[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 83 (Monday, June 27, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 27, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   JAMIE L. WHITTEN FEDERAL BUILDING

  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4576) to designate the Federal building located at the 
northeast corner of the intersection of 14th Street and Independence 
Avenue SW, in Washington, DC, as the ``Jamie L. Whitten Federal 
Building''.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4576

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The Federal building located at the northeast corner of the 
     intersection of 14th Street and Independence Avenue, 
     Southwest, in Washington, District of Columbia, shall be 
     known and designated as the ``Jamie L. Whitten Federal 
     Building''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the Federal building 
     referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a reference to 
     the ``Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio [Mr. Traficant] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the 
gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] will be recognized for 20 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant].
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Montgomery], chairman 
of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
  (Mr. MONTGOMERY asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. 
Traficant] for yielding me this time, as well as the gentleman from 
Tennessee [Mr. Duncan], and thank them for bringing this bill to the 
floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill to name the 
Department of Agriculture building at the corner of 14th Street and 
Independence Avenue in Washington in honor of our colleague, Jamie 
Whitten.
  It is very fitting that we pay tribute to Mr. Whitten in this manner, 
given his lifetime of work on agricultural issues and programs in this 
country. He was chairman of the House appropriations Subcommittee 
on Agriculture for more than 40 years. From that position, he quickly 
became the leader in shaping our national agricultural policies.

  He helped develop and fund farm programs that worked. They improved 
the standard of living in our farm communities and made the American 
farmer the most productive in the world. In conjunction with that, Mr. 
Speaker, he placed a high priority on research programs that have 
brought innovation and improvement to all sectors of the agricultural 
economy.
  Those research efforts have enabled farmers to grow better crops and 
manage farm operations more efficiently, and these research programs 
are ongoing. They will help American agriculture meet the challenges of 
the 21st century.

