[House Prints, 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                 A Ceremony
                                
                              Unveiling the Portrait
                              
                                      of
                                      
                                 THE HONORABLE
                                 
                                K. MICHAEL CONAWAY
                                

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                            Tuesday, September 15, 2020

                               1300 Longworth Building
                                  Washington, D.C.





                                COMMITTEE PRINT
                            
                            
                                   A Ceremony
                                
                              Unveiling the Portrait
                              
                                      of
                                      
                                 THE HONORABLE
                                 
                                K. MICHAEL CONAWAY
                                
                A Representative in Congress from the State of Texas
                                January 3, 2005-Present

                            Elected to the 109th Congress
                     Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture
              One Hundred Fourteenth through One Hundred Fifteenth Congresses

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                              PROCEEDINGS

                               before the

                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                     U.S. House of Representatives

                           September 15, 2020

                   U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
42-620 PDF                     WASHINGTON : 2020


_______________________________________________________________________
 

                               A Ceremony

                         Unveiling the Portrait

                                   of

                             THE HONORABLE

                           K. MICHAEL CONAWAY

                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                     U.S. House of Representatives

                      Tuesday, September 15, 2020

_______________________________________________________________________

                                [ iii ]

 
                    The Honorable K. Michael Conaway

    Congressman K. Michael Conaway was elected to serve in 
Congress in November of 2004 and was sworn in as the 
Representative for the 11th District of Texas in January of 
2005. Over the course of his eight terms in Congress, Conaway 
became a respected Member of Congress and earned his reputation 
as a ``conservative voice of reason'' in Washington.
    Born in Borger, Texas and raised in Odessa, Texas, 
Conaway's childhood consisted of experiences shared by many of 
those growing up in West Texas. He enjoyed hunting, playing 
sports, and participating in activities with the Boy Scouts. 
His first experience with organized sports came when he joined 
the school football team in the fourth grade. Conaway continued 
playing the sport through his senior year in high school when 
his team won the Odessa Permian Panther's first Texas State 
Championship game in 1965.
    He married his high school sweetheart, Julie Flannagan, in 
1968. They went to East Texas State University (ETSU) in 
Commerce, Texas together, graduating in 1970. While at ETSU, 
Conaway played football, was a member of Delta Sigma Pi 
fraternity, and ultimately graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 
Business Administration. Conaway and Julie would go on to have 
two wonderful boys.
    In 1970, he was drafted into the U.S. Army where he served 
at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Conaway served with the 256th 
Military Police Company at Fort Hood and was honorably 
discharged from the military after attaining the rank of E-5.
    Conaway became a Texas Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in 
1974 and maintained his certification through most of his time 
in Congress. He went to work at Price Waterhouse & Co., 
spending four years on the audit staff and more than four years 
on the tax staff. In 1979, he and his family moved to Midland, 
Texas to open the Midland tax practice for Price Waterhouse & 
Co.
    Conaway joined George W. Bush's oil company, Bush 
Exploration, as the Chief Financial Officer in 1982. Through 
this experience, he formed a lifelong friendship with George W. 
Bush, who would later go on to become Governor of Texas and 
eventually the President of the United States. While working 
for Bush, Julie was diagnosed with leukemia. During her 
treatment, Bush was incredibly supportive of their family, 
including taking their boys to a basketball game and 
encouraging Conaway to take time off to care for his family. 
After a titanic battle, Julie tragically passed away from acute 
lymphocytic leukemia in 1987. Through this period, God's love 
and support were with the Conaway family.
    With his two sons attending school in Midland, Conaway was 
motivated to run for school board and was elected to serve on 
the Midland Independent School Board from 1985-1988.
    Conaway met Suzanne Kidwell in 1990, through mutual friends 
at the First Baptist Church in Midland. Suzanne had two 
daughters with Randy Kidwell, who was tragically killed in a 
plane crash. The two quickly became inseparable, and married in 
1991, blending together their own ``Brady Bunch'' family.
    Soon after Bush became the governor of Texas, he tapped 
Conaway to serve on the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy 
(TSBPA) in 1995. Conaway volunteered on the board for seven and 
a half years, including five and a half as Chairman. During his 
tenure with TSBPA, he signed the board order revoking the 
license of the accounting firm involved in the Enron 
Corporation scandal.
    His work on in TSBPA resulted in him becoming involved in 
the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy 
(NASBA), on which he served as the Chair in 2002 and 2003. It 
was through his friendship with George W. Bush and his 
positions on TSBPA and NASBA that Conaway became interested in 
running for Congress.
    Conaway's background as a CPA defined much of his work in 
Congress. He authored the ``No New Programs'' legislation to 
force Congress to offset the cost of creating any new program 
with the elimination of an existing program of equal or greater 
cost. This idea was eventually incorporated into the House 
Rules at the start of the 112th Congress. Thanks to Conaway's 
efforts, the House now holds all legislation to this standard.
    Throughout his 16 years in Congress, Conaway pursued active 
leadership roles, including as a Deputy Republican Whip. He 
served all sixteen years as a Member of both the House 
Agriculture Committee and the House Armed Services Committee. 
Conaway was selected as a Member of the House Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence, where he served for twelve years. He 
also served six years on the House Ethics Committee and four 
years on the House Budget Committee.
    Conaway's first Chairmanship in the U.S. House was during 
the 113th Congress, when he served as Chairman of the House 
Ethics Committee. He went on to serve as Chairman of the House 
Agriculture Committee for the 114th and 115th Congresses, and 
Ranking Member for the 116th Congress.
    His commitment to fiscal responsibility extended to his 
membership on the National Republican Congressional Committee 
(NRCC), where he served as the Chairman of the three-Member 
NRCC Audit Committee in 2007. Within a year, he uncovered a 
fraud that involved hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen 
funds. Conaway held his position as Chairman of the Audit 
Committee throughout the remainder of his tenure in Congress.
    As a Member of the Intelligence and Armed Services 
Committees, Conaway made auditability of the Department of 
Defense (DoD) and the intelligence community a top priority. In 
2010, Ike Skelton (D-MO), then Chairman of the House Armed 
Services Committee, asked Conaway to lead the charge on DoD 
auditability. Conaway later served as Chairman of the Panel on 
Defense Financial Management and Auditability Reform in the 
112th Congress. His leadership resulted in the creation of a 
report on the processes and procedures for a DoD audit, which 
formed the foundation for DoD's audit process today. His 
vigorous oversight on this issue spanning many years resulted 
in DoD completing their first ever audit in 2018.
    During the 2017 House Permanent Select Committee on 
Intelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 
2016 election, House Speaker Paul Ryan tapped Conaway to lead 
the investigation after Chairman Nunes recused himself. He went 
on to run the year-long investigation and authored the House 
Intelligence Report on Russian Active Measures that was 
eventually made public in 2018.
    Conaway's membership on the House Agriculture Committee 
allowed him to advocate for farmers, ranchers, consumers, and 
rural communities. His conservative values drove his commitment 
to enacting sound farm policies that protect both food and 
fiber producers and taxpayer dollars. He was instrumental in 
passing the 2008 and 2014 farm bills, including serving as 
Chairman of the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and 
Risk Management throughout the development of the 2014 Farm 
Bill.
    In his capacity as Chairman of the House Agriculture 
Committee, Conaway led the effort to develop and enact the 
Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (also known as the 2018 
Farm Bill) on time. This effort involved holding over 100 
committee and subcommittee hearings, including 20 hearings on 
the federal food stamp program, along with holding several 
listening sessions around the country. The 2018 Farm Bill was 
signed by President Trump on December 20, 2018, the first farm 
bill since 1990 to be signed into law in the same calendar year 
in which it was introduced. The conference report passed with 
87 votes in the Senate and 369 votes in the House, amongst the 
largest vote margins for any farm bill reauthorization in 
history.
    Conaway prioritized legislation to benefit the 11th 
District throughout his tenure. A proud representative of the 
Permian Basin, Conaway sponsored legislation to lift the oil 
export ban and was instrumental in overturning the ban in 2015. 
The Permian Basin is now leading the way in oil production, 
with the United States exporting more oil than it imports for 
the first time since records began in 1949.
    In 2019, President Trump signed into law a bill sponsored 
by Congressman Conaway to rename the Odessa VA Clinic to the 
``Wilson and Young Medal of Honor VA Clinic'' to honor the 
lives of two Odessa heroes. Conaway also worked to preserve the 
Midland home of the Bush family as a national landmark and was 
successful in renaming the U.S. courthouse in Midland, Texas, 
to the ``George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush United States 
Courthouse and George Mahon Federal Building.''
    The Conaways still call Texas home, and consider themselves 
the blessed grandparents to seven grandchildren.
                              ----------                              


