[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 15, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5055-H5060]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  0908
                RECEPTION OF FORMER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER of the House presided.
  The SPEAKER. On behalf of the Chair and this Chamber, I consider it a 
high honor and a distinct personal privilege to have the opportunity of 
welcoming so many of our former Members and colleagues as may be 
present here for this occasion. I think all of us want to pause and 
welcome each of them.
  Let me also say, if I might, that if the House will indulge me to 
speak from the chair for a minute, that I am particularly delighted 
today to be here to recognize the distinguished gentleman from 
Illinois, Mr. Michel, for the amount that this House owes the gentleman 
from Illinois for his years of service, for his sense of commitment to 
the representative process, to his passion for freedom, and his 
willingness to serve his country under a wide range of circumstances. I 
would say that I believe all Members of the Chamber would join me in 
recognizing that the gentleman from Illinois always placed

[[Page H5056]]

the House and the country above both his own personal interest and his 
partisan interest.
  I must say, at a personal level, that without his having been my 
mentor and without his having literally at times helped train me, 
usually with the best of cheer, but on a rare occasion with a direct 
and firm manner, I would not today be Speaker. While the Democrats in 
the Chamber may regret that part of his career, I can say, at least on 
behalf of the Republicans, that we are all in Mr. Michel's debt for 
having taught many of us a great deal about the art of leading in a 
free society. So it is a great honor to me to have this opportunity to 
be here and to state my feelings about the gentleman from Illinois.
  Let me at this time yield to the gentleman from Mississippi [Mr. 
Montgomery] on behalf of the minority.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the minority leader, the 
gentleman from Missouri, Dick Gephardt, on the Democratic side, I would 
like to also welcome former Members to this great assembly Hall and 
also offer my congratulations to Bob Michel, who you will give this 
award to this morning. Bob Michel was minority leader for a number of 
years and also a war hero. As you know, you have the privileges of the 
floor for the rest of the day.
  We will be taking up the defense authorization bill, Mr. Speaker, and 
now we do not go as long as we used to on the defense authorization 
bill. Then after that we will take up a budget resolution. I would like 
to point out that I and 32 other Members of the House of 
Representatives will be former Members about January 3 of next year, 
and 13 Senators, so we have some folks that add to the ranks.
  Welcome to Lindy Boggs, the President of your Association. She has 
been honored greatly this last week, not only in Missouri but also in 
Mississippi. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
  The SPEAKER. If I may recognize the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. 
Myers] on behalf of the majority.
  Mr. MYERS of Indiana. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning to 
each of you. On behalf of the majority leader, who unavoidably is 
detained, who planned to be here, but since I am going to join your 
ranks this year, he said why do you not do it for me. So we are pleased 
to have y'all back again here in this Chamber.
  I know many of you spent a good many years here, fond memories. It 
has not changed a whole lot that much. But we do welcome you back, and 
it is good to see so many look so young. You, too, Don. You know, it 
seemed like when we were younger that everyone aged more rapidly. But 
now that I am more mature, I realize that that is not true. But we do 
welcome you back and see so many that are still able to come back and 
say hello to us.

  Again, there will be several of us joining you. Mr. Montgomery and I 
will be joining you next year, and a number of us will be joining your 
ranks. I do not know if that will be improving your ranks, but it will 
improve the ranks here. A lot of Members will be pleased to have us go. 
Thanks for joining us again.
  The years do go by fast. Welcome back to the Chamber.
  The SPEAKER. Before the chair recognizes the distinguished gentleman 
from Florida, let me just say again as a history teacher, I 
particularly appreciate all of you coming back because the process of 
freedom is an organic process. The degree to which Members and former 
Members are able to educate the community, the degree to which each of 
you in your working life and in your chances as a citizen once you 
leave this place are able to reach out and help others understand this 
complex process that we call representative self-government is a very, 
very important part of the way in which we educate ourselves each 
generation.
  So I think the fact that you have remained active and that you are 
back here today is a very important part of that historic chain that 
takes us all the way back to the very first Congress and that will 
carry us forward to future Congresses beyond our own service. So I 
appreciate very much your being here today.
  The Chair now recognizes the Honorable Louis Frey, Vice President of 
the Association, to take the chair.
  Mr. FREY (presiding). Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Congressman Montgomery, 
and Congressman Myers, for allowing us to be here.
  There is always one thing I have wanted to say when I got up here. 
Everybody in favor of the balanced budget please say aye. Sorry, I 
waited 30 years for that.
  The Clerk will now call the roll of former Members of Congress.
  The Clerk called the roll of former Members of the Congress, and the 
following former Members answered to their name:


rollcall of former members of congress attending the 26th annual spring 
                         meeting, may 15, 1996

