[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10819-H10831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ISSUES YET TO BE SOLVED IN THE DO-NOTHING CONGRESS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 7, 1997, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to spend the hour this evening
with some of my Democratic colleagues basically reiterating what we
have been saying the last few days or the last few weeks; and that is
that, because of the Republican leadership's inattention, if you will,
to the budget and to the needs of the American people, and because of
their unwillingness to reach out and deal with some of the most
pressing issues that the public is really crying out for this Congress
to address, we are now faced here with another day and another
continuing resolution because there is no budget because the Republican
leadership has not passed a budget and is basically trying to get out
of town, have this Congress adjourn, without addressing some of the
major concerns that we as Democrats feel should have been addressed and
still could be addressed if the Republican leadership would only take
them up. I just mention a few like HMO reform, education initiatives,
the need to address concerns about Social Security.
I just wanted to point out that, due to excessive partisanship, we
have seen the Republican leadership waste time on a very extremist
agenda in this Congress and not deal with the issues that really should
be dealt with.
I just wanted to mention two tonight before I introduce and yield
time to some of my colleagues. One is this raid on the Social Security
Trust Fund to pay for tax breaks, if you will, primarily for the
wealthy, and the second is school vouchers.
What we saw just a few weeks ago was really the most alarming of the
extremist proposals passed by the Republican Congress, and that was
H.R. 4579, the GOP tax break bill. This raided the Social Security
Trust Fund to pay for an $80 billion election year tax break. The House
Republicans passed their tax, their tax cut bill on September 26 by a
vote of 229 to 195, and they said they were using the surplus for tax
cuts.
But what the Republicans failed to point out was that, without the
Social Security Trust Fund, there was no surplus. Indeed, 98 percent of
the surplus from fiscal year 1999 through fiscal year 2008 comes from
the surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund.
That is virtually all the surplus reflects, anticipated buildup in
the Social Security Trust Fund to pay future Social Security benefits.
To spend this Social Security surplus on tax cuts is to endanger the
future benefits of Social Security recipients, our senior citizens and
future senior citizens.
Democrats have proposed saving Social Security first, preserving
every penny of the surplus until the Social Security Trust Fund is
strengthened through the 21st Century.
But the Republicans did not want to deal with that. They did not want
to deal with Social Security. They did not care about Social Security.
They just wanted to get some quick tax breaks, again primarily for the
wealthy.
The second thing I wanted to mention tonight, and I know that most of
my colleagues are going to talk about, the Democrats education
initiative, the school modernization program, the proposal to add
100,000 teachers to bring class size down.
These are really the two issues that we insist must be addressed
before this Congress adjourns. But what I wanted to point out very
briefly is that, not only did the Republican leadership not address
these important education initiatives, but they spent a tremendous
amount of time this last year trying to take away money from public
schools and give it to private schools in the form of vouchers.
I consider this one of the most extreme parts of the GOP agenda, this
anti-public education agenda they have been pursuing over the last 2
years. Even the conservative Washington Times acknowledges, and I just
want to quote, ``that the ground breaking school voucher provision is
the first step in a larger Republican effort to shift Federal aid away
from public schools while making it easier for parents to send their
children to private schools. School vouchers use scarce taxpayer
dollars to subsidize attendance of private and religious schools rather
than improving the public schools.''
I am going to use a quote from one of my colleagues, a Republican,
the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema) because some of the
Republicans on the other side share the Democratic view on this,
although the leadership was clearly against us.
The gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema) said, and I quote,
``ultimately these school vouchers will result in gutting the public
school system. Because vouchers will be sending more and more of our
scarce financial resources out of the public system and into the
private system.''
Mr. Speaker, this is just the beginning of what the far right wants
to do to destroy public education. They wanted to eliminate the
Department of Education, and they want to take money from the public
schools and give it to the private schools.
Just an example of a couple of expressions that have been made by
some of the far right proponents, if you will, who are advocates of
this. This is a quote from Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian
coalition. He says, ``the public education movement has always been an
antiChristian movement.'' Can you imagine suggesting that somehow
public schools are antiChristian?
Another quote from Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, and
I
[[Page H10820]]
quote, ``I hope to live to see the day when we will not have any public
schools. The churches will have taken them over again, and Christians
will be running them. What a happy day that will be.''
Now I do not mean to take away from people who want to send they're
children to religious schools. I think it is great. I have no problem
with it whatsoever. But do not make the public school system somehow
the devil, if you will, in something that should be destroyed. That is
what I am fearful is happening here.
So I wanted to point out tonight that it is not just a question of
the fact that the Republican leadership will not take up our education
initiatives but that they have an entirely different agenda. They
basically want to destroy the public school system. I do not think
there is anything less than that they have in mind. That is not true of
all of my colleagues on the other side, but I think true of those who
are in charge.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Woolsey), who has been so supportive of this effort with regard to the
Democrats education initiatives.
Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for holding this special order
and sharing it with us tonight.
I would like to talk about two issues under this, what I am kind of
coining as the ``do-nothingness Congress.'' It just keeps coming up and
coming up to me. One the environment, and two education.
I would like to start with education, because I keep hearing the
other side of the aisle talking and talking about all they have
accomplished in education in this Congress, and it makes me think that
some of them, some of our Republican colleagues need to go back to
school themselves, because these education initiatives passed this
year, the education bills passed in this Congress simply do not add up
to meet the real needs of our kids and our schools.
Our children, 25 percent of our population, 100 percent of our
future, and the Republican agenda does not make the grade when you
consider how important our children's education and their future and
their education is to not only their future but our future.
So those of us who have done our homework know that overcrowded
classrooms are one of the biggest obstacles to improving education for
these important children. We have read the studies that confirm that
what parents and teachers all over the country already know, and that
is that smaller class sizes result in a better education experience and
better education results.
In fact, even my very Republican Governor in California, Governor
Wilson, has made my home State step up to smaller class sizes and made
that a priority in California. But do my colleagues know what we
learned right away? We learned immediately that smaller classes mean
training more educators, means hiring more teachers, and building more
classrooms.
So we have a mandate in California, for grades K through three, 18 is
the largest class that a school can have; and they do not have any
classrooms and the teachers are not certified.
So that is why President Clinton has asked the Congress to pass
legislation which will allow schools across America to hire and train
100,000 new qualified teachers. That's why President Clinton has asked
the Congress to pass legislation to help communities with their unsafe
schools, renovate their old schools, and build new schools.
What answers do my Republican colleagues give to the President? Their
answer is education block grants and vouchers for private schools. But
we all know that block grants and vouchers do not make the grade. Block
grants and vouchers do not repair crumbling schools or get more
teachers into the classroom.
It is really a good thing that this Congress is not on a pass-fail
grading method because, so far, my Republican colleagues and this do-
nothing Congress would fail.
But there is still time. We have a little bit of time with this week
to do some extracurricular work in the omnibus appropriations bill to
make classes smaller, to make schools safer, and to make our children
our number one priority around this country.
About the environment. We are also waiting to see whether the
Republicans are going to hold our precious environment hostage during
these last days of this do-nothing Congress. They added many harmful
riders to the interior appropriations bill that President Clinton would
have vetoed, so we did not even vote on it.
Now they are working in the back rooms, and I am scared to death that
they are going to add these riders to the omnibus appropriations bill.
This will make the appropriations bill unpassable, adding to the do-
nothingness of this Congress.
I joined many of my colleagues writing to the President, asking him
to oppose such assaults on public health, public lands, and our public
treasury; and I am hopeful that the majority party will do what is
right.
Some of these riders range from leaving our beautiful lands
unprotected to leaving our children exposed to toxic chemicals.
Everyone, Republican and Democrat alike, should agree that these
important policy issues should not be solved through back-door methods
on appropriations bills.
{time} 2100
Sometimes the Republicans actually do the environment a favor by
doing nothing at all, and that was evident last week when the omnibus
parks bill, which contained many harmful environmental measures, was
soundly defeated, with Democrats and Republicans alike.
The reality is that the general public wants us to protect their
environment. They like clean air, they like clean water, and they like
the parks and forests we all treasure. The American people will not
tolerate these constant attacks. They not only care about themselves,
they care about their children and their children's children and all
the children in the future.
Between the Republican attacks on education and our environment,
perhaps a do-nothing Congress is best because it might be the best we
could hope for. Unfortunately, when this Congress decided to do
something, they decided to do something in the wrong direction.
We can only hope the Republicans see the light, the light of
important issues such as education for our children, our number one
priority, and environment for ourselves, our future and our children's
future.
Hopefully on election day, the American people will show the majority
party the way.
Mr. PALLONE. I just want to thank the gentlewoman again for bringing
up the environmental issue and basically saying that what we have been
doing in the last 2 years is essentially playing defense here. There
has not been any effort on the Republican side to do anything
progressive with regard to the environment. We have simply had to
defend and prevent them from making things worse with these terrible
environmental riders. There has never been a suggestion of
reauthorizing the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act or the
Endangered Species Act in a way that would be more protective of the
earth or the environment.
The same is true with respect to education. Now we are insisting that
there be some progress on education initiatives like modernizing our
schools, but we basically have been playing defense against this effort
to tear down public education with vouchers and other efforts to slash
funding for education. I want to thank the gentlewoman for bringing
that up.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. PALLONE. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina, who really
is an expert on education issues.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Pallone) for organizing this hour and I am proud to have an
opportunity to spend a few minutes with my democratic colleagues
talking about this whole issue of education.