                            About the Artist

    Born and raised in Michigan, Robert Anderson was educated 
at Yale University and the Boston School of the Museum of Fine 
Arts. His tours of duty in the U.S. Navy included Vietnam 
combat service with the Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong 
Delta. His studio is on the south coast of Massachusetts.
    In addition to painting privately commissioned portraits 
since 1973, for fifteen years Mr. Anderson was illustrator for 
the John H. Breck Company. His pastel portraits appeared in 
Breck Shampoo print advertising and in commercials on American 
and Canadian network television. As spokesman for Breck, he 
appeared on numerous local and network television news programs 
and talk shows, including CNN's ``Take Two'' and ABC's 
``Entertainment Tonight''. Between 1984 and 1989 he was under 
contract with the United States Postal Service to execute 
portraits for a number of U.S. postage stamps in the Great 
Americans Series. Issues include stamps honoring John Harvard, 
after whom Harvard University is named, Red Cloud, celebrated 
chief of the Oglala Sioux Nation, and the famous Hunkpapa Sioux 
Chief Sitting Bull.
    Notable commissions include the official portraits of 
former Massachusetts governors, William F. Weld and Edward J. 
King, former Yale chaplain and SANE/FREEZE president, William 
Sloane Coffin, and a double portrait of former MIT President 
and Mrs. Paul Gray. In 2002 President George W. Bush selected 
Mr. Anderson to paint his portrait for the Yale Club of New 
York City. Mr. Anderson's portrait of Former Massachusetts 
Senator Edward W. Brooke was chosen by the Senator to appear on 
the jacket cover of his autobiography, Bridging the Divide--My 
Life--Senator Edward W. Brooke. 
    Mr. Anderson was selected by The White House to paint the 
official portrait of President George W. Bush for the National 
Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, 
D.C. It was unveiled on December 19, 2008. His portrait of 
former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was unveiled at 
the Federal Reserve Board headquarters in Washington, DC in 
August of 2010. His portrait of former Homeland Security 
Secretary Tom Ridge was unveiled in May of 2013, and one of 
former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was 
unveiled in March of 2014, both in Washington, D.C. Mr. 
Anderson's portrait of former Treasury Secretary Timothy 
Geithner was recently unveiled at the U.S. Department of the 
Treasury and a second portrait now hangs at The Federal Reserve 
Bank of New York.

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                             P R O G R A M

Welcome
                The Honorable Collin C. Peterson
                Chairman, Committee on Agriculture

Master of Ceremonies
                The Honorable John Boozman

Invocation
                The Honorable Tim Walberg

Remarks
                The Honorable Sonny Perdue
                Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture
                The Honorable John Boozman

Unveiling the Portrait
                The Honorable K. Michael Conaway and Suzanne Conaway

Remarks
                The Honorable Kevin McCarthy
                Republican Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
                The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
                Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives

Address
                The Honorable K. Michael Conaway
       The Unveiling and Presentation of the Official Portrait of

                    THE HONORABLE K. MICHAEL CONAWAY

                      TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2020
                          House of Representatives,
                             Committee on Agriculture
                                                       Washington, D.C.
The ceremony began at 3:30 p.m. in Room 1300, Longworth House Office 
    Building.

              WELCOME BY THE HONORABLE COLLIN C. PETERSON
The Chairman. On behalf of the House Agriculture Committee, I want to 
    welcome all of you here today to this wonderful room here on the 
    third floor of the Longworth building. And we are going to have 
    people watching virtually, apparently, we got that streaming going.
I want to say congratulations to Mike on this rite of passage. We look 
    forward to having Mike keeping an eye on us from above the 
    fireplace and making sure that we don't do anything too out of line 
    in the future, so we are looking forward to that.
And I was going to peek, but I didn't, Mike. I said, well, do you think 
    I can go in there and look? And they said, well, you are the 
    Chairman. You could probably do whatever you want. I said, well, I 
    think I will wait. But anyway, I want to be surprised like 
    everybody else.
We got a farm bill done together. It wasn't easy, but we worked through 
    it. And it takes an awful commitment, as you know, and dedication 
    and working with a lot of people that you necessarily wouldn't work 
    with to get that done. And so, Mike, we appreciate that good 
    outcome and all your hard work.
And as some of you have been through this a number of times, it is hard 
    to overstate the amount of time and stress and investment that you 
    put into doing a farm bill. You know, I remember when I did the 
    first one, when I was Chairman, I tell you what, I didn't think I 
    would survive. It is a tough process.
Being chair, especially during a farm bill, takes over your schedule, 
    consumes all your time, and blocks out many other things that you 
    would want to accomplish. But at the end of it all, you have a 
    product that is hopefully good policy and makes the lives of 
    farmers and ranchers and others in America better. Suzanne and 
    Mike's kids and grandkids have our thanks for their sacrifices and 
    for sharing Mike with us for all of these years.
I want to say, congratulations, Mike, again, on your service, and your 
    time as Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and all the 
    best to you and Suzanne and your further endeavors. And we will 
    look forward to you looking over us in the future.
With that, I am going to turn this over to the master of ceremonies, 
    The Honorable Mr. Boozman from Arkansas.
[Applause.]

                 REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE JOHN BOOZMAN

                          Master of Ceremonies
Mr. Boozman. Thank you, all.
And thank you, Collin, for being such a great partner to Mike and 
    getting so much done for our agriculture community.
You know, as we look here, we have got the who's who of the leaders in 
    the ag world and then also the movers and shakers in the House, and 
    Senator Roberts is here. Again, we just appreciate the fact that so 
    many are here. And I think we are live streaming to Texas, which is 
    a big deal.
I want to thank the U.S. Capitol Historical Society for their work in 
    allowing the Chairman Mike Conaway Portrait Fund to be part of the 
    managed section by the Historical Society. We appreciate them.
I will say a few more things about Mike in a little bit. You say, well, 
    what are you doing up here, John? And then, first of all, I miss 
    you guys. But the other thing is, Mike and I had the pleasure to 
    serve for 8 years in the House, and I appreciate his friendship and 
    example in so many different ways, he and Suzanne.
Let's have the opening prayer. I think Tim, Congressman Walberg is 
    going to come and do that for us.

