[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H11007-H11013]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO REPRESENTATIVE FRANK RIGGS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 7, 1997, the gentleman from California (Mr. Doolittle) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on the subject of my special order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, the subject of my special order is
basically to recognize one of our colleagues, dear friend of mine,
Representative Frank D. Riggs from the First Congressional District of
California. I first became acquainted with Frank really over the
telephone, and I believe we spoke once before the election in 1990 and
once on election day in the evening after the results were known, or
perhaps it was the next day. But the first time I met him was when we
were both new Members of the House back here for our freshman
orientation, which in those days, and I think this is one of the last
times this happened, maybe the next to the last, we, in those days, the
new Democrat and Republican Members received orientation together.
{time} 2030
That included a trip to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then also a trip down to
Williamsburg, sponsored by, I believe, the Congressional Research
Service and perhaps one or two other organizations.
[[Page H11008]]
People listening may wonder about this, in contrast to how it is done
now but in those days there was a chance to really get to know our
fellow Members of the class, and to the public that may sound strange
but this is such a large institution, with I believe we have 440
members, 435 of them voting, that it is really hard, given the
compressed work week schedule, the Members traveling to the far flung
parts of the Nation, coming and going all the time, in retrospect that
time we spend as freshmen Members is really almost a unique opportunity
to get to know each other.
I said freshmen Members, but Members-elect in this case because this
happens before actually we are sworn in as Members of the House.
Frank and I had the chance to get acquainted with each other and we
became fast friends. Actually, we were roommates for the first 9 months
of the first year of our term in 1991. Both of us had families out in
California. Both of us had the intent of moving our families to be here
with us in the Washington, D.C. area as we did the job, and it took
several months for both of us, actually until late into the year of
1991, to wrap up the affairs and get everybody organized back here. So
we rented an apartment in Crystal City and had the opportunity, as new
Members, to experience all of the things that Members of Congress go
through.
For us, it was an unusual time because Operation Desert Shield had
been put into effect in August of 1990 and late in the year or early in
the first part of 1991, Operation Desert Storm was declared. We had a
full-fledged military operation. One of our first votes was, in
essence, what amounted to a declaration of war. As a result of that, we
had the first real victory, well, I should not say the first victory
but I guess I will say the first major victory really since World War
II that the Nation has experienced.
It was a great operation and something that I think Americans
recognized as being kind of a pinnacle of America's military success.
I will have perhaps other comments to offer, but I am pleased to see
we have here the chairman of the Committee on Education and the
Workforce, which is the full committee of which Frank is chairman of
one of the subcommittees, and maybe our full committee chairman, the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling), will comment on that.
Then we have the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger), who is a
fellow Californian, close friend of Frank Riggs.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Goodling).
Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Doolittle) for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, it is certainly my pleasure to pay tribute to
Congressman Frank Riggs this evening. He was, of course, a new
subcommittee chair, as we were all new in this business of being in the
majority and leading the efforts in the Congress of the United States.
When Frank became the subcommittee chair of our Subcommittee on Early
Childhood, Youth and Families, he probably did not realize how full
that platter was going to be. That platter has been very, very full,
but that did not bother Frank because he was willing to spend many late
hours with staff, as his fertile mind thought about ways of producing
quality legislation, thought about ways of making sure that our
emphasis was on a quality education for all children rather than just
covering them with mediocrity.
So, of course, he had to tackle our workforce development
legislation, had to make sure that we could move into the 21st century
and have the qualified workforce so that we could be competitive in a
very competitive world. Of course, he also then had to deal with
vocational education.
Now we are dealing with, among others, secondary students, as well as
those who are in community colleges; again, making sure we had a
workforce that would be up to handling the challenges of the 21st
century.
Of course, he also had to deal with child nutrition, and included in
that is an after-school program with the idea of those who are most at
risk perhaps we can keep them busy in some after-school program and
also provide them with nutrition. Of course, this also covered our
senior citizen nutrition program, as well as our school breakfast and
our school lunches. That was only the tip of the iceberg.
He then had to deal with the reauthorization of Head Start, trying to
make sure that it was a quality Head Start program all over the United
States, that every Head Start Program was a quality program. Rather
than, again, just covering children with mediocrity, he insisted that
we beef up that program so that every child has an opportunity for a
quality pre-school program, and particularly to beef up the educational
component because even the founder of Head Start said that that was the
weak part of the Head Start Program, the education component.
So, as I said, he had a very, very busy schedule and a very full
platter, but he carried out all of those efforts, again with the whole
idea that quality is the name of the game.
