[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 31 (Wednesday, March 12, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER IN HERSHEY

  (Mr. BOEHNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, I too spent the weekend 
with my family at Hershey, PA. I want to congratulate the Members on 
both sides of the aisle that put the event together, and really 
congratulate the some 200 Members of our Congress who came to Hershey 
with an open mind about how we can proceed in this very difficult 
environment where we do have disagreements, but how we can proceed in a 
way that continues to allow the American people to have respect for 
their institution.
  We are going to have our disagreements, but it does not mean that we 
need to be disagreeable to each other.
  Probably the most long-lasting part of the weekend was the 
opportunity for each of us to better get to know each other. I have 
been here 6 years, and over the last 6 years we virtually have a 
brandnew Congress. Some 70 percent of this Congress has been elected 
since 1990, and over the last several cycles we have had large classes 
with little opportunity to begin to understand each other.
  As we understand each other better, understand where we are coming 
from and why we hold the beliefs that we do, I think it allows us to 
have better respect and more respect for the diversity of opinion that 
we certainly find here in Congress.
  It was a great weekend, it was a good start, and there is a lot more 
that needs to be done, and we need to work each and every day on 
helping ourselves and our colleagues deal with our disagreements in a 
more professional way.

                          ____________________