[House Prints, 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


 
                              A Ceremony 

                           Unveiling the Portrait 

                                   of


                             THE HONORABLE

                           COLLIN C. PETERSON


                   [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                         Tuesday, April 5, 2011

                        1300 Longworth Building
                            Washington, D.C.





















                            COMMITTEE PRINT

                               A Ceremony

                           Unveiling the Portrait

                                   of

                             THE HONORABLE

                           COLLIN C. PETERSON

        A Representative in Congress from the State of Minnesota
                        January 3, 1991-Present

                     Elected to the 102nd Congress
                Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture
       One Hundred Tenth through One Hundred Eleventh Congresses

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                              PROCEEDINGS

                               before the

                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                     U.S. House of Representatives

                             April 5, 2011

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
                           WASHINGTON : 2011
65-894 PDF

_______________________________________________________________________

                               A Ceremony

                         Unveiling the Portrait

                                   of

                             THE HONORABLE

                           COLLIN C. PETERSON

                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                     U.S. House of Representatives

                         Tuesday, April 5, 2011

_______________________________________________________________________

                                [ iii ]


                    The Honorable Collin C. Peterson

    Collin Peterson was first elected to the U.S. House of 
Representatives from the Seventh Congressional District of 
Minnesota in 1990. His primarily rural and agricultural 
district reaches from the Canadian border in the north, almost 
to the Iowa state line in the south; along Minnesota's border 
with North and South Dakota.
    Peterson currently serves as Ranking Minority Member of the 
House Agriculture Committee. He was named the Ranking Member of 
the Agriculture Committee in January 2005 and then served as 
Chairman from January 2007 until January of 2011. The House 
Committee on Agriculture has jurisdiction over a wide range of 
agriculture and rural development issues, including the Farm 
Bill, renewable energy, disaster assistance, nutrition, crop 
insurance, conservation, rural development, international 
trade, futures market regulation, animal and plant health, 
agricultural research, bioterrorism, forestry, and others.
    Congressman Peterson grew up on a farm near Glyndon, 
Minnesota and was educated in the local public schools. He 
graduated from Minnesota State University-Moorhead in 1966 with 
a double major in Business Administration and Accounting, and 
also served in the North Dakota National Guard from 1963 to 
1969. Before being elected to the House of Representatives, he 
was a Certified Public Accountant and small business owner in 
Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and also served for 10 years in the 
Minnesota State Senate.
    In the 1960's, Peterson also found time to play guitar and 
sing with a band known as ``Collin and the Establishment.'' He 
is a musician, and in recent years he has performed with Willie 
Nelson at Farm Aid concerts, jazz legend Lonnie Brooks, with 
several other Members of Congress at the Grand Ole Opry in 
Nashville, and with rock guitarist Jeff ``Skunk'' Baxter at 
several Washington, D.C. venues. He is a member of the American 
Legion's Ninth District Band.
    Peterson has organized and played in Congressional rock 
bands, including The Amendments and the Second Amendments. He 
and his colleagues have performed at charity events in 
Washington, D.C. The Second Amendments also performed for U.S. 
troops in Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan and 
performed at WE Fest in Minnesota and Farm Aid in Illinois.
    Peterson is a private pilot who often flies his own single-
engine plane to get around his large district and visit with 
his constituency. He also is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys 
hunting and fishing whenever time permits.
    During his public service career, Peterson has been a 
strong advocate for farmers and small business owners, and a 
leader on both Federal tax policy and conservation issues. He 
has been a leader on the last three Farm Bills passed by 
Congress. He is a founding member of the conservative 
Democrats' ``Blue Dog'' Coalition, which continues to be a 
voice for fiscal responsibility and pragmatic government 
policies.
    Peterson has taken a leading role in Congress promoting 
biofuels as a homegrown way for America to meet its growing 
energy needs, and he has introduced legislation to expand 
biofuel production and use. Peterson's leadership led to the 
successful passage of the 2008 Farm Bill, which preserved the 
safety net for farmers while making historic new investments in 
food, farm and conservation programs that are priorities for 
all Americans.
                              ----------                              


