[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 135 (Thursday, September 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H11379-H11387]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE 104TH CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Owens] is recognized for 47 minutes.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, these are the closing days of the 104th 
Congress. I just wanted to again congratulate the American people or 
their common sense.
  As we close out the 104th Congress, the situation in American 
political life is very different from what it was when we opened up the 
104th Congress in January 1995. These are the closing days. It is 
important to note that we are going through the process of a large 
number of suspension bills. The public does not understand that fully.
  Suspension bills means that we suspend the rules and do not follow 
the rules. These are not bills that have necessarily gone though the 
full procedure. They are expected to be so popular that there will be 
overwhelming approval, to the point where two-thirds of the people will 
vote for them and they will be able to pass.
  The suspension process this year, large numbers of suspension bills 
at the very end of the session, is fraught with danger, because the 
abuse of the rules that has gone on all year in the 104th Congress is 
also taking place here, with some very important items that are being 
slipped into some of the suspension bills. That is nothing new. The 
abuse of the rules is one of the characteristics of the 104th Congress.
  The biggest action is yet to come, in the next day or two. We hope 
tomorrow the continuing resolution will be on the floor. that 
continuing resolution will take all of the agencies and programs that 
have not yet had appropriations bills passed and lump them all together 
in one resolution, and will go forward, I hope, without having the 
agony of a shutdown.
  I think my colleagues who spoke earlier, the gentlewoman from 
Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] and the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. 
Pallone] did a very good summary of the highlights of what has happened 
during the past year. They talked at some length about the agony of the 
shutdown of the Government because of the refusal to deal with the 
budget in a responsible way by the 104th Congress.
  The Republican majority of the 104th Congress will go down in history 
as being one of the most unreasonable groups. They sought revolution 
through a budget process. They sought to blackmail and force the 
President to do something that should have been debated, discussed, and 
negotiated.
  Despite all that, we have something big we hope to celebrate when 
this continuing resolution comes forward. There are rumors, and I hope 
that they are true, that within the continuing resolution that is 
coming there may not only be a sustenance here, maintenance of some 
very vital programs that we feared might be cut, but there may be some 
increases in the budget for very important programs, especially in 
education.
  There is a rumor that at least $1 billion in increases will take 
place with respect to education programs, and maybe more. That is 
something to celebrate. The 104th Congress can go out celebrating the 
fact that it found its way. It got lost for a while, the Republican 
majority was lost, and they came

[[Page H11380]]

into the 104th Congress insisting that the Department of Education 
should be eradicated. They attacked education programs across the 
board: student loans, Head Start. There was nothing that was sacred 
enough for them to leave it alone in terms of budget cuts.
  That is a fantastic turnaround. It ought to be celebrated. I 
congratulate the Republican majority for seeing the light. But it 
really is a result of the American people's common sense manifesting 
itself.
  What I really want to do is congratulate the American people again 
for their common sense. In our polling procedures now that move so 
rapidly, we are able to determine what people are thinking very 
rapidly. we do a lot of studying of polls, and there are focus groups 
beyond the polls, and various other devices to measure what people are 
thinking.
  So what you are thinking as a public gets measured rapidly, 
regularly, and congratulate you on the fact that you have indicated 
that some of the extremist actions taken by this 104th Congress are 
totally unacceptable, are repugnant, and they have responded. What they 
have done or proposed to do to education you indicated was totally 
unacceptable, and the biggest turnaround of the Republican majority in 
this 104th Congress has been its position on education.
  If it is true, and I think it is, that we may have a large increase 
in the Federal assistance to education, then I am happy that they did 
turn around. I hope we can go back to a policy of bipartisan support 
for education programs.
  While we may be able to celebrate the increase in education programs, 
we must mourn the eradication of the Aid to Families with Dependent 
Children. if there is a low point to be identified unquestionably, the 
lowest point in the 104th Congress is the eradication of the Aid to 
Families with Dependent Children, which is a part of the Social 
Security Act, by the way. It has existed for 61 years, since Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt initiated the New Deal, as part of the Social Security 
Act, which most people do not understand. Aid to Families with 
Dependent Children is part of the Social Security Act. Medicare is part 
of the Social Securiy Act. Medicaid is the part of the Social Security 
Act.

                              {time}  2230

  When you worry about what is going to happen with Social Security, 
your worry is well-placed. You should worry. Because if we are going to 
take away the entitlement for Aid to Families with Dependent Children, 
take away the entitlement which says that any children who are poor in 
America, and they can meet the means test--it is a means-tested 
program--they deserve the help that their government can give. They are 
entitled to it. There cannot be any negotiation, there cannot be any 
favoritism shown by States or local governments. They are entitled to 
it. Entitlement means just what it says.
  Well, that is gone. That is gone. We did not have welfare reform. We 
had the eradication of a very vital part of the Social Security Act, 
the eradication of Aid to Families with Dependent Children. That is the 
low point. We must mourn that just as we celebrate the fact that there 
has been a turnaround in education programs.
  The 104th Congress opened with a bang, and it is closing with a 
whimper. That is because again the American people had the common sense 
to see that this is an extremist majority. The Republican majority 
moved with great extremism. It was not so much in their Contract With 
America, where they at least had written down what they were going to 
do, tried to reshape that, but it is all the other things that were not 
in the contract that they came on so strongly with that led to the 
opening of the eyes of the American people, with the help of the 
Democratic minority.
  We helped to open the eyes of the American people, we helped to bring 
forth the common sense of the American people by highly visible efforts 
to expose what was going on here. We had an unprecedented set of 
actions which showed our resistance to the extremism, and the response 
of the American people was to understand better what is going on here.
  So we are closing with a whimper because the American people 
understood. We are closing with a whimper because the Democratic 
minority took the case to the American people, and enabled them to 
understand and, in their understanding, they showed they were 
disappointed and revolted by certain things that were going on.
  I understand a large number of Republicans are now carrying ice 
buckets around, and the Speaker of the House was on television citing 
as one of his great achievements the ending of the practice of 
delivering ice daily in the House of Representatives. I want to 
congratulate the Speaker. I think that in the age of refrigerators, as 
he said, we do not really need to have ice delivered every day. And 
that was a good reform. So congratulations, Mr. Speaker.

