[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10200-H10204]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   OUR FOND FAREWELL TO THE GENTLEMAN FROM NEW YORK (MR. FLOYD FLAKE)

  (Mr. QUINN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, as we continue to deliberate this weekend, 
I ask my colleagues' indulgence to take a few moments of our time this 
afternoon to bid farewell to a Member of the body, a fellow New Yorker, 
and a dear friend to all of us here in the House. It seems this past 
week we welcomed the new Member from New York 13, and next week, after 
all of our work is finished and everything else has winded itself down, 
we will say goodbye, and the gentleman from New York [Mr. Floyd Flake] 
will leave the Chamber to become a full-time pastor of the Allen A.M.E. 
Church in Queens, N.Y.

                              {time}  1445

  I thought it was fitting, and all of you I am sure will agree, that 
this afternoon we take a break to thank someone on behalf of all of us 
here and his constituents for almost 10.5 or 11 years of service here 
in the U.S. Congress, who has worked on numerous different projects 
that have benefited everybody, not only in his district but all of our 
districts and people all across this Nation and beyond.
  For the 9,000 members of the Allen A.M.E. Church in Queens, NY, while 
Floyd Flake is our loss, he is their gain. I hope you will join me in 
bidding farewell to Congressman Floyd Flake this afternoon.
  Madam Speaker, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to yield to the 
dean of the New York delegation, the gentleman from New York, Mr. 
Gilman.
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Madam Speaker, I wanted to thank Mr. Quinn for arranging 
this time for us to pay tribute to an outstanding legislator, Rev. 
Floyd Flake. We hope one day we will be calling him Bishop Floyd Flake.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of regret that I know that many 
of us are here to bid good-bye to Floyd, but also we are happy to pay 
tribute to a colleague who is going to be sorely missed, not only by 
this body, but by his New York constituents, by the congressional 
delegation of New York, by the American people.
  Floyd Flake has decided to leave us to devote full-time to his first 
vocation, service to God, but in many ways he has served his 
congregation superbly throughout his 11 years in the Congress by being 
a constant reminder of decency, of tolerance, and of the American way. 
He has been a great role model for many in his community.

[[Page H10201]]