I can remember touring a plant in my county one time and they all
wore T-shirts at that plant that said ``quality or stop,'' and that was
Frank's motto as he brought about all of these reauthorization
programs.
We certainly will miss him as he goes on to do whatever he is going
to do. We on the committee certainly wish him very well. I appreciate
the opportunity to participate in the gentleman's tribute to
Congressman Frank Riggs this evening.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I would thank the chairman, the gentleman
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) for his remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I yield at this point to a distinguished colleague, the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Taylor) who, along with Mr. Riggs,
were two of the Gang of 7. Both of them were involved in an effort
exposing the House Bank scandal and ultimately closing down that
institution; the House Post Office scandal, which was reformed as a
result of this. Several people were indicted and had penalties imposed.
Frank Riggs is a courageous man and so is the gentleman from North
Carolina (Mr. Taylor), whom I will now recognize.
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I, too, appreciate the
tribute that is being offered to Congressman Riggs. Frank has been a
good friend and an outstanding Member of this Congress. I knew he had
courage when he joined our freshman year as a Member of the Gang of 7
to protest what he thought, and we all thought, was illegal and unjust
activities of the House of Representatives.
Of course, the truth proved out and, as we know and as was mentioned
a moment ago, there were a lot of things that went on from that
investigation. We have a much cleaner and more responsible Congress
because of that.
I found that Frank had courage in the district also. Frank is an
environmentalist in the sense that he cares about the environment and
he works to promote real science in the area of the environment. A lot
of people do not realize that here in Washington the environment has
become a tool for people to scare money out of individuals. They take
in over $600 million, putting false science out and trying to scare
people into spending money for ridiculous ideas, and these programs
often result in legislation that takes jobs away from people
unnecessarily and promotes pseudo science.
Frank has worked with us on many of our efforts, especially in the
area of forestry, to promote what our best universities teach and our
best experimental stations teach. He stood up to the claims of the so-
called pseudo environmentalists and stood with the people of his
district and the people of California in recommending good, sound
science in the area of forestry.
That was hard for him to do because they put a lot of money against
him in the campaign. In fact, he was defeated after his first term, but
he had the courage to maintain truth and he fought back. After the next
2 years, he was reelected to Congress, where he has remained. That told
me a lot about Frank's tenacity for the truth.
It would have been very easy for him to sell out his ideas. He would
have gotten contributions. He would have gotten the accolades of groups
that are not promoting truth, but it would not have been Frank Riggs.
His stand was bought dear, but it was something that
[[Page H11009]]
impressed me about his character. He has been involved in a variety of
those areas, as well as other outstanding legislation here in
Washington, and I am honored to be a friend of Frank and to see him as
an outstanding Member of this Congress since we have been here.
I appreciate the tribute that is being brought forth tonight.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments
and would just observe that I do not think I know of any harder work
than campaigning in a hard fought election, and Frank Riggs has had
nothing but a steady diet of that in the elections he has run, and it
has never been easy. They have always been huge races where a million
dollars was spent by both sides. Heavy negative advertising was out
there attacking him, distorting his record, and I would just observe
that to go through one of those races and then to lose and then to
somehow be able to pick yourself back up and take up the battle again
for 2 years running, getting ready for the next election, talk about
the tenacity of Frank Riggs, I think that is true.
That is extremely difficult. Frank is quite an athlete, but among
other things is an avid jogger. I remember when we lived together, he
would go for a jog at 9:00 at night out in the wonderful high
Washington heat and humidity. It would be 90-plus degrees and he would
be off on a jog. That is the type of individual he is. He really is
just a real fighter and very, very tenacious and has stood tall for the
things he believes in.
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. That was Frank, and certainly it was a
tribute to Frank and to his district to return him back here, and he
has been with us since. I think that is a tribute to the people of his
district to see and to overcome the heavy spending and the negative
attacks and to become a permanent Member of this Congress, where he has
been always steadfast in his search for truth and his search for the
best interests of the people of California as well as the United
States.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I will just observe that thanks to Frank
Riggs, he introduced me to an East Coast donut, Krispy Kreme, which I
hadn't known about before, and it has resulted in a significant
expansion of my waistline which will be one thing that will cause me to
remember him for a long time to come.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Southern California (Mr.
Rohrabacher) who has joined us, a dear friend and colleague.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot of people say that this
fellow or that fellow or this colleague or that colleague will be
missed, and sometimes we just wonder because they are just people who
we have worked with. We might think this is just someone that I have
worked with in my office or someone in my school or whatever.