  Lindy Boggs of Louisiana;
  Daniel Brewster of Maryland;
  William E. Brock III of Tennessee;
  Donald G. Brotzman of Colorado;
  James T. Broyhill of North Carolina;
  Elford A. Cederberg of Michigan;
  Charles F. Chamberlain of Michigan;
  Rod Chandler of Washington;
  James K. Coyne of Pennsylvania;
  Robert B. Duncan of Oregon;
  John Erlenborn of Illinois;
  Marvin Esch of Michigan;
  Louis Frey, Jr., of Florida;
  Robert A. Grant of Indiana;
  James M. Hanley of New York;
  Robert P. Hanrahan of Illinois;
  Harry Haskell, Jr., of Delaware;
  William D. Hathaway of Maine;
  Jeffrey Hillelson of Missouri;
  George W. Hochbrueckner of New York;
  William L. Hungate of Missouri;
  John Jenrette, Jr., of South Carolina;
  Hastings Keith of Massachusetts;
  David King of Utah;
  Ernest Konnyu of California;
  Peter N. Kyros of Maine;
  Mel David of Wisconsin;
  Norman F. Lent of New York;
  Wiley Mayne of Iowa;
  Romano L. Mazzoli of Kentucky;
  Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey of California;
  Bob McEwen of Ohio;
  Matthew McHugh of New York;
  Lloyd Meeds of Washington;
  Robert H. Michel of Illinois;
  Abner J. Mikva of Illinois;
  Wilmer D. Mizell of North Carolina;
  John S. Monagan of Connecticut;
  Frank E. Moss of Utah;
  Charles H. Percy of Illinois;
  Shirley N. Pettis of California;
  Howard W. Pollock of Alaska;
  Joel Pritchard of Washington;
  Thomas F. Railsback of Illinois;
  John Rhodes of Arizona;
  John J. Rhodes III of Arizona;
  Don Ritter of Pennsylvania;
  Paul G. Rogers of Florida;
  John Rousselot of California;
  Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois;
  George F. Sangmeister of Illinois;
  Ronald A. Saracen of Connecticut;
  Harold S. Sawyer of Michigan;
  Richard T. Schulze of Pennsylvania;
  Carlton R. Sickles of Maryland;
  J. William Stanton of Ohio;
  James C. Wright of Texas;
  Leo C. Zeferetti of New York.
  Mr. FREY (presiding). It is now my personal privilege to introduce to 
this group the president of the former Members, the gentlewoman from 
Louisiana, the Honorable Lindy Boggs. The association has just been 
fortunate to have as its leader such an extraordinary, wonderful 
person. Her energy, her drive, her vision, trying to catch up with 
Lindy is just about impossible. I do not know how she does it. She puts 
us all to shame. She can bring us all together. If we have any problems 
at all, we just listen to her and we just fall in place because she is 
such a wonderful person and a great leader.
  If I had to use one word and I was forced to use one word to describe 
our president, I guess I would have to pick the word class. Everything 
that the gentlewoman has done personally, politically, in the business 
world, has been that that is the best in this country. We are just 
proud of the fact that we have been able to work with you. We thank you 
for everything you have done, and we turn the floor over to you.
  (Mrs. BOGGS asked and was given permission to revise and extend her 
remarks.)
  Mrs. BOGGS. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you so much. Mr. Speaker, I 
thank you so very much for those beautiful remarks. And I was sitting 
there hoping the real Lindy Boggs would stand up. It is such a pleasure 
to be here.
  Mr. Speaker, my colleagues and I are pleased and honored to have this 
opportunity to once again be on the House