  The 104th Congress, Republican majority, will be known for its ice 
delivery policy. If we are going to carry ice buckets around, we might 
join you. It is a good policy, your ice delivery polity, and the 
Speaker said maybe they saved $200,000 between the ending of delivery 
of ice and the privatization of the barber shops and beauty parlors.
  He might have saved $200,000, but he added $13 billion to the defense 
budget; $13 billion more than the President wanted was added to the 
defense budget. So I think your common sense, the common sense of the 
American people can look at the saving of money on items which 
agreeably were obsolete, the delivery of ice. But on the other hand, 
adding $13 billion to the budget when the President, the Commander in 
Chief of the country, said we do not need it, the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, a whole lot of other people saying we do not need certain items 
in this budget and they kept adding those items, so the waste goes on 
despite the fact that we have a new ice delivery policy.
  So congratulations on the ice delivery policy. Let us look at a more 
practical way at where we are wasting money by adding to the defense 
budget things that the military experts say we definitely do not need.
  The Republican majority will also be remembered for its honesty. I 
want to congratulate them on their honesty and their openness. They did 
not camouflage their intentions. They came on very strong, highly 
visible with their policy. They were highly visible with their intent 
to wipe out organized labor. They did not mince words and their actions 
showed that they were going to wipe out the benefits that organized 
labor and workers--let us forget about organized labor, because the 
benefits that workers have gained are spread throughout, whether you 
are in a union shop or not. OSHA is a benefit you have. The 
Occupational Health and Safety Agency benefits all workers, and an 
attempt to wipe that agency out or bring it to its knees and throttle 
its effectiveness would have hurt all workers.
  They attempted to bring the National Labor Relations Board to its 
knees. On and on it goes. One of the chief advocates of getting rid of 
OSHA even said openly in the Washington Post that he had promised 
businessmen in his State that he would do it and he was rewarded with 
an immediate set of contributions from the businessmen in his State of 
$65,000. So it was quite a phenomenon. They were honest, they have been 
honest. And by being honest, they have presented the American people 
with some clear choices.

  The 104th Congress Democratic minority continued to have faith in the 
common sense of the American people and not mourn its loss of power. It 
might have been a bit mournful in the first 3 or 4 months. We did not 
quite know what to do, it seemed. But I think that the Democratic 
minority is to be congratulated.
  Our leadership under Minority Leader Gephardt was fantastic in 
rallying the troops and probably the turnaround point in this 104th 
Congress came in the summer of 1995, when the horror of the Republican 
extremists came home to the American people because the members of the 
Education Committee, the Committee on Economic and Educational 
Opportunities they call it now, the members put up a resistance to the 
cuts in the school lunch program.
  The school lunch programs was a first battleground, the first time we 
took the battle to the American people in a highly visible way, about 
$2 billion over the 7 years of the budget period that was being 
proposed to the year

[[Page H11381]]

2002, $2 billion would have been gained from savings on the backs of 
the little children in America who use the school lunch program.
  That $2 billion was slated to go into the infamous Republican 
majority's tax cut fund. They needed large amounts of money, $2 billion 
was just a drop in the bucket, and before it is over they were going to 
need something like close to $300 billion, the latest scale back, but 
large amounts of money were needed to provide a tax cut to the few.
  The Republican majority made it clear from the very beginning that 
they were the government of the elite, that they had no qualms about 
proposing public policies which would benefit a small group of 
Americans, those who already have the largest amount of the wealth in 
the country. They own most of the wealth; 10 percent of the people own 
90 percent of the wealth. You have this terrible gap that has been 
growing between the richest Americans and the poorest Americans. It 
used to be that Great Britain had that kind of gap with its lords and 
ladies and landed gentry, but America, the home of the brave, the land 
of the free, where the common man can get ahead and so forth. All of a 
sudden we are among the industrialized nations of the world the very 
worst in terms of the gap between the rich and the poor. The gap is 
bigger in America now than it is anywhere else in the world. That is 
most unfortunate.

  But we had in the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities 
resisted the cuts. I just want to remind us, none of us should forget 
that 1 year ago, about this time, Federal education programs were 
facing a $4 billion cut. Among the cuts that we were facing was a cut 
in the school lunch program.
  The records in our heads should be corrected to show that it was the 
fight against cuts in the school lunch programs, led by members of the 
Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, which began to 
change the public opinion polls in favor of the Democrats in Congress. 
The model of highly visible and personalized resistance used to fight 
the school lunch cuts was later adopted by the Medicare and Medicaid 
campaigns to stop the cuts. We used the same approach in terms of going 
straight to the people, getting examples of how people were going to be 
hurt, just as we had gone to school lunchrooms and talked to children, 
eaten lunch with children and dramatized for the American people the 
fact that this was the kind of cut we did not need.
  The fight for aid to education was the pivotal point in the war to 
take back the Congress. In those days, in the summer of 1995, we did 
despair sometimes, it was difficult to believe that the American people 
were going to come to our rescue, we did not understand how strong the 
tradition of common sense is out there among our people and how they 
would definitely rise to the occasion.
  At that time, I remember on Tuesday, April 4, one of the low points 
in the discussion, the swindle of the children's lunches, I entered 
into the Record the following notation with a little rap poem.
  I said:
  The very conservative but thorough Congressional Budget Office has 
estimated that the Republicans will capture slightly more than $2 
billion from their block-granted School Lunch Program. This will be $2 
billion more to go into the tax cut for the rich. This is a scenario 
filled with horror. It conjures up the image of the poster where Uncle 
Sam is pointing his finger and saying to potential military recruits: 
``I need you.'' While the Republicans advocate a $50 billion increase 
in the defense budget--at that time it was $50 billion--and turn their 
backs on welfare for corporations and rich farmers, they are saying to 
the children of America: ``This Nation needs your lunch.''

     Kids of America
     There is a fiscal crunch
     This great Nation
     Now needs your lunch
     To set
     The budget right
     Go hungry
     For one night
     Don't eat
     What we could save
     Be brave
     Patriots stand out
     Above the bunch
     Proudly surrender lunch
     There is a fiscal crunch
     This Nation needs your lunch
     Pledge allegiance to the flag
     Mobilize your own brown bag
     The enemy deficit
     Must be defeated
     Nutrition suicide squads
     Are desperately needed
     Kids of America
     There is a fiscal crunch
     This great Nation
     Now needs your lunch.

  We had to resort to a little humor to save our souls during those 
difficult days, to keep our spirits up because it was the kind of 
horror we never expected to experience. And the American people felt 
the same way. They reacted with great horror and immediately there was 
a chain reaction that was set in motion about the cuts in education 
programs in general. Every education cut aroused great indignation and 
we began to move in a way which has resulted in our being able to 
celebrate at this time the fact that a proposed $1 billion increase is 
about to take place, more than a $1 billion increase in education 
programs.
  We are moving toward a pivotal election, and it is very important 
that this common sense not lose focus. It is very important that the 
blitzkrieg that is coming, of advertisements on television, all kinds 
of devices will be used to try to confuse the American people, that we 
keep our sense of direction and understand that we still need to close 
the income gap, we still have a problem with income stagnation, it has 
to be halted. We still have a problem with the elitism, the idea that 
it is quite all right for 10 percent of Americans to own 90 percent of 
the wealth. That still must end. We still need a more creative taxation 
policy. I have talked about all these things during the course of this 
104th Congress and I want to reemphasize the fact that they are still 
relevant.

