing as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee that I had the
privilege of presiding over for a few years. To all of my
colleagues that are here, those that have left us and gone to the
Senate, Pat Roberts, and my other colleagues that are here, my
family is here with me. We are very proud of our son, Jorge; Jorge
and his wife and his daughter, Laura, and Tina and Jorge. Where are
you, Jorge? There you go. Would you come up here in front? Laura
and Jorge. Jorge is, I can't say it, cardiothoracic surgeon. Our
son, retired Commander of the U.S. Navy, Mike de la Garza. Mike,
Amelia, and our official photographer, Angela.
Thank you so very much. Philip. Where is Philip? There you go. They
said so many nice things about me, I had thought I had died and
gone to heaven. Is this how it is going to be? But I appreciate all
of you being here and the artist that did the painting, the
portrait, is here, also. Thank you so very much. I didn't want to
say I am--I don't know why, by protocol, and I didn't want to be in
a coat and tie with a flag in the background hanging in the
Agriculture Committee, so this young lady pictured it well and did
a good job. Cousin Joe Miller, a nephew. Did I miss anyone?
Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. I hope you enjoy--someone
asked me are you going to have hors d'oeuvres? I said of course.
She asked if they would be light or heavy? She didn't come? She is
in here someplace. She didn't know if she wanted light or heavy
hors d'oeuvres. But everything they said about me was part of a
team effort. Those that work for the Agriculture Committee, those
that worked for the Agriculture Committee through my tenure before
and we were there together, we did it together in a really unusual
way. We were receiving criticism for all the spending that went to
the rich farmers of America and this chart has been to every State
in the Union.
That little line at the bottom, that is all we spent for agriculture.
That is it. I would show this chart in Chicago, and New York, says,
``What, all the rich farmers are getting richer?'' No, we are not.
We are giving you all the good food that you eat and the now famous
submarine story. I was invited--they come, freshmen, young members,
they come from the military to greet you and to welcome you. When
the Navy fellow came, he said I see you are an old Navy fellow. I
said, ``Yes, I was in the Navy. Can you help me get onboard a
ship?'' He said, ``Sure, when do you want to go?'' Because I was in
the Navy and never had been on a ship. He says, ``When do you want
to go? Let me know.''
So couple of weeks later, he came by, a Commander, and said, ``We got
you. You are going on a Navy ship.'' It was the USS Macon, CA132.
It was someone from Georgia here. The Macon was a ship that I went
on. When we were out there, I asked the Commander how about
submarines? He said, ``Well, we will see about you going on a
submarine.'' So a couple of weeks later they invited me to come on
a submarine and there we were, out in the Gulf of Mexico, into the
Atlantic. You may have heard about some whales jumping on land and
getting out of the water? That was me in my submarine. But we did
it.
Finally, I asked the commander, how, knowing that this was the height
of the confrontation with the Soviet Union and they knew where our
ships were, in port or at sea, they knew where our planes were, on
the ground or flying. They knew where everything was, except one
thing. They didn't know where that submarine was. And that is what
saved us from the Soviet Union going after us because they didn't
know where that submarine was. And this is what saved us, this is
what kept us safe.
But the most important part, and I tell it to you here, I asked the
commander, how long can you keep this thing underwater? He says,
``Oh, take a guess.'' I said, ``I don't know, one year, two years,
three years?'' He said, ``No. You are in the Congress?'' ``Yes, of
course.'' ``You are on the Agriculture Committee?'' ``Yes.'' He
said we can keep this submarine underwater as long as we have food
for our crew. That was the secret. So who saved us from all that
happened with the Soviet Union? It was the farmers and ranchers of
America.
They did it for us and I was proud to be a very small part of that
endeavor, but had it not been for the farmers and ranchers of
America, we would have been just another nation without enough food
to sustain ourselves, so thank you, farmers and ranchers of
America. I say it right here, in the Agriculture Committee, that I
had the privilege and honor of presiding and thank you for this
beautiful--I am not leaning on the fence because I am tired. I am
leaning because I am proud of what is behind me: Santa Gertrudis
cattle and the grass and the fence.
I might tell you a little personal--the name of the Santa Gertrudis
originally came from the now famous King Ranch. But it was named
Santa Gertrudis because it belonged to the de la Garza family. The
mother of the de la Garzas was named Cruz, so they named the ranch
Santa Cruz de la Garza because it belonged to a de la Garza family
and the mother of the de la Garzas was named Gertrudis, so they
named the ranch Santa Gertrudis de la Garza, which I don't know how
far down the line I came, but I am proud of it. I am proud of it.
So this has been a team effort. To those of you that worked on the
Committee with us and helped three omnibus farm bills and a
multitude of other bills for the U.S., for the world, for America
and for you, who partake of the bounty of our great agricultural
system. So thank you very much. God bless America and God bless
agriculture.
Mr. Pena. Ladies and gentleman, I would like to recognize the Dean of
the Hispanic Caucus and a senior Member of Congress from Texas, the
Honorable Solomon Ortiz.
REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE SOLOMON P. ORTIZ
Mr. Ortiz. Thank you. Even before I came to Congress, Kika was already
a star and he was my mentor, after I took half of the district that
Kika represented, Brownsville and all the way to Kleberg County. I
know it has been a long time coming, but we come here to honor a
great American. I will never forget when they opened a Bingo site,
we had a big ceremony and all of the community was there and all
the leaders were there. Even winter Texans were there. When we saw
Kika, when the winter Texans came over and they saw those tall
aviators, tall, and Kika, this lady came to Kika and she said,
``Kika, how come you are so short?'' And he said let me tell you
why. He says I served in a submarine and the bunks were so small
that they did not give me a chance to grow.
