[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 204 (Tuesday, December 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15161-H15162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CHARLES A. HAYES POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2704) to provide that the U.S. post office building that is 
to be located on the 2600 block of East 75th Street in Chicago, IL, 
shall be known and designated as the ``Charles A. Hayes Post Office 
Building'' as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2704

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

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The United States Post Office building that is to be 
     located at 7436 South Exchange Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 
     shall be known and designated as the ``Charles A. Hayes Post 
     Office Building''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the United States 
     Post Office building referred to in section 1 shall be deemed 
     to be a reference to the ``Charles A. Hayes Post Office 
     Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. McHugh] will be recognized for 20 minutes, and the 
gentlewoman from Michigan [Miss Collins] will be recognized for 20 
minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York [Mr. McHugh].
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight voted 
favorably on the measure before us. Congresswoman Collins of Illinois, 
ranking minority member of the committee, introduced H.R. 2704 and was 
joined by the State delegation in cosponsoring this bill, as required 
by committee policy. The bill was amended in committee to accurately 
identify the address of the facility to be renamed.
  Mr. Speaker, the legislation honors former Representative Charles 
Hayes. He was a labor organizer and served as a Member of this body. 
Charlie Hayes was first elected to Congress in 1983, in a special 
election succeeding former Representative Harold Washington, who had 
resigned his seat after being sworn in as mayor of Chicago. Prior to 
his departure from Congress, Representative Hayes served as chairman of 
the former Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, Subcommittee on 
Postal Personnel and Modernization.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge our colleagues to support H.R. 2704 as amended, a 
bill which would name a post office in Chicago after one of our 
colleagues who served his constituents in the First District of 
Illinois.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Miss COLLINS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2704, legislation sponsored by 
two members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation, Congresswoman 
Cardiss Collins and Congressman Dennis Hastert. H.R. 2704, as amended 
in Committee, would designate the post office to be located at 7436 
South Exchange Avenue in Chicago, Illinois as 

[[Page H15162]]
the ``Charles A. Hayes Post Office Building.''
  Former Congressman Charles A. Hayes, better known as ``Charlie'' was 
a ``man for the unions'' and working people. One of his many 
accomplishments before coming to Congress in 1983 was when he was 
elected International Vice President of the United Food and Commercial 
Workers Union, one of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO. He fought hard 
to protect the rights of workers and left this distinguished body with 
a 100% lifetime voting record on issues important to labor. I am truly 
proud that his colleagues, Congresswoman Cardiss Collins and 
Congressman Dennis Hastert chose to recognize him in such a manner.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman 
from Illinois [Mrs. Collins], the ranking member of the Committee on 
Government Reform and Oversight.
  (Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise 
and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentlewoman from 
Michigan [Miss Collins] for yielding this time to me.
  Mr. Speaker, on December 5, 1995, in the spirit of bipartisanship, 
Congressman Dennis Hastert and I introduced H.R. 2704, legislation 
naming a U.S. post office in Chicago, Illinois, as the ``Charles A. 
Hayes Post Office.'' The post office will be located at 7436 South 
Exchange Avenue in Chicago.
  I wish to thank my friend and Illinois colleague, Congressman Dennis 
Hastert for joining me in sponsoring H.R. 2704 and Congressman McHugh, 
chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, 
Subcommittee on the Postal Service for having this bill considered for 
full committee action.
  Congressman Charles A. Hayes was first elected to Congress in 1983, 
in a special election, succeeding our former colleague, Harold 
Washington, who resigned from the House after being sworn in as mayor 
of Chicago. He was the first international union leader to be elected 
to Congress and spend his early years as a working man, organizing his 
first union. ``Charlie'' was elected to his first union office as 
President of Local 1424 of the Carpenter's International Union at age 
20.
  Congressman Hayes went on to secure bargaining rights for workers in 
Chicago's stockyards through the United Packinghouse Workers of 
America. In 1954, he was elected District Director of the Packinghouse 
Union and moved continuously through the ranks and after several 
mergers became International Vice President of the United Food and 
Commercial Workers Union which was at that time the largest union in 
the AFL-CIO. Rising from the small town of Cairo, Illinois, ``Charlie'' 
became one of the most important labor leaders in America.
  While serving here in the House, Charlie Hayes fought fiercely to 
protect American jobs and was active in the fight to increase Federal 
funds for schools, to increase funds for public works and to protect 
the rights of ordinary workers. He introduced full employment 
legislation and denounced unemployment as ``morally unacceptable.'' He 
supported National Health Insurance from his earliest union days 
throughout his service in Congress and is to be commended for his 100 
percent lifetime voting record on issues important to labor.
  Prior to his departure, Congressman Charles A. Hayes chaired the Post 
Office and Civil Service Subcommittee on Postal Personnel and 
Modernization. He was known to his friends as the ``Labor Democrat'' 
and is widely recognized as a first-rate public servant and first-class 
friend, a man who worked hard to ensure that workers across the country 
had food on the table, pensions that were protected, and safe working 
conditions.
  When I called Charlie, about 2 or 3 weeks ago to say, ``Charlie, how 
would you like to have a post office named after yourself,'' he said, 
``Gosh, Cardiss, I'd be absolutely honored to have that. Do you think 
it will happen?''
  I said, ``I think it will happen because everybody knows you, 
Charlie, everybody knows how dedicated you were as a Member of 
Congress, everybody knows that you fought for the things that you 
believe in.'' So, Mr. Speaker, I am really very pleased to have this 
opportunity to stand here and be about the business of presenting this 
piece of legislation on the floor with the help of the subcommittee 
chair, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hastert], who cosponsored this 
legislation, of the gentlewoman from Michigan [Miss Collins] who is a 
ranking member on the subcommittee.
  She mentioned Charlie's ``regular order'' call. Charlie used to sit 
over in the fourth row around the corner all the time, and it got to be 
quite a joke that when everybody was busy talking, and what have you, 
he had this deep gravel voice, ``Regular order,'' and everybody knew 
that that was Charlie because that was his trademark, if my colleagues 
will, and so it seems to me that the one thing I miss most about 
Charlie, besides his wonderful smile, besides his very sincere efforts 
to do good for working people, is the fact that we do not happen to 
hear that regular order anymore.
  Mr. speaker, we are pleased to have this honor and to have a post 
office named after him in behalf of working Americans, and I thank all 
of the Illinois delegation and all of those here in this House who are 
supporting it.
  Miss COLLINS of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, let me in closing extend my words of appreciation and 
thanks both to the gentlewoman from Michigan [Miss Collins], the 
ranking member on the subcommittee, and to the gentlewoman from 
Illinois [Mrs. Collins], the ranking member on the full committee, for 
their support, and their efforts, and their leadership on these bills. 
We are all very appreciative of their efforts.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. McHugh] that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2704, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended, and the bill, as amended, was 
passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to provide 
that the United States Post Office building that is to be located at 
7436 South Exchange Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, shall be known and 
designated as the `Charles A. Hayes Post Office Building'.''
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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