Congressional Record, Volume 142 Issue 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)

[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H9900-H9901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

SAM M. GIBBONS U.S. COURTHOUSE

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure be discharged from
further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3710) to designate a U.S.
courthouse located in Tampa, FL, as the ``Sam M. Gibbons U.S.
Courthouse'' and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Maryland?
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I will not
object, and I yield to the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Gilchrest] for
an explanation.
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, the bill designates the U.S. courthouse
located at 611 North Florida Avenue, Tampa, FL, as the Sam M. Gibbons
U.S. courthouse.
Sam Gibbons has been a distinguished Member of this body for 34 years
and will be retiring after he finishes his 17th term in the House of
Representatives. Sam has a long history of public service, beginning in
World War II, where he served as captain in the 501st Parachute
Infantry/101st airborne division. He was part of the initial assault
force in Normandy on D-Day and was awarded the Bronze Star for his
actions.
Sam has been a Member of the Committee on Ways and Means since 1969,
where he served as acting chairman in 1994 and became ranking minority
member in the 104th Congress.
Sam has conducted himself with dignity and commanded respect from
those who have served with him. I urge my colleagues to support this
fitting tribute to our distinguished colleague.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Shuster], who could not be here
today, strongly supports this legislation.
I, as a Member of the House, Mr. Gibbons, an American and a veteran
thank you for your long, distinguished, courageous career to this most
great country, the United States.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, continuing my reservation of objection, I
yield to the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar].
Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my appreciation to the
ranking member, Mr. Gilchrest, chairman of the subcommittee, and
Chairman Shuster for moving this and the previous unanimous-consent
request to name these buildings for distinguished Americans and in this
case for a very distinguished colleague.
All of us will long treasure in our memories the vision of Sam
Gibbons striding to the well of the House without a document in hand
but only a gifted, able, agile, and retentative mind to instruct us as
a moral conscience on the Tax Code of the United States and our trade
laws and to instruct and to guide and to shape responsible legislation.

[[Page H9901]]

He will long be remembered by our Canadian colleagues to the north
for his service on the Canada-United States interparliamentary group,
for the relations that he cemented, established and broadened with our
neighbors to the north and during which service he shaped many of the
policies that guide the destinies of our two countries and fostered
strong and warm relations between us and our neighbor to the north.
He will indelibly be remembered by the French for his landing at St.
Mere Egleiese in that Normandy invasion. He was a parachutist, risking
life in a manner so vulnerable, none of us can possibly understand it
until you have experienced it. None of us can fully appreciate the
gratitude of the French until you have seen delegations of French
parliamentarians who have been to this country, and I have witnessed
it. And Mr. Gibbons talks about that extraordinary experience and the
French respond with tears in their eyes, gratitude in their hearts and
a grateful memory of a wonderful nation that appreciates the sacrifice
and the risk that was taken.
The naming of this building is a small token that we can all take and
we can all offer for the long and enduring memory of the many gifts
that Sam Gibbons has shared with us and the lasting monument, body of
legislation and sacrifice that he has offered for this Nation, for its
good and for others for all time to come.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, Sam Gibbons was a war hero. He has been
a congressional hero. He is an American hero. In the delicate nature of
the work he performed not everybody may have agreed on every single
little issue. But never, ever was the integrity, the direction, the
focus of which he pursued his endeavors ever questioned. No one has
been more respected.
I am glad that I am in a position to have an opportunity to speak on
this and to have played a part in it.
I want to thank the gentleman, Mr. Gilchrest, and the Republicans. I
want to also notify the Members of the House that this enacting and
enabling legislation has a date of January 3, 1997, because Mr. Gibbons
is still a powerful seated Member of this Congress and we are so proud
to have him.
I just want to say personally on behalf of myself, all the Members
from our committee, the entire Democrat caucus and everyone who has
worked in this House who knows this man that Tampa will be a much more
graceful and elegant place with the naming of this building.
Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the bill, as follows:

H.R. 3710

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 courthouse located at 611 North Florida
Avenue in Tampa, Florida, shall be designated and known as
the ``Sam M. Gibbons United States Courthouse''.

SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

Any reference in a law map, regulation, document, paper, or
other record of the United States to the United States
courthouse referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a
reference to the ``Sam M. Gibbons United States Courthouse''.

amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by mr. gilchrest

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment in the nature of a
substitute.
The Clerk read as follows:

Amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Mr.
Gilchrest: Strike all after the enacting clause and insert
the following:

SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

The United States courthouse under construction at 611
North Florida Avenue in Tampa, Florida, shall be known and
designated as the ``Sam M. Gibbons United States
Courthouse''.

SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper,
or other record of the United States to the United States
courthouse referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a
reference to the ``Sam M. Gibbons United States Courthouse''.

SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

This Act shall become effective on January 3, 1997.

Mr. GILCHREST (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous
consent that the amendment in the nature of a substitute be considered
as read and printed in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, this amendment in the nature of a
substitute simply sets an effective date of the bill of January 3,
1997.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the amendment in the
nature of a substitute offered by the gentleman from Maryland [Mr.
Gilchrest].
The amendment in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read
the third time, and passed.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to
designate the United States courthouse under construction at 611 North
Florida Avenue in Tampa, Florida, as the `Sam M. Gibbons United States
Courthouse' ''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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