[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9452-H9453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GENERAL LEAVE

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
on this matter.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request from the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3864 was introduced on May 13, 1998, by the 
distinguished Member from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) and cosponsored by 
the entire House delegation from the State of Kentucky pursuant to the 
policy of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. The bill 
designates the post office located at 203 West Paige Street in 
Tompkinsville, Kentucky, as the Tim Lee Carter post office building.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Tim Lee Carter was a true Kentuckian. He was born in 
Tompkinsville, Monroe County, in 1910 and attended public school there 
and graduated from Western Kentucky State College. He later earned his 
medical degree from the University of Tennessee but returned to Monroe 
County to practice medicine from 1940 to 1964. Dr. Carter volunteered 
for military service and was a combat medic for 3\1/2\ years during 
World War II, serving as a captain in the 38th infantry division. Dr. 
Carter was elected to serve his community as a Republican Member in the 
89th Congress and to the seven succeeding terms from 1965 to 1981. He 
was not a candidate for the 98th Congress, and after his retirement 
from public service he went back home in Kentucky and resumed the 
practice of medicine.
  Representative Carter was the first Republican Member of Congress to 
seek withdrawal of our troops from Vietnam, but he never wavered in his 
support for American troops. He was well known in Kentucky for his 
efforts to improve one of our Nation's poorest districts, working 
tirelessly for better schools, water systems, libraries, airports, 
roads and recreation. He was the only practicing physician in Congress 
during much of his time here in Washington.

                              {time}  1645

  Much of his work during this time was on legislation affecting health 
care and hospitals. He considered his major legislative achievement the 
law that provided for preventative medical care for poor children. He 
was one of the earliest advocates of national insurance for 
catastrophic illnesses.
  Representative Tim Lee Carter died in Kentucky in 1987 and is 
interred in Tompkinsville.
  Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate that the post office building in 
Tompkinsville be named for our former colleague, the Honorable Tim Lee 
Carter.
  I urge all of our colleagues to support this legislation that honors 
a gentleman who clearly had the vision to follow his conscience and 
serve all people without regard for their station in life.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  As the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on the Postal Service, I 
am pleased to join my colleague the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) 
in bringing to the House floor, not only this piece of legislation, but 
two additional ones naming post offices after three distinguished and 
deserving individuals. But obviously it is a great pleasure that two of 
these will be named after colleagues who served with us here in the 
House.
  As for our former colleague from Kentucky who has passed on, he 
represents one of a number of physicians who served here in the House, 
some who we get to serve with today, like the gentleman from Oklahoma 
(Mr. Coburn) and the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. 
Christian-Green) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske) and others.
  His service, however, went far beyond the House. As has been 
indicated, he has had a decidedly extraordinary career as a public 
servant and has done a great deal. So it is with great pleasure that I 
join in the comments that have been made.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, in January of 1965, my father was sworn into 
Congress. My brother and I and my mother's father, Jacob Swisher, got 
to stand on the Floor alongside him because there was so much room on 
the Republican side.
  The 1964 elections had seen big Republican losses, and the Democrats 
ended up with a 295 to 140 majority in the House.
  Among the very small band of freshmen Republicans elected to the 89th 
Congress were my father, John Duncan, and the man who was soon to 
become his best friend in the House, Dr. Tim Lee Carter.
  Dr. Carter represented a Kentucky District that joined in part the 
Tennessee District represented by my father.
  Early in their service, they went on a trip with Congressman Bill 
Stanton of Ohio to Vietnam, other parts of Southeast Asia, and India. 
They went at their own expense.
  The were men from the same region, who represented similar kinds of 
people--people who were patriotic, particularly in times of war, but 
who did not believe in wasteful big government and who basically wanted 
the government to leave them alone.
  Both my father and Dr. Carter attended the University of Tennessee, 
although not together. Dr. Carter graduated from the UT Medical School 
in Memphis, while my father was a lawyer who did his undergraduate work 
at UT in Knoxville.
  I remember that Dr. Carter was very typical of most family doctors of 
that era--kind, helpful, dignified. But, he also was a no-nonsense man 
who received nationwide publicity at the 1972 Republican National 
Convention in Miami when he punched out a radical young hippie who was 
very arrogantly harassing Dr. Carter and the people with him.

[[Page H9453]]

  He was a man who served this Nation with great honor and integrity. I 
am very pleased that we are going to name this Post Office building 
after Dr. Tim Lee Carter. He was a great American, and this is a very 
well-deserved tribute.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3864.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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