                            About the Artist

    Leslie W. Bowman is an award-winning portrait artist. An 
honors graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she 
started her career as an illustrator of books for young readers 
and produced more than 20 published titles. In 2004 Leslie 
followed her passion for portraiture. Later that year she won 
Best in Show at the Minnesota Lake Country Pastel Society's 
Annual Juried Exhibit. She is also the recipient of the Pastel 
Society of America's Board of Directors Award and The Art 
Spirit Foundation/Dianne B. Bernard Gold Medal Award for 
Excellence given in the Pastel 100 Competition by Pastel 
Journal.
    Combining the accuracy of traditional portraiture with the 
directness of contemporary realism, Leslie's portraits 
luminously reflect her subject's inner qualities to reveal a 
likeness that radiates warmth as well as her subject's life and 
values.
    Her work hangs in the Rayburn Congressional Office Building 
in Washington, D.C.; The Johns Hopkins Hospital Library in 
Baltimore, MD; William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN; 
The Rosalie Wahl Public Library in Lake Elmo, MN and in private 
collections.
    Leslie lives and works in Minneapolis, MN.

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Invocation

Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin

Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives

Presentation of Portrait

The Honorable Frank D. Lucas

Chairman, Committee on Agriculture

Remarks

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

The Honorable Bob Goodlatte



Address

The Honorable Collin C. Peterson

Unveiling of Portrait

The Peterson Family

Special Guest

The Honorable John A. Boehner

Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives

Leslie W. Bowman, Artist

Benediction

Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin

Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives

       The Unveiling and Presentation of the Official Portrait of

                    THE HONORABLE COLLIN C. PETERSON

                         TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2011
                          House of Representatives,
                             Committee on Agriculture
                                                       Washington, D.C.

                      REMARKS OF DAVID A. BIEGING

                          Master of Ceremonies
Mr. Bieging. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention. My name 
    is Dave Bieging, and I have the privilege of being able to call 
    Collin a friend since he arrived at the Minnesota Senate about 35 
    years ago.
I want to thank all of you for coming. A special thank you to the 
    sponsors of this effort who are listed in the program; most of all 
    to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. I believe Paul McGuire is 
    here from the Historical Society, who has made this possible, and 
    we appreciate their work.
I want to recognize Debbie Smith from the House Agriculture Committee 
    staff, who has done more work on this than anybody else. Cherie 
    Slayton and Martha Josephson and all the staff have done a great 
    job.
It is first my privilege to introduce the Chaplain of the House of 
    Representatives Father Daniel Coughlin.

                               INVOCATION

                      Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Father Coughlin. Let us pray.
On the first floor of the Capitol Building over the door of the room of 
    H-130 are inscribed these words of Daniel Webster: ``When tillage 
    begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders 
    of human civilization.'' Tonight, Lord God, as we celebrate the 
    service and leadership of the Honorable Collin C. Peterson, we 
    stand with farmers, Minnesota constituents, House Delegates, 
    colleagues, and the Peterson family to praise and thank You, Lord, 
    for this down-to-Earth gentleman who has graced our lives and 
    served the people of this country with caring dignity and fortitude 
    through the years. May this portrait, Lord, which may reveal even 
    some of his inner strengths and musical nature, cast his living 
    memory upon this Chamber of hard work on behalf of the Agriculture 
    Committee in addressing the problems, enhancing the potential, and 
    protecting the benefits of farming in this Nation.
Lord, in the world of practical civilization, his is truly a great 
    American story which we refer to You tonight; a story of farming, 
    business, family, and government service. Bring his hopes and 
    dreams for his own family and for rural Americans across this land 
    to a realized blessing by Your divine providence both now and for 
    years to come. Amen.
Mr. Bieging. And now I will introduce the gentleman whose room we are 
    standing in, the new Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee 
    from Oklahoma, Frank D. Lucas.

