[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10604-H10606]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2349) to redesignate the Federal building located at 10301 
South Compton Avenue, in Los Angeles, California, and known as the 
Watts Finance Office, as the ``Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office 
Building.''
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2349

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. REDESIGNATION.

       The Federal building located at 10301 South Compton Avenue, 
     in Los Angeles, California, and known as the Watts Finance 
     Office, shall be known and designated as the ``Augustus F. 
     Hawkins Post Office Building''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the Federal building 
     referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be a reference to 
     the ``Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. McHugh) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-
McDonald) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh).


                             General Leave

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks on H.R. 2349.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.

                              {time}  1615

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 2349 was introduced by our distinguished 
colleague from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) on July 31 of 1997; 
and as required under the rules of the Committee on Government Reform 
and

[[Page H10605]]

Oversight, all Members of the House delegation from the State of 
California are cosponsors of this bill. In addition, 46 other Members 
of this body are cosponsors of the bill honoring former Representative 
Hawkins.
  Madam Speaker, this bill designates the Federal building located at 
10301 South Compton Avenue, Los Angeles, California, known as the Watts 
Finance Office as the Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office Building.
  H.R. 2349 was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure on July 31 of 1997. On October 1 of 1998, the Committee 
on Transportation and Infrastructure discharged the measure, and it was 
referred to the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. I 
am pleased that we are able to bring this legislation to the floor, and 
I certainly want to congratulate the gentlewoman from California for 
her hard work in seeing this measure to the end.
  We had the opportunity to discuss the bill at the end of last week, 
and there was some confusion as to the path that this legislation has 
taken, and I commend her for not being deterred by that confusion but 
sticking with it and bringing us to this moment and this opportunity to 
pass this measure.
  Madam Speaker, I know the gentlewoman will have a great deal to say 
about our former colleague, Augustus Hawkins. I would just note that, 
like so many individuals who have had the honor bestowed upon them of a 
Post Office-naming legislation, he, too, is an example of the kind of 
service, the kind of commitment to community that I think merits this 
kind of designation.
  Through his service in the California State legislature for some 28 
years, often during that period as the only African American member, he 
authored some 100 laws attempting to improve such things as child care, 
housing and fair employment. Of course later, when in 1962 he was 
elected to the Congress of the United States, he continued to make 
those kinds of contributions and those kinds of efforts on behalf of 
all of his constituents.
  So I certainly commend the gentlewoman from California for her 
dedication to this initiative and for bringing us yet another very 
deserving designee.
  Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this measure.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  I am pleased to join the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) in 
bringing to the House floor this piece of legislation designating a 
United States finance building after a distinguished and deserving 
individual. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the chairman 
for his timely consideration and his support during the struggle in 
trying to get this bill to the floor.
  Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a dear friend and a former 
Congressman by renaming the Federal building located at 10301 South 
Compton Avenue in Los Angeles, California, known as the Watts Finance 
Office to the Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office Building.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 2349 enjoys the bipartisan support of the entire 
California delegation, Congressman Hawkins' former colleagues, and 
support in the United States Senate.
  Madam Speaker, The Washington Post once called Gus Hawkins one of the 
most famous unknown men of our day. However, many of us knew him as a 
quiet fighter for racial justice, social equality, and education for 
minorities, women and children. Gus committed his life to serving 
others, and his 56 years of public service spanned a period that 
included the Great Depression, World War II, McCarthyism, both the 
Korean and Vietnam wars, the Civil Rights movement, and the war on 
poverty. He witnessed the assassination of a President and the 
resignation of another.
  He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1907. When he was only 11, 
he and his family moved to Los Angeles to escape the racial 
discrimination that was prevalent in the south at that time. His 
legislative career began in the California State Assembly where he 
served for 28 years and was often the legislature's only black member. 
His record in Sacramento includes the passage of the State's first law 
against discrimination in housing and employment. He also carried 
successful State legislation concerning minimum wages for women, child 
care centers, workers compensation for domestic employees, and the 
removal of racial designations on State documents.
  After his remarkable tenure in the assembly, Gus was elected and 
sworn in as a member of the 88th Congress in 1962. He served as 
chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing in the 97th Congress, the 
Joint Committee on Libraries in the 97th Congress, as well as the 
Committee on House Administration in the 97th Congress and the 98th 
Congress, before serving as Chairman of the Committee on Education and 
Labor in the 101st Congress.
  By and large, Gus was known by his colleagues as a hard-working, 
trustworthy, low-key legislator who concentrated on issues of 
importance to his district. He preferred to work behind the scenes and 
let others capture the headlines. He is the author of more than 17 
Federal laws, including the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act, 
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, establishing the Equal Employment 
Opportunity Commission, the Job Training Partnership Act, the School 
Improvement Act, which rewrote virtually all major elementary and 
secondary education programs, and the Civil Rights Restoration Act.
  In 1978, he coauthored and passed the Humphrey-Hawkins Full 
Employment Act, which pledged Federal Government efforts to reduce 
unemployment to 4 percent by 1983, if the private sector failed to do 
so. The Humphrey-Hawkins bill is seen as one of Gus's greatest pieces 
of legislation accomplishments because it established a real blueprint 
for moving this country ahead in job training and employment, the 
foundation to every other policy.
  Throughout his remarkable career in public service, Gus has 
championed the rights of children, the poor, the elderly working 
people, and minorities. He never forgot who he was, where he came from, 
nor the people whom he served. It is only fitting that we rise to pay 
tribute to him by redesignating the Federal building located at 10301 
South Compton Avenue in Los Angeles, California, known as the Watts 
Finance Office to the Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office Building.
  I would again like to thank my colleagues in the California 
delegation and all of the cosponsors of this legislation for joining me 
in a bipartisan fashion to pay tribute to a great man, a man who would 
want to be remembered by his colleagues and friends alike as someone 
who simply loved children, the honorable Augustus F. Hawkins, former 
distinguished member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, with an additional compliment and thank 
you to the gentlewoman from California, I would like to urge all of our 
colleagues to support this very worthy nominee.
  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support 
of H.R. 2349, which redesignates the Federal building on South Compton 
Ave in Los Angeles, California, known was the Watts Finance Office, as 
the ``Augustus Hawkins Post Office Building''.
  I had the great privilege to serve in the Congress with the Honorable 
Augustus Hawkins from 1965 to 1976. Congressman Hawkins served on the 
House Committee on Education and Labor. He retired in 1990, the year 
that I returned. From 1984 until his retirement he served as Chair of 
the House Education and the Labor Committee.
  There was no greater advocate for workers' rights than Gus Hawkins. 
His Full Employment Act, passed in 1978, played a significant role in 
reminding the leaders of this nation that until unemployment was at 4% 
our task was not over. He constantly voiced his great frustration that 
our policies were not reaching the urban centers and our minority 
youth. He championed job training and education as the key to the 
future of our nation's workforce.
  Gus Hawkins was the people's legislator always working to improve the 
quality of life of those who were struggling to make ends meet.
  One of the last bills he advanced was an omnibus child care bill 
which he knew was the key to a stable, secure workforce. Today the 
agenda advanced by Gus Hawkins is very much at the top of our unmet 
needs.
  I stand with others as one of his greatest admirers and urge the 
passage of H.R. 2349 as one way to honor his work and to remember his 
commitment to public service.

[[Page H10606]]

  Mr. McHUGH. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Emerson). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2349.
  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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