                              {time}  1400

  As we all know, the gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Jamie Whitten, is 
the dean of the House and, of course, the dean of our Mississippi 
delegation. As Mississippians, we are all very proud of his record of 
service in the Congress, both in leadership and in length of service. 
He is the longest serving Member of Congress in the history of our 
country and it is a record that we all agree surely will never be 
broken. All during that time, the gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Jamie 
Whitten, has served every day with great honor and integrity, and with 
an eye toward helping improve the lives of the people he represented. 
Not only did he represented the people of his district in Mississippi 
but he tried to work and help all the people of this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I think this is great legislation. I certainly support 
it.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4576, a bill to designate the 
Department of Agriculture Headquarters building, located at the 
intersection of 14th and Independence Avenue, Washington, DC, as the 
``Jamie Whitten Federal Building.'' This tribute is fitting for the 
dean of the House of Representatives, who is serving in his 27th 
Congress as a Representative from the first district of Mississippi, a 
career that commenced in 1941, and continues to this day. During his 
career, our colleague, Mr. Whitten, served as chairman of the 
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and 
Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, as 
well as chairman of the full Committee on Appropriations. His 
distinguished career has spanned 11 Presidents, and his tenure in the 
House of Representatives is longer than any Member of the House. During 
his career, he has helped many Members in countless numbers of ways, 
and he has also been very loyal to the people of north Mississippi, as 
they have been to him.
  It is fitting and appropriate that we name the Headquarters of the 
Department of Agriculture in honor of Congressman Jamie Whitten.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield whatever time he may consume to 
the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Penny], who has been a 
champion of looking at appropriation spending and a good friend of 
Chairman Whitten.
  Mr. PENNY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. As has been 
stated by other speakers here this afternoon, there can be no more 
fitting choice than to name the Department of Agriculture building 
after our esteemed colleague, the gentleman from Mississippi, Jamie L. 
Whitten. The gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Whitten] has served here 
now, I think, in his 54th year, and he has served with great 
distinction. From his very first years in Congress, he has been deeply 
involved with agricultural appropriations measures, taking a direct and 
continuing interest in the welfare and the benefit of America's 
agricultural industry, our family farmers, and our food and fiber 
needs.
  The gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Whitten] continues in that 
interest and has provided tremendous leadership to this Nation in that 
regard. We are all in his debt for his many years of leadership on 
agricultural issues. We feel it only fitting that Americans on into the 
future are reminded of his contribution by naming this particular 
building in his honor.
  Again, I offer my support for the legislation under consideration 
here today.
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Mazzoli].
  Mr. MAZZOLI. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in behalf of the measure naming a Federal 
building for the gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Jamie Whitten, our 
friend and longtime colleague. As the gentleman from Minnesota has 
said, the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Whitten] has been one of the 
great leaders of this body for a very long time, and he has really been 
the institutional history of the House of Representatives.
  When I see Jamie, of course, sitting in his familiar chair in the 
corner and know that he was here in this Chamber when President 
Franklin Roosevelt indicated, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, that 
it was time for this country to go to war, that, of course, is a pretty 
large segment of American history which one individual in the person of 
the gentleman from Mississippi, Mr. Jamie Whitten, has actually 
witnessed and taken part in.
  I think it is very fitting and appropriate that there be physical and 
tangible evidence of his kind of leadership and his sort of devotion 
and that obviously would take the form of a building bearing his name.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio, the chairman of 
the committee, for having arranged this measure and to indicate to him 
I think this building will always remind all of us who have ever served 
with the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. Whitten], of just what a 
gentleman he is and has been and what a leader he is and has been in 
the Congress of the United States.
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill really needs no further explanation. The 
gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Richard Durbin, the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
Administration, and Related Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations 
is also responsible. I know he would like to be here today and offer 
his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, Chairman Whitten is and was the Secretary of Agriculture 
for this country. In his 27th term he sits down there in his little 
corner as the gentleman from Kentucky, Chairman Mazzoli, mentioned, 
seated with me.
  Mr. Speaker, I was born about the time that Chairman Whitten entered 
this body and it is a different place because of he, a fine public 
servant, prodigious lawmaker, a learned and thoughtful scholar and a 
true gentleman if we have ever come to know one.
  His contributions to the Congress of the United States are 
remarkable, numerous, enduring and immeasurable. He treated everybody 
with respect, freshmen to seniors he included, he did not exclude, and 
I think that is the stamp of a great chairman. He earned the trust of 
the citizens of his own State, Mississippi, at the young age of 23 when 
he was elected district attorney, and I had so many good talks with 
him. As the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] knows, the judges and 
the prosecutors always want to talk with the sheriff, and I think his 
early career is remarkable. His constitutents' faith in him continued 
through 27 terms in the U.S. Congress, ladies and gentleman. After 
serving with distinction as the chairman of the powerful Committee on 
Appropriations from 1979 to 1992, he has continued his dedication to 
that committee by becoming the senior Member and the dean of the House 
of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to enthusiastically endorse and support this 
bill. It is an honor to participate in the naming of the Department of 
Agriculture building on behalf of this great Member of the Congress of 
the United States. It truly honors one of our greatest, greatest 
Members.
  Mr. CLEMENT. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in supporting this 
measure to name a Federal building here in Washington after our 
colleague, Jamie L. Whitten of Mississippi.
  Few individuals who have served here in the Congress leave a legacy 
as distinguished as Chairman Whitten. During his more than 52 years 
here in the House, he shaped policies great and small.
  As the longtime chairman of the Agriculture Appropriations 
Subcommittee, he ensured investment in the family farm and in 
agricultural research so our Nation could reap the bounty of its land. 
To his testament, no nation on Earth has the wealth and diversity of 
food products as does the United States.
  Similarly, as chairman of the full Appropriations Committee, Chairman 
Whitten guided and shaped many of the programs that helped build our 
country. Through the power of the purse, he worked to ensure that our 
Nation was strong by making the necessary and appropriate investment in 
its people.
  For me personally, Chairman Whitten has been a valued friend. Since 
the day I came to Congress in 1988, he has unselfishly offered his 
advice and counsel on the ways of this institution. But even before my 
election, Chairman Whitten was a friend of the Clement family. Both 
when my father was Governor of Tennessee and when I was a member of the 
Tennessee Valley Authority, Chairman Whitten responsed to our concerns 
and our ideas. He gave us the benefit of his advice and often a helping 
hand.
  I will miss Chairman Whitten and I know my colleagues will as well. 
He devoted his life to this institution and this Nation. I am sure that 
in his retirement he will reflect proudly on his many accomplishments 
and on the vast wealth of this Nation, which he helped build.
  Mr. MINETA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4576, a 
bill to name the Federal building at the northwest corner of the 
intersection of 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., in Washington, 
DC, as the ``Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building.''
  I would like to commend Congressman Traficant, chairman of our Public 
Buildings and Grounds Subcommittee for sponsoring this important 
legislation and for his efforts and those of Congressman Duncan, the 
ranking Republican member of the subcommittee, in moving this bill 
expeditiously.
  Congressman Whitten was born in Cascilla, Tallahatchie County, MS, 
where he attended Cascilla and Charleston public schools. He then 
continued his studies at the Literary and Law Schools at the University 
of Mississippi and was admitted to the Mississippi State Bar with the 
highest average in 1932.
  At the age of 20, Congressman Whitten was already the principal of 
Cowart Consolidated School in Tallahatchie County and at the youthful 
age of 21, began his long and distinguished career in public service 
when he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives. At the 
age of 23, Congressman Whitten was elected district attorney of the 
17th District of Mississippi, where he served two terms before he 
resigned when he was elected to the 77th Congress in 1941 during a 
special election. He served continuously thereafter.
  Currently, Congressman Whitten is serving in his 27th consecutive 
term. As a Member of Congress, Congressman Whitten has made a number of 
significant contributions to this institution, the State of Mississippi 
and this Nation. Presently, he serves as a senior member of the House 
Committee on Appropriations. From 1979 to 1992, Congressman Whitten 
served the Appropriations Committee with distinction as its chairman. 
From 1949 to 1992, he served that committee as the chairman of Rural 
Development and Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. He was the 
youngest person in history to chair that subcommittee, after only 5 
years of experience. In fact, the Federal building that would be named 
after him, houses the Department of Agriculture. He also serves as the 
dean of the House of Representatives.