[[Page H5057]]

floor and to present our 25th, 26th annual report to the Congress. We 
thank you for your warm welcome, and certainly we thank the gentleman 
from Mississippi and the gentleman from Indiana for their beautiful 
welcome to us.
  I have to say that the gentleman from Indiana developed that southern 
accent when he was the president of the Lower Mississippi Valley Flood 
Association. Mr. Speaker, we have without exception a warm attachment 
to this body, its traditions and its role in a democratic society. We 
welcome the opportunity to speak out on behalf of all its members. The 
association, over the 26 years since its inception, has grown to a 
membership of some 600 and an annual budget in excess of $650,000. 
Following the mandate of its charter, the association has developed a 
number of programs, both domestic and international, to promote the 
improved public understanding of the Congress as an institution and 
representative democracy as a system of government.
  One of our earliest initiatives was our highly successful 
Congressional-Campus Fellows Program. Under this program, which was 
launched in 1976, former Members of Congress visit colleges, 
universities, and high school campuses for 2 to 5 days to have formal 
and informal meetings with students, faculty, and community 
representatives to share with them firsthand knowledge about the 
operations of the U.S. Congress, the executive branch, and of course 
the judiciary. Seventy-three (73) former Members of Congress have 
reached more than 100,000 students through 232 programs on 164 campuses 
in 49 States. The most recent visit made in this program was by Romano 
Mazzoli of Kentucky, who visited Denison University in Ohio last month. 
In this time of increasing criticism of Congress, the members of the 
association feel particularly strongly that this program is vital to 
renew the faith of the American people in its system of representative 
government and to instill in them the importance of their active 
participation in the democratic process. We have been seeking funding 
to reinvigorate this program so our members may reach more students and 
faculty, and we will continue to do so in the coming year.
  The association also provides opportunities for our members to share 
their congressional experiences overseas. Fifteen (15) study tours have 
been carried out for members of the association, who, entirely at their 
own expenses, have participated in educational and cultural visits to 
China, the former Soviet Union, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle 
East, South America, New Zealand, and Australia. Most recently, a group 
of our members visited Canada, where former Congressman Jim Blanchard 
of Michigan has been our distinguished Ambassador. In the coming year, 
we are planning to have a delegation visit Ukraine, where we support a 
program to assist the Ukrainian Parliament and we have a congressional 
fellow--a former congressional staffer--in residence. We also have been 
invited by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese National 
People's Congress to send a delegation to China.
  The association cooperates with the U.S. Government and a number of 
nonprofit organizations which make available for educational projects 
the experience and perspectives of persons who have served in Congress. 
It has provided former Members of Congress for participation in 
programs sponsored by USIA's AMPARTS [American Participants] Program in 
Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Australia. USIA staff members 
hope to involve more former Members of Congress in these programs and 
have asked us to notify them when any of our Members who may be 
interested in participating in these programs are traveling abroad. So, 
please let us know of your travel plans.
  The association currently is working with the United States Embassy 
in Mexico, where former Congressman Jim Jones is serving as Ambassador, 
to initiate an exchange program with the Parliament of Mexico. A 
bipartisan team of two former Members of Congress is scheduled to make 
a visit, under funding from the United States Information Agency, to 
Mexico in June to conduct a pilot project in this effort. With funding 
received from the Ford Foundation, a study mission to Cuba will be 
undertaken to assess the current situation there, as soon as conditions 