  We have a good report also that came from the Census Bureau. They 
recently reported, I think today or yesterday, that household income is 
up, family income is up, people in poverty have gone down, the poverty 
rate is down, the elderly poverty rate is down, the child poverty rate 
is down. But when you look at their statement, you will find that they 
are down by very small amounts and the great celebration and the reason 
that the Census Bureau is trumpeting these new figures and the reason 
that the Democrats are now trumpeting them is that it has been so long 
since we had any increases. A typical household's income is up $898 in 
1995. That is the largest increase in the whole decade. It is not much 
money, $898 will not close the income gap. It will not really 
compensate for all the income stagnation that has taken place. But it 
is the only increase we have had in the last 10 years, in the last 
decade. The same thing is true of the family income going up and the 
poverty rate going down. It is small figures, there is no great deal of 
change to report, but the fact that change has taken place at all is 
something to celebrate and certainly the Clinton economic policy can 
take credit for what is happening.
  The Democratic Family First initiative insist that we continue to do 
the kind of things that were initiated by President Clinton in his 
first 2 years. The economic policy which was certainly buttressed by a 
bill that not a single Republican voted for, that economic policy must 
continue.

                              {time}  2245

  Our Family First initiatives dealing with economics and job creation, 
our family first initiatives which deal with education, are all 
designed to guarantee that this forward increase in terms of economic 
benefits and growth will continue.
  Mr. Speaker, we were cut down because of the division in time. I am 
going to wind up in a few minutes, because I want to share the time and 
yield to my colleague from Illinois, Mr. Jackson, for a tribute to one 
of our departing members. I emphasize he has not departed, he is 
departing. He will rise again. In fact, he has not disappeared from the 
public scene. He will be here for a long time and doing magnificent 
work.
  I will close now by saying that it is important to keep our 
perspective and keep the common sense of the American people focused. 
We have learned a lot this past year. We are grateful for the fact that 
the Republican majority in their extremism made everything

[[Page H11382]]

crystal clear, and that our response to it, by taking it beyond the 
halls of this House and exposing it, allowed the American people to see 
what was going on. Therefore, we are coming to the end of this session 
in a very different spirit than the way we started it.
  I want to just give a few examples of where we have to go in the 
future. The President talks about building bridges to the future. We 
must understand that we are going to have to be bold, and the 105th 
Congress is going to have to behave very differently, and the next 2 
years must be different. In building the bridge to the future, we 
should not hesitate to rely on the examples of the past.
  I was looking the other day at a documentary about the West. When 
they talked about the building of the railroads and how the building of 
railroads was critical in making our Nation one nation, really from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific we became one nation only as a result of the 
railroads.
  The railroads were a highly subsidized venture. The railroads 
involved Government to a great degree. Government and private 
enterprise worked hand-in-hand, with the Government supplying the 
contracts and the private enterprise doing all of its usual tricks, 
including California having hired an expert to declare certain land was 
mountainous when it was really not mountainous so they would get a 
higher rate.
  Another example is Congress working to establish land granted 
colleges across the Nation. It was a huge program that has a great 
benefit and made a big difference in this country, just as the GI bill 
later on was a large Government program which focused on education and 
had a great benefit.
  We have a telecommunications revolution coming now, and we hope that 
we are going to move forward in the age of telecommunications and hear 
the President's initiatives on education in light of the fact that the 
opportunities for jobs will come through the telecommunications 
revolution. The next 105th Congress should be about jobs, jobs, and 
jobs, and education of course is inextricably interwoven into any 
attempt to create jobs in this very complex, modern economy of ours.
  Mr. Speaker, at this point I want to change for us and yield for a 
tribute to our departing member of Congress, one in particular, but I 
just want to note we have several in the Congressional Black Caucus who 
are departing.
  I would like to note we are going to very much miss Harold Ford of 
Tennessee. Earlier there was a discussion on Mr. Ford's achievements. I 
happen to come from the same hometown. I represent New York now, but I 
was born in Memphis, TN, where Harold Ford has represented the people 
of Memphis ably for a long time.
  We also have departing Cardiss Collins, who is the ranking Democrat 
on the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. She has done a 
magnificent job of maintaining the resistance, speaking out loudly, 
clearly, in a highly visible fashion, to keep the American people 
informed as to what is going on there, excellent leadership by Cardiss 
Collins.
  Barbara Rose Collins is departing, from Michigan; and we earlier lost 
Kweisi Mfume from Maryland; and we are also now going to discuss Mr. 
Cleo Fields. Cleo is very special in many ways. I like to remind people 
that one of my favorite education programs is called the TRIO program. 
Cleo is a product of that program. He is an alumnus of that program. 
The TRIO program provides special attention for youngsters to guide 
them into a college career. It creates a whole environment as well as 
inspiring them. It provides tutors and practical steps toward entering 
college. Cleo is one of their alumni. They can be very proud of him.
  Cleo, in the face of adversity, brought on by the fact that suddenly 
America has decided that drawing districts which don't look 
aesthetically beautiful is not good. Since the history of the country, 
we have always had strange-shaped districts for Congress. But all of a 
sudden the Supreme Court says if a district looks strange, they want to 
examine the district and see if race had anything to do with it.

  Race has always had a great deal to do with drawing of districts all 
across the country. It is nothing new. It just so happens we are open 
and honest about the fact that you need to draw some districts and a 
way to correct the past imbalances and the past injustices, and the 
honesty has led to a change in policy which put CLEO's district on the 
line. He has been undaunted and kept going in the face of that, 
provided great leadership in a number of different areas, including the 
fight to bring relief to the black churches that are burning across the 
Nation and to guide us into some kind of policy of resistance on that 
issue, as well as many others.
  Mr. Speaker, I salute Cleo Fields. As I said before, he is not 
departed, he is departing. He will rise again. He will maintain his 
visibility in public life.
  At this point I would like to yield to the gentleman from Illinois 
[Mr. Jackson] to carry on the rest of the special order.
  (Mr. Jackson of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)


                             General Leave

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and 
extend their remarks on this special order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mica). Is there objection to the request 
of the gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, today we come today to 
celebrate the outstanding work of the distinguished gentleman from 
Louisiana, the Honorable Cleo Fields. I am honored to be joined on this 
occasion by several Members of Congress who will be participating in 
this special order.
  I certainly want to take this opportunity to thank Congressman Owens 
from New York for his outstanding leadership on a myriad of issues. I 
also want to thank him for allowing us the privilege, as this 104th 
Congress comes to an end, to acknowledge the service of Congressman 
Cleo Fields. On this occasion I am joined by the distinguished 
gentleman from North Carolina, the honorable Congressman Mel Watt.
  Before I yield time to Mr. Watt, I certainly want to say a few words 
about Congressman Fields.
  We are living in a time when African-Americans, particularly young 
African-American men in our Nation, are being criticized and chastised 
for a whole host of things, from drug sale and drug use in our 
communities to violent crimes. Often time legislators on both the 
Democrat and Republican side, quite frankly, have used young African-
American males as the justification for the building of more prisons 
and not funding schools adequately.
  We are living at a time when the Sentencing Commission suggests that 
one out of every three black men in our Nation between the ages of 20 
and 29 are involved in the criminal justice system, on probation, on 
parole, or in jail.
  Even in my district, as I work with young people, I am astounded and 
amazed to see so many young people who have ankle identification 
systems that are now tagged to their legs because they are part of a 
probation system because of overcrowding in the prisons.
  Yet, in the midst of all of the negative impressions that the media 
gives us about young African-American men, when I was not a member of 
this body, I had the privilege of speaking at high schools and colleges 
all across this country, and just no individual in the Nation, there 
are only 435 Members of Congress, just no individual in the Nation 
stood as a greater and a more outstanding example of what we could 
become than the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana, the Honorable 
Cleo Fields.
  He was first the youngest state legislator in the history of 
Louisiana and the youngest legislator in the 103d Congress. He founded 
and sustained the Innovative Congressional Classroom, where high school 
students in the 4th District of Louisiana are involved in debating 
issues and developing appreciation of the political process. He is the 
founder and chairman of the House Education Caucus, which has over 60 
members. He was the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Task 
Force on Church Burnings and Redistricting. He has helped every Member 
of this body to recognize the importance of these issues and how they 
affect every one of us.