  Floyd brought to this Chamber a diverse background which reminded us 
all of the diversity of our Nation. He was a college administrator to 
two well-known, respected institutions, Lincoln University and Boston 
College. He enjoyed a successful career as a corporate marketer.
  But his role as pastor of the Allen African Methodist Episcopal 
Church is perhaps the largest influence on Floyd's life, and he 
reflected this influence every day of his tenure here.
  Incidentally, that is no small congregation. It numbers in the 
thousands. Floyd was going back and forth on the shuttle each and every 
day, each and every night when he finished his work here, to be able to 
service his congregation. Not only was he doing that, he worked during 
his career here in the Congress to achieve his Ph.D., and he did that 
at night as well. An outstanding demonstration of what one can do with 
his dedication and his motivation to even perfect his life to a greater 
extent.
  We in our New York delegation at first were uncertain what to expect 
upon the first election of Floyd Flake in the special election of 1986. 
At that time, he was replacing one of the most revered and loved 
members of our New York delegation, Joe Addabbo, who passed away while 
in office. Joe's shoes were going to be difficult ones to fill, but 
Floyd certainly managed to follow on that path blazed by Joe and did 
not hesitate to blaze some trails of his own. Today, Floyd Flake leaves 
us as one of our most respected and beloved colleagues.
  He served on the Banking and Financial Services Committee as well as 
the Small Business Committee, and in those capacities, Floyd served his 
constituency and the American people in an outstanding manner. His 
urban district depended in many ways on the financial institutions and 
the mom-and-pop enterprises which make up his historic constituency.
  We all join together in wishing Floyd the best of success, health, 
happiness, in all of his new endeavors, and we know that the Allen 
African Methodist Episcopal Church will be under his sterling 
leadership in the future, and we hope that Floyd will find occasion to 
invite us all to join him during one of his Sunday services.
  We extend our sincerest best wishes to his wife, Elaine, and to 
Floyd's four children.
  And, Floyd, you will always be welcome back in this Chamber. God 
bless.
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the other leader from New York, 
Mr. Charlie Rangel.
  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I appreciate this. We all have to agree 
that it is very unique for someone who has gained such a wonderful 
reputation in this House to find higher reasons and better causes in 
order to leave.
  In addition to going home every night in order to take care of his 
parishioners, we talk about family values; but Floyd Flake has really 
lived it, because he has four children and a wife that he shared his 
life with while he was here working in the Congress to improve the 
quality of life for other Americans.
  We find it so easy to talk about improving the life of the poor, but 
he was on the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, and he did 
what he thought was the best thing he could do for poor folks. He did 
not just talk about poverty but, rather, thought the best thing he 
could do would be to remove people from poverty. And, being a part of 
the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, he was able to bring 
community banks to allow people that lacked the sophistication to have 
access to the resources so they would not just be getting loans, but 
they would be able to go into business and provide opportunity for 
others.
  We hear all the debate about education, whether we should support the 
public schools or whether we should have vouchers. He not only talked 
about the concept but went out and built the schools so that, indeed, 
people would get an education.
  When you talk about the jobless and the hopeless and the homeless, he 
has built the schools, he has built the homes, he has provided the 
opportunity and, at the same time, has given them spiritual and 
political leadership.