                               INVOCATION

                       The Honorable Tim Walberg
Mr. Walberg. Thank you, John. It is good to have you back.
And, Mike, thank you. Knowing the man of faith that you are, that it is 
    a commitment, it is not just a religion. I appreciate the 
    opportunity to pray.
Our Father, God, what a privilege it is to come to the Creator of all 
    things, the Creator of this good Earth, the Creator as You designed 
    it. You put man and woman on this Earth, and You said, tend it, 
    tend everything about it, the fruits, the vegetables, the seed-
    bearing plants, the animals, because it is good. It is very good. 
    You said that about Your creation.
And so today to honor a man who honored Your creation in his service to 
    this great country, who serves on this Agriculture Committee, who 
    chaired it, who went through all, as Collin has said, the exactions 
    as well as frustrations of farm bills and yet did it in a way that 
    was good.
We thank You for his service. We thank You for his commitment to You, 
    commitment to the fact that all things come from the Earth, the 
    Earth that You have made, and took it seriously to do it for the 
    people of this country as well as his great State and district.
God, I pray that You bless him and his dear family in the days ahead 
    with, not only memories, but experiences that redound for the 
    future, and allow him to continue to do the things that promote the 
    productivity of this good Earth that You have given to us to be 
    stewards of. And it is in the name of Jesus, my Savior, I pray. 
    Amen.
Mr. Boozman. Now, next we are going to have the Secretary of Ag come up 
    and say some things. We appreciate the Secretary so much for all of 
    his great work. He is in a very difficult position, as so many in 
    leadership positions like this, really handling a very difficult 
    situation where we are all working together for the benefit of the 
    American public.
So, Sonny, if you will come up.

                 REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE SONNY PERDUE

           SECRETARY, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Secretary Perdue. Thank you, Senator.
Mr. Boozman. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Secretary Perdue. I am just honored to be here. I didn't know you all 
    let the executive branch participate in these, so thank you very 
    much. And it is a delight to be here, Madam Speaker, Leader, and to 
    all of you. And we are honored to speak about our friend.
The Secretary of Agriculture is a Cabinet position. I don't think I am 
    really qualified for it or any others, but I can tell you, I have 
    been blessed to serve under two different House chairmen, and both 
    have been delightful to work with and in the farm bill and creating 
    that and implementation of it.
I take pride in the fact that the Agriculture Committees on both sides 
    really are probably the least partisan, really most agriculturally 
    oriented, which is very important in this country. I take much 
    pleasure and delight in that, having served with both.
I know it is Mike's day. And, Mike, I want to tell you what a privilege 
    it was to have you as the first Chairman under which I stepped into 
    this role and how meaningful that was.
I think the most meaningful thing in the State, I came from both the 
    legislative and the executive branches, and I am a big believer in 
    representative government and the three branches of government. And 
    I think when I really began to admire Mike Conaway was my visit to 
    his district, and it was after Hurricane Harvey, and times were not 
    really good there in that part of Texas.
But as I went to Mike's district and was hosted by Suzanne in their 
    home, it was obvious that Mike was revered in his district. I think 
    that is the best compliment you can have among your constituents, 
    and the best honor you can have is to be revered in your own 
    district by the people you represent. That is really what 
    representative democracy is all about.
And I can assure you that is when I came to understand that Mike 
    Conaway was not only a man of integrity, faith, and action up here, 
    but he brought that same spirit of public servant, and leader there 
    to his district. And from a constituent service standpoint, I can 
    assure you I heard from him as well in the best spirit of 
    representative democracy.
Suzanne, I did have--I have got a little homework assignment, though, 
    for you. I remember when we had the--announcing the beef into China 
    for the first time in several years, I sent Mike an emoji. It had a 
    cow and a clap and a prayer and a thumbs up. And he said, what is 
    that for? So I think you need to go back to emoji school there a 
    little bit, Mike, when you get home and learn about all this new 
    conversation ability we have got with our iPhones to understand 
    what we are trying to say.
But, nonetheless, I know you were a big supporter in that, as many 
    other things. And I hope we have done you and Collin proud in the 
    implementation of the farm bill across the way. As I said, I fully 
    recognize and respect the role of the Legislative Branch. As an 
    executive, unelected appointed member, I respect very much the work 
    that you do, and it has been a real honor to do that.
I think the other thing that I saw in Mike Conaway's district was his 
    most important constituency, and that was in his home, the 
    relationship that he had with his family. And after all, folks, 
    that is what it is really all about. The most important 
    constituencies we have is that small circle that see us when the 
    curtains are closed and the lights are turned off, and that is the 
    kind of reputation Mike Conaway brought from home, from his Texas 
    district, here to the House, and I have not seen that impugned in 
    any way.
So, Mike, congratulations. Thank you very much. It has been an honor to 
    serve with you. Thank you, all.
[Applause.]
Mr. Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
Mike, you need to get with an 8-year-old kid to kind of fill you in on 
    what is going on these days.
Let me just say that, as I said earlier, I had the opportunity to serve 
    with Mike for 8 years. I immediately became friends with him. 
    Cathy, my wife, became friends with Suzanne. And I was drawn to 
    him.
You know, the nice thing about the House--you know, people ask me, what 
    is the difference between the Senate and the House? You know, I 
    think there is just a tremendous amount of camaraderie, and you 
    have got all different friends on both sides and this and that, and 
    that is really a nice thing.
But I was drawn to him not because he immediately, you know, was 
    becoming a very effective legislator, that was nice, but really 
    because of the way he lived his life. He loved his family, he loved 
    his friends, he loved the Lord. As the Secretary said, you know, 
    took care of his State, his district. And so for all of those 
    different reasons, being a true public servant and just being a 
    friend to so many of us. So we do appreciate you guys so, so very 
    much.
I want to recognize Robert Anderson. He is the gentleman that painted 
    this. And we are very anxious to see what it looks like. He is not 
    here today, but we want to give him a big shout-out. The Speaker 
    here is helping me, which I very much appreciate.
I guess we would like to do the unveiling then. So come on up and let's 
    see what this looks like.