But Kika, we are here to honor you because of your leadership and your
family. It takes the efforts of a great family, a wife and the
children. I will never forget, when I came to the first Hispanic
Caucus meeting, I was one of six Hispanics when I came to Congress
and Kika stood up and he said somebody once said that behind a man
is a great woman. Lucille stood up. He says not behind, besides a
man. So Kika, we are just here to honor you today and to wish you
the best. You have been a great role model for all of us, not only
in south Texas, but throughout the country. Congratulations.
Mr. Pena. I am looking around for Members of Congress who would like to
speak now. If not, of course, we want to thank the Friends of
Agriculture Portrait Committee, including the American Peanut
Shellers Association, U.S. Sugar Corporation, Chicago Mercantile
Exchange, and so many others who contributed to making the portrait
possible. Dalton Yancey is here. He started with us a long time ago
to put this together. Vernie Hubert is here, Fred Clark and others,
including Mario Castillo. I want to thank Debbie Smith. Debbie,
thank you for your hard work and dedication to the Committee on
Agriculture, and thank you for guiding us through the process. And
I would like to recognize Jena Rawley-Whitaker, the artist who
painted the beautiful painting, for a few words.
REMARKS OF JENA RAWLEY-WHITAKER
Ms. Rawley-Whitaker. I just want to say that when I found out I was
going to paint a Congressman and a Chairman of the Agriculture
Committee, I was relieved to know he would be in jeans and a cowboy
shirt. You know, there is just something about a man in boots. And
so I really was thrilled to get to do that. I want to tell you that
in recent times, as an Executive Director of a homeless shelter in
Amarillo, I have come to discover that I am in touch with
legislation and programs that Kika de la Garza put into place, so
that I can minister to the veterans, we have a lot of homeless
veterans; the immigrants and the elderly that come to us. They are
helpless, they are hopeless. They have nothing and they don't know
what to do. And through Kika de la Garza and his work that he did
in these areas, championing these minority groups and these little
groups that have no hope of making it work for them. I just want to
say, for example, in August, this August, we fed 14,000 people in
our little homeless shelter in Amarillo, Texas and that was because
of a food bank program that Chairman de la Garza put into place. So
I just want to honor him for that today. Thank you.
Mr. Pena. I thank all of you for being here tonight. I would like to
call on the chaplain of the U.S. House, Father Dan Coughlin, to
give us the benediction.
BENEDICTION
Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Father Coughlin. Mr. de la Garza, I tell you, there is a scripture
story. The story stays alive as long as there is a story teller.
Obviously, tonight your story will live on and on. Let us pray.
We bless you and praise you, Lord God of creation, for your abundance
and resources you have poured on this nation. May the American
people always rejoice in a rich harvest of the fields and
productive herds as they grow in compassion for the poor and the
hungry at home and around the world. We bless you and we praise
you, Lord, our redeemer, for the good work, past and present of the
House Committee on Agriculture. May their endeavors on policies and
laws increase both production and protection of America's food and
lead to even more responsible trade with our neighbors.
And finally, tonight, Lord, this gathering of family and friends are
truly your sign of Kika's blessings in life. We ask you and praise
you, as a source of life and love, for the Honorable Kika de la
Garza, his wife, their three children and seven grandchildren. May
this celebration affirm the gratitude of colleagues, the people of
Texas and of this nation for a job well done and express their
prayerful hope for long life and happiness and health which you
alone can give, Lord, for you reward the good and the just forever
and ever. Amen.
[Whereupon, at 7:05 p.m., the ceremony was adjourned.]
Guests
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
103rd Congress
E. (Kika) de la Garza, Texas, Chairman
GEORGE E. BROWN, Jr., California, PAT ROBERTS, Kansas,
Vice Chairman Ranking Minority Member
CHARLIE ROSE, North Carolina BILL EMERSON, Missouri
GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma STEVE GUNDERSON, Wisconsin
LEON E. PANETTA, California TOM LEWIS, Florida
DAN GLICKMAN, Kansas ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH, Oregon
CHARLES W. STENHOLM, Texas LARRY COMBEST, Texas
HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri DAVE CAMP, Michigan
TIMOTHY J. PENNY, Minnesota WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado
TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota BILL BARRETT, Nebraska
MIKE EPSY, Mississippi JIM NUSSLE, Iowa
BILL SARPALIUS, Texas JOHN A. BOEHNER, Ohio
JILL L. LONG, Indiana THOMAS W. EWING, Illinois
GARY A. CONDIT, California JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California
COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota JACK KINGSTON, Georgia
CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia
EVA M. CLAYTON, North Carolina JAY DICKEY, Arkansas
DAVID MINGE, Minnesota RICHARD W. POMBO, California
EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida
JAY INSLEE, Washington NICK SMITH, Michigan
THOMAS J. BARLOW III, Kentucky TERRY EVERETT, Alabama
EARL POMEROY, North Dakota FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma
TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania RON LEWIS, Kentucky
CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia
SCOTT BAESLER, Kentucky
KAREN L. THURMAN, Florida
SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia
BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi
SAM FARR, California
PAT WILLIAMS, Montana
BLANCHIE M. LAMBERT, Arkansas
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Professional Staff
Dianne Powell, Staff Director
Vernie Hubert, Chief Counsel/Legislative Director
Gary R. Mitchell, Minority Staff Director
Glenda L. Temple, Hearing Clerk
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