          PRESENTATION OF THE PORTRAIT BY HON. FRANK D. LUCAS

                   Chairman, Committee on Agriculture
The Chairman. Thank you, David.
And thank you all for coming today.
This is a very important and a very auspicious occasion to come to the 
    main hearing room of the House Agriculture Committee. I think most 
    of you in this room, who have been a part of the process, know that 
    by history and by action, the Agriculture Committee has been one of 
    the least partisan and most certainly one of the most bipartisan 
    committees in Congress. Now, that's not to say that we don't have 
    disagreements based on regional perspectives or disagreements 
    between commodity perspectives, but the fact of the matter is the 
    46 people who work very diligently in this room for rural American 
    production ag, when we write a Farm Bill, we come together.
I have served with Collin in this room for almost two decades, and I 
    have personally watched the relationship between Mr. de la Garza 
    and Mr. Roberts in the 1996 Farm Bill, the relationship between Mr. 
    Combest and Mr. Stenholm in the 2002 Farm Bill, and, yes, the 
    relationship between Mr. Peterson and Mr. Goodlatte in the 2008 
    Farm Bill, that relationship of Chairman and Ranking Member, no 
    matter which was which, working together. At this time next year, 
    we will be in the process of crafting another Farm Bill, and I 
    think I am very certain when I say, yes, I might be a conservative 
    Republican, but my Blue Dog Democratic friend back here and I will 
    have that same kind of a relationship as we work to put the 2012 
    Farm Bill together.
You know, Collin, not many people get to bring their own band to their 
    event. Maybe I am a little envious. Maybe I'm a lot envious. But 
    thank you all for coming today to the Agriculture Committee room on 
    this very important occasion.
Mr. Bieging. And now I would like to introduce the Democratic Leader of 
    the House, Nancy Pelosi.

                 REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE NANCY PELOSI
Ms. Pelosi. Thank you very much, David. It's really a great honor for 
    me, as Leader, to be here with so many colleagues on both sides of 
    the aisle, some Members, some former Members, all here to sing the 
    praises and applaud the great leadership of Chairman and now 
    Ranking Member Collin Peterson.
Collin, this is the third time I have spoken at an unveiling of a 
    portrait: Tom Foley some years ago; Kika de la Garza, not that long 
    ago; and now the great honor of speaking as you have the unveiling 
    of your portrait. To be here with your family and friends, from 
    your colleagues, Senator Klobuchar making the trip all the way over 
    from the other side of the Capitol.
But let me say this: When the Father was speaking, he said, ``thank you 
    for this down-to-Earth gentleman.'' It sounded farm-like to me. My 
    remarks, should I read them, say that he is a man who never forgets 
    his roots. Sounds like farm talk to me. But we know him as a leader 
    in agriculture and the proud service he gave us in this room, and 
    he continues to do so.
Many of us have seen him on the Intelligence Committee, where he has 
    brought heartland values to the defense of our country, where he 
    has traveled the world to make judgments and to inform his 
    colleagues of his perspective on our national security and how we 
    protect the American people, which is our first responsibility. I 
    have seen him fight on the problems that the derivatives market had 
    caused to Main Street, as some who were reckless on Wall Street in 
    terms of derivatives affected joblessness on Main Street. And 
    Collin was there. And he knows his stuff. You know, he just knows 
    his stuff. So if he's in the room or he's at the conference table, 
    you know that the American consumer, the American investor, the 
    American farmer, the American people will be protected.
I have also seen him at Farmfest in Minnesota, and that was a treat all 
    in itself. We went to Farmfest, and we went to a couple of their 
    stops to see an ethanol plant and then a turkey litter recycling 
    plant. That was very exciting.
When we were at Farmfest, I became familiar with a new delicacy, pork 
    chop on a stick. So I was eating all these pork chops. They were so 
    fabulous. And when we got to Marshall, which was our fourth stop, 
    and we flew there, a man came up to me and said, ``You really 
    enjoyed those pork chops on a stick, didn't you? I was the chef who 
    made them.'' And I said, ``Well, you know what, I am away from my 
    husband this weekend. If I could go home with the recipe for pork 
    chop on a stick, I would be redeemed.'' And he said, ``I just have 
    one word to say to you: butter. Slather it with butter.'' So 
    anyway, that's my gift to you this evening.
Many of us know Collin from Intelligence, he is a Member of Congress, 
    the Agriculture Committee, his great work with Mr. Goodlatte. I 
    learned more from Mr. Peterson when they were working together to 
    write that Farm Bill than on any subject ever in the Congress. And 
    he has a wonderful perspective, and you could see the love that he 
    has for the land, the respect that he has for farmers, the need for 
    the rest of us to know about all of that, and to have a bill that 
    was not only about farmers, it was about nutrition. It was about 
    conservation. It was about biofuels. It was a bill for the future.
So all of us have, in one way or another, come into his network, some 
    in one aspect of his legislative career, but all of us have danced 
    to his music, the Second Amendments. I see we are going to be 
    honored with that.
So, Collin, on behalf of all our colleagues in the Congress--and you 
    are right, Chairman Lucas, and thank you for your hospitality. This 
    has been a committee that has operated in a very bipartisan way as 
    a great example to the rest of the Congress. And so has the Second 
    Amendments band. They create great harmony in a bipartisan way. And 
    I know that the sooner I end, the sooner we will listen to the 
    music.
So I want to thank you for allowing me to be a part of this. And we are 
    all very curious to see what form this beautiful painting will 
    take. Thank you all very much.
Mr. Bieging. I see Secretary Tom Vilsack here.
Thank you for being here, Tom.
Chairman Gensler from the CFTC is here as well. Thank you for being 
    here.
Now I would like to call on the Congressman from the Star City of 
    Roanoke, Bob Goodlatte.