UNVEILING OF THE PORTRAIT BY THE HONORABLE K. MICHAEL CONAWAY AND MRS. 
                            SUZANNE CONAWAY
Mrs. Conaway. I have one job. So I have to figure this out. Oh, it is 
    not working. I am kidding.
Representative Conaway. Okay.
[Portrait unveiling.]
[Applause.]
Mr. Boozman. Now we are going to hear from Kevin McCarthy.
Kevin.
[Applause.]

                REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE KEVIN McCARTHY

            REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Republican Leader McCarthy. Thank you, Senator.
When I first came to Congress, my next-door neighbor was the Senator, 
    Congressman at the time, and he was from the right district with 
    Little Debbies, and he always brought that to the office, but it 
    also brought a lot of mice too, so I appreciate all that.
You know, when you look at this portrait, it is beautiful, and this 
    portrait will hang in here and people will wonder what the story 
    behind it is. They will know that he was the Chair of the 
    Committee. They will know he loved Suzanne. But what will it really 
    tell? I want to tell you the story I will tell.
When I came here, I served on this committee. It wasn't as nice as 
    here. I was way out front. I think I had a folding chair, but I was 
    drawn to Mike from the very beginning because of integrity. I 
    watched that he prepared for his committees more thoroughly than 
    anyone could imagine. I watched that he took me under his wing, not 
    that I was from California, but he understood my district was more 
    like Texas and like his than almost any other in the country.
But I got put on another committee with him. It was over at the NRCC. I 
    was a freshman. I remember Boehner asking me to serve on this audit 
    committee. There is just two of us. We had just gone into the 
    minority. And the first thing we discovered, we had somebody 
    embezzle from us. And it wasn't because the person let us know, it 
    was because Mike was an accountant and figured it out. And you 
    learn a lot about somebody in a time of crisis like that, how he 
    righted the ship. It wasn't why he came to the House, but he just 
    knew to do the right things.
Then I will tell the story, how this job is not the easiest when it 
    comes to families, but there is always a mentor out there to show 
    you how to do it. As much as Suzanne as it is Mike, God had a plan 
    for both of you to put you together. And what I love about it is 
    you are not afraid to share that and tell it, and that is so 
    helpful to so many of us.
The other thing that many of us should know, yeah, this committee is 
    always known to be bipartisan, but it is easier to go the other 
    way. It is probably more difficult for Mike than anybody else in 
    the country. You see, his district is conservative, but it is 
    probably the most conservative next to Mac's.
So it would be easier to just say no. It would be easier just to blame, 
    but he always made the right decision and a tough decision, because 
    he believed in being a legislator. He knew his responsibility to go 
    home that the cable industry would say something much different, so 
    he wouldn't go home just to appease his constituency. He would go 
    home to show them that he was a leader, that he made the right 
    decision and he wasn't fearful to explain it to them if they didn't 
    understand at first.
And the part that I will remember the most, as a whip, the farm bill is 
    the hardest thing to pass. I learned it the hard way because it 
    failed the first time I was whip. Mike was not chair then, but he 
    was Chairman in waiting, and he was an integral part of making--
    bring it back off the ground.
But I remember this one issue, and I won't bring what the issue was, 
    but it was one that we needed help with. And they had to make a 
    decision. It is one of those decisions in leadership that you kind 
    of regret at the time, and we did something that probably wasn't 
    right, but we made a promise to Ag that we would correct it.
I remember walking into this room. It wasn't Mike by himself, but it 
    was then the Ranking Member. And I was so impressed that it wasn't 
    talking to one side of the Committee, I was talking to the 
    Committee of the whole, because what they cared about was the food 
    that America made. What they cared about was the ability of the 
    farmers to do it and the next generation. And they spoke with one 
    voice. And because they held together, we were able to right that 
    ship.
So, yes, the painting is going to hang a long time, but your legacy is 
    going to be so much more. And that will just be my story, but there 
    will be so many of those stories that will be told about you.
Yes, I was sad when you told me you were leaving, but you earned the 
    right to do it. Because you may not be in these halls, but I 
    promise you, your character, your integrity will live on through so 
    many of us that have either watched how you carried yourself or how 
    we listened to you or how you led us. So congratulations on a job 
    well done. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Mr. Boozman. Next, we are going to hear from the Speaker of the House. 
    We are so pleased that she is here to accept the portrait and we do 
    very much appreciate that.