are more favorable. We also have been working closely with the George 
C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany, 
which aids defense and foreign ministries in Europe's aspiring 
democracies to develop national security organizations and systems that 
reflect democratic principles. Former Congressman Martin Lancaster of 
North Carolina has spoken at several of the Center's programs for 
parliamentarians from Central and Eastern Europe, and additional former 
Members will be participating in these programs in the coming year.
  The association also provides opportunities for current Members of 
Congress to share their expertise with legislators of other countries 
and to learn firsthand the operations of those governments. It has 
continued serving as the secretariat for the Congressional Study Group 
of Germany, which is the largest and most active exchange program 
between the United States Congress and the Parliament of another 
country. The study group is an unofficial, informal, and bipartisan 
organization open to all Members of Congress. Currently, it involves 
approximately 120 Representatives and Senators, and provides 
opportunities for Members of Congress to meet with their counterparts 
in the German Bundestag and to facilitate better understanding and 
greater cooperation.
  In addition to hosting a number of Members of the Bundestag and other 
German Government leaders at the Capitol this past year, the study 
group hosted its 13th Annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar in April in 
Cape Girardeau, MO, located in the district of Congressman Bill 
Emerson. The location was chosen because the Members of the Bundestag 
who participated in last year's seminar in Dresden, Germany requested 
that this year's seminar be held in middle-America, an area of the 
country many of them had never visited. Accordingly, Congressman 
Emerson, the 1995 chairman of the study group in the House, very kindly 
invited us to hold the seminar in his district. The meeting, in which 
Louis Frey of Florida, Martin Lancaster of North Carolina, and I were 
privileged to participate along with current Members of Congress and 
current and former Members of the Bundestag, was a resounding success. 
As well as having indepth discussions about many facets of United 
States-German relations, we took an afternoon cruise on the Mississippi 
River on the motor vessel Mississippi, the flagship of the Corps of 
Engineers, during which we learned about the effective efforts of the 
corps in flood control, and we had the opportunity to tour neighboring 
counties and to meet with a number of Americans of German descent, 
whose ancestors came from Germany to settle the area.
  The study group program is funded principally by the German Marshall 
Fund of the United States. Its activities have included joint meetings 
of the agriculture committees of Congress and the Bundestag and visits 
by Members of the Bundestag to observe the Illinois presidential 
primary and the Iowa caucus, as well as to congressional districts 
throughout the country with Members of Congress to learn about the U.S. 
political process at the grassroots level.
  The association also serves as the secretariat for the Congressional 
Study Group on Japan, which seeks to develop a congressional forum for 
the sustained study and analysis of policy options on major issues in 
United States-Japan relations, and to increase opportunities for 
Members of Congress to meet with their counterparts in the Japanese 
diet for frank discussions of those key issues. This unofficial, 
informal, and bipartisan group, which is open to all Members of 
Congress, has 77 members, and an additional 49 Members of Congress have 
asked to be kept informed of its activities. An ongoing activity of the 
study group is to host breakfast and/or luncheon discussion meetings 
with Americans and Japanese who are experts on various facets of the 
United States-Japan relationship. For example, in March, George Fisher, 
chairman, president and CEO, and chief operating Officer of Eastman 
Kodak Co., met with study group members for a lively discussion about 
the current film industry debates. The month prior to that, the study 
group had the opportunity to hear from the new Japanese Ambassador to 
the United States, His