It is interesting to me. Education really should not be a partisan
issue, but unfortunately in this Congress it is. Children show up at
the public schools. They do not come as Democrats or Republicans. When
they start, they only know what they get, not what they need, and that
is unfortunate. Many times children, depending on the income of their
parents or what part of town they may come from, that is what they may
wind up with in
[[Page H10821]]
terms of their opportunity for education, which in turn dictates to the
quality of life they may have later, and certainly dictates the quality
of life their family will have because education really is the one
thing that levels the playing field, and I mean public education
because depending on the State, in this country roughly 90 percent of
the children are in public schools. In some States, in my home State,
it is almost 95 percent and it varies from State to State.
That is why we need to do everything we can to support the public
institution that has really made a difference in this country of
providing an economic opportunity for so many people to move into the
middle class in America. That has been public education.
Let me ask a question: How did we get here? How did we get to the
condition we are in? Because most of the people who want to take the
public school money in this Congress and turn it into vouchers and give
it to private schools, to those that already have it, came through the
public schools in this country. So they had an opportunity to step up
to the plate and enjoy that great smorgasbord we call public education
in America that many around the world would love to have the
opportunity to get, who come to our shores on a daily basis and walk
into the doors of our public schools. Many of them cannot speak the
English language, and we need to do a better job of making sure they
have that opportunity.
There are many in this Congress, of the majority party now, in this
Congress, who would like to take away that opportunity.
It amazes me the challenge that we face in trying to improve the
quality of education and the fights we have had this year to gain every
inch of ground we have gotten.
The President has asked for funds for teachers. We just passed a
higher education bill that provides for training of our teachers, the
change that needs to be made. Many of us, and I was fortunate enough to
be a part of the legislation that incorporated character education,
really to put back in the training of our teachers, which is an
important component.
I mention that only to say in the sixties when the Sputnik went up,
and we had challenges in this country in math, in science, et cetera,
we poured the dollars in at the higher education level to train
engineers. We trained doctors. We put the dollars in and paid for it
because that was part of our national defense. We saw that as a
mission, something we should do.
Today that is still true in our public schools. That is the
foundation that we build on, and yet there are those that would say to
us, in the Republican Party, that is not a responsibility of Congress.
Why, of course it is a responsibility. Our first challenge is to
defend our borders, and our national defense, and our military. If we
are going to compete in the world economy, our next challenge is to
make sure our children, all of our children, no matter what their
economic or ethnic background is, that they get an opportunity to get
an education.
As we put those teachers out there, we need to make sure they have a
quality place to go to school, and that is why we need to build
buildings.
I have been into probably more school rooms than any other person in
the 8 years I was superintendent of the schools of North Carolina, and
we have spent a lot of money. We spent $1.8 billion in a bond issue we
passed at the State level 2 years ago, and who knows how much the
locals have spent, but we are still behind. We have children in
trailers, and yet there are places in this country where we have
children in classrooms that a person would absolutely not operate a
business. They would not operate a business because the buildings are
in that kind of a condition.
How do you say to a child that education is important when they ride
by a prison on the way to school that is nicer than the building they
are going into to get an education? Children are not dumb. They are
pretty bright. They can figure things out. They know what is important
in their community. That is why it is important that we pass, before
this Congress goes home, and we ought to stay no matter how long it
takes, to put some money out there to supplement, only to supplement,
what locals are doing; to build the buildings that need to be built; to
repair the buildings that are decaying.
We have classrooms that the windows are out. We have got classrooms
that are cold in winter when they ought to be heated. We have got
classrooms that are in deplorable conditions across this country and it
varies from community to community.
For someone to stand on this House floor and say to the children of
America, that is not the role of the Federal Government, I can remember
when it was not the role of the Federal Government, if I read my
history, to build roads. I remember when it was not the role of the
Federal Government to put money in water and sewer because we did not
have water and sewer. There were so few people in this country, they
had a house out behind the house they went to, but we have changed in
America. In America, we have water and sewer. We have treatment plants.
There are places where we do not have enough because we need to put
more to clean up our water, but we have changed as a country.
Education is among the highest priorities we have in America today
and, yes, we have a role in it. We can argue about how we are going to
get it there.
I happen to believe that if we are going to put 100,000 teachers out
there, they ought to go to the schools and we ought not to let a bunch
of people decide what they are going to do with that money. They ought
to go to the classroom where the children are.
I was a superintendent and there are some mighty good people out
there and I trust them. I was in business for 19 years, too. I had my
books audited every year by a CPA. I trusted my people, but I did not
trust them that much. I do not think this Congress is going to trust
dollars to be thrown out. We ought to require that it be in the
classroom where children are, because I believe it is that important to
reduce class sizes.
I do not need to stand here this evening and share with my colleagues
and the American people that it is important to reduce class sizes.
Teachers know it is. Parents know that it is. The PTAs across this
country support it.
It is amazing to me, I never cease to be amazed when I come on this
floor, when people have all the answers about all the issues and yet we
have professionals in our classrooms that have gone, and I assume our
colleges are doing a good job, most of them, training teachers, they
know what children need and yet we are going to tell them what they
need. They do know. They know that their children need a good, warm,
comfortable place to learn. They need a smaller class size.
It is not necessary to be a college-educated person to understand if
there are 29 students in a classroom or 16, which class is going to get
more attention from the teacher. The President is right. We need
smaller class sizes. If it is done in kindergarten through the third
grade, the data is there. It is absolutely irrefutable, that if it is
put there it can be seen. It has been done in Tennessee. We are doing
some of it in North Carolina; not enough. We are trying to get it in
all the kindergarten through the third grades, but I can say this
evening if a child cannot read by the time that child is in the third
grade, they are in deep trouble. It is more likely the child will be a
dropout. That child most likely will drop out of school. If they do not
drop out of school, they struggle and they struggle. They will become a
discipline problem and there are all kinds of problems in the schools.
Others want to say it is a school problem. It is not the school's
problem. It is our problem. Those children are all our children.
Whether they are our biological children or not, they are children of
America, and they have a right to a good education. We have the
resources. We ought to be doing it. There are a lot of things we do
that are important, but nothing is more important than the dollars that
this Congress ought to put in, before we go home this week, to make
sure we have a decent classroom, where we can, for children to go to,
and that they have a reduced class size where teachers can do the job
they have been hired to do.
We talk about we want academic standards, and I happen to believe it
is important to have it. We are going to get it if we reduce those
class sizes and
[[Page H10822]]
allow teachers to do the job they were hired to do.
Last year, I served as co-chair of the Caucus on Education. We laid
out a whole package of things that we thought were important for
education that would strengthen our schools all across this country,
first class public schools with academic excellence, and we get there
by doing these and many other things. We talk about getting parents
involved. Parents get involved when they are proud of the schools their
children go to.
It is easy to have pride in a building that is nice. It is easy to
have pride in a building where the teacher knows the children and when
the principal is engaged and when computers are involved, and that will
happen. Public tax dollars will improve public education if the dollars
go to the schools and do not wind up in vouchers for private schools.
I said, when I was state superintendent, I would fight for the right,
I still say that as a Member of Congress, for any person who wants to
send their child to a parochial or private school. That is their right.
But I will fight just as hard to make sure they do not take one penny
of tax money to be used for that because we do not have enough money in
our public schools.
The last time I checked the public schools in my State, the PTAs were
having bake sales to make sure they have enough money for the schools.
We do not need to be taking the hard earned tax dollars from the
citizens of my State or this country, in America, and not putting them
back where they are well spent, in our public schools.
There are more things I could say about it because I believe very
strongly our public schools are the foundation, really it is the
foundation, that our democracy is built upon. Jefferson said if we
expect to remain a free and democratic society, we must be a well
educated society, and I still believe that.
Mr. PALLONE. I just wanted to ask the gentleman one thing, though,
because he is so knowledgeable on the subject. First, let me say that
it is amazing to me, and I am glad the gentleman brought up this whole
ideology that somehow the Federal Government is not supposed to get
involved in public education, I do not know how our colleagues on the
other side, the Republican leadership on the other side, can say on the
one hand that they do not want to fund public education but then say it
is okay philosophically to pay through vouchers for private education.
{time} 2115
To me, it is even more extreme, if you will, to say on the one hand
that you do not think we should get involved with the public sphere,
but it is okay to get in the private sphere with public dollars.
Ideologically that makes no sense to me.
I also wanted to mention, and maybe you could just develop this a
little bit, the gentleman talked about the need for the funds for
school modernization. I think we need to point out, as the gentleman
said, we are really only talking about a small amount of dollars here.
Essentially what this does, from the way I understand it, is it gives
Federal tax credits to pay the interest on the bonds. And the problem
you have in a lot of the public schools, including in my own district
these days, is that they cannot afford to put out these bonds to build
additions or renovate the schools because the costs of the interest
rate is too high.
If you could give us an example, if you would briefly, about how that
would help in North Carolina.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. If the gentleman will yield, you are absolutely
correct, because what it would amount to is a school system, let us
say, well, I will use my own state, North Carolina, let us say when it
is approved by Congress, assuming it is approved this week, let us say
North Carolina is allocated, as an example, $200 million for the state,
whatever that number is. That is an easy figure to work with.
Then the state would in turn allocate that to the local systems based
on whatever need formula they use. Then they would in turn sell those
bonds at the local level to build the schools or renovate as they
needed, and the Federal Government would pick up the interest, and the
people who buy it, of course, would check that off on their taxes,
would be one way to do it.
But however it works out, it would mean that the local unit of
government, and that is the important thing, you are passing down, we
are allowing at the Federal level building that partnership that I
think is so important.
We are not taking away any of the authority at the local level. We
are becoming a partner. We are not the senior partner in this
situation, we are the junior partner, and doing it on a one time basis.
For those who want to talk like we are the big brother, in this case
we are the little-bitty brother, because they are doing about 90
percent of the work at the local level, and the truth is of the Federal
funds flowing to the local level, in my state it is about 7 percent,
and I think it varies from state to state, but it is somewhere around 9
percent maximum of Federal dollars flowing to the local level.