                 REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE BOB GOODLATTE
Mr. Goodlatte. Thank you.
Well, Collin, having just gone through this myself just a few years 
    ago, I know what a great experience, what a great honor this is. 
    And I know what a great process you've been through selecting an 
    artist. And we all want to see the work that has been produced. I 
    have given you a few suggestions about what I think should be in 
    there. I don't think you have taken them.
You know, Collin has been a pilot for many, many years, and that's 
    certainly something to consider for a portrait. He has been 
    shooting birds out of the sky for a long time. And his music makes 
    all of our hearts soar. But I like what Father Coughlin said 
    because I really think it's the most apt description of Collin 
    Peterson, and that is he's a down-to-Earth guy.
And I worked with Charlie Stenholm my first 2 years as Chairman, and 
    when Charlie didn't come back, I suddenly got Collin, who I had 
    known for many years, but hadn't worked with very closely. And we 
    had to build a relationship, and we did. And he's become a great 
    friend both when I was having the opportunity to be Chairman and 
    when he was Chairman. We had a great partnership. It didn't seem to 
    matter a whole lot how much input we had, who was holding the 
    gavel. I think, as Frank said, that's an indication of how this 
    Committee has worked in a very bipartisan way to get things done 
    for American agriculture. And certainly Collin Peterson has played 
    a key role in that over the last many years and is well deserving 
    of having this portrait, even if there is not a guitar or a rifle 
    or an airplane in it. I don't know what we are going to see in it.
But I'm glad that so many of his friends and our friends are out here 
    today to celebrate this day with him. And he certainly has my best 
    wishes and my thanks for being a great friend, a great partner for 
    American agriculture.
Collin, congratulations.
Mr. Bieging. And now without further ado, let's hear from Collin 
    Peterson.

              REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE COLLIN C. PETERSON
Mr. Peterson. I get to speak before Speaker Boehner? You know how long-
    winded I am, right?
Well, thank you very much. Thank you for all of you being here this 
    evening.
David, thank you for helping put this together.
And, Debbie, you did a great job. I did not want to do this. This is 
    not my style, you know? And she kept bugging me, and finally we 
    found an artist. And then the artist told me that I was going to 
    have to sit there for 3 or 4 hours. There's no way in hell that's 
    going to happen. So I did give her about 10 minutes to take some 
    pictures, and she came back with a sketch, and it was pretty good. 
    I thought it was fine. It was good as far as I was concerned. She 
    took about 10 minutes more of pictures. So that was quite a bit for 
    me to put up with. But anyway, we got them done.
So I see a lot of my colleagues here.
Senator Klobuchar, I appreciate you coming over.
She did a great job for us in Minnesota. We are counting on her to help 
    us get a good Farm Bill out of the Senate, and I know it's going to 
    happen.
We have a lot of my colleagues here. Don Young stuck around. My good 
    buddy, former Chairman Buck McKeon, another Chairman. I have a lot 
    of chairmen here. Chairman John Kline from Minnesota. Chip 
    Cravaack, a new Member from Minnesota. Jean Schmidt. Joe Baca. They 
    are bipartisan right up in front. I'm going to forget somebody. Tim 
    Walz. How could I forget Tim? And Mr. Boswell, Rosa DeLauro, John 
    Larson. Who am I missing? Mike Conaway. David Scott. Ralph Hall, 
    one of my oldest buddies. If Ralph will stick around, Ralph and I 
    do a wonderful rendition of Wolverton Mountain.
We have sung together how many times, Ralph?
Mr. Hall. About 100.
Mr. Peterson. Ralph and I are going to sing a little Wolverton Mountain 
    if you stick around.
I don't know who else I missed here. We have former Congressman Mike 
    Sandlin and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. And Joe Donnelly. Larry 
    Kissell is here. Anyway, we have a great turnout. We appreciate you 
    all being here.
But I wanted to introduce my family, if I could. I have my father here. 
    He is Lauren Peterson. He is only 91 years old. So they came out. 
    And my son Sean, his wife Kristen, and my granddaughters Karly and 
    Karis right over here. They are from northern Minnesota, about 60 
    miles north of me. They teach school, both of them, up in northern 
    Minnesota. My middle son lives in Minneapolis, works for Microsoft, 
    and travels around the country some. And my youngest son Elliott, 
    and his wife Janae, and my granddaughter Tori. And Collin, my 
    grandson, who is 16 now, could not be here because he got one of 
    the leading roles in Phantom of the Opera. He is quite a musician 
    himself, singer, and they could not get away from the rehearsals 
    because they are going to start this weekend or whatever. So people 
    back home have told me I have got to hang in there another 9 years, 
    and then he will be able to run for Congress. They will never know 
    the difference.
Anyway, so they are all here. And then I have over 50 people from my 
    family. Back around are all my family. They brought a bus out from 
    Minnesota. There is 50 of them or so on the bus. It took them over 
    24 hours.
So I have six sisters. Why don't my sisters stand up. Carol, my oldest 
    sister; Connie, over here; and Mary, Karen, and Trish, and 
    Margaret. And the rest of the husbands and wives and nieces and 
    nephews. And last night we were over at the Capitol, and it was 
    quite a commotion trying to keep them all organized.
But we have a big family, and they're having a good time, except this 
    morning. They went to the White House for the White House tour, and 
    they get over there, and they're standing outside the White House, 
    and it poured. And they didn't have umbrellas and whatever, so they 
    got a little wet. But anyway, I very much appreciate everybody 
    being here.
It's been a tremendous honor for me to not only serve my district in 
    Minnesota for the last 21 years now, but also to have the 
    opportunity to serve on the Agriculture Committee and to be able to 
    have the opportunity to serve as Chairman. It doesn't happen for 
    very many people, and it's one of those deals where I was just in 
    the right place at the right time, and you know, things happen.
I had a great committee to work with. Bob Goodlatte couldn't have been 
    a better colleague. We overcame two vetoes and a lot of other stuff 
    that went on in between, but we got a good product out and were 
    successful, and there were many nights when I was not so sure that 
    we were going to be successful. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep 
    there for a couple of years.
And Larry Combest, I think, is here, too. There he is way in the back, 
    another one of our great former chairmen. And, Larry, I'm going to 
    say this: You know, you wrote the best Farm Bill except for the one 
    that Bob and I both wrote. But Larry did a great job as Chairman, 
    and we have, as was said earlier, a long history of bipartisanship, 
    working together for the good of America.
In this Committee it's not about Democrats and Republicans; it's about 
    what we think is the right thing for the country. And I am just 
    proud to be able to serve what I think are the real people in the 
    country. And I get a chance to go all over and meet folks in every 
    part of the United States, and that's been one of the joys of this. 
    And the farmers and the people that are in the rural areas, they're 
    the real people. They still make things. They make this country 
    work. They're the ones that supply most of the kids for the 
    military that keep this country safe. And they're the real deal. So 
    I am proud to be able to have been able to serve and do my part.
So thank you all very much for being here.
And what are we going to do now, Debbie? Okay. We're going to have my 
    dad. The Speaker is going to come over, Speaker Boehner. I guess 
    we're going to unveil it, and then you're going to make a speech.