[[Page H5058]]

Excellency Kunihiko Saito. Major funding for this study group is 
provided by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission. The Ford 
Foundation also provided funding which assisted with the start-up 
operations of this group.
  The association's program to assist the new democratic nations in 
Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, which was begun 
in 1989, has continued to expand. Under funding from the United States 
Information Agency, the association has: Hosted delegations of Members 
of Parliaments of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 
the United States; sent bipartisan teams of former Members of Congress, 
accompanied by either a congressional or country expert, to Hungary, 
Poland, and Czechoslovakia; and placed a congressional fellow in 
Budapest for 2 years to provide technical assistance to the Members and 
staff of the Hungarian Parliament.
  Under a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, in March 1994, the 
association placed one congressional fellow in Slovakia--Jon Holstine--
and another congressional fellow in Ukraine--Cliff Downen--for 2-year 
stints. Jon Holstine's tour ended last month, but Cliff Downen is 
remaining in Ukraine for an additional year to continue the highly 
successful fellowship program he began in August 1995, which brings 
young Ukrainians to Kiev to work with the Members and staff of the Rada 
Parliament for a 1-year period. The initial funding for this fellowship 
project was obtained from the Rule of Law Grant Program, which is 
funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. The second 
year of the program is being funded by a grant from the Charles Stewart 
Mott Foundation and a new grant from AID. Former Members of Congress, 
Louis Frey of Florida, Lucien Nedzi of Michigan, and Don Johnson of 
Georgia, former House Parliamentarian William Brown and current and 
former congressional staff members and Congressional Research Service 
personnel have visited these fellows to assist them by conducting 
workshops and participating in seminars with Members of Parliament.
  Back on the home front, the association has continued its program of 
hospitality for distinguished international visitors, parliamentarians, 
cabinet ministers, judges, academicians, and journalists here at the 
Capitol. This program, originally funded by the Ford Foundation, has 
been continued under grants from the German Marshall Fund of the United 
States. These grants have enabled us to host 336 events--breakfasts, 
luncheons, dinners, and receptions--for visitors from 85 countries and 
the European Parliament, and has proved to be an effective avenue for 
improving communication and understanding between Members of Congress 
and leaders of other nations.
  In addition to our work with current parliamentarians, we maintain 
close relations with associations of former Members of the Parliaments 
of other countries. In this connection, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to 
recognize and welcome three representatives of those associations who 
are with us today: Barry Turner and Hal Herbert of the Canadian 
Association of Former Parliamentarians and Georg Ehrnrooth of the 
Association of Former Members of the Parliament of Finland. These 
relationships have been extremely cordial. Lasting friendships have 
developed and, as one may expect, a better understanding and 
appreciation of our common democratic institutions has emerged.
  I would be remiss, Mr. Speaker, if I did not salute the work of the 
U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress Auxiliary and express 
our gratitude to its membership so ably headed by Annie Rhodes and Debi 
Alexander, and to mention the untiring and successful efforts of Linda 
Reed, our executive director, and Walt Raymond, who has been 
responsible for most of these overseas programs, and of course of our 
distinguished board members and our very kind and excellent Academic 
Advisory Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, it is now my sad duty to inform the House of those 
persons who have served in the Congress and who have passed away since 
our report last year. Those deceased Members of the Congress are:
  John Joseph Allen, Jr., California;
  Les Aspin, Wisconsin;
  Bert A. Bandstra, Iowa;
  Joseph W. Barr, Indiana;
  James C. Cleveland, New Hampshire;
  Williard S. Curtin, Pennsylvania;
  Leonard Farbestein, New York;
  Ovie Clark Fisher, Texas;
  Dean A. Gallo, New Jersey;
  Porter Hardy, Virginia;
  John E. Henderson, Ohio;
  Albert Sydney Herlong, Jr., Florida;
  John C. Hinson, Mississippi;
  Chet E. Holifield, California;
  A. Oakley Hunter, California;
  Walter B. Jones, North Carolina;
  Barbara Jordan, Texas;
  Edward R. Madigan, Illinois;
  Thomas E. Morgan, Pennsylvania;
  Edmund S. Muskie, Maine;
  Joseph Mruk, New York;
  Richard G. Shoup, Montana;
  B.F. ``Bernie'' Sisk, California;
  Henry P. Smith III, New York;
  Margaret Chase Smith, Maine;
  John C. Stennis, Mississippi;
  Jesse Sumner, Illinois;
  Mike Synar, Oklahoma;
  Boyd Tackett, Arkansas;
  Lera Thomas, Texas;
  William Homer Thornberry, Texas;
  Andrew Jackson Transue, Michigan;
  Jamie L. Whitten, Mississippi;
  William A. Winstead, Mississippi; and
  Ralph W. Yarborough, Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask all of you for a moment of silence in 
their memory.
  May then rest in peace. Amen.
  It is now my happy duty to report that nominated to be our 
association's new president is our colleague who is presiding today, 
and of all of the nice things that he said about me, I can just reverse 
to say about him, Louis Frey of Florida; and, as vice president, 
Matthew McHugh of New York. With them at the helm, the leadership of 
the association will be in capable and very experienced hands.
  Each year the association presents a Distinguished Service Award to 
an outstanding public servant. This award rotates between political 
parties, as do our officers also. Last year's recipient on the 
Democratic side was Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., former 
Representative and Senator from Tennessee. This year, the recipient on 
the Republican side is the distinguished former minority leader and 
Representative from Illinois, Robert H. Michel.
  It is a special personal pleasure for me to present this award to Bob 
on behalf of the association as I greatly enjoyed the years that both 
my husband, Hale Boggs, and I were privileged to serve with him in the 
House and to enjoy and admire his wonderful wife, Corinne. He has 
certainly been an outstanding Member of Congress. He has served with 
his leadership, not only his constituents in Illinois, but also the 
U.S. public in general with great distinction through many years. I 
must say that we are presenting this privilege to him, we are just 
falling in line with a large number of other distinguished Americans. 
In 1994, President Clinton awarded Bob Michel our Nation's highest 
civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, and he was presented at one time 
the Citizen's Medal, our Nation's second highest Presidential award, in 
1989 by President Ronald Reagan. He has also received the VFW 
Congressional Award, in recognition of his outstanding service to the 
Nation, and, in the same year, the American Institute for Public 
Service presented him with the Jefferson Award for Public Service.