Education has always, will be, and continue to be a local issue, and
so are facilities. But all we are talking about is helping those who
have the greatest need at a time when they are really struggling. They
are trying to put as many dollars as they can into curriculum offerings
and in teachers, and all we are doing is supplementing two pieces, the
facility for a little while, to give them a jump start.
It is like having a car alongside the road and the battery is weak,
but the engine will run. So we are going to give them a jump start
until they can get far enough to the next station to buy them a new
battery.
That is all we are talking about with these funds, to renovate and
get those schools running. Then when you get the vehicle running,
people say it looks pretty good, I am going to loan you enough money to
buy you a new battery. That is what we really are talking about with
the bonds to renovate and build some new buildings.
Mr. PALLONE. I thank the gentleman, and I want to yield to the
gentlewoman from Connecticut who has taken the leadership on this.
Ms. DeLAURO. I want to thank my colleagues for their really eloquent
comments. A lot of us are here tonight, I am not going to speak very
long, because there are lots of people whose voices ought to be heard.
It is a critical issue. It is a values issue. It is who we are and what
we define as a priority for this Nation.
I have often said education is the great equalizer in this country,
and it has allowed for so many of us, whatever our gender or religious
affiliation or party affiliation or socioeconomic status the ability to
use our God-given talents in order to try to succeed. And it is a
mystery to me that here we are at 9:20 at night, and for almost the
last two years, or at least a year, have been trying to focus in on
education, some very simple proposals that the President laid out last
January, and that we want to try to have our children have some
opportunity for some attention in schools, to reduce the class size,
not just because of numbers. That is not what the issue is.
You take the class size and you reduce that number in grades one
through three from sometimes 22, 24, 26, up to 32, 36 students in a
classroom today, down to 18, and you allow that teacher to have some
individual time with each and every child. So that I know that my
youngster is going to get the benefit of some individualized attention.
That also helps the teacher to deal with a better environment for
learning, better discipline opportunities, when you have got a smaller
number of children, all with the express purpose of looking at
increasing our standards, making both teachers and students more
accountable, and, in essence, more of an opportunity to learn.
That is one of the proposals we are here talking about and struggling
for, quite frankly: Increase the numbers of teachers, 100,000 teachers.
We have had a wonderfully successful increase in the number of cops on
the beat, community policing, because we had a COPS Program with a
partnership between the Federal Government and local government to
increase the number of policemen on the beat in our country.
This is a very similar type program. Let us increase the number of
teachers. Better education, more safety, these are the kinds of values
that the people that we represent have asked us to engage in.
[[Page H10823]]
Modernizing our schools, not because our kids ought to go to school
in palaces and these grandiose buildings, but in fact in some places
with falling roofs and paint and exposed wiring and a whole variety of
poor infrastructure in our public facilities, it is to clean up that
problem.
But probably more importantly than the bricks and the mortar is the
opportunity. I have got lots of old buildings in my district in
Connecticut. We are an old industrial city. We cannot wire these
facilities up to the Internet. We cannot give our kids the kinds of
adequate ability and technology that allows for them to be able to
compete and to succeed. That is what modernization is about.
So, I mean, these are three kinds of areas that it seems to me are
very basic. And here we are over the last year fighting for these
issues, with the President leading the way, and we are at the last hour
of this Congress, when we have been unable to even get a hearing on any
of these critically important issues. And our hope is that we can in
the next remaining days of this Congress, or even the remaining hours,
we have got time. We have got time. We can do it. The majority, the
Republican majority in this body, if they wanted to, in a heartbeat, in
a heartbeat, could decide that that is where our goals are, that is
where our priorities are.
These are what our values are about.
I have just one more comment to make, because I think there is a very
big difference, a very, very big difference, in the philosophy that we
bring to this body.
No one here, that is here tonight, to talk about this issue, believes
that government should do everything for people. That is not what this
is about, because there are those on the other side of the aisle that
say our colleagues want to just throw money at this problem.
That is not it at all, especially when the Federal Government
contribution to education from kindergarten to 12 years is 7 percent.
It is rather minimal, when we think about it.
But the fact is that I happen to believe, and I know my colleagues
here tonight who are speaking on this issue believe, that in fact it is
government's obligation, their obligation, to help people by crafting
those tools that are necessary for people to meet the challenges in
their lives.
That is what these programs are about, helping them to meet the
challenges of educating their kids, making sure that their kids have
the opportunity to succeed for the future. That is basic to every
parent in this Nation. As my parents wanted to leave me with the
opportunities to succeed, each and every one of us views it as our
responsibility to help our kids have a better future, and we happen to
believe that in fact government has a role in helping to that end; not
to do everything, but to help in the process.
I am afraid and sad to say that not all, but particularly the
leadership on the other side of the aisle, does not believe that
government has any role to play in providing those opportunities for
our kids, and that is a sad day. My hope is that we will turn that
around in the next few days of this Congress.
I thank the gentleman and I thank my colleagues for the opportunity
to share this with them tonight.
Mr. PALLONE. I just wanted to thank the gentlewoman, and before I
yield to the next member, I was glad that you brought up the point
about the COPS grant, because this is very much, this hiring of the
additional 100,000 teachers, is very much modeled on the COPS grant.
We had someone, I think it was the Republican whip or one of the
Republican leaders the other night, was suggesting that somehow the
COPS grant program had not been successful. And I cannot think of any
program that has been more successful.
I know in my hometown, we have had the opportunity to hire a lot of
additional policemen. The crime rate has gone way down. These are
community police officers. They have to be out on the street.
They also suggested that somehow there was a lot of strings attached
by the Federal Government. It has not been that way at all. Basically
the only requirement is that there be some local match to pay for the
police officers, and that the police officers, you know, have certain
benefits and that they serve in the community policing capacity. In
other words, they cannot stay in the headquarters. They have to be out
on the street, I think maybe in police cars or on the sidewalk, but out
there with the community.
And it has been fantastic, the number of people that have been hired
around the country and the impact on the crime rate. It has gone down
significantly. And all the Federal Government really does is to provide
the funding, and the communities are clamoring for this. So the notion
that somehow that was not successful and we should not model it on the
COPS grant, that is absurd. That is a perfect model.
I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan.
Ms. STABENOW. I thank the gentleman. I am very pleased to be with my
colleagues tonight. I wanted to at this point indicate that when
talking about the COPS Program, if I might just put a plug in for our
colleague from Connecticut, Jim Maloney, who has been working very hard
to expand the COPS Program to include school resource officers, which
is another part of our education program, working on safety in the
schools, and I have been very pleased to work with Congressman Maloney,
who has been successful in placing additional dollars into the budget
to expand the wonderful COPS Program to allow those same officers that
are trained in mediation, prevention, working with young people, being
able to make those relationships between the neighborhood and the
school to be able to bring that into the school.
I know I have colleagues here that have been waiting here to speak
this evening, but I did want to mention that it is I think noteworthy
that our democratic colleague, Jim Maloney, has been working very, very
hard on this issue. And, if I might also indicate that as we look to
the closing days, I cannot think of a more important message to send to
children in terms of our belief in them and their future, but to
provide them with safe, clean, modern schools, with teachers that are
prepared, with math and science labs that are of high quality, with
technology, computers that they can access the Internet in a safe way.
We have the opportunity in the remaining days of this session to
provide our children with a very important message about our belief in
them and the importance of their future.
{time} 2130
Mr. PALLONE. I know that the gentlewoman has been a leader in
pointing out the need to upgrade, if you will, schools so that they
have computers and high-tech equipment and that type of thing. Just
give us a little information on how important that is and how this
modernization program could be used for that, because I think most
people just think we are talking about bricks and mortar. It is not
just that.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, we are definitely talking about really two
phases. One, you have to have buildings that are modern enough to be
able to be wired. We have schools around the country where we could not
begin to wire them for the Internet because the walls are falling down.
They do not have the ability to be connected.
But if they do, and in my district, through volunteer efforts,
because we have not been able to get the support from the government to
partner with us, we have been moving ahead with private sector
partnerships through Net Days, wiring schools with the private sector,
and so on. We want the Federal Government to be a partner in that, as
well, so we can reach out to those schools who have not been able to be
successful in wiring schools.
The point of all of that is to make sure that our classrooms look
like the workplace. Right now my daughter just graduated from high
school last year. Her classroom in Lansing, Michigan, is an excellent
school, but a school that is an urban older school, an older building.
Her classroom looks much like it did when I was in school, and I will
not say how long ago, rather than looking like the workplace that she
will enter. We know that we want our children to be coming into a
classroom that is preparing them for what they will face in the
workplace, the kinds of equipment, the kinds of technology.
I want very much for my children to be able to access the Library of
Congress, or to be able to learn a foreign
[[Page H10824]]
language, and speak to children in another part of the world in that
language. How much more exciting that is. There are safe ways to
provide access to the Internet for children that allow them to open up
history, to study art by going to the Louvre through the Internet;
wonderful opportunities to open up the world of knowledge.
That is what we have the ability to do right now. We need to make
sure that not only children who can afford to have that technology at
home have the world open to them, but that every child in every
neighborhood school has that, as well.
So we have been working, as Democrats, to provide that structure, to
make sure that that technology is there, that teachers are prepared,
that they have the professional development tools, that the computers
are there, that the knowledge is there, and that it is safe. We know
that there are also issues of predators on the Internet, and we have
also been addressing that as well to make sure that that is safe.
But in the end, we know our children will walk into the workplace
where every single job they will face will involve a computer. We do
them a disservice if we do not give them the ability and the sense of
comfortableness of working with that equipment and working with that
technology in our school buildings so they are truly prepared.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman. I think it
is very important that we point out that this modernization money can
be used for that type of purpose.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel).
Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, let me first congratulate all of the Members
for taking out this special time to talk about the need for education.
I was in my office, and just to listen to what the gentleman was
saying, we would think this was a developing country where the poor
were just begging for education and opportunity and access to job
training. We never would think that this was the world leader in trade,
or one on which all of the industrialized countries are depending. We
would never think that we were the farthest out there in technology.
We would think that what we are talking about would be a part of our
national security, a part of what was necessary for the health of our
great Nation to continue to provide the international leadership that
we do, and improve the quality of life for our citizens.
Yet I was thinking, if we were talking about increasing the Federal
penalties for any crime, or the death penalty, or building more
prisons, we would not have to be here late at night, because we would
know that these things somehow our Republican friends believe is part
of government, that it is a role that we should play, even though most
crimes are delegated to the States. Yet, we find that almost every
State type of crime is being federalized, until our Federal prisons are
bursting at the seams.
When we first saw this Contract With America, they were saying that
the Federal Government ought to get out of everything: ought to get out
of health care, ought to get out of Medicare, ought to get out of
social security. Of course, education was not even there, because
public education they truly believe we should not be involved in, just
provide incentives for the private sector to work its will.
I tell the Members this, as we look and see that this great Nation of
ours has 1.5 million people locked up in jails, more than any other per
capita of any Nation in history, and certainly today, and then we
evaluate and get the profile of that prisoner, and see that he or she
never really got an education, never had a firm foundation, never had
the options for a decent job or a dream or to assimilate into society,
and we take a look at the average drug addict or those kids that are
getting pregnant, they are not the ones who have had the dreams and
hopes that they would have an opportunity in this great Nation to
become a part of the middle class system.
This number continues to grow, and the prisons continue to be built,
and always at the expense of our educational institutions. If we go
into any State budget, we would see the relationship between the
decrease in the money for education and the increase in the money for
incarceration. It just seems to me that whether we are Republican or
Democrat, that we should not have to say that we have to stay here
until we get more teachers, that we have to stay here until we
modernize our classrooms. It seems to me that we would say it is a part
of the American dream. It does not have any label on it. We are all
winners when people get a better chance to be more effective, more
productive, pay more taxes, and have America to maintain its leadership
in the world.
If we have to stay here, how proud I am to be part of a party where
we know how important it is to get elected, but we say that our kids
are more important, because that is what we are here for. We are here
not only to do for today, but we are here to provide a legacy.
Whether we win or lose in November, if they say, why were you in
Washington so long, when you should have been back home campaigning,
say, we were doing it for the kids. They deserve better than they get.
I am proud to be a Member of this House where people do not have to be
in the majority in order to be heard. The gentleman is doing great
work.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for that
speech. There he is so much on point. I do not think we can add
anything. I thank the gentleman for coming and joining us. It really
makes the point about the need for public education.
I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens).
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I know the gentleman is running out of time.
I will enter into the Record an article that appeared in the New York
Daily News on Sunday, October 11, about a school that is in my
district, PS 91.
The article referred to is as follows:
[Daily News, Sun. Oct. 11, 1998]
Obstacle Course
(By Nancie L. Katz)
Public School 91 has been falling down around the 1,100
students and 50 teachers who learn and work there.
Students every day have had to navigate a treacherous path
around jagged holes, falling plaster, contaminated water,
exposed pipes, wires and brick, and dust and soot.
Blocking part of the playground are boiler trucks--rented
since September 1997 for about $10,000 a month to heat the
school after coal-fired furnaces were deemed too dangerous to
keep operating.
Children at recess in the asphalt play yard skirt a drain
that has collected a small pool of dirty water that everyone
suspects is backed-up sewage.
Pieces of plaster drop from the ceilings, drafts seep
through exposed brick walls that are children's only barrier
from the outdoors, and vermin scamper in through holes in the
walls.
Students bring bottles of water to school because the
drinking fountains were shut after gushing brown liquid.
Dust and soot cover the top two floors, and nobody knows if
there is lead or other contaminants mixed into it.
Bubbling floor tiles in the hall go unbuffed--custodians
and officials are afraid they'll stir up asbestos insulation
underneath.
A fire alarm doesn't work.
In a city of aged and crumbling school buildings, to walk
through PS 91 is to walk the halls of shame.
``It is abominable for children to be subjected to this . .
. in the richest country in the world,'' said Principal
Solomon Long, whose calls for help have gone unanswered for
eight years. ``It is just unimaginable. I have appealed gain
and again. So has the principal before me. But all there has
been is patchwork.''
Until Thursday night, no one was paying attention to the
horrendous conditions at the Wingate elementary school. But
after the Daily News launched an investigation into how the
building was allowed to deteriorate, it was temporarily
closed, children were shipped to nearby schools and the
building was flooded with workmen.
After surface patching, the school is expected to reopen
Tuesday. Chancellor Rudy Crew now has promised that funds
will be forthcoming for more extensive repairs.
The instant response follows years of worry by Long about
the safety of the ``babies'' who attend PS91.
Help was supposed to be on the way over the summer. Long
and District 17 Superintendent Evelyn Castro said officials
promised in May that repairs would be made.
So Long canceled the summer literacy program and a federal
feeding program for low-income children. Teachers cleared
walls and windows and carefully packed away books and other
materials.
The workers never arrived. Staff and children reported back
to the same crumbling institution in September.
Yet amid all this, learning at PS 91 has gone on.
Led by Long, the school is a work in progress. Only 45% of
the kindergarten
[[Page H10825]]
through fifth-graders are reading at grade level or above.
But that's 11 percentage points higher than two years ago.
Children wear uniforms, and hallways, classrooms and the
cafeteria are orderly.
Long says the school has plenty of new books and computers,
dedicated staff and involved parents.
``It's the facility,'' he said.
The building opened in 1903. Three years later, a fourth
floor was added, and another L-shaped addition came in the
1920s.
In 1971, an annex was added for the lower grades. It was
meant to last 10 years, but is still in use.
It's the main building--mostly the third and fourth
floors--that is most damaged. Since March, the board has
spent more than $100,000 to wrap the school with protective
sidewalk bridging--in case bricks tumble down.
But there has been nothing to protect the children inside.
Every morning, the smallest children line up in a room
outside the auditorium. Last winter, the upper part of a wall
collapsed. Children still walk by it everyday--past a folded
cafeteria table and a rope offering flimsy protection.
``How many more pieces are going to come tumbling down on
our kids?'' asked Dwayne Carrion, a parent activist with the
first-grader. ``It is ridiculous that the people who sit in
these offices cannot find the time or resources to address
this issue.''
No children have been injured seriously, although dozens
said small debris has fallen on them.
``One of the plasters fell on my head last year,''
volunteered Shadae Bowen, 10, holding a piece of Sheetrock
about the size of two marbles to demonstrate her point. ``It
hurt. I cried. I had to go to the doctor to see if I was
okay.''
Fifteen classrooms have holes in ceilings and walls,
exposing brick, wires, dust and gravel. In Norman Kravetz'
third-grade class last year, students used umbrellas as
protection from rain and falling plaster, teachers said.
Toilets in the kindergarten classrooms can't be used
because they leak through into the cafeteria.
A fire alarm in one building section doesn't work, so
staffers cannot hear drills.
Students complain of breathing problems, headaches, itchy
rashes, stomachaches. Teachers speak of allergies.
And last spring there was an asbestos scare. City
environmental specialists and board and School Construction
Authority officials did emergency cleanup work after teachers
complained of suspicious powder drifting down from rain-
damaged paint.
Long said he accepted board assurances--given at a heated
meeting with parents--that the building was safe.
``The parents were ready to shut the place down,'' Long
said. ``They asked me at the meeting. `What do you think?' I
can't let these people down. They trust me with their babies.
If anything is ever found here, the first thing parents will
say is their great leader led us right to ruin.''
Adriane Riddick, the parents association president and
mother of a fifth-grader, said the board's failure to shut
upper-floor classrooms ``means they don't care about the kids
who are up there.'' Last week, Long invited an independent
inspector hired by The News into the building. The board then
refused the inspector and a reporter entry--turning down the
offer to allow The News to pay for asbestos and lead tests.
Fourth-grade teacher Sharon Rose-Pooser said teachers
struggle to overcome the crumbling conditions.
This year, she said, she was too disheartened to try to
cover the exposed brick, pipes and wires that dominate half
her classroom walls.
The classrooms' coast closet is unusable because the window
in it is missing, and she is afraid leaks will ruin the
children's coats. Her class phoneline dangles unattached.
The window frames are so rotted she cannot hang shades. Her
30 students must keep shifting around the room to avoid the
glaring sun.
``The kids look at this and they wonder about their safety
. . . about whether adults are concerned for them,'' she
said. ``I try to tell my students that students in the Third
World and in slavery worked no matter what the conditions.''
Belanda Hobbs' fourth-graders said they didn't mind the
holes in the walls. That's because Hobbs hides one 6-inch
hole behind a brightly colored sign. ``Classroom Library.''
Bookshelves covered other holes and protected small feet from
a yard-long, dust-filled gutter where the floor had crumbled
away from the wall.
Her portable bulletin board, listing ``Key Words,''
camouflaged a jagged hole that could easily fit a child's
head.
None of the disguises keep out the mice and other vermin.
``I thought of putting a carpet [over the gutter] but the
mice would eat it up,'' Hobbs said.
Yards of exposed brick sprayed with asbestos encapsulant
dripped down Audrey Butler's classroom walls. The wrapping
around an aging pipe was slit, possibly exposing asbestos.
``I had a rash all last year,'' she said. ``My daughter
begs me not to go to work.''