  There were times that some of us would doubt the wisdom of his votes, 
when somehow his hands made a mistake and he got on this side of the 
aisle when he was voting with you. But there is not anybody in this 
House that would ever challenge the integrity of Congressman Floyd 
Flake. For any vote that he has ever taken in this House, you would 
know, in his opinion, he was doing the right thing for his 
constituents.
  This is the greatest country that man has ever conceived, and many of 
us know that she can and will become better as the years go by. But the 
fact that we can enjoy in this body someone that came from his 
background, rose to gain the respect of his colleagues, can go out and 
be entertained as members of private corporate boards and at the same 
time lead thousands in prayer for a better community and a better 
country, it just means that those of us who have been lucky enough to 
get here should appreciate the fact that only in America can we rub 
shoulders with a person like Floyd Flake and still do our duty as 
politicians and know that somehow, through him, we were doing God's 
work.
  It has been a pleasure having you here, and we know we will be 
hearing from Pastor-Bishop-Former-Congressman Floyd Flake.
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York, Mr. 
Solomon.
  Mr. SOLOMON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Ladies and gentlemen and colleagues, you have seen a cross-section of 
the delegation rise in respect for this great man Floyd Flake.
  You know, we are 31 Members from New York State. We represent 18 
million people. It is a real cross-section of America. But do you know 
something? In spite of our philosophical differences, our political 
differences, I am so proud that our delegation has never had a real 
confrontation.
  We have stuck together, sometimes even when we did not agree with 
each other, for our State, and we did that because of what Floyd Flake 
epitomizes. That man has never, ever, once tried to mislead anyone in 
this Chamber. He has stood up and told it like it is.
  Floyd, you are one of the greatest Americans that I have ever known. 
We are going to miss you dearly. You are a great, great man.
  Thank you.
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York Mr. 
Schumer.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman and just join with 
my colleagues in extending our good wishes, our sadness that he is 
leaving us, but our glory that we know he will be not only on the scene 
in southeast Queens at his Church, but on the public scene as well in 
years to come.
  Ladies and gentlemen, you know, I came to this body 18 years ago from 
a little corner of the world, New York, and I did not know most of 
America. Serving in this body makes you a patriot. You see people from 
all across the country, from all different walks of life, people who 
come right up from the grassroots. And they are remarkable people, 
Democrats, Republicans, people from the Northeast, people from the 
Southwest, and you say to yourself, what a great people the American 
people are.
  In my mind, there are a number of people I think of when I have that 
thought, and one of them is my colleague, my friend, Floyd Flake. He is 
a unique individual. He is somebody who has broken the mold for the 
better so many different times, whether it be working hard for his 
community. My colleague Charlie Rangel calls his Church, which is the 
Allen A.M.E. Church, and I have been there and learned to wave my arms 
and say ``Hallelujah'' through Pastor Flake, Amen. But Charlie calls 
the Allen A.M.E. Church ``the City of Allen,'' because Floyd has done 
so much there.
  Look at his what he has done in this Congress. I served with Floyd 
Flake on the Committee on Banking and Financial Services. Again, time 
after time after time, he was able to take idealism and mold it into a 
practical solution so that it was not just a speech of words in the air 
but practical solution that was concrete, mortar and bricks and roofs 
over people's heads, and better banking, so that communities would 
benefit from the loans that they had put into the banks, and they would 
come back to the community.