  He has also been recognized for just a range of activities that are 
really remarkable, and he has received the National Security Leadership 
Award by the leaders of the Reserve Officers Association, the American 
Security Council, and a bipartisan National Security Caucus on behalf 
of over 100 national organizations. He has also been the recipient of 
the Golden Bulldog Award, presented by the Watchdogs of the Treasury, 
for 18 consecutive terms.
  So it is a tremendous pleasure for us, of course, to be able to 
present this award to our colleague, and I am certain he will continue 
to be the very special person that he has been for so many years, for 
many years to come.
  I know all of you share my feelings and respect and admiration in 
being able to present this award to Bob, and I hope that he will come 
forward to receive it.
  The award reads: ``Presented to the Honorable Robert H. Michel of the 
United States Association of Former Members of Congress in recognition 
of his exemplary service to the Republic as a decorated war hero and as 
the

[[Page H5059]]

long-term Republican leader of the United States House of 
Representatives. In Washington, D.C., May 15, 1996.''
  Bob, it is so wonderful to be able to present this to you. I am also 
pleased to present you with this scrapbook of letters from your 
colleagues offering their congratulations, along with mine, for this 
well-deserved symbol of our love and appreciation. We will be happy to 
receive some remarks from you, sir.
  Mr. MICHEL. Madam President and former Speaker Jim Wright and my 
former leader, John Rhodes, and what is it, Speaker pro tem or what up 
there?
  Mr. FREY (presiding). Your shortstop.
  Mr. MICHEL. My distinguished colleagues, I am overwhelmed to again 
receive such a nice honor from my colleagues. I do not know what the 
criteria are for the former Members choosing one for this kind of 
award, but as I look around this room, I would say there are many more 
who would be justified in receiving it than this Member. After all, I 
have only been out there in the afterworld of Congress, you know, for 
less than 2 years. I have not had a chance yet to make my mark in that 
world, like so many of you out there. But I will tell you, I would not 
change it for anything. I am happy to be out there where you all are 
and be a Member of the Former Members Society.
  And, Lindy, may I congratulate you and the organization for all those 
myriad of things that the former Members are doing and participating as 
they are to help publicize what this institution is all about and what 
representative government is all about. I am very happy that all my 
papers are going to the Everett Dirksen, have gone to the Everett 
Dirksen Center for Leadership in Pekin, IL.
  One of the things we are attempting to do is each year to honor one 
person or several persons, whomever from the press who will write 
something positive about the Congress. And then, too, one of our 
emerging programs, because our endowment now is building up that we can 
afford to do it, is selecting high school teachers for one week of 
concentrated study on what the Congress is all about, so they can go 
back in civics classes and teach their high school students what this 
institution is all about.