                 REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE NANCY PELOSI

                 SPEAKER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Speaker Pelosi. Thank you very much, Senator. It is always wonderful to 
    be in this room because it does have a spirit of bipartisanship. As 
    I came in, I was recalling some occasions when we have all come 
    together here when Mr. Chairman Peterson was leading a bipartisan 
    ensemble called, what, the Second Amendment up here. And, of 
    course, it is a beautiful room, and others have poached on it in 
    order to celebrate one thing or another. But as long as we could 
    hear the Second Amendment band, nobody cared about anything else.
The first time I came to an unveiling of the Chair of the Agriculture 
    Committee was for Tom Foley. So I turned around to Mr. Peterson and 
    I said, where is Tom Foley's picture? He said, well, that was a 
    while ago. He is in the other room.
So I know, Pat Roberts, Senator, it's an honor to have you back over 
    here always. Your picture is right there. May it stay there. Just 
    keep coming over and checking on it.
We know that this is a special occasion, the unveiling of the portrait 
    of the Chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Isn't it a beautiful 
    painting? Isn't it perfect? And how clever of him to have Suzanne 
    in the picture. We love that. That is pretty nice.
So, Suzanne, to you and to Erin who is here, your son Erin--lovely to 
    see you, Erin--and to the rest, Mike's other children and 
    grandchildren who are watching virtually, I can't wait till you can 
    come here to see this actually because it is quite a lovely 
    likeness of our wonderful Chairman.
So we celebrate the unveiling of this portrait and your 15 years 
    serving Texas, 11th District, Odessa and Midland. And, again, it is 
    fitting that this portrait will oversee the activities in the 
    Agriculture Committee, as I see Mr. Collin Peterson back here 
    behind the screen here but, nonetheless, looking over the work. And 
    I know that you work together.
And, Mr. Leader, I would just say, the one thing about the votes on the 
    farm bill, how about when we had to override the veto a couple 
    times in 1 year? But we did that in a very bipartisan way. That is 
    the only way you can override a veto.
The distinguished Secretary mentioned traveling to your district and 
    seeing how you were revered there. I would want to recall traveling 
    with you to Normandy and to the Battle of the Bulge and to see your 
    patriotism there. Thank you for being part of that in such a 
    substantial way and bringing your stature as a leader in the 
    Congress to those trips to say thank you to our veterans for their 
    service to our country.
So as Chair of the Ag Committee, as patriot in the Congress, thank you 
    for your leadership, thank you for your service. Congratulations on 
    this wonderful portrait. And as Speaker, it is my honor to accept 
    it, the portrait, into the House collection officially. 
    Congratulations. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Mr. Boozman. Thank you, Madam Speaker, so much. Again, thank you for 
    being here.
In a second, Mike is going to come up and talk to us a little bit, but 
    Kevin mentioned the farm bill, the Speaker mentioned the farm bill, 
    and that is so, so very difficult. Pat Roberts is over here, he and 
    Senator Stabenow, and then Collin, and you guys just did such a 
    great job. I think we had a record number of votes in the Senate, 
    and I understand, you know, these things are just so, so very 
    difficult.
The other thing that I think we did a really good job with you all 
    leading the charge, Mike was really educating our Members about how 
    important this was, you know, the difficulty that our farm 
    community was in then and even more difficulty now. We do 
    appreciate that.
Mike, would you like to come up?
I was thinking--I have got to needle him a little bit. Mike and I 
    played college football, and I was looking at that picture, and I 
    was just thinking, what would his buddies think from back in the 
    old days if they saw the former Chairman, his picture on the wall 
    in here. So, again, you can be very, very proud.