         REMARKS OF SPECIAL GUEST THE HONORABLE JOHN A. BOEHNER

                 SPEAKER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Speaker Boehner. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.
Mr. Peterson, that is your son. I know it doesn't look like him, but 
    that is your son.
Let me try to be brief because I know a lot of people have been 
    standing for a long time.
It's nice for me to be back in the Agriculture Committee. I certainly 
    have a lot of very good memories of serving in this room. And I 
    don't know how many of you are aware of this, but Collin and I came 
    to Congress together 21--well, 20 years and 5 months ago, whatever 
    it's been, and we came and served on the Agriculture Committee 
    together. It's not as though we agree every day on everything, but 
    we always had a very, very good relationship.
This is a nice portrait, but I am not sure that it captures the true 
    Renaissance man that we know as Collin Peterson. I mean, think 
    about this, how many people can fly an airplane, wield a guitar, 
    wield a gavel, wield a rifle and a voting card? But he's dangerous 
    with all of them is what I know.
Collin, I think you have said it best earlier. You know, we get an 
    opportunity to serve here in Congress, and we get to put our 
    fingerprints on a lot of history. But you know, we all come, we all 
    go. And the greatest part of our jobs is that we get to meet people 
    that we would have never met but for the fact that we were in 
    Congress and got to meet people in our districts who we would never 
    know, got to meet people all over the country that we would never 
    know, and got to work with people here that we would have never 
    known. I will get it out.
You know, Collin, you were introducing your brothers and sisters, and I 
    couldn't help but remember the one night that somebody asked me to 
    name my 11 brothers and sisters. I was fine, bang, bang, bang, 
    bang. I got through 10 of the 11. I am looking at my one brother. I 
    would see his face, but his name never came out. So a good job. You 
    almost missed the last one.
But anyway, Collin, I'm going to say thank you for your service to the 
    House, your service to the Agriculture Committee. I congratulate 
    you on your Chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee. And I know 
    it's a proud moment for you to have your portrait hung in this room 
    where you've spent so many wonderful hours. And with that, it's my 
    great honor and privilege to accept this portrait into the 
    collection of the United States House of Representatives. Thank you 
    all very much.
Mr. Bieging. Mr. Speaker, it says a lot about you and a lot about your 
    relationship with Collin that you are here. I think you are the 
    busiest man in Washington today.
I want to introduce to you the artist who has painted this wonderful 
    portrait, Leslie Bowman, based in Minneapolis. She paints portraits 
    around the country. She does a terrific job. She is a wonderful 
    person to work with as well. Say hello and thanks to Leslie Bowman.