  I know all too well, long before I became a Member of this 
institution,

[[Page H11383]]

that the role that Congressman Cleo Fields was playing in talking about 
the desegregation of this Congress, making it possible for more 
minorities to serve here, was all too an important role, when one 
considers that after the Plessy versus Ferguson decision of 1896, 
during that first reconstruction period, there were 22 African-
Americans elected to Congress.
  As a result of that decision in 1896, by 1901 there were zero 
African-Americans in this institution, and it was almost 60 years later 
that Brown versus the Board of Education was passed and the principles 
of equal protection under the law was established, which really laid 
the foundation for this institution to pass and President Johnson to 
sign into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965. As a result of that 
effort, there are now 39 African-American members in this institution.
  Representative Fields was a college student when he ran for the State 
Senate. After having served in the State Senate with great distinction, 
he managed to develop and gain a seat on the Redistricting Committee in 
the State Senate in Louisiana. In a State almost 30-plus percent 
African-American, Congressman Cleo Fields was then in a position to 
effectuate and actualize the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with the 1990 
census. Subsequently, he created a second congressional district for 
African-Americans in the State of Louisiana.
  The goal was not to create reverse discrimination for voters in 
Louisiana, but it was to provide the kind of adequate and much-needed 
representation that 30 percent of the people of the State of Louisiana 
had heretofore been denied.
  Congressman Bill Jefferson was the first African-American from the 
State of Louisiana elected since reconstruction, and the second 
African-American was the distinguished gentleman from Louisiana, 
Congressman Cleo Fields.
  I was a student at North Carolina A&T State University when I first 
met Cleo Fields. He was involved in the Jessie Jackson for President 
campaign. I remember all too well when Congressman Fields and I came to 
Washington, and one night we were driving past this very noble and very 
distinguished institution, and Representative Fields looked out of the 
car window that night, and he said, ``Jessie Jackson, Jr., one day you 
and I could very well have the opportunity to serve in that 
institution.'' I kind of laughed and kind of cajoled Congressman 
Fields, because I certainly knew he was on the track to serving in this 
institution. I had no idea that I would ever have the privilege and the 
honor of serving in this institution with Congressman Fields.
  When I announced my candidacy a year and a half or so ago, I so 
looked forward to serving in this institution with Congressman Cleo 
Fields, because he alone has stood as an outstanding example for young 
African-Americans across this country. With all of the negative burden 
that had been heaped upon them as a generation, you alone stood as a 
bright and shining example of what we could all become, if we simply 
stopped complaining about what we did not have, if we just used what we 
did have.
  So I am a member of Congress today because of the outstanding example 
that Congressman Fields has set, and because of the commitment that he 
has to public service. I am just honored and privileged to have had, 
albeit for a brief moment, this opportunity to serve with you.
  With that, I would like to yield time to the distinguished gentleman 
from North Carolina, the Honorable Mel Watt.
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, I wanted to 
first express my thanks to Congressman Jessie Jackson, Jr., for coming 
up with the idea and pulling the people together to pay tribute to my 
good friend Cleo Fields.  I want to thank my colleague, Major Owens 
from New York, for reserving the time and yielding part of the time to 
us for this purpose.

                              {time}  2300

  Mr. Speaker, I have been wondering how to approach this tribute, 
because I could approach it in a number of different ways. First of 
all, I could approach it as a roast of my good friend the gentleman 
from Louisiana, Cleo Fields, because he is first and foremost my friend 
and we have, in the last 4 years, during the time that we have served 
in this Congress together, and 4 years ago was really the first time I 
had met him, although I had known of his reputation, but during that 4 
years we have become what I would call in the community ``ace 
buddies.''
  We do a lot of joking around, and so I was tempted to use this 
evening to roast him, but I decided that that probably would not be the 
proper thing to do when somebody 100 years from now or 50 years from 
now reads the Congressional Record and finds all of these things of a 
humorous nature on such a serious occasion.
  So I started to reflect, well, why is it that we are honoring and 
saluting Cleo Fields this evening? We are honoring and saluting him 
because tomorrow or Saturday or next Wednesday or whatever day it is 
the leadership says we get out of here to adjourn this session of 
Congress will be the last day that we will have the opportunity to 
serve with this distinguished legislator. His term will run the balance 
of the year, but we will not be in a position where we can come and pay 
this tribute to him.
  The reason that we pay tribute to him is that he has been an 
outstanding legislator, an outstanding friend and he will no longer be 
able to serve that role. Now, why will he not be able to serve that 
role? Well, the Supreme Court of the United States has said that race 
cannot be taken into account in the drawing of congressional districts 
in a manner which results in congressional districts favoring or making 
it possible for minority representatives to be elected to Congress.
  Now, we can take race into account in a negative way. In fact, 
throughout the history of this country, race has been being taken into 
account in the drawing of congressional districts, especially in the 
South, for as long as we can remember and as long as history records, 
but when you start to take race into account in a manner which 
addresses this history of discrimination in the electoral process, then 
somehow the Supreme Court starts to feel that that is improper and that 
the Nation, all of a sudden, should be colorblind.
  So it has handed down a series of devastating lawsuits and opinions 
as a result of lawsuits which quite possibly will have the effect of 
less and less minority representation. It is ironic that the first 
casualty of that series of cases is the person who has chaired the task 
force for the Congressional Black Caucus on redistricting.
  Now, when we talk in the Halls, sometimes Cleo Fields will suggest to 
me that this would not have happened to him in Louisiana but for the 
Shaw versus Reno case, which originated in North Carolina, and that 
lawsuit was filed as a result of the drawing of my congressional 
district. So, in some measure, he is holding me responsible for his 
leaving Congress, and so in that sense, I guess I should be here 
roasting him and shoring him up and telling him that it is not me that 
bears responsibility for it but the Supreme Court, at least five 
members of the Supreme Court, who have promulgated this series of cases 
that has resulted in a district that he can no longer win in.
  Let me conclude, Mr. Speaker, because I know the time is and I want 
to make one final point before I close.
  We have been through this process leading to a diminution and, in 
fact, an elimination of minority representation in the Congress of the 
United States once before in our history. Maybe we could argue we have 
been through it twice before, because when the Constitution was 
written, it was written in such a way that none of us were taken into 
account, and so minorities, blacks, at that time, could not represent 
anybody in Congress because we were not even considered full-fledged 
citizens.
  But at the end of the 1800's, after we had gained a measure of 
representation for minorities in the United States Congress as a result 
of poll taxes, literacy tests, Klan intimidation, we reached a point 
where the number of minorities in Congress decreased from approximately 
20 down to, at the end of the 1800's we had only one left, and his name 
was George H. White. He was a black man from North Carolina, 
interestingly enough.
  I want to close on the comments that he made in February 1901 when he 
took to the House floor and addressed the House for in excess of an 
hour in what