              ADDRESS BY THE HONORABLE K. MICHAEL CONAWAY
Mr. Conaway. Well, first off, thank you for the standing ovation. 
    Appreciate that. It is always appreciated.
Madam Speaker, Leader, Sonny, Collin, thank you very much, Pat. Pat's 
    the only man on the face of the Earth who has ever chaired this 
    committee and the similar committee in the Senate. He trained here 
    to do the good job he did in the Senate, but, Pat, thank you for 
    being here as well.
Thanks, everyone, for being here. The rest of my family is online 
    watching this thing. I want to quickly say thank you to Brit, who 
    just had a baby son earlier this morning in Kansas City, and Brooke 
    and my team for putting all this together today, getting everybody 
    into the building and all those kind of things. It is a little odd 
    these days trying to get folks in for this thing, so I want to 
    thank those folks for that.
I want to thank the artist who did this. Snake--or Erin--I call him 
    Snake. It is a nickname, but Erin, the Reverend Erin Conaway, told 
    me that he was at an unveiling like this in which, when the artist 
    talked a long time about it, they dropped the curtain and it was 
    dead silent. And it began with just kind of pregnant clapping, 
    because the man whose portrait it was bore no resemblance to the 
    portrait whatsoever. And so I was a little nervous that that would 
    be the case, but Robert Anderson has done a great job, and I want 
    to thank him for that. The donors for the portrait on the back of 
    the program, thank you for that as well.
You know, we use the words ``thank you'' across an incredible spectrum 
    of emotions. Thank you for opening the door, thank you for picking 
    up something I dropped. This is all the way at the other end of 
    that spectrum. I can't tell you thank you enough with the most 
    sincerity, the deepest part of my heart, for everything that has 
    gotten me to this point.
Suzanne and I started this--somebody on my team just won a pot to say 
    how long this would take. We started in December 2002 on this 
    journey, and it has been an incredible experience and one that is 
    obviously the highlight of my professional career. I had a terrific 
    career as a CPA before I got here, but this work that I have done 
    the last 16 years has been stunningly gratifying and the highlight 
    of my professional career.
As we said, we have got Erin here today, and Suzanne. I typically 
    describe myself as Suzanne Conaway's husband, because that is the 
    deal. And I could not have done what I have done and succeeded the 
    way I have succeeded without her steadfast, loving support 
    throughout all of this.
She is the author of some 8,500 handwritten thank-you notes over the 
    last 18 years. And so she wrote every donor, finally decided that 
    might get a little tedious so she quit writing the ones up here, 
    but she wrote everybody at home a thank-you note. And so I would 
    not be here today without her love and support and faithfulness to 
    this job. And so thank you, sweetheart, love of my life.
And people have asked me around the room this afternoon what I am going 
    to do next. And she made it abundantly clear that she married me 
    for life, not lunch, and that next year, about 9 o'clock every day 
    I need to vacate the premises and about 4 o'clock I am welcome 
    back, that she does not need me supervising her routine on a daily 
    basis, and so I will be doing something.
As mentioned, Suzanne and I have a terrific family. We have four 
    children. They all have spouses. We have seven grandchildren, and 
    they are just terrific across the board, all of them successful in 
    their own way, and we love them dearly.
My seven grandchildren, though, I have missed--as the Members know, I 
    have missed 16 years of their life doing the job that I love. I 
    regret it in a sense, but I chose to serve, knowing that that would 
    be the case, and, yeah, so, anyway, it is--got to run for family.
The constituents in District 11, Sonny, there are a couple of them that 
    don't revere me. Just go to my Facebook page from time to time and 
    you will see those folks showing up. But, you know, they have 
    elected me eight times.
When you vote for somebody for a job, you basically tell them, I trust 
    you. I trust you to go do that job, take that responsibility, honor 
    the trust that we have done, and that is what I have tried to do 
    for 16 years. And so the folks in District 11 have made this happen 
    over and over again, and I can't thank them enough for their 
    steadfast support throughout all of this.
No Member gets to do what I have been able to do, to have this honor, 
    get to this point by themselves. It simply doesn't happen. There 
    are hundreds and hundreds of people across District 11, many of 
    them, and everyone in this room today, that have had a piece of me 
    getting to this point. I would not be here without each and every 
    one of you that are there.
The folks on my personal staff, many of them in the room as well, I 
    have had the best staff you can imagine. The folks back home are 
    chiefly responsible for me getting 80 percent of the vote each time 
    because of the great constituent service work they have done. I 
    have been blessed with them across that spectrum.
My professional staff here has been topnotch. I have relatively low 