                      REMARKS OF LESLIE W. BOWMAN
Ms. Bowman. I just want to say thank you very much. Thank you, 
    Congressman Peterson, for the 20 minutes. I didn't realize how 
    valuable they were until now. And I have to thank Debbie and 
    Cherie, who really made this thing happen. It's a real honor. Thank 
    you all very much.
Mr. Bieging. Okay. Well, I think that's it. We are going to have the 
    Chaplain come up here in a second. The band is going to fire up 
    here shortly. So anybody that wants to can stick around.
Mr. Peterson. We have a new Member, Steve Fincher, who is a new Member 
    from Tennessee that was elected last year. He is on the Agriculture 
    Committee. It turns out he is an accomplished bass player and 
    singer. His family has a gospel music business, I guess. His dad 
    and uncles have been singing for 60 years, and so he has joined the 
    band. We still haven't found a Member that is a drummer. So we are 
    still relying on former--oh, there he is. This is Mr. Fincher. He 
    is now one of my good buddies. He is a heck of a musician.
Kenny Hulshof, who a lot of you know, was a Congressman from Missouri 
    for many years and ran for Governor in 2008. He was not successful, 
    but now he is back as a lawyer or whatever, a lobbyist. I guess you 
    don't like being called a lobbyist. So he is here when we're here. 
    So we have got him back in the band. So we're counting him as a 
    Member, too.
So we are, as far as we know, the only Congressional, parliamentary and 
    rock and roll band in the world, and we have a good time.
Anyway, thank you all very much. And we'll get to the Chaplain.

                              BENEDICTION

                      Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin
Reverend Coughlin. We are going to ask for God's blessing while they 
    get set up.
May the Lord bless and increase crops and livestock for us and products 
    of this Earth. May continued efforts to the science, conservation, 
    and investment enhance the future of America's growth.
Lord, bless the efforts of the House Agriculture Committee, its 
    Members, and staff. May their collaborative work better the family 
    life of America's farmers and feed the hungry wherever they may be.
God, our Creator, bless Congressman Collin C. Peterson, his family, and 
    friends. Grant him health, happiness, peace of heart, and joyful 
    music now and forever. Amen.
[Whereupon, at 6:33 p.m., the portrait unveiling concluded.]

                                 Guests

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                             111TH CONGRESS

                COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota, Chairman

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania,             FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma, Ranking 
  Vice Chairman                         Minority Member
MIKE McINTYRE, North Carolina         BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia
LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa              JERRY MORAN, Kansas
JOE BACA, California                  TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois
DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California         SAM GRAVES, Missouri
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia                  MIKE ROGERS, Alabama
JIM MARSHALL, Georgia                 STEVE KING, Iowa
STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN, South      RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas
  Dakota                              K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas                  JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
JIM COSTA, California                 JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio
BRAD ELLSWORTH, Indiana               ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska
TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota            DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee
STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin                BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
KURT SCHRADER, Oregon                 GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
DEBORAH L. HALVORSON, Illinois        BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana
KATHLEEN A. DAHLKEMPER,               CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
  Pennsylvania                        THOMAS J. ROONEY, Florida
BOBBY BRIGHT, Alabama
BETSY MARKEY, Colorado
FRANK KRATOVIL, Jr., Maryland
MARK H. SCHAUER, Michigan
LARRY KISSELL, North Carolina
JOHN A. BOCCIERI, Ohio
SCOTT MURPHY, New York
WILLIAM L. OWENS, New York
EARL POMEROY, North Dakota
TRAVIS W. CHILDERS, Mississippi
WALT MINNICK, Idaho

                                --------

                           Professional Staff

                      Robert L. Larew, Chief of Staff
                     Andrew W. Baker, Chief Counsel
                  Liz Friedlander, Communications Director
                    Nicole Scott, Minority Staff Director

                                 

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