[[Page H10202]]

  Now he has truly become a national leader. Some of us agree and some 
of us disagree with the exact prescription that Floyd Flake has 
prescribed for our schools and for our communities, but I think there 
is a great deal of wisdom in what he has done.
  The bottom line, though, is once again there is not a soul in this 
place who does not know that he has done it with intelligence and 
integrity and the motivation to make his community, our city, our 
country, a better place.
  So I would say in conclusion, this is a man, a deeply spiritual man, 
but also a deeply practical man, and he has combined the best of 
spirituality and practicality to leave a real mark, a mark for the 
better, on this body and on the United States of America.
  Floyd, I know I speak for everybody when I say we will miss you, but 
we know we will be hearing from you many, many times in the future, and 
we will listen keenly, because what you say and what you do is a 
valuable model for all of us.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. QUINN. Floyd, we have had requests from almost everybody here to 
speak, and we will never get to fast track if we let everybody here 
speak this afternoon.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California [Mr. Lewis], 
the delegation leader from the State of California.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Madam Speaker, I very much appreciate my 
colleague yielding, and I must say that as Floyd is recognized in a 
special way by the 31 Members from New York, those of us who make up 
the 52 Members of California want you all to know that we have not just 
the greatest respect for the work of Floyd Flake, but most importantly, 
we feel in our hearts the warmth that goes out to Floyd as he continues 
his work, for his gentle nature has been felt across the Halls of this 
House from the day he arrived here. Floyd is one of those very, very 
special people who cares about people most.
  Floyd, I want you to know that as you leave this House and take with 
you our friendship as well as our respect, you also take with you our 
prayers for your continued good work. I would ask as you go forward in 
New York that you continue to pray for those of us in this House, for 
we need the help of you as well as your parishioners. You are a 
fantastic representative of the best of this country, and God bless you 
for all that you have done with your life.
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California 
[Ms. Waters].
  Ms. WATERS. Madam Speaker, it gives me great pride to stand before 
this House this afternoon and say a few special words about my friend, 
Floyd Flake. I am not pleased that he is leaving. As a matter of fact, 
when he first told me I was standing back near the door, and I 
literally slid down the wall, because I understood immediately, this 
House cannot afford to have this man of substance part from us at this 
time. We in the Congressional Black Caucus love him, need him, respect 
him, and we have worked with him in some very special ways. But beyond 
that, the Democratic Caucus will miss him, because of what he has been 
able to add to the debate and the discussions and the direction of this 
House. Well, you saw on the other side of the aisle who took this time 
out on the floor, so this man is not only important to the Democratic 
Party, but also to the Republican Party.
  We are going to miss him because he became one of our fine experts on 
the Committee on Banking and Financial Services. If the financial 
institutions of America are ever going to invest in inner cities, 
comply with CRA, and do what we want them to do, it will be because of 
the work of Floyd Flake. He has shown that there is not just one way to 
do things, he has gotten them to do more than all of us who have beaten 
up on them time and time again. He has caused the development and 
proliferation of housing for poor people in this country, having 
developed capacity through nonprofits and their ability to use the 
resources that we have put forth so that they could take care of the 
poor in this Nation.
  I am going to miss him, but I will see him even though he is not 
here. I am going up to Allen Church. He has invited me before, and I 
certainly expect him to invite me again. I am going up to Allen Church 
to be with his church family and to look at that community that he has 
developed up there, all around the church. You will see commercial 
development all around the church. You will see housing. You will 
literally see a community that has benefited from the knowledge, the 
expertise and the caring of this man.
  We are going to miss you. We really do hate to see you go, but this 
place is a much better place because you have been here. Thank you very 
much.
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the minority leader, the 
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt].
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I thank the gentleman from New York for calling this 
special event, and I am proud to rise with all of my colleagues on both 
sides of the aisle to honor the service and the meaning of the career 
of Floyd Flake.
  I have had a chance that many of you have not had. About a year ago I 
got to go to Allen Church and to Floyd's district with Floyd and spent 
about a day. We went in the old church. He now has a new structure that 
he showed me being built. I got to meet a lot of the families in the 
church, and I got to see the development that has gone on around the 
community through the work of the SBA and other organizations and the 
church that has gone on in the community.
  What I would like to do in my minute today is describe for you what 
it is like to walk into this church with Floyd Flake. All of the 
families feel that Floyd Flake is part of their family. All of the 
children that we met, and on this day that we were there, they were 
honoring school children who had had great achievement in school. All 
of their families were there. And as Floyd walked around with me, he 
knew the name of every child. And obviously, every child and every 
family knew and looked up to him as the leader of the flock.
  When you see the energy among the families, when you see the 
achievement, when you see the cohesion of his church members, you 
understand why this is an extended family in this community.
  Then he took me to the foundation of the new church and we walked 
through the mud under the foundation and saw the expanse of this 
building that he is building with his members. And then we drove around 
the community and saw all of the buildings that had been refurbished, 
all of the businesses that had been started, and we walked into an SBA 
center that he got in the community where people are coming in to find 
out how they can set up their little new fledgling businesses on their 
own in the community.
  The truth is, Floyd is leaving this great opportunity that we all 
have in public service, but Floyd, let me be very honest with you and 
say, I not only understand what you are doing and why you are doing it, 
I think it is the right thing to do. Because the truth is that you in 
your career in your community are doing more than any of us could ever 
dream of doing. I just hope and pray that my service could be one 
fraction as important to the people that I serve as your service is 
right now to the people of your community. I am in awe of what you have 
done, and I think what you have done is extremely important, not only 
for your community, but for all of us to see as a model of what one 
human being can do as a force for good for people. We are going to miss 
you, we love you, and we wish you well and we will work with you in the 
days ahead. Thank you.