Lorraine Williams wipes soot every day from her
fifthgraders' desks, caused by the oil-fired boiler trucks
parked beneath her windows. Four students have asthma.
Children in Jeffrey Garrison's fourth-grade class showed a
reporter rashes on their necks they said were irritated from
dust.
``I feel scared because something bad might happen,'' said
Crystal Myrie, 9. ``Somebody could die in there. The ceiling
is falling down. I'm afraid I'll get cancer when I grow up.''
Parents charge the board has discriminated against the
minority school because it lacks political clout. They are
terrified for their children.
``We send our kids to PS 91, and the Board of Education
will not give us any results until one leaves an angel,''
Carrion said.
____
[Daily News, Sun. Oct. 11, 1998]
Children caught in a tangle of red tape
(By Nancie L. Katz)
Principal Solomon Long said he had been reporting the
decrepit conditions at Public School 91 for years.
In June 1997 and June 1998, he submitted capital budget
improvement plans, he said, to the school custodial service,
TEMCO. Before that, he said, he filed regular reports with
the staff custodian.
Under Board of Education guidelines, custodians perform
moderate repairs, but major needs are reported to the
Division of School Facilities.
Chief Executive Patricia Zedalis decides whether to do the
work inhouse or assign it to the School Construction
Authority or the city's Design and Construction Department.
In March--after 17-year-old Zhen Zhao was killed by a
falling brick from a Brooklyn school--Zedalis and board
officials visited PS 91. She then authorized the SCA to
develop a design plan, board spokeswoman Karen Crowe said.
But Zedalis had to wait until funds were released from the
city's budget for fiscal year '99, which began July 1.
In April, parents reported white dust and demanded an
environmental inspection. Asbestos was found.
Workers stripped the walls of plaster and sprayed
encapsulant, and tests showed the building was safe,
authority spokesman Fred Winters said. He said the SCA had no
funding to do further work ``because it is pointless to
replace plaster or Sheetrock'' if the outer bricks and roof
still leak.
SCA and board officials met May 5 with enraged parents, who
told of children's health problems, including stomachaches,
headaches, nausea and itching from dust.
Parents, teacher Jeffrey Garrison and Long said Bernie
Orlan, the board's director of environmental health and
safety, told them repairs would be done during the summer.
The only work performed at PS 91 was done Aug. 26, when the
board tested for asbestos and lead, Crowe said. No asbestos
was found, but lead was. Workers repainted kindergarten room
103, she said.
Crowe said the ``external modernization''--the cost
calculated at $3.5 million--would go ahead, although no money
was set aside for it.
Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew was investigating the entire
situation, she said.
Mr. Speaker, this article is about a school in New York City with
horrendous conditions, but it is not atypical. Washington, D.C. had to
have its whole system close down in the fall of 1997 because it had
these kinds of horrible conditions in their schools, so other urban
centers have similar problems. I am certain that many rural areas have
similar problems. It is not atypical to have a situation like this.
As we come to the close of the 105th session of Congress, I am
pleased that at least we have forced the entire Congress, the majority
party as well as our party, to focus on education. The public opinion
polls show this is number one with people. At least we are in sync with
the people. The people say this is the number one priority. The
majority party has had to recognize it.
The kinds of conditions that are indicated here at PS 91 are the
kinds of conditions we do not want to see exist in any school. It has a
coal-burning furnace that was built in 1903. The walls are crumbling.
In one class, four children have asthma. The custodians are afraid to
clean the floors because of asbestos underneath the tiles. Every
imaginable danger is there. It is not a school that we want to send
children to in America.
I hope that this article should be in the Record as part of what we
are saying in these closing days of the 105th Congress.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman. He is here
almost every night relaying a message, and it is often on education. I
want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens).
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr.
Blagojevich).
Mr. BLAGOJEVICH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to
me. Let me piggyback on what has been said about education. I happen to
be a product of the public education system. I am very lucky to be, of
course, a Member of Congress.
[[Page H10826]]
I want to repeat exactly what has been said about schools, but it is
clear that a lot of local initiatives across the country in terms of
school reform are working: smaller class sizes, connecting classrooms
to the Internet, of course, which has so much to do with rebuilding
crumbling school buildings; other issues that relate; even grade
inflation. In my own experience, I can tell the Members that the D I
got in algebra was a classic example of grade inflation.
There are a lot of things that are being tried at the local level,
and what is lacking to complete the job is the help from the Federal
level in providing those necessary resources. If we can, here in
Congress, on the eve of our adjournment, do something about getting the
necessary Federal dollars to rebuild our schools, I think this session
will not be as much of a do-nothing Congress as it might otherwise turn
out to be.
This Congress will soon adjourn, as we know. We are at the 11th hour.
Absent a change of direction, we will not do anything about national
priorities like rebuilding our Nation's crumbling schools, or reforming
our health care system, or seizing the historic opportunity that we
have, which is the first time since 1969 having a Federal surplus that
we can use to help stabilize social security.
In addition to those major issues, there are other neglected national
priorities that I think this Congress has failed to work on, important
initiatives that relate to our fight against guns and crime. That will
not see action this year.
I know that the Committee on the Judiciary has been busy lately, very
busy, but I would like to raise an issue that has yet to be addressed
by that committee or by this Congress. That is the issue of the growing
black market, where criminals are purchasing firearms with impunity.
That is at gun shows.
There are approximately 5,200 gun shows held every year across the
United States. Literally hundreds of thousands of weapons change hands
at these events. While most gun show participants are law-abiding
citizens, enthusiasts, and collectors, law enforcement agencies are
seeing an alarming number of cases where violent crimes have been
committed with guns that were initially obtained by criminals at gun
shows.
For example, according to a recent study by the Illinois State
police, 25 percent of illegally trafficked firearms they seized were
originally purchased at gun shows.
Let me give an illustration. Last May in Florida ex-convict Hank Earl
Carr used a weapon he bought at a gun show to kill 4 people in a
shooting spree that ultimately left two police officers and a State
trooper dead. If that same Hank Earl Carr tried to buy that same weapon
at a gun store, a criminal background check would have revealed his
felony record, and he would have been prevented from buying a gun.
Mr. Speaker, criminals are increasingly buying guns from gun shows
because, unlike retail gun stores or sporting goods stores, there are
no requirements to provide identification, no requirements to perform
background checks, and no requirements to impose waiting periods. In
all too many cases, Mr. Speaker, criminals can buy any number of guns
with no questions asked.
This Congress could have extended the same safeguards and
recordkeeping requirements to gun shows that we already require of
everyone else, but this Congress treated this issue like so many other
issues, and this Congress on this issue did nothing.
Mr. Speaker, 40,000 Americans die every year of gun violence in the
United States. Our Nation's children are 12 times more likely to die as
a result of gun violence than are children in any other industrialized
Nation. It is probably too late now, on the eve of our adjournment, to
address this issue, but I hope that in the next Congress, whether it is
the Democrats or the Republicans who control this process, we can focus
our efforts on matters like these that affect people in our
neighborhoods and in our communities.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman. I know that
one of the biggest concerns with regard to guns now is guns in the
schools, so it relates back to our concern about keeping the schools
safe, as well.
There are many things that the Republican leadership has failed to
address. I think the gentleman brings up one of them. The main thing
that I think we are trying to say tonight, and maybe I can conclude
with this, is that even though there are only a few days, perhaps, left
in this Congress, there is enough time to provide funding for the
school modernization, and also for the 100,000 teachers to reduce class
size.
The effect of that is to basically create schools that are better,
more disciplined, with a safer environment, a smarter environment. We
are just saying, as Democrats, that we do not want to go home until
this is addressed.
No one can tell us that there is not the opportunity, because as the
gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) said, the Republican
leadership could pass this legislation and get this budget and
appropriation bill signed into law with the money for the school
modernization program, with the funds for the 100,000 extra teachers.
They cannot tell us that there is not time left to do that.
If that is all we accomplish in the next few days, we will have
accomplished a great deal. Even though we have had this 2 years of a
do-nothing failed Congress, at least we have something that we can go
back to our constituents and say, look, we accomplished this. As the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) said, it really is our future that
we care about. Everyone here tonight is expressing the concern for
children and for kids and for the future of this country, and the equal
opportunity that we so cherish.
I just want to thank everyone again for being here this evening.
{time} 2145
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep regret that I ask our
colleagues to join in wishing a fond farewell to a good friend, an
outstanding Member of Congress, our colleague, Bill Paxon from the 27th
District of New York on his retirement from office at the end of this
session.
First elected in 1988, Bill Paxon has certainly left his mark, not
only on this body but upon all of us for whom he has been an
outstanding friend. Congressman Paxon is departing this year after his
fifth term, but his legacy will be with us for many years to come.
Bill Paxon attended Akron Central Elementary and Junior High Schools,
Saint Joseph's Collegiate Institute and Canisius College, from which he
graduated in 1977. Friends and family members say he had an interest in
politics and public service from the an early age. But he wasted no
time in seeking office upon his return home from college. At the age of
23, Bill Paxon was elected the youngest county legislator in the
history of Erie County, New York.
He easily won an open State Assembly seat in 1982, and was a logical
choice to succeed Congressman Jack Kemp, when Jack Kemp left this body
in 1988.
On the Committee on Commerce, Bill Paxon earned a reputation for his
interest in the concerns of his district, in western New York, and of
American industry. On the Subcommittee on Energy and Power and the
Subcommittee on Finance and Hazardous Materials, Bill Paxon has been a
champion on behalf of the health and well-being of all of us.
Bill Paxon made his greatest impact as chairman of the National
Republican Congressional Committee from 1993 to 1996. In that capacity,
Bill Paxon worked hard to recruit outstanding candidates for our party
throughout the Nation and to steer them towards adequate funding.