    turnover, and I have been blessed by that. Each and every one of 
    them contributed mightily across the entire spectrum.
Committee staff, I also chaired the Ethics Committee. It will surprise 
    you that we don't do this for the Ethics Committee. There is not a 
    big constituency for the House Ethics Committee, but I had staff 
    there. I am blessed to serve on the Intel Committee for a long time 
    and the staff there, and then my Ag Committee staff here, and the 
    farm bill that everybody has talked about so far.
We would not have gotten as good a farm bill as we got without the 
    stunningly good, hard work that my team put in. I can't name them 
    all because we would be here for a long, long time, but no one in 
    this room but the people who did it and the leadership of that team 
    know the number of hours they put in, the number of things that 
    they missed with their family, making sure that we are trying to 
    get that job done.
It spanned to Thanksgiving. I think most of them took Thanksgiving 
    lunch off. Several of them came back after Thanksgiving during the 
    day to come back up here to keep pushing on that to try to get to 
    that 369 votes that we got, a record in the House.
It would have been 371, but Vicky was home taking care of her mom that 
    passed away. And then one of our good colleagues was wandering 
    around the Senate, had just missed the vote, who later told me--one 
    of my Texas colleagues, who later told me that he would have voted 
    for it.
But 369, but we got a record in the House, John, as well as a record in 
    the Senate. That, again, did not happen by itself. A stunning 
    amount of work went into getting that there across that board. I 
    look around the room and I see the folks from the ag groups, the 
    professionals in the ag groups as well as the individual, you know, 
    real people from back home ag groups.
When I started this job in 2005, as a CPA, I had done a lot of folks' 
    tax returns. And, Collin, I did not tell anybody that I had never 
    prepared a schedule F. Schedule F is the form that farmers use to 
    file their tax return with, and so I knew so little about the 
    farming business that I had never done a schedule F for any of my 
    clients.
And so a tremendous amount of trust from those folks that I could get 
    10 years later to start the process of doing that, 4 years of 
    earning this portrait. But they trusted me to get it done, and then 
    they shepherded me every step of the way. They answered my terrible 
    questions. They helped me through the mistakes I was making. They 
    helped me understand the business to know that I could get to the 
    point where my colleagues would trust me to be able to chair this 
    committee.
You know, Kevin mentioned the things that I'd done. You know, Kevin has 
    been a terrific leader on the Republican side and is responsible 
    for a lot of the things I have been able to do throughout this 
    entire process.
But I look around and I see the eyes of everybody in here that has had 
    a good part--a big piece. I see former chiefs of staff. I see a 
    former chief of staff who is a Member. I see others who just have 
    made an invaluable contribution to what I got to do, to the 
    bragging that I have been able to--that you are doing for me today.
Back home, people tell me all the time, well, it is great that you did 
    X, Y, or Z on the constituent service work. My colleagues know that 
    we don't do that, but our team does it. It is great to be a Member 
    because you have got a great team back home that does good stuff 
    and then we get credit. So it is wonderful to be us.
But I really can't thank everybody enough, often enough and sincerely 
    enough for all the things that you have done on my behalf to get us 
    to this point. And thank each and every one of you for being here 
    today. I know it was a hassle, unusual hassle.
Some of you, though, this is the first time you have been back since 
    March or April and you are kind of excited to be back in the 
    buildings and that kind of stuff. I understand that. Pat Roberts is 
    here as well, as mentioned. But, thanks, everybody for everything 
    you have done. I would not be here today left to my own devices, 
    left to my own skills but for that.
And I also want to thank--you know, the Lord has--people ask me why I 
    did this job. There is a verse in Luke 12:48 that says ``to whom 
    much is given, much is required.'' God blessed me with a little bit 
    of talent and a great deal of terrific life experiences, but He has 
    also blessed me immeasurably with people in this room, friends all 
    over District 11 that you are here representing that have made our 
    lives so much richer than it would have otherwise been.
The friendships and the relationships we have built through the fights, 
    through the struggles, are invaluable, and I will take them with me 
    forever. I may leave these halls, but you all will never leave my 
    heart. And so I can't say it any more sincerely, thank you so very, 
    very much for this, this great honor. Thank you very much.
[Applause.]
Mr. Boozman. Thank you, Mike.
I think that concludes our program. We have got a bunch of brownies 
    back there. I have already got mine. I was afraid that you all 
    would get them all, so let's eat up and visit. And, again, 
    congratulations, Mike and Suzanne. This is a wonderful portrait.
[Whereupon, the ceremony was concluded.]