{time} 2045
Tonight, I would just like to say from the bottom of my heart, in
recent days as I have walked around the floor of Congress as we have
been discussing the various issues, it has crossed my mind and my
heart, not just on a couple of occasions but probably 10 or 15
different times, boy, Frank Riggs is not going to be around here next
year. We are really going to miss him.
I personally am going to miss Frank Riggs. This is not just like
missing somebody because we got used to working with him. We are going
to miss him because he was a voice of decency. And some people claim
that I am sort of a little boisterous and get a little hot under the
collar and that I might be animated at times. But Frank, on the other
hand, is someone who presents himself in a very decent and a very
honorable way and seems always to be in control, because he seems to
always have the confidence that comes from someone who has a very
strong set of values that he is very proud of, and that is
recognizable.
We are going to miss him around here. In the debates, he added
greatly with his even-tempered approach and a very astute way of
looking at especially the areas of education and such. But we always
knew that Frank was a man of integrity. And some people talk of men of
integrity, sometimes get mad and they punch you in the nose because
they really know what is right. But that is not what Frank was about.
Frank was a man of integrity and in a very low-key way earned the
admiration and attention of his colleagues because when he did speak,
we listened because we knew he was saying something that was worth
listening to and was speaking from the vantage of truth and honesty
that we could certainly respect.
I think that was really brought home to me, and I do not know if he
will remember this or not, but I remember it very vividly that when
Frank was here, I think it was during his first tour of duty, so to
speak, one of the early votes that really tested all of us was the vote
as to whether or not we should be permitting offensive military action
in the Persian Gulf. It was a very tough vote, because most of us
believed at that time there would be very severe casualties and most us
believed at that time that this was going to be a situation that would
test us as a country.
Frank had some reservations about it. And, frankly, I had
reservations about it as well. However, Frank made sure that he acted
upon those reservations. I sat down with him, and I remember sitting in
the cloakroom as the vote was happening and saying, ``This is a really
important vote. You are going to be judged by this. This is one of
those votes that your constituents are not going to miss. And that
could really cause great harm if you are making the wrong decision and
you know that every one of your fellow Republican colleagues are voting
on the other side.''
I remember saying, ``I am not trying to tell you what to do. I am
your friend, but I just want to make sure that you are thinking this
through.''
Peer pressure did not mean anything to Frank. Frank had thought it
out. He knew in his heart what he thought was right and he voted
``no.'' And I will have to say that there are some people who vote
differently than I do on various issues and I get upset with them
because I do not respect the act that they have done, because often
those votes that are on the other side of the issues that I stand for,
they are voting because they lack the courage to stand up to where I
am. But, no, this is an example of the quintessential of Frank Riggs in
that his vote. He stood alone and he stood that way and he voted that
way because that was a courageous thing for him to do. He honestly felt
that way.
Mr. Speaker, I do not think I have ever brought that up to Frank
before in all of these years, but I will never forget that moment and
how I was deeply proud of this man. If there is anyone in this body who
knows how to twist arms and to try to convince people to change their
positions on issues, I mean, I learned from the master. I learned from
Ronald Reagan and I tried every trick in the book that night to get
Frank over on that side.
Now, we also know that Frank is not just someone who can be kept
down. I do not know any of our other colleagues, or maybe there must be
one or two here who actually lost the seat and then came back after 2
years and was reelected by their constituents. So here we have a guy
who came here and, of course, he represents a very, very liberal
Democratic district up in the northern part of the State. It is
overwhelmingly the other party. And Frank was elected.
And when someone else came in, a Democrat came in, I remember that
young fellow. His only claim to fame was that he refused to wear a tie
on the floor. And once they really tried to figure out what really
counted, his constituents insisted on bringing Frank back to
Washington, D.C.
There are very, very few people in this body that have lost and then,
once their constituents found out how wonderful they really were, would
be brought back by their constituents. That means their constituents
have to admit they made a mistake in not bringing him back immediately
for an immediate reelection.
So, Frank endears himself to all of us who work with him. He is
someone who is respected and someone who means a lot to me personally.
I am very grateful to the gentleman from California (Mr. Doolittle) and
to my other colleagues today for joining me in this honor and tribute
to Frank.
I know that over the years we are going to be working on several
other issues important to California. Again, I
[[Page H11010]]
am going to walk around and say, ``I really miss Frank Riggs.'' But I
know that out in California, we are going to be doing things for the
benefit of our State. I know how much you love California and how much
we all love California. So we have got some wonderful things we are
going to do in the future, but we are going to miss you when we are
walking around down here on the floor.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California
(Mr. Rohrabacher). And he referred to Frank's hard work and ability.