  Mr. Speaker, Congressman Whitten's career continues to be filled with 
many honors. As a loyal and active alumnus of Ole Miss, the University 
of Mississippi Law School has honored him by establishing the Jamie 
Lloyd Whitten Chair of Law and Government.
  As all of you know, in Congressman Whitten's long and successful 
political career he has earned the kind of bipartisan respect accorded 
to only true statesmen. There are many examples of this including in 
1982 when his colleagues voted him, ``the most effective chairman in 
the Congress'' and in 1984, when Members from both sides of the aisle 
gathered to make a rare tribute to Congressman Whitten with an official 
unveiling of a portrait of the Congressman in a ceremony in Statuary 
Hall.
  Mr. Speaker, it is only fitting and proper to honor our colleague and 
good friend Congressman Whitten by naming the Federal Agriculture 
Building at the northeast corner of the intersection of 14th Street and 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, as the ``Jamie L. Whitten 
Federal Building.'' I urge passage of H.R. 4576.
  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Coleman). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Traficant] that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4576.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4576, a 
bill to name the administration building of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture after our colleague, Jamie L. Whitten.
  Mr. Whitten was elected to Congress in November 1941 and only 14 
months later was elected to the Appropriations Committee. In 1949 he 
became chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, a position which he 
held for the next 44 years, except for the 2 years during the 
Republican 83d Congress when H. Carl Andersen of Minnesota served as 
chairman. Anyone who has read the hearing record from those 2 years, 
however, would have had trouble telling that Jamie was not still 
chairman.
  Over the 44 years he chaired the subcommittee he always put great 
effort into personally writing the introduction to the committee's 
annual report. This report became known as the annual report on the 
state of American agriculture. He has always been a tireless supporter 
of agriculture and the American farmer. Some years ago the Wall Street 
Journal, in a front-page article, referred to Jamie Whitten as the 
``Permanent Secretary of Agriculture.'' In farm country the name Jamie 
Whitten has been a household word for the last four decades.
  Mr. Speaker, I assumed the chairmanship of the Subcommittee on 
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and 
Related Agencies in January 1993. Chairing the subcommittee for the 
last two budget cycles has made me appreciate the enormous debt of 
gratitude farmers and ranchers owe to Jamie Whitten for his over 40 
years of service to American agriculture.
  Last month, just before we marked up the Agriculture appropriations 
bill for fiscal year 1995 in subcommittee, I talked to my good friend, 
Jim Traficant, chairman of the Subcommittee on Public Buildings and 
Grounds of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, about 
naming USDA's administration building after Jamie. I was considering 
adding a provision to the appropriations bill since the bill had been 
reported under Jamie's name for over 40 years. Jim wholeheartedly 
agreed with the idea of naming the building after Jamie. Jim introduced 
the bill the next day and has expeditiously guided it through 
subcommittee, full committee, and now, the floor. He has done an 
outstanding job in moving this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is a fitting and well-deserved tribute to our 
colleague, Jamie L. Whitten.

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