[[Page H11384]]

was supposed to be a speech on an agriculture bill, and he started his 
speech by reciting two or three sentences about the agriculture bill, 
and then turned his attention to what was happening in the area of 
minority representation.
  In that speech what he said was, my colleagues, this perhaps is the 
temporary farewell of Negroes in the Congress of the United States, but 
phoenix-like, someday we will rise up and come again. And I have that 
same feeling about my colleague, Cleo Fields. I mean I think it is 
great that he is such a young guy and he started at such a young age, 
because I think we will see Cleo Fields again in this body.
  I think the words of George H. White will be prophetic. They were 
prophetic when he spoke them in February 1901. It took 30-plus years 
for any black representative from anyplace in the country to rise up 
and come again to the Congress. It took over 90 years for any minority, 
any black representative from the State of North Carolina to rise up 
and come again, and it might take a few years for Cleo Fields to rise 
up and come again, but I believe that this man, with these qualities, 
with this commitment, with the finesse and vitality and youth that Cleo 
Fields has, he will rise up and come again and he will make an 
impression on our Nation in this very House of Representatives.
  I salute you, my friend, and I wish you the very best in years to 
come, and I am looking forward to serving again with you.
  Mr. Jackson of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I do not think that we can 
provide a higher tribute to the distinguished gentleman from the Fourth 
District of Louisiana than the tribute provided by Mr. Watt of North 
Carolina. His historic call perspective is certainly profound. It was 
George H. White, as he indicated earlier, who said like a phoenix we 
will rise again.
  Today we lose a significant Member of the House of Representatives 
who represented not only African Americans but Anglo-Americans and 
Asian Americans and Latino Americans in the Fourth Congressional 
District.
  There is not one Member of this institution who can challenge the 
quality of leadership that Congressman Cleo Fields has brought to this 
institution. He belongs in this House, he belongs in the U.S. Congress, 
he belongs in the Senate, if he so chooses, and if he so chooses he 
belongs at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
  But the historical perspective is particularly important as we 
prepare to close out this particular tribute to Representative Fields. 
When we look at the challenges to representation all across this 
Nation, when we look at the number of African Americans that have 
served with great honor and distinction in this institution, none have 
been able to provide the kind of leadership and the kind of vision over 
such a short period of time that the distinguished gentleman from 
Louisiana represents.
  I would like to take this opportunity as well, Congressman Fields, to 
support you and I wish you farewell and I wish you the best of luck.

           Congressman Cleo Fields Fourth District, Louisiana

       Cleo Fields, a Louisiana Democrat, was re-elected to serve 
     a second term in the United States House of Representatives 
     in 1994. Fields is a member of the House Committee on Banking 
     and Financial Services, and the House Committee on Small 
     Business. He sits on the Subcommittees on Financial 
     Institutions and Consumer Credit and Domestic and 
     International Monetary Policy of the Banking Committee, and 
     the Small Business Subcommittees of Government Programs and 
     Tax and Finance. He is the founder of the Education Caucus, 
     and is a member of the Democratic Caucus Committee on 
     Organization, Study, and Review for the 104th Congress, the 
     Congressional Black Caucus, and the Progressive Caucus.
       Elected to serve his first term in the House of 
     Representatives in 1992, Fields, then 30 years old, was the 
     youngest member of the 103rd Congress. As a freshman, he 
     introduced the Delta Initiatives Act, the Stolen Guns Act, 
     and the Check Cashing Act of 1993. Moreover, he assumed 
     leadership on ATM legislation to provide consumers proper 
     user-fee disclosure. Presently, he continues to work closely 
     with colleagues to ensure enactment of meaningful ATM 
     legislation. Fields' legislative initiatives also include the 
     introduction of the ``Education Trust Fund Act of 1995'' and 
     the ``Tax-free Savings and Investment Income Act.'' His 
     proposed ``Education Trust Fund Act'' levies a gaming tax of 
     five percent to create a trust fund to be used to improve 
     public elementary and secondary schools across the country by 
     increasing funding for teacher salaries, school 
     infrastructure, and educational supplies. Another bill, the 
     ``Tax-free Savings and Investment Income Act,'' encourages 
     savings and investment by allowing tax-payers to make up to 
     $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for couples in unearned 
     tax free income.
       In the Banking Committee, he is a persistent advocate for 
     inclusion of adequate consumer protections in all legislation 
     the panel considers. He is responsible for bringing issues 
     such as tenant representation on housing boards, low-cost 
     banking accounts and government check cashing, insurance 
     disclosure, and ATM fee disclosure to the attention of 
     Committee Members. As the House Banking Committee has 
     advanced legislation to roll back consumer protections, 
     Fields has been instrumental in attempting to maintain 
     current standards included in the Community Reinvestment Act, 
     the Truth in Savings Act, the Truth in Lending Act and other 
     consumer banking laws. He has worked closely with consumers 
     and both the banking and insurance industries to explore 
     mutually advantageous solutions to the issue of national 
     banks selling insurance. Congressman Fields has also spent 
     many hours in Committee trying to remedy the BIF/SAIF 
     discrepancy, which has put bankers at odds with the S&L 
     industry regarding their insurance funds.
       As a residing member of the Small Business Committee, 
     Congressman Fields has launched several initiatives to 
     cultivate and increase economic development for small 
     businesses. He organized the Fourth Congressional District 
     Economic Development Summit, which exposed the local business 
     community to existing federal programs that provide business 
     development and enhancement assistance. Facilitating the 
     Summit were prominent leaders such as the late Commerce 
     Secretary Ron Brown, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, and 
     the Regional Director for the Small Business Administration 
     (SBA), Till Phillips.
       Congresman Fields also spearheaded the drive to secure the 
     future of the SBA's 8 (a) Minority Business Development 
     Program. He challenged attempts to dismantle the program 
     through letters, hearings, press conferences, and special 
     orders. Further, he introduced legislation that requires the 
     SBA to make procurement information available to Minority 
     Business Development Centers in order to assist small and 
     traditionally disadvantaged businesses in securing federal 
     contracts.
       One of the Congressman's most prized accomplishments is his 
     creation of a Congressional Classroom for elementary and 
     secondary school students. The first of its kind in the 
     country, the Classroom was initiated to develop students' 
     understanding of the legislative process through ``hands-on'' 
     experience and mock legislative sessions. Numbering 
     approximately 1200, Classroom members have had the privilege 
     of hearing first hand from our nation's leaders including the 
     President and Vice President of the United States, the 
     Speaker of the House, the Attorney General, and various 
     Cabinet Members. Each has enthusiastically addressed the 
     students on national issues from their unique perspective of 
     leadership.
       During the 104th Congress, Fields organized the first-ever 
     Education Caucus and currently serves as its House Chairman. 
     This bi-partisan Caucus is comprised of over 60 Members of 
     both Congressional Chambers. The first hearing, held in May 
     of 1996, focused on the concerns of teachers, parents, and 
     other organizations interested in improving education in our 
     nation. The Caucus has also highlighted the benefits of 
     corporate involvement in education, analyzed the reasons for 
     the success and failure of national and local education 
     programs, featured programs that have the potential to 
     provide national models, and discussed the limitations 
     imposed upon educational opportunities by decreased funding.
       Throughout his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, 
     Congressman Fields has been elected Chairman of both the 
     Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Redistricting and 
     the CBC Task Force on Church Burnings. As CBC Chair of the 
     Redistricting Task Force, Fields hosted hearings and meetings 
     to provide Members of Congress, state legislators, civil 
     rights leaders and constituents with comprehensive 
     information on all issues pertinent to redistricting and the 
     relevant cases across the nation. Chairing the Task Force on 
     Church Burnings, Fields was able to bring together government 
     and business resources with the congregations of burned 
     churches to begin rebuilding initiatives. Working closely 
     with President Clinton, the Department of Justice, and the 
     Department of Treasury's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
     Firearms, Fields, along with the co-chairs of the National 
     Church Arson Task Force, hosted the first public town hall 
     meeting on church burnings in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
       Cleo Fields was born on November 22, 1962 in Baton Rouge, 
     Louisiana. He is a 1980 graduate of McKinley High School in 
     Baton Rouge. In 1984, Fields earned his B.A. degree from 
     Southern University in Baton Rouge, where he also served as 
     Student Government Association President and was elected by 
     the Louisiana Council of Student Body Presidents to serve on 
     the Louisiana Board of Regents.
       Directly following his undergraduate studies, Fields earned 
     his Juris Doctorate from Southern University School of Law. 
     In 1987,

