[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 105 (Wednesday, July 17, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1295-E1296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            LAWMAKER TRANSCENDED TYPICAL WASHINGTON POLITICS

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                            HON. PAT DANNER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 16, 1996

  Ms. DANNER. Mr. Speaker, this opinion piece by Ken Newton of the St. 
Joseph News-Press summarizes the feelings of so many people who have 
admired the late Congressman Bill Emerson of Missouri. I would like to 
place this article in the Congressional Record so it can be recorded in 
history with the other fine tributes to Bill Emerson.

            [From the St. Joseph News-Press, June 30, 1996]

            Lawmaker Transcended Typical Washington Politics

                            (By Ken Newton)

       Here's a note from my career filed as a missed opportunity.
       The congressman was in his home district conducting a farm 
     tour, and I drew the reporting assignment, a warm morning at 
     a university livestock facility. The school's agriculture 
     chairman was anxious to show off the prize boar, which seemed 
     more than up to the task as it trotted out of its pen, strode 
     up to its guest and, as if scripted, relieved itself at the 
     congressman's feet.
       Oblivious to the affront, the hog became the only creature 
     present not caught up in embarrassment or surprise. I slapped 
     my forehead, wishing I had a camera ready.
       Bill Emerson, diminished to a fireplug by an incontinent 
     animal, took it well, shaking off his shoes and moving on to 
     whatever came next. Life in Washington teaches you to roll 
     with the punches.
       I remembered this when I learned Congressman Emerson, who 
     represented Southeast Missouri in Congress 15 years, died 
     last weekend at age 58.
       He was elected U.S. representative five months after I 
     became a newspaperman, and our career paths crossed numerous 
     times. Helped into office by Ronald Reagan's coattails in 
     1980, he beat a long-time incumbent whom constituents 
     believed cared more for Jimmy Carter's attention than their 
     interests.
       Thus, Mr. Emerson became the first non-Democrat to hold the 
     Southeast Missouri congressional seat in four decades. In the 
     cotton-rich reaches of New Madrid County, where I grew up, 
     they tolerated boll weevils more readily than Republicans, 
     yet the congressman managed to win seven subsequent 
     elections. The nick-name for the growing legion of crossover 
     voters was ``Emercrats.''
       Other Republican congressional hopefuls didn't have such 
     luck in those days, and Mr. Emerson became a working-stiff 
     representative in the out-numbered party. He paid attention 
     to his agricultural constituency, went about the business of 
     serving his district and occasionally called out back-bencher 
     objections to Tip O'Neill and Jim Wright and Tom Foley, the 
     power brokers of his chamber.
       Defying the stereotype of the GOP as compassionless, Mr. 
     Emerson adopted world hunger issues as his own. He championed 
     the international aid program known as Food for Peace, and 
     struck up an unlikely alliance with House colleague Mickey 
     Leland, the Houston Democrat who died when his plane crashed 
     during a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia in 1989.
       The urban African-American and rural Republican were 
     strange bedfellows who traveled together to famine-stricken 
     areas a number of times, bound by a cause and not separated 
     by partisanship. When Mr. Leland died, the Missourian's 
     eulogy was among the most moving.
       The glorious irony of Mr. Emerson's tenure in Congress is 
     that his success as a lawmaker grew from inaccessibility to 
     power. For his first seven terms, he waded into his duties 
     without the necessity of kissing up to leadership or the lure 
     of landing committee chairmanships; only majority members 
     needed to apply. Instead he became a representative in the 
     true sense of that title.
       The accompanying sad irony is that 10 months into the Newt 
     Revolution, when his party finally had the power, Mr. Emerson 
     was diagnosed with the lung cancer that would kill him.
       It is fashionable to regard members of Congress cynically, 
     as hogs gone to trough, greedy souls looking only to 
     perpetuate their political careers and attendant perks. No 
     doubt, those views are justified with some. With many, the 
     names that might not make the Sunday morning programs or vice 
     presidential short lists, the call to public service is 
     enough of a job and a reward.
       Bill Emerson, a good Missourian of low profile in life, 
     should be remembered that way.

[[Page E1296]]



                         WISCONSIN WELFARE PLAN

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                            HON. RON PACKARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 16, 1996

  Mr. PACKARD. Mr. Speaker, it was not long ago President Clinton 
expressed his strong support of the Wisconsin welfare reform plan. I 
applaud the President's decision to support Governor Thompson's 
ambitious plan--but actions speak louder than words.
  Reforming a welfare system that encourages dependence and continued 
vulnerability is a top priority of this Republican-led Congress. 
Welfare was designed to be a safety net for those in crises, not the 
virtual hammock that it has now become.
  The Wisconsin welfare reform proposal is very similar to the 
Republican welfare reform bill. The Republican plan provides real 
reform that will lift families out of a destructive cycle of poverty 
and dependency. The current welfare system only serves to make welfare 
children welfare parents. For too many people, welfare has become a way 
of life; the Republican welfare reform plan makes welfare a way of 
work.
  Mr. Speaker, welfare weakens the American family. President Clinton 
has voiced support for a comprehensive welfare overhaul that will help 
take people off the welfare rolls and put them on the payrolls. I urge 
the President to sign the waiver for the Wisconsin welfare reform plan 
and support the Republican welfare reform bill.

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