Bill will always be remembered for bringing romance to this chamber,
having proposed to our colleague, Representative Susan Molinari of
Staten Island on the very floor of this chamber. And while we miss
Susan greatly, we fondly remember her good contributions to the
Congress.
Now that Bill and Susan have chosen to pursue careers in the private
sector, we wish them and their children the best of luck in all of
their future endeavors and remind them that our hearts will always be
with them.
To Bill, we bid a fond farewell and I thank you for bringing idealism
to this body, and a special thanks for making this chamber a better
place in which to work for the good of our Nation.
[[Page H10827]]
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield to our distinguished majority
whip, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay).
Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I really
appreciate the Dean of the New York delegation for taking out this
special order for what is truly a trend setter and a person who has
really turned this place into a dynamic institution. I appreciate the
New York delegation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a man who I think is one
of the most energetic, the most enthusiastic, and the most effective
Members Congress, my good friend Bill Paxon of the great State of New
York. And for a gentleman from Texas to say that takes a lot to bring a
New Yorker and a Texan together and to become as close friends as we
are.
Bill, as we all know, is retiring from Congress at the end of this
year, and he is going to pursue some private sector opportunities. We
wish him the best. Bill's departure, quite frankly, is a great loss to
this institution. But it is also a great gain for his family and for
the private sector, because Bill Paxon did more to reform this Congress
than any other person in this House.
He was the principal architect of the strategy to change control of
this House, which had been in one party's hands for over 40 years. Once
we were able to gain a majority, we were able to reform this Congress
in so many significant ways. We were able to balance the budget for the
first time in a generation. We cut the size of government. We made
Members of Congress even follow the laws of the land.
We reformed welfare. We cut taxes for the first time in 16 years and
we reformed this Congress in ways that have improved its popularity
with the people to its highest ratings in history. And this all
happened because of the hard work of Bill Paxon.
As we all know, Bill was first elected to Congress in 1988. And
having accomplished all of this, one would think that he had been here
forever. But we all know him as our own personal political junkie,
because at the age of 23, he started his political career. Mr. Speaker,
23 years old is when he started in the Erie County legislature. He
later went to the New York State Assembly before starting his
distinguished career in the U.S. House.
But Bill Paxon is a visionary. He sees America as a Nation of
opportunity, a Nation with boundless optimism and a can-do spirit. And
it was this can-do spirit that Bill Paxon took over to the National
Republican Congressional Committee with the express goal of achieving
the first Republican Majority in the House in 40 years.
Nobody, other than probably Newt Gingrich, thought it could be done.
Nobody thought that Paxon was serious in his efforts. And he took an
NRCC that was pretty much broke, heavily in debt, demoralized, and
pulled it together, showing his administrative skills as well as his
political skills. Bill Paxon proved all the doubters wrong by using his
energy to help Republicans win that majority.
Now Bill Paxon has decided to leave the House and pursue other
opportunities. Spending as much time as I have with Bill, I think I
know his true motivation. It is to spend more time with his wife and
our former colleague, Susan Molinari, and their fantastically beautiful
Susan Ruby Paxon. We call her ``Suby,'' and who could blame him.
Bill, let me just say we will miss your optimism and your spirit and
your vision of the House of Representatives. As a matter of fact, we
already miss them. We wish you the best of luck in the future in your
future endeavors. But let me just say that those people that are about
to meet Bill Paxon in the private sector, there is, when you develop a
relationship with Bill Paxon, when you develop a friendship with Bill
Paxon, you will have on your side one of the most loyal individuals I
have ever run into. One of the closest friends that I have ever had. A
person that will stand by you through the worst of times as well as the
best of times. A man of incredible honor and integrity and character. A
man that young people should look up to as a role model, as most of us
have.
We are going to miss you so much in this chamber, Bill. And we hope
that you will continue to give us the counsel and the friendship we
need, no matter where you go. I greatly appreciate your friendship and
will cherish it forever.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) for
yielding to me.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his eloquent
remarks and we certainly join with him in wishing Bill Paxon good luck
in the days ahead.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from California
(Mr. Cox) the distinguished chairman of our Republican Policy
Committee.
Mr. COX of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Gilman) for yielding to me.
I am particularly pleased that Congressman Paxon is here with us
tonight in the chamber. It is something of a tradition as Members
retire and we have an opportunity allowed them on the floor of the
House, that they are forced to sit here and listen to us talk about
them. But it is especially nice for those of us paying tribute to be
able to look you in the eye tonight and tell you from the heart how
sincerely we are going to miss you here and how much we have
appreciated the opportunity over the last many years to work shoulder
to shoulder with you.
It was 10 years ago that Bill Paxon and I, and 16 others, were
elected as part of the same freshman class. And 10 years goes by rather
quickly. We did not know at the time when we set out to exercise in our
own way what degree of influence we might over the Congress that one of
us would become the leader of our National Congressional Campaign
Committee and spearhead an effort to change the management of Congress
for the first time in two generations.
But that was Bill Paxon's fate at the time, and certainly now in
retrospect we know how much that means to our country. It certainly
meant a lot to each of us to participate with him in that venture.
I have been in politics only 12 years; 10 here and 2 downtown working
with Ronald Reagan in the White House. That makes me a piker compared
to Bill Paxon, because he has been an elected official for more than a
generation, representing Erie County in the legislature as its youngest
member at age 23. He then went on to the New York State Assembly where
he was elected in 1982, 6 years before we were seated together in
Congress.
So by the time Bill Paxon started out in the United States House of
Representatives 10 years ago, he was already an accomplished legislator
and an accomplished legislative leader.
It is not surprising, therefore, that he was tapped to run the
National Republican Congressional Committee, although infusing the NRCC
with new management at that point might have been viewed as much as a
desperation pass as a sure thing at the time, because it was $4.5
million in debt. Fortunately, we had strong leadership at the helm at
the Republican National Committee where Haley Barbour was in charge,
and Haley and Bill Paxon working together were an amazing team to
behold.
In particular, I think because of Bill's energy and his dynamism,
Haley was taken in and became a big supporter of what was going on
there. I served on Bill's Executive Committee and watched as he pared
down what had, over many, many years become a rather large staff that
we could not afford, into a real lean organization that went out and
got the job done for our candidates across the country and for the
American people.
The result, of course, was not only the first Republican Majority in
the U.S. House of Representatives in 40 years, and the first back-to-
back majorities in 68 years, but the first balanced budget since 1969.
It is just an extraordinary thing to think one can take an organization
as big as the Federal Government, not just the NRCC but the Federal
Government, and turn it around from hundreds of billions in projected
deficits to surpluses now as far as the eye can see. But that has been
the consequence of Bill Paxon's leadership in the United States
Congress.
Probably the most important moment for Bill Paxon in the House of
Representatives was not the passage of the Telecommunications Act,
which he shepherded through the Committee on Commerce where we served
together; not the passage of the first tax cuts in 16 years, which he
like his predecessor
[[Page H10828]]
in Congress, Jack Kemp, so strongly championed; but, almost certainly,
it was when he proposed on the House Floor here to Susan Molinari,
another one of our classmates, and naturally she was as impressed with
him as the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us, however, she joined with
him in a very special partnership which a year later resulted in an
extraordinary marriage and an extraordinary union between two people
that are as close to us in congressional family as anyone can possibly
be.
But seeing them married together just makes us all thrilled every
time we think about it. And as has been mentioned earlier, we are now
coming to know your daughter, Suby, Susan Ruby, almost as well as our
own kids because we get a chance to see her around the House of
Representatives.
I think of that time in San Diego when you were out in California,
when all of us were out in California on the Republican side, for the
National Convention, the Republican National Convention, and your wife
was the keynote speaker to the country at that National Convention.
{time} 2200
And all the attention was focused on her, she thought. But the
cameras moved to you feeding Susan Ruby with a bottle and, as a dad
myself, I know exactly what that is like. We have a new one at home,
just a month old, and 5-year-old and a 4-year-old. I am sure as our
kids grow up they will get to know each other, I hope as well as our
moms and dads know each other.
Bill Paxon is unlike anyone in this Chamber, unlike anyone in the
Congress that I know for one simple reason. Despite all of the
responsibility that he has taken, despite all of the energy and effort
that he has put into it, despite the superhuman effort and results that
he has achieved, he is always equanimous. It is hard to find an example
of Bill Paxon being anything other than upbeat and telling us that we
can do it. We can get the job done. And think back over a decade, that
is just extraordinary.
There is not a day that goes by here when there are not 6 good
reasons to be down in the mouth because somebody said something that
they should not have said, a reporter printed something that she or he
ought not to have, that we lost a close vote somewhere, that somebody
was speaking behind our backs. That is what politics unfortunately
entails every day.
Yet every day, as Ronald Reagan used to say, when he told the story
about the boy who was told to clean up all the manure in the stable,
and the boy says, there must be a pony in here somewhere, there is
always something good if you are willing to find it.
Bill Paxon has found day in and day out all of the good that we can
find in ourselves and all of the good that Congress can produce, and
the result truly is extraordinary. I think as we, as Bill Clinton is
fond of saying, cross this bridge to the 21st century with surpluses
now in hand, with tax relief now a real prospect because we do have the
government's fiscal house increasingly in order, with jobs increasing,
with the United States as a rock of economic stability in a world that
is having a lot of economic troubles, we can say that some of this is
historically inevitable, that America is just so strong that these
things are bound to happen, but those of us who work in government and
in the legislature and the executive branch know that it ultimately
boils down to a few people. It matters what each of us does when we get
up in the morning. It matters whether we succeed instead of fail. It
matters if we can motivate our colleagues and our countrymen to join in
an effort to make America a better place. And I know that even though,
Bill, you are retiring, that you are only retiring from this particular
aspect of your very public commitment to public service. And whatever
you do in the future and whatever your remarkable family does in the
future, I know that America is going to benefit from it.