                             General Leave

  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, just before we yield to one last speaker 
and hear from Floyd Flake, I would like to get rid of a technicality. I 
ask unanimous consent that all Members be granted 5 legislative days 
within which to extend their remarks on the subject of this 1-minute.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Emerson). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia, the 
Speaker of the House [Mr. Gingrich].
  Mr. GINGRICH. Mr. Speaker, let me say that 11 years ago when a 
vacancy was filled in a special election, I do not think any of us 
could have predicted the kind of mark that that new Representative 
would make. Those of you

[[Page H10203]]

who might have had the good luck a few weeks ago to see the cover of 
the New York Times Sunday magazine saw a remarkably dapper Member of 
Congress right there on the cover. And he honored all of us. And as you 
read the article, if you did, as I did, you came to realize that this 
gentleman that we have been working with, as my good friend, the 
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] pointed out, is a remarkable 
figure in his own community, a man who leads by eloquence, by energy, 
by intelligence, by courage, by a quiet civility that would be worth 
all of us studying on occasion.
  I have worked with him on a number of projects. I know of no one in 
this House who has been more openminded in his willingness to consider 
anything which would help the children of his community and which would 
improve the chance that they would lead a better life. I know of no one 
who has shown more determined calm and pleasant courage in standing for 
what he believes in. He has honored this institution by serving it. He 
has strengthened his country by his public service. I have no doubt 
that he will take on to his chosen true field of bringing people 
together with God an even greater dedication, and that our country will 
be even stronger and those children will have an even better future 
because of what he does, and I just want you to know, Floyd, that as a 
friend, all of us are going to miss you and we wish you well and 
Godspeed in your new opportunities.
  Mr. QUINN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York, 
District 6, the Honorable Floyd Flake.
  Mr. FLAKE. Thank you very much to the Speaker of the House, to the 
minority leader [Mr. Gephardt], who did come to the district and visit 
with me at the school and with our people, to all of the leadership 
here and all of the Members of this body.
  Eleven years ago when I ran for Congress I said to the people of the 
Sixth District that I intend to go and stay from 10 to 12 years. When 
we conclude business in the next few days, it will be the end of the 
11th year for me. I do not think you can come any closer to fulfilling 
a promise than that.
  I come as the product of a family who gave birth to 13 children, grew 
up in Houston, TX, in Sheila Jackson-Lee's district, grew up in a 
family where my father was a janitor all of his life. My mother was a 
housekeeper. My father would not allow her to work, but worked two 
jobs, three jobs, made us work from the time we were about 6 and 7 
years old.
  By the time I was 6 I had my own paper route, and by the time I was 
8, my mother had taught us how to cook and wash and iron and sew, so I 
had my own homes that I cleaned up every Saturday. By the time I was 13 
I was busing tables at restaurants and waiting tables, and when I got 
ready to go to college, because of the size of the family, my family 
could not afford to give me a dime, but I told them I wanted to go, I 
could have gone to one of the Texas schools and run track, but chose to 
go away to a school where I could prepare for the ministry, having 
accepted the call at the age of 15.
  I went to that school every morning at 5 o'clock, I was up, cooking 
breakfast for my fellow students. Lunch time, back serving tables. 
Dinner time, serving again, but also getting keys to the cafeteria so 
that I could clean it up at night. For 4 years in college, 3 years in 
seminary, that is what I did, and that is how I got through.
  One of the things I realized as I was growing up was that there was 
no substitute for hard work. I could never have envisioned, sitting in 
civics classes, that a day would come when I would not be reading about 
Presidents, but meeting them, reading about a House that legislated for 
the needs of our people and the world, but being a part of this great 
board of directors of America and board of directors of the world. God 
knows I have come much further than I could have ever imagined. In 1986 
when I was asked by my community to run for this office, having served 
in no political office before, my initial inclination was to be 
overwhelmed by the thought and to give an overwhelming no, but then 
ultimately was prevailed upon to run for the office and got elected.
  I came here with two basic intentions. One of them was to treat this 
institution as an extension of my ministry, and those of you who have 
stood today, I thank you for standing, because I have tried to treat 
every individual here as if you were a member of my parish, not just 
Members of this body, but I think if you go out and speak to every 
guard, every security person, every dishwasher, people even in the 
kitchen, I could be walking down the hall and go into the kitchen just 
to speak to people there, because I consider this a part of my 
ministry.