[[Page H11385]]

     the same year he graduated from law school, Fields was 
     elected to the Louisiana State Senate. At the age of 24, he 
     was the youngest state senator in Louisiana history and the 
     youngest state senator in the nation. While in office, Fields 
     sponsored and passed legislation that established Drug Free 
     Zones near school campuses, as well as legislation creating 
     an Inner City Economic Development Program. Concerned with 
     increasing violence in schools, and in an effort to redirect 
     students' attention, Fields introduced school uniform 
     legislation.
       In 1995, Cleo Fields, again made history by becoming the 
     first African-American in a gubernatorial run-off in the 
     State of Louisiana. Because of his dedicated commitment to 
     education, the environment, economic development, and deficit 
     reduction, he compelled the attention of the electorate. Many 
     believe his candidacy in Louisiana's 1995 gubernatorial 
     election has permanently changed the face of Louisiana 
     politics.
       Fields is a faithful member of Mt. Pilgrim Baptist-Church 
     in Baton Rouge. He is happily married to Debra Horton Fields, 
     and they have a son named Cleo Brandon Fields.
                                                                    ____


     Cleo Fields (Democrat) of Baton Rouge--Elected 1992, 2nd Term

       Washington.-- For a brief time in 1994, Fields' nascent 
     congressional career appeared to be over. But instead he was 
     back in 1995, announcing the Jan. 22 birth of his firstborn 
     child to cheering colleagues on the House floor.
       The threat to Fields; re-election had come the previous 
     July, when a panel of three federal judges ordered into 
     effect a new congressional district plan for Louisiana that 
     eliminated freshman Fields' majority-black 4th District.
       But a month later, that court order was stayed while on 
     appeal to the Supreme Court. The 1994 elections went ahead, 
     using lines drawn earlier that year by the state Legislature. 
     The new 4th looked nothing like its predecessor and was less 
     black (the African-American percentage dropped from 66 to 
     58). But the new 4th retained Fields' Baton Rouge base and 
     allowed him to win a second term with ease (his 70 percent 
     majority in the October primary obviated a November vote).
       Between December 1993 and August 1994, Fields' district 
     changed drastically four times as federal judges and 
     Louisiana state legislators redrew it. Late in 1994, the 
     Supreme Court decided to hear the appeal of the Louisiana 
     case, which may mean yet another overhaul. If one comes, 
     Fields hopes not to be around for it: he announced in January 
     1995 that he would be a candidate for the November election 
     for governor.
       Fields supported his party leadership on more than nine 
     votes out of 10 in the 103rd Congress, straying most notably 
     when the party itself was most divided. He voted against both 
     NAFTA and GATT, votes that helped him earn a perfect score in 
     1993 and 1994 from the AFL-CIO.
       He strove to use his seats on the Banking Committee and the 
     Small Business Committee to leverage capital for small 
     businesses willing to relocate in his district, where poverty 
     rates are high. He worked to protect the privacy of bank 
     customers' credit and tried to force banks opening interstate 
     branches to provide low-cost basic checking services.
       But the continuing conflict over the district map seemed to 
     overshadow all else. A federal three-judge panel in December 
     1993 threw out the congressional district map used in 1992, 
     which contained a giant `Z'-shaped 4th District, the second 
     black-majority seat in Louisiana.
       The state Legislature redrew the map in April 1994, but the 
     federal court rejected that plan in July and imposed its own, 
     one with only one majority-black district. This was the 
     decision stayed by the Supreme Court the following month.
       At Home: Fields pursued this seat relentlessly, starting 
     with the redistricting struggle he fought as a member of the 
     state Senate in the early 1990s.
       He was the youngest state senator in Louisiana history at 
     age 24. In the Legislature, he was a leader against illicit 
     drug use and was regarded favorably by environmentalists, but 
     not so much so that he was perceived as any enemy of the 
     state's powerful natural gas industry.
       Mostly Fields showed a knack for positioning himself to win 
     elections. He also demonstrated the drive and energy to make 
     good on his opportunities.
       In the Senate, he chaired the redistricting committee and 
     worked to craft a second majority-black district for the 
     state in compliance with the Voting Rights Act. He competed 
     with rival Sen. Charles ``C.D.'' Jones, a 13-year incumbent 
     from Monroe, over the shape of the district, and eventually 
     Jones prevailed.
       But if Jones won the battle. Fields won the war. He nearly 
     won the seat in the all-party primary with 48 percent in a 
     eight candidate field. Thrown into a November runoff with 
     Jones. Fields continued his student-led, grass-roots campaign 
     and walked away with 74 percent.
       In 1994, no other Democrat entered the race, and Fields 
     easily swept aside the lone Republican who came forward to 
     test him in the all-party primary.
       This is the district that returned the issue of race-based 
     congressional redistricting to the Supreme Court. More 
     precisely, this is the descendant of the district that mired 
     Louisiana's redistricting map in litigation after its 
     enactment in 1992. The 4th District used for the 1992 
     election was a Z-shaped creature that zigzagged through all 
     or part of 28 parishes and five of Louisiana's largest 
     cities, digesting black communities to create the state's 
     second black-majority district.
       A three-judge federal panel threw out that redistricting 
     plan in December 1993. The judges, singling out the shape of 
     the 4th, ruled that the map was the product of an 
     unconstitutional racial gerrymander. In a special session, 
     the Louisiana Legislature in April 1994 passed a new district 
     map. That plan, signed into law and approved by the U.S. 
     Justice Department, preserved the black majority in the 4th 
     but substantially reoriented it.
       The federal judges invalidated the Legislature's plan as 
     well and imposed their own model with only one majority-black 
     district (the New Orleans-based 2nd). But the Supreme Court 
     stayed that ruling in August, leaving the Legislature's plan 
     in place for the 1994 election. The court accepted the 
     Louisiana case for its 1994-95 term.
       The old 4th, dubbed ``the `Z' with drips'' by a state 
     redistricting staff member, had started in the northwest 
     Louisiana industrial city of Shreveport. From there, the 
     district snaked east along the Arkansas border, then followed 
     the Mississippi River southward. At Pointe Coupee Parish it 
     split. One finger plunged west, deep into central Louisiana, 
     and the other continued east and south to the Cajun city of 
     Lafayette. As chairman of the 1992 state redistricting 
     committee, then-state Sen. Fields made sure Baton Rouge, his 
     home base, anchored the 4th. Outside Baton Rouge in central 
     and northeastern Louisiana the 4th was anchored by the black 
     sections in blue-collar Alexandria and Lafayette, the center 
     of the state's Cajun culture.
       As redrawn by the Legislature, the 4th still covers a vast 
     distance, from the Texas border to a point southeast of Baton 
     Rouge. It retains Fields' Baton Rouge base and parts of 
     Lafayette, Alexandria and Shreveport. But by redistricting 
     criteria, it is more ``compact'' than its predecessor.
       The 4th's 1994 version takes in three whole parishes and 12 
     split parishes. Shorn of switch-backs, it sticks to a 
     northwest-to-southeast diagonal, resembling, in the words of 
     a state official, ``a sash on a beauty queen.'' For much of 
     its course, it follows the Red River and interstate 49 and 
     10.
       This version has a smaller black population than the one in 
     which Fields ran in 1992. That district was 66 percent black; 
     this one is 58 percent black. Poverty permeates many of the 
     nooks and crannies of this Democratic district. While the 4th 
     includes rural areas, it is dominated by its urban black 
     communities. Nearly 25 percent of residents live in the 4th's 
     portion of East Baton Rouge Parish (Baton Rouge). Nearly 20 
     percent live in the 4th's section of Caddo Parish 
     (Shreveport).
       Splitting the city with the 6th, the 4th captures all of 
     northern and parts of southern Baton Rouge, which includes 
     lower- and middle-income black and racially mixed 
     neighborhoods. Many residents work in nearby chemical plants, 
     including the Exxon Court Manufacturing Complex, the city's 
     largest private employer. Several universities crucial to 
     Fields' support, such as Louisiana State University (29,500 
     students) and the largely black Southern University, also 
     were included.
       The district ends in Shreveport. It includes almost every 
     black enclave in the city, including populous Cooper Road, 
     one of Louisiana's oldest black communities. Once an oil and 
     gas town, Shreveport now counts AT&T Consumer Products and a 
     General Motors plant in its economic mix.
                                                                    ____