[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] 


                        COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

                             115th Congress

                  K. MICHAEL CONAWAY, Texas, Chairman

GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania         COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota, 
    Vice Chairman                    Ranking Minority Member
BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia,             DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma             JIM COSTA, California
STEVE KING, Iowa                     TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota
MIKE ROGERS, Alabama                 MARCIA L. FUDGE, Ohio
BOB GIBBS, Ohio                      JAMES P. McGOVERN, Massachusetts
AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia                FILEMON VELA, Texas, Vice Ranking 
ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD, Arkansas  Minority Member
SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee          MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, New Mexico
VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri             ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire
JEFF DENHAM, California              RICHARD M. NOLAN, Minnesota
DOUG LaMALFA, California             CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois               SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York
TED S. YOHO, Florida                 STACEY E. PLASKETT, Virgin Islands
RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia               ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina
MIKE BOST, Illinois                  DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
DAVID ROUZER, North Carolina         AL LAWSON, Jr., Florida
RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana         TOM O'HALLERAN, Arizona
TRENT KELLY, Mississippi             JIMMY PANETTA, California
JAMES COMER, Kentucky                DARREN SOTO, Florida
ROGER W. MARSHALL, Kansas            LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER, Delaware
DON BACON, Nebraska
JOHN J. FASO, New York
NEAL P. DUNN, Florida
JODEY C. ARRINGTON, Texas

                                 ______

                   Matthew S. Schertz, Staff Director

                 Anne Simmons, Minority Staff Director

                                 [all]

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