                              {time}  1515

  That is the way I have tried to work in this Congress. I do not think 
I have had cross words with many of the Members. If I did, please 
forgive me. But it is not my nature to do that.
  I have tried to cooperate in ways across both sides of the aisle, 
because beyond Republican and Democrat, I see human beings. When I see 
human beings, my concern is about how you minister to the needs of 
people in general. I am fortunate to have in my background marketing 
analyst from Xerox, serving as dean of students at Boston University, 
associate dean at Lincoln University before that, and the combination 
of all of that came together both in my Allen experiences and in my 
experiences here as a part of this body.
  I have sought to bring those business administrative skills to this 
body, to bring back to my community those resources which are necessary 
to demonstrate their ability, with a great deal of their own initiative 
and motivation, to be able to do things for themselves, in addition to 
the relationship of government and corporate community; how we bring 
that partnership of resources in a synergy that allows people to know 
that they can indeed invest not only in themselves, but can build their 
communities. That is what I have tried to do.
  Allen Church was very receptive. We built our own school, which has 
480 students. We have built homes. We have sold 110 homes that we built 
to first-time homebuyers. We have built a senior citizens complex with 
over 300 units it. We have bought up every vacant, boarded-up store in 
our community. You will not find any drug dealers around our location, 
because we own the property, we lease it, or we put programs in it. We 
have just finished a $23 million building.
  I leave Members today because my church is growing so rapidly, with a 
membership of over 9,000 now. Just in the last month of October, we had 
317 new members, in September 170, and in August 155. It is growing so 
fast that I must be there to minister. I have 825 full-time employees 
in the church. Many of them would otherwise be persons on the welfare 
rolls. These are people in home care, teachers, people who work in 
various categories of professions, a full-time chief financial officer 
who is my former chief of staff, a Harvard MBA who runs the program 
there, with a full-time staff of eight directors who run the various 
programs.
  I thank God for a wife who not only has shown her love and 
commitment, but by virtue of her own training as an educator. We both 
earned doctorates while I was here. I have worked on my doctorate 
degree when I went home at night, at 10 o'clock. I would try to go to 
bed at midnight, up right at 5 in the morning, catch the 6:30 shuttle, 
or 7:30; come back, and bought all the books, because I did not have 
library time; wrote the dissertation on the dinner table in longhand, 
because I am 52 and did not learn to type. So I have not learned to use 
the computer yet, but I am working on that.
  But I go back to the community, and knowing that I have been here. In 
that community, Southeast Queens, we will build two regional Federal 
buildings, a Federal FDA building and Federal FAA building, and the 
rail link, projects that bring into that community about 1,200 jobs, 
500 million dollars' worth of construction.
  I have tried to bring back to that community those things which 
change the aesthetics of the community, give people a sense of pride in 
living there, drive crime down, raise the economic level, and 
participate in the process of changing and restructuring education.
  I have not come necessarily to be agreed upon on everything, but I 
will tell the Members one thing, I talk to the Master. I talk to God 
daily, two, three, four, five, six times a day, and I honestly believe 
that God has called

[[Page H10204]]

me to do some things, to try to move beyond status quo.
  I cannot, as an African-American coming from the background that I 
came from, believe that we cannot have a stake in American society, a 
stake brought about not just by programs. I am a firm believer in 
affirmative action, of course, but I also believe that we have to 
invest in ourselves.
  So I leave the Members to go into the greater community of America. I 
speak at seminaries. I have been asked to come to Harvard for 2 weeks 
next summer. I speak to these young men and women who will be coming to 
pastor in those communities. I am trying to use the model that we have 
to demonstrate that within the communities that look so deteriorated 
and devastated, there are fertile fields of opportunity.
  I believe that I can move, as I have done in many of the Members' 
districts already, and many of the districts I will be coming to, they 
are already on my schedule. I have even been to some of my fellow 
Members' districts on this side, of the dear gentleman from New York 
[Mr. Rick Lazio], a prayer breakfast, and the banquets of the other 
dear gentleman [Mr. Jack Quinn]; and I have been to various districts, 
because I think it is important that if we are going to solve the 
problems of America, we cannot do it balkanized in our own little 
areas, but we have to learn how to reach out and touch each other, work 
with each other.
  When that is done, I think we will have not only the kind of America 
that our foreparents intended for it to be, but we will have the kind 
of world that God would have us live in.
  I go, believing that the Lord has called me to a greater ministry and 
to a greater work. I seek your prayers, and I ask that you might, as 
you lift your prayers, just ask the Lord to give me strength to do what 
I feel called to do.
  I hate leaving this body, I will confess it. But I will not miss 
having to take that shuttle in the morning and in the evening. I have 
tried to go home every night. I never set up a residence here. At 52 
years of age, looking relatively good, I want to maintain my health and 
continue to do the things that I think the Lord has called me to do.
  I thank the gentleman from New York [Mr. Jack Quinn] for calling for 
this special time. I appreciate it.

                          ____________________