We have all personally benefited from knowing you, and I am very,
very proud to have served with you and even more proud to know that we
will be friends in the years ahead.
Thank you very much for brightening our lives and bettering the
country as you have done. We look forward to hearing even more and
better things from you in the years ahead.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his eloquent
remarks.
I yield to the gentleman from Staten Island, New York (Mr. Fossella),
another member of our New York delegation.
Mr. FOSSELLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from
New York for yielding to me.
I am proud to join my colleagues, Mr. Cox and Mr. DeLay and Mr.
Gilman, in saying a fond farewell to Bill Paxon, although as Chris Cox
just stated, I do not think Bill is going far.
Those of us who know Bill, both on a professional level, can
appreciate his energy, his optimism, his ability to always get things
done, but more important to get them done right. But there are those of
us who are fortunate enough to know him on a personal level. And in
business, like any other business across the country, if you can
somehow appreciate someone as a professional and appreciate someone as
an individual on a personal level, you have gotten to know the best of
that person. And I do not think there is a Member in this House that
cannot look to Bill Paxon and see a man of honor, a man of integrity
and a man of character.
In a business, particularly politics here, where a handshake does not
often mean a lot, but I think in the rest of America a handshake still
means a lot, it is nice to know that we have a guy in Bill Paxon where
the handshake still means something. That goes to the root I think of
what Bill is all about.
You look at Bill, you see a sense of someone who is principled and
someone who really loves life. But more importantly, I think it has
been said already, and it will be said many times tonight, that he
loves his wife, Susan Molinari. Susan and I are friends, and I could
not think of a better person that she can share her life with than Bill
Paxon. And each of them together truly adore and love their daughter
Susan Ruby, who is so affectionately called ``Suby.''.
Susan Ruby will have another daughter, another sister to play along
with, and I can understand, as someone who is a father of two boys, how
much Bill desires to spend more time with his wife and his daughter,
and soon to be two.
We have a mutual friend in his father-in-law, Guy Molinari, his
mother-in-law, Marguerite, who are back on Staten Island right now. Guy
served in the House before Susan. And in a way, if it was not for Guy
leaving this House to run for local office, the chances are that you
would never have met Susan. So in a way Guy running for borough
president allowed you to marry the love of your life.
I am sure they are all going to see this or hear of this one day and
really come to learn and come to know how much Bill Paxon has made a
difference in this country. Not too long ago, I have only been in this
House a year as you know, Bill. I probably would not be here if it was
not for you. You helped a great deal in my campaign for Congress to
replace Susan here. And indeed the people of Brooklyn and Staten Island
have given me a great honor and privilege to serve them. But I would
not be here if it was not for you.
I think there are a lot of Members of this body who would not be here
given the chance to serve this great country. A few years ago there
were people who were giving up hope in this country. The ship of
government was clearly heading in the wrong direction. The notion that
government had all the solutions, that taxes were too low and
government needed to impose more taxes and the welfare state, well, let
us make it bigger and our military, well, that can wait, we have other
priorities. It is easy to sit back and do nothing.
But what separates the truly successful, the people who really love
this country and want to improve this country and speak to the next
generation, we hear a lot of rhetoric about those who really care about
the next generation, but it was Bill Paxon, along with the Speaker, not
the Speaker at all, but Newt Gingrich and all the members of the
Republican Party who said, ideas matter, ideas matter. This country
should not be lost. The American people have given too much to give
this country down to that notion that government has all the problems.
[[Page H10829]]
But he went out and he recruited candidates, and he worked his tail
off day in and day out, year after year to bring a Republican majority
to this House. People thought it was impossible, probably a few weeks
before the election people thought it was impossible. But he proved
them wrong. And he went out there with his idea that this country is
the greatest in the history of the world. And frankly, as far as I am
concerned, there is nobody like Bill Paxon. Most of all, I am proud
that he is my friend.
And I can only wish him the very, very best. I know we are all lucky
in our own little way to have known him for this brief period of time,
but we are also lucky to know that we will continue to endure a
friendship that will last hopefully forever.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Fossella) for his eloquent remarks and for his insight on the family of
Bill Paxon. I thank him for mentioning your father-in-law Guy Molinari,
who has helped to rear this great family and to be supportive of Bill
and as the years go by and of course to raise Susan who we sorely miss.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth).
Mr. HAYWORTH. I thank my good friend from New York State and, Mr.
Speaker, I rise to remember and to celebrate the contributions of my
other colleague from New York State.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Fossella spoke of it a second ago, the realization
of what transpires here in the people's House before we are accorded
the great honor of the doors opening and our hand being raised in
taking the oath of office to join the 434 others as Members of this
people's House. And I can recall following the 1992 elections, when
many of our philosophy despaired a great deal, there was a ray of hope,
not only as that adversity engendered determination, but also because
here in this Federal capital there was one who was willing to step
forward, to take on considerable political challenges, to shoulder
considerable challenges of romance. And I can recall reading the press
accounts, Mr. Speaker, when our good friend, Mr. Paxon, was courting
Susan and made history proposing to her on this floor.
Now, according to the press accounts, Mr. Speaker, a Member from the
other side of the aisle congratulated the couple and uttered what I
believe will be proven to be a very forlorn wish because he hoped that
their progeny would all be little Democrats. And I do not believe that
our friend has yet to school Ruby in all the intricacies of civics,
given her tender age, but somehow I doubt even through those years of
rebellion that will strike inevitably in adolescence that she will
embrace another partisan philosophy.
But I mention that because, Mr. Speaker, we rise in celebration of
our friend who made history here in so many different ways, not only
with the tip of the rhetorical cap to cupid but also in the way this
institution operates.
I can recall the visit to Arizona, two visits in fact, but the second
one stands out in my mind of our colleague and his bride, and it was at
a time when our youngest was still in the playpen and would be in our
campaign headquarters. I can remember introducing them to so many folks
who walked the precincts, so many folks who made the phone calls, so
many folks who, Mr. Speaker, we cannot help but describe as a miracle,
people of both political parties find these incredible folks who are
willing to give of themselves and their time to volunteer in campaigns.
And so it was that day.
I can remember pulling out the playpen saying that my colleagues from
New York would soon need it. But before they added Susan Ruby to their
household, they added a class of 73 new Members to this institution.
And in so doing changed the balance of power within this the people's
House in a very healthy way, I would submit, Mr. Speaker, in a historic
way, in a way in which many now are just coming to appreciate.
{time} 2015
Mr. Speaker, I sit and wonder when I think about those who have gone
before in this American parade, those who have made history.
Mr. Speaker, I think there is a very human equation at work where
preparation meets circumstance to make history. So it has been for our
colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Paxon), rising to the
challenge at a time when our political party was out of power, both in
this institution, as has been well documented and referred to seemingly
an infinite number of times.
At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, he stepped forward in the
midst of that adversity because he was well-trained by his dear late
father who instilled in him a commitment to public service.
But also, Mr. Speaker, to the machination so vital to public service,
and I use that term machination not in a pejorative sense, but just in
simply the list of logistics and how we get from point A to point B and
how we put to work those miraculous individuals who become volunteers
in our campaigns and how we are able through that framework to
influence public opinion and win friends and gain public office as he
did at a comparatively tender age, as it should be noted.
The years have been none the worse for wear to our friend who chooses
to leave the people's House at still a relatively youthful age; and
yet, Mr. Speaker, he will always be remembered in this institution
among Members of both parties as our majority maker. Because while
others engendered the vision, perhaps, he put his shoulder to the
wheel. He encouraged candidates. He was willing to travel across this
country. He was willing to summon and marshal the resources.
Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, we remember him for his contribution to
history, not only in helping to make our majority, but in helping us
preserve it. Yet, as my newest colleague from New York State noted,
despite those considerable achievements that will be recognized by
historians and political scientists and those who share our allegiance
both to the country and to the party we represent, there is a very real
personal quality and unique spirit and bearing that we will miss in
this Chamber, but that we will always champion no matter his future
endeavors in the public arena or in private business.
So, Mr. Speaker, it is in that spirit tonight that we come to honor
Bill Paxon, our friend from New York, who succeeded Jack Kemp in this
people's House and who will, for years to come, cast a long shadow and
offer a standard that will be difficult to meet, much less exceed.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr.
Hayworth) for his very eloquent remarks in support of this special
order.
I would like to note that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Solomon),
the distinguished chairman of our Committee on Rules, wanted to be
present tonight, but regretted that, due to illness, he had to return
home at an early hour and is submitting remarks for the Record.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from New York,
Mr. Paxon.
Mr. PAXON. Mr. Speaker, I am very deeply appreciative of my
colleagues, my dear friend and our senior Member of our delegation, the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), my very good friend the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority whip, and the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Fossella) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) and
the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), my classmate from the class of
1988.
I was hoping I was going to get through this week without the requiem
mass here. I have served in three legislative bodies, and I have
avoided in the other two having to go through this. And I really do,
this is not false humility in any way, shape, or form.
I love being a legislator because we are part of a team and it is fun
and it is exciting and we get to know a lot of folks and we get to work
with a lot of folks, but we move right on.
When we move right on, someone else comes in right behind us. There
is seamless transition in these bodies. We are gone and forgotten very
quickly. So I appreciate the fact that my colleagues are doing this.
But also I tried to avoid this because I really do believe that we need
to look to the next person coming in; certainly celebrate the good
times we have had and the enjoyable times and things we have been able
to do, but to look down the road to the next folks.