                            Hon Cleo Fields

       Committee Assignments: Committee on Banking and Financial 
     Services; Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, 
     Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy.
       Committee on Small Business; Subcommittee on Government 
     Programs, Subcommittee on Tax and Finance.
       CBC Seniority Ranking: 24; Staff Contact: Kimberleigh 
     Butler-Smith.
       Cleo Fields, Louisiana Democrat was elected to serve his 
     first term in the United States Congress in 1992. He was 
     sworn into office on January 5, 1993 at the age of 30, making 
     him the youngest member of the 103rd Congress.
       As a member of the House Committee on Banking and Financial 
     Services, Fields serves on the Subcommittees on Housing and 
     Community Opportunity, and Domestic and International 
     Monetary Policy.
       In addition, Fields serves on the House Committee on Small 
     Business where he serves on the Subcommittees on Government 
     Programs and Tax and Finance.
       Fields was a member of the Democratic Caucus Committee on 
     Organization, Study and Review for the 103rd Congress.
       Cleo Fields was born November 22, 1962 in Baton Rouge, 
     Louisiana. He is a 1980 graduate of McKinley High School in 
     Baton Rouge.
       In 1984, Fields earned his B.A. degree from Southern 
     University in Baton Rouge. During his senior year, he was 
     elected Student Government Association President. In the same 
     year, he was elected by the Louisiana Council of Student Body 
     Presidents to serve on the Louisiana Board of Regents. He 
     also made the Dean's List and was chosen a member of Who's 
     Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.
       Directly following his undergraduate studies, Fields 
     entered Southern University

[[Page H11386]]