  So I guess none of you needs any long speeches on this particular 
occasion, but I just have to make mention of the fact that I have 
always been so proud to have been a Member of this House and to serve 
in it, the honor that was accorded to me to be elected, reelected so 
many times. And then the wonderful things that have happened to me, 
particularly since announcing my retirement.
  I would hope that each and every one of you who still have that vim 
and vigor and have the respect for this institution, or you would not 
be here today as a former Member, would just accelerate those efforts 
at a time when the institution, all institutions of government, it 
seems to me, are under attack, and we need to be more positive in 
telling our young people what it really means to this country.
  I remember a time when I was a little apprehensive about electrifying 
the House of Representatives by electronically covering the proceedings 
of this body. You know, will there be showboating? Will it be good? 
Will it be bad? Well, I think in retrospect, as I look over it all, it 
has been a good thing for the country that C-SPAN gives it, you know, 
gavel-to-gavel coverge, to really educate the American people on what 
this institution and the other body then who followed suit, what it is 
really like.
  Maybe just one word of caution to our sitting Members, because when 
you are on the outside and you are observing the proceedings of this 
House, yes, sometimes when I was still the leader, they were very much 
in evidence, we have always got to be mindful of the fact that what is 
said, how it is said, the deportment of the Member, is the projection 
to the American public of what it is all about. We have the clash of 
ideas and the vigorous arguments that take place on the floor of this 
House, and that is what it is all about. But there is a point at which 
you draw the line, and that is not to besmirch the character of a 
fellow colleague, engage in personal attacks that might diminish what 
you have said, because the general public gets its feeling about this 
institution much at a higher level when it is really considered to be 
the highest point at which these public issues are debated and yes, 
with men and women of good civil attitude and respect, not only for the 
institution, but for their fellow colleagues.
  So I guess that would be the message I would leave with whoever might 
be in the listening audience here about how great this institution is 
and how it ought to be preserved. And those of us who have had the 
privilege of serving in it, I think we all feel just a little bit 
better when we come together on a occasion like this, share some of our 
experiences and views, and renew ourselves in the commitment to make 
absolutely sure the rest of this country understands perfectly what 
representative government is all about. It is the best on earth. We all 
ought to love it dearly for the rest of our lives. Thank you so much.
  Mr. MAZZOLI. Madam President, would the gentlewoman yield for just a 
brief moment?
  Mrs. BOGGS. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.
  Mr. MAZZOLI. I realize we have to clear the Chamber, but I would just 
address two or three things. One is to add my salute to Bob Michel on a 
life well lived and a career well handled, and to salute the 
gentlewoman for her leadership, but to also mention two things: She was 
kind enough to mention my name in the course of her remarks and it was 
a great pleasure for me to go to Denison, Senator Lugar's alma mater, 
to take part in that program. And I would only indicate to my 
colleagues, any one of you who would have an opportunity, whether by 
invitation or just inviting yourself, to go to one of the schools. And 
it was a wonderful experience, I think for the students, certainly for 
me. And I believe it is one wonderful opportunity we have to continue 
to share this information with the future generation.

  Then I want to particularly thank my good friends, Abner Mikva, who 
helped me this past semester when I taught full time at the University 
of Louisville's Law School. Abner came down to visit me. It was not an 
easy trip for him to make, a trip to Louisville. It was wonderful for 
my school's students. And I would tell my friends from Illinois, he 
really was a trifecta, because he served here, he served in the Federal 
judiciary, and served in the administration, so he really kind of went 
to the triple play. But he was able to address all those issues and, so 
once again, I want to thank Abner. But I also want to indicate that 
that is a way we leave something behind us.
  I thank the gentlewoman.
  Mrs. BOGGS. Thank you very much, and thank you so much for your 
participation.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, this concludes the 26th Annual Report to the 
Congress by the U.S. Association of the Former Members of Congress. We 
are honored, Mr. Speaker, by your warm welcome and your generous 
comments. We also want to thank all of the Members of the House here 
today for their very personal greetings. I know that for everyone in 
our group, being a Member of Congress was the most exciting, the most 
exhilarating, the most challenging period of our lives. So this is a 
rare and thoroughly enjoyable opportunity to greet old friends, feel 
for a moment the majesty of this Chamber and share with you the 
activities of its former Members. Finally, we want you to know this 
association will continue its efforts to promote greater public 
understanding of and appreciation for this very uniquely American 
legislative body, this greatest deliberative body in the modern world, 
the U.S. Congress. Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. FREY (presiding). Thank you, Madam President, for the great job 
and those remarks. In concluding, I just want to say I think all of us 
here are lucky, lucky to have been born in this country, lucky to have 
been a Member of this great body. And you know, what we probably have 
is a chance to do a lot more for this country now than maybe sometimes 
we had before, because it is needed out there. In some ways, we maybe 
have more credibility than when we were here. And I think what Bob 
Michel said is that we really have an obligation, and I am glad we

[[Page H5060]]

are fulfilling it and I am sure that we will continue to fulfill it.
  The House will continue in recess for 15 minutes.
  Accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 55 minutes a.m.), the House continued 
in recess for 15 minutes.

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