[[Page H10830]]
That is what I have enjoyed about this body a lot, is the next group
and the next group coming in to regenerate the institution.
I want to thank my colleagues for doing this. I want to particularly
say, if I could take a minute or two, what a great honor it is to serve
in this greatest legislative body in the history of the world. I do not
think there is any question that the people's House of Representatives
of the United States of America is more than just the legislative body
for this country. It is the legislative body of the world.
I know that my colleagues that are sitting here would agree with me.
Walk out into the adjoining areas, the Statuary Hall and the Rotunda of
this Capitol. Every single day, people from all over the world are
walking around and looking at this as literally a citadel.
It is a holy place in so many ways in terms of the ideas and the
traditions that we have been able to take to the world. To have a
chance to occupy a seat out of 435 in this body for a short period of
time is an honor the likes of which I could never, ever wish for.
I can tell you that I dreamed about it as a young kid. The gentleman
from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) referred to my dad. My dad Leon Paxon was a
public official long before I was born, served as a local town
supervisor, and that is a judge in our county.
My mother and my father met just as my wife and I met. My mother was
a clerk to the board of supervisors in Erie County, where she met my
dad. My wife and I met in this legislative Chamber.
I am going to keep my daughter away from the kids of the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Fossella), or else we are going to continue this
tradition forever. It has got to stop. Somebody has to get an honest
job in this operation.
But I am very proud of the fact, at a time when many people call into
question public service, the fact that I am a third generation public
servant. My grandmother Ruby Paxon, who my daughter is partly named
after, a real focus of my life on my dear grandmother, who passed away
at 107 a couple years ago. She, after the women gained the right to
vote, became the first woman to run for public office in Erie County,
New York, as a Democrat, I am embarrassed to say. She switched parties
down the road. But I am very proud of her. She ran at a very difficult
time, back in the 1920s, then served as librarian, a public servant.
My mother and dad, of course. As the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Fossella) pointed out, on my wife's side, her grandfather was an
elected official, her father. Now to be able to follow along is, I
think, very important for me. It also says that we do believe in public
service. We have been very honored and blessed by it in our families.
I just want to make one other general comment and a couple words of
thanks. I have dreamed of being here for as long as I can remember. In
the 1960s, 1968, when I was a freshman at St. Joseph Collegiate
Institute in Buffalo, New York, a freshman in high school, it was not a
time where most kids had Nixon posters in their locker or read the
National Review.
I did. I was a little odd, no, I was a lot odd at take time. Out of
130 guys in our Catholic boys high school, 128 registered to vote that
year. About 120 registered Democrat, and it was myself and another guy,
I think.
I believed then in the principles that were so beautifully espoused
during his tenure by Ronald Reagan, the greatest hero I have ever had
in terms of political life. The beauty of this country, our standing as
a beacon of hope, freedom and democracy, opportunity, and liberty in
the world. That is what I think this is all about.
We stand in this Chamber, and sometimes to the viewing audience
around the country and around the world, it looks like we are very
contentious. Most of the times, it is a battle of ideas. It has nothing
to do with personalities. That is what our Founding Fathers wanted. I
believe that that is what is important to the future of this country.
Back when I was in my teens, that is what I watched and followed in
the Congress of the United States, because I do believe that, if we
stand up and talk fairly and freely, openly and honestly about
different views and different ideas, we can make an impact.
In our case, it took us a long time, from the days of Barry Goldwater
in the 1960s, to reach that moment when Ronald Reagan won and then this
whole revolution came full circle in 1994, when the gentleman from
Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Davis) and so
many others of our colleagues were elected in that important year.
My friends and my colleagues, this is not anything disparaging on our
colleagues across the aisle, Democrats, many of whom I consider to be
dear friends. This was about, in 1994, trying a new set of ideas in
this country. I am proud of the work that our Republican majority has
done and that this Congress has done many times across the aisle in
moving those ideas that many of us fought for for decades and decades
now into the center of the American political arena.
We have so much more to do. There are so many more important tasks
before of this country that I look forward to watching the Congress
doing in years to come. I look forward to doing something I have never
done. Twenty-one years that I have been in office, I have never been
able to call up elected officials and tell them what I think they
should do. Starting in January, I intend to do that. But I intend to do
it with a smile on my face, because I believe that this Congress is in
the hands of men and women who care so deeply about the future of this
country and are going to do great things to make these things happen. I
do leave with a great sense of pride in our accomplishments and a great
sense of hope in the future.
I would also be remiss if I did not say a few thank yous. In addition
to my friends who are doing this wonderful special order and who have
been so kind to me over the past few weeks and months, I want to say
thank you to the wonderful staffs that have served the 27th District of
New York for my 10 years in Congress, headed by Maria Cina, Michael
Hook, and David Marventano, my chiefs of staff.
These are folks who work tirelessly for those folks back in Western
New York and the Finger Lakes. I also want to thank those people. In
1977, there was a 22-, at first when I was running, and then 23-year-
old kid who was campaigning, and they had the misfortune I guess in
some cases to vote for me, and some did not vote for me and never have,
but they have been friends in spite of that, folks from the county
days, the State legislative days, and now the hundred cities and towns
I represent in the Congress.
It is the most beautiful part of America. I have had the chance to be
in every, almost all, I think 48 of the 50 States, and about 300 some
congressional districts. I have never, and with all pride, I know we
have pride in our districts, I just think that Western New York and
Finger Lakes is about the most beautiful spot in the world.
The friends that I had back at home will always be friends. Those are
people, as I have said, some who have never voted for me, who come to
my town meetings and browbeat me every month, and yet we have a
wonderful relationship all these years.
I also want to thank my family and my friends who have indulged me
all these years that I have been in public office, particularly my mom
back in Western New York, my in-laws, Marguerite and Guy Molinari and
all of my various friends and relatives down through the years.
I have been a pain when it comes to politics in government because I
believe so strongly in this cause. I hope they will forgive me for the
many times I crossed the line, but I did it out of the sense that this
is an important responsibility. I really do believe that and mean that.
I also thank very much the Speaker of this House. Newt Gingrich, as
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) said earlier, believed in us
before we believed in us. He saw opportunities to take the feelings of
the American people and to translate it into political activism in
winning this majority.
I had the chance to be campaign chair, and it was and will always
stand as the most unique and important political moment nonfamily
moment in my life to be the chairman of the campaign. That is the vocal
and also the figure head of the organization. It was Newt Gingrich
whose vision it was
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that we can win this majority. Every single day when we did not
believe, he kept pushing us to make the changes that we needed in
ourselves to make this come about and make this happen.
There are many, many others. I will not go through them all today.
Many have been alluded too, Jack Kemp and Barber Conable, my
predecessors in Western New York, dear friends, great leaders. Tom
Reynolds who is my first campaign chair who followed me to the assembly
and seeking my seat in Congress today. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Bliley) who has been chairman of the Committee on Congress which I have
had the honor to serve these past 6 years, and just a remarkable
gentleman in every sense of the word.
{time} 2230
I would just leave with this thought. People wonder, why do you
leave? Why does anybody leave? Members say this all the time. This is
the greatest institution. It is the greatest fraternity. It is
exciting. There are great challenges every day and there is a great
future for this country that we can help shape.
I am leaving basically for four reasons. First, I think what I have
said today, I am absolutely confident we are on the right track; that
this body and this country are moving in sync for a change in the right
direction. I leave confident knowing the next century is going to be
another great American century because of what the American people want
to happen translate into action by this Congress.
I leave, frankly, because I believe in term limits. When I was
elected, I did not. I have come to believe in them. I think there is a
time to move on. It is better to leave close to or at the top of your
game then to sort of waste yourself out here. In my case, I felt that
this has been the top of my game; that period in the leadership, that
period that I had a chance to help work on those campaigns, and now I
wish to step aside before I have overstayed my stay in my mind.
The third reason, of course, is we love to talk about being in the
private sector, particularly as Republicans. However, many of us do not
want to go out into the private sector, and I have not for 21 years. It
is time to do that, to live under the laws we passed.
Last, but first and most importantly, I leave with something that
overarches everything, that sense of family. It was noted that just
over here in the corner where some of our Florida Members sit is where
one afternoon I called my dear friend at the time, a woman who, we had
been dating for a number of years, Susan Molinari, the love of my life,
and I said I have to talk to you about something. A defense bill was on
the floor. I said, ``Come here I have to talk to you.''
We got in the corner and we started talking, and I proposed to her.
Every time I turn on C-SPAN and watch this Chamber, I will remember
that moment. I will remember it even more because she said, yes. I
cannot believe she did.
I waited until later in life to start a family. We have that
beautiful daughter of ours, Susan Ruby, who is just the most
magnificent little girl in the world. I have the most beautiful wife
one would ever want or could ever ask for, the most perfect spouse, and
we are going to have another child in February.
It is time to put family first for us, and the way we lead our lives
it would not work staying in this body. It would not be fair. My wife
left last year. I am going to follow her out. We are going to enjoy
being in the private sector. Most importantly, we are going to enjoy
the time we can spend as our little kids grow up. These are precious
moments and ones that I do not wish to miss.
I, again, just want to say to all of my friends and colleagues, thank
you for indulging me here, to have this chance to speak. I have not
often spoken. When I was in the county and state legislature, I could
not shut up on the floor. Here I have tried to stay away. My focus has
been elsewhere in this body.
I want to say thank you to my colleagues for taking this time out,
for giving me the chance to say a few words because I was not going to
speak. I would just wish you Godspeed as you continue your duties on
behalf of this greatest country in the history of the world.
Mr. GILMAN. Bill, we wish you success and happiness and to all the
Paxons, including little Ruby, who we watched grow up in the last few
years, we wish you good health and happiness in the years ahead.
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