     School of Law. During law school, he served as a law clerk 
     for both the East Baton Rouge Parish City Prosecutor's office 
     and the Parish Attorney's Office.
       In 1987, the same year he graduated from law school, Fields 
     was elected to the Louisiana State Senate. At the age of 24, 
     he was the youngest state senator in Louisiana history and 
     the youngest state senator in the nation at the time.
       In his second term, Fields continues to be strong voice for 
     children and consumers. A long time advocates of youth, 
     Fields strongly objects to weakening programs which benefit 
     children. Fields has offered many bills and amendments which 
     deal with education, job training, check cashing, insurance 
     disclosure, and other banking related issues.
       Fields is a member of Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church in Baton 
     Rouge, Louisiana. He is married to Debra Horton of Baton 
     Rouge. The couple has one son, Cleo Brandon Fields, born 
     January 22, 1995.
  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the 
distinguished gentleman from Illinois, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., 
for reserving time today. I join him and members of the Louisiana 
congressional delegation in saluting an outstanding Member of the House 
of Representatives, Cleo Fields. This bright, young leader has set a 
fine example of what can be achieved by those seeking to change the 
world around them. We gather to recognize his contributions to this 
Congress and the Nation.
  From his days as the president of the Southern University Student 
Government Association, Cleo Fields knew how to accomplish tasks that 
to others seemed out of reach. His election to the Louisiana State 
Senate at the age of 24 showed his home State that a leader and player 
in Louisiana politics was emerging. At the age of 30, Cleo Fields was 
elected to the House of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, constituents of Louisiana's Fourth Congressional 
District are fortunate to have the dedication and service of Cleo 
Fields. As chairman of the House Education Caucus, Cleo Fields has 
taken a provocative look at methods for improving our education system. 
He has involved leaders from all aspects of the system in candid 
discussions of the best methods to serve America's children.
  As founder of a successful program called ``Congressional 
Classroom'', Cleo Fields has allowed nearly 1,200 elementary and 
secondary students to gain a better understanding of our legislative 
process. These young people benefit from a firsthand look at their 
Government in action, as well as meeting with congressional leaders 
from both sides of the aisle.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the most powerful organizations in the Congress, 
the Congressional Black Caucus, has also benefited as a result of Cleo 
Field's expertise and determination. As a founder of this organization, 
I was proud to welcome Cleo Fields into our ranks. His dedication to 
equality and civil rights made him a very valuable player on our team.
  We recall that when the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated what is now the 
Fourth District of Louisiana, thus turning back the clock on decades of 
progress, Cleo Fields stood strong and fought for his constituents. 
Cleo Fields rose to meet the challenge in a manner benefitting a true 
champion. In the process of leading this courageous battle, this 
articulate leader helped an even younger generation to understand the 
power of the ballot box, just as he had done at Southern University.
  Mr. Speaker, some Members of this body might say that Cleo Fields is 
retiring. I would hasten to add, however, that this young star is just 
beginning to rise. I will miss Cleo Fields and I wish him all the best 
in the future.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend and 
distinguished colleagues Congressman Cleo Fields of Louisiana's Fourth 
Congressional District. When people talk about Congressman Fields, they 
often use the world ``youngest.'' He was the youngest State legislator 
in Louisiana history, he was the youngest member of the 103d Congress. 
However, Representative Fields' personal and professional 
accomplishments belie his age. His tremendous energy, coupled with his 
desire to help America's youth and its minorities, has ensured that 
Congressman Fields will leave behind an significant legacy.
  Cleo has always been a champion of the people. After receiving his 
juris doctorate from Southern University School of Law at the age of 
24, he was elected to the Lousiana State Senate, becoming the youngest 
State senator in Louisiana history. While in office, he sponsored and 
passed legislation establishing Drug Free Zones near school campuses, 
and worked to create an Inner City Economic Development Program. He was 
a leader against illegal drug use and a champion of effective 
environmental protection initiatives.
  In the House of Representatives, Congressman Fields, has continued to 
work tirelessly to protect and promote the opportunities and rights of 
all Americans.
  As a member of the Small Business Committee, he has vigorously 
defended the Small Business Administration's Minority Business 
Development Program, helping to ensure that women and minority small 
business owners are able to succeed economically.
  As a member of the Banking Committee, he has staunchly fought for 
consumer protections. In the face of 104th Congress' attempt to 
rollback consumer protections, Representative Fields has fought to 
maintain the consumer protections contained in the Community 
Reinvestment Act, the Truth in Savings Act, and the Truth in Lending 
Act.
  Recognizing the importance of education and of our Nation's youth, 
Representative Fields organized the first-ever Education Caucus and 
currently serves as its House chairman. This bipartisan, bicameral, 
caucus has focused on the concerns of teachers, parents, and other 
organizations interested in improving education in our nation.
  Finally, I especially commend Congressman Fields for his work as the 
chair of the Congressional Black Caucus' Task Force on Church Burnings. 
We have worked side-by-side in response to this national crisis. 
Representative Fields was able to bring together government and 
business resouces with the congregations of burned churches to begin 
the process of rebulding. His work helped to not only rebuild churches, 
but also hope. Working to educate all Americans as to why the church 
burnings affected them; his service in this area cannot be overstated.
  I will miss Representative Fields' constant efforts to promote 
minority business development and to improve education in this country. 
I wish him the best of success in his future endeavors, and I feel 
honored to have served with him.
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, from the moment Congressman Cleo Fields 
came to Washington, he and I have been friends. We worked together a 
lot. In fact, when the Democratic party was in the majority, we used to 
take turns presiding over the House floor. I can tell you that he 
quickly earned my respect and admiration.
  While I too will be leaving at the end of this session, I know that 
Representative Fields will be sorely missed. As one of the youngest 
State legislators in Louisiana's history and in the 103d Congress, he 
has been a shining example for the youth in his district and his State. 
His desire to help the American youth obtain the best education 
possible is evident in the education trust fund legislation he 
introduced.
  I wish you, your lovely wife, Debra, and your son, Cleo much 
happiness in the future.
  Mr. BISHOP. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud the work and 
character of Congressman Cleo Fields. He is a champion of education, 
small businesses and consumers. His dedication to public service began 
at an early age. At 24, Congressman Fields became the youngest State 
senator in Louisiana history. As a legislator, he was a leader against 
illicit drug use, promoted school uniforms and created an Inner City 
Economic Development Program. His outstanding record as a State senator 
resulted in his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992. 
Again, as the youngest member of the 103d Congress and a freshman, 
Fields' aptitude and abilities were recognized. Hence, Fields was able 
to win seats on the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services, 
and the House Committee on Small Business.
  Representative Fields legislative initiatives demonstrate his 
commitment to education, small businesses and consumers. Fields is most 
noted for his introduction of the Education Trust Fund Act of 1995, 
which was designed to increase funding for teacher salaries, school 
infrastructure, and educational supplies. His creation of a 
Congressional classroom for elementary and secondary school students 
has also received a great amount of support. The classroom was 
initiated to develop student's understanding of the legislative process 
through experience and mock legislative sessions. Fields also organized 
the first-ever Education Caucus and currently services as its chairman.
  Representative Fields initiated other legislation to address the 
concerns of the people of Louisiana, including the Tax Free Savings and 
Investment Income Act, to encourage savings and investments; the Fourth 
Congressional District Economic Summit; and programs to secure the 
future of the SBA's 8(a) Minority Business Development Program. In 
addition to the foregoing, Fields has served as chairman of both the 
Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Redistricting and the 
Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Church Burnings.
  I applaud Congressman Fields for his newest endeavors which include 
working to reelect President Bill Clinton and working to help Democrats 
regain control of Congress. I also commend him for starting the new 
grass roots organization called Volunteers Organized to Encourage 
Registration. This is an organization committed to educating our young 
people about the importance of being involved in the political process 
and voting.
  I salute the dedication and hard work of Cleo. I know the future 
holds great things for him. I thank him for his service and wish his 
family and him the best in the years ahead.

[[Page H11387]]

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it brings me great 
pleasure to honor and applaud an extraordinary colleague who will be 
retiring at the end of the 104th Congress, the Honorable Cleo Fields of 
Louisiana. Congressman Fields came to Washington as a member of this 
body in 1992 along with me which makes this tribute extra special.
  Congressman Fields pursued his seat relentlessly, starting with the 
redistricting struggle he fought as a member of the State senate in the 
early 1990's. He was the youngest State senator in Louisiana history at 
the age of 24. In the legislature, he was a leader against illicit drug 
use and was regarded favorably by environmentalists, but not so much so 
that he was perceived as an enemy of the State's powerful natural gas 
industry.
  Mostly Congressman Fields showed a knack for positioning himself to 
win elections. He also demonstrated the drive and energy to make good 
on his opportunities. Congressman Fields' actions and his words have 
focused on improving the future for our Nation's youth, and recognizing 
the importance of opportunity for all his constituents. As chairman of 
the Congressional Black Caucus Task Forces on Church Burnings and 
Redistricting, he has helped every member of this body to recognize the 
importance of these issues and how they effect every one of us. As a 
member of the Banking and Financial Services Committee, he led efforts 
to insure that no consumers are taken advantage of by ATM user-fees, 
and that all Americans will continue to be protected by the Community 
Reinvestment Act, the Truth in Savings Act, the Truth in Lending Act, 
and other consumer banking laws.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been both a pleasure and an honor to serve next 
to and with Congressman Cleo Fields of Louisiana. I, like the rest of 
my colleagues, wish him well in his future endeavors.

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