And I have been just reviewing some of the material on Frank. I know
that something jumped out at me that I did not realize, and that was
that he was a graduate with highest honors of Golden Gate University in
San Francisco, where he received his Bachelor's Degree in the
administration of justice.
Furthermore, he was named the outstanding graduate in the College of
Business and Public Administration. Of course, sometimes having
achieved a distinction, they will give the graduate a cum laude
recognition, or magna cum laude. But summa cum laude is the highest
recognition. And, really, anyone who knows Frank would not at all be
surprised that that was the distinction that he earned in college.
I now would like to recognize the gentleman from Southern California
(Mr. Bilbray), even further south than the gentleman from California
(Mr. Rohrabacher), he is from San Diego and the surrounding areas.
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I am from San Diego County, which is south
of southern California. I want to make that quite clear. My colleague
from Huntington Beach, who is the other half of the Surfing Caucus, has
pointed out again and again that Mr. Riggs is somebody, in the
terminology of an old advertisement, who has always been able to ``take
a licking and keep on ticking.'' I think that the fact of the ability
for him to take hits from people who cannot stand to hear the truth I
think is one of the things we have always appreciated about him.
Let me say one thing. Somebody brought up the fact that Frank comes
from a background of getting a good education, getting the facts, and
being able to speak the facts. It is something that some people are not
very comfortable with. Frankly, there are those who are involved in the
environmental movement who do not want to approach the environmental
issues as science. It is almost as if people have lost old religion and
have now tried to make environmental causes their new religion.
Those of us that have worked on real environmental problems, like
myself, are so frustrated with people that do not realize that we not
only have a right, but we have a responsibility to keep our minds open
and get the facts and approach environmental strategies as a science.
It is not a theology.
Frankly, there are those who have attacked Frank as a heretic because
he is not willing to accept the theology of certain groups and certain
people who claim to be wanting to help the environment. I think that
Frank has been less fortunate, but the environment has been better
because Frank has been willing to stand up and say: Science first,
foremost, and always; that one cannot be an environmentalist if they do
not put science first and take prejudice and preconceived ideas away.
I did not come here to praise Frank Riggs or to honor Frank Riggs. I
want to say there is something that we do not do enough of here. I want
to honor the people that really made it possible for Frank Riggs to be
here. And I am not just saying the voters. I want to honor an 11-year-
old little girl who does not have her daddy home every night because he
is here on the House floor.
Sarah Riggs is the type of person that we do not talk enough about.
The reason why Mr. Riggs is willing to come here and serve and do
without fiscal and family security that a lot of businesspeople out
there have is because he cares about his daughter's future. And Sarah
Riggs is somebody that we should always remember.
I hope every Member of this Congress always remembers that there are
those that make it possible for us to serve. It is Sarah Riggs, Cathy
Riggs, Matthew Riggs that are out there without a father, without a
mother, because they are here serving and doing the people's business.
And I think that too often, the image that people see on C-SPAN or
they see in the paper is of a two-dimensional figure. Of Frank Riggs,
the Congressman, the politician, but not the Frank Riggs the father,
the husband. And when we do that, when we only see the two-dimensional,
we deny the real heroes and the heroines in this whole thing. That is
the Sarah Riggses and the Cathy Riggses and the Matthews that do
without and do so much more than anybody could ever expect them to do,
because their father is engaged in the business of this country.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say sincerely to Sarah Riggs, and sincerely to
all of the young girls out there, and the sons and the wives who
sacrifice and fill in the huge hole that is there because their parents
are off taking care of business in Congress, I want to thank them, all
the Sarah Riggses out there, for the contribution they have made for
the betterment of this country. I want to thank the Sarahs for being
willing to do what a lot of little children would never want to do, and
that is not have their daddy or mother around.
And so I am not here to honor Mr. Riggs; I am here to honor Sarah
Riggs for all her contributions. And I would like to say, ``Thank you
very much, Sarah, for allowing us to have your daddy for a while here
on the House floor. It has been a privilege to serve you. It has been a
privilege to work with your daddy. And I hope in the future, we will be
able to continue to see the kind of contributions that your father has
made to the American people and the people of California.''
Mr. Speaker, I yield back to my colleague.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California
(Mr. Bilbray). While the next gentleman is proceeding up to the front,
I would observe that there is a third and oldest child, Ryan Riggs. And
Ryan, Matt and Sarah, we have seen grow up. Sarah is not completely
grown, but she is a lovely young lady now. And we have watched them
grow up.
Cathy, by the way, is a wonderful mother and a crack private
investigator and a law school graduate as well. She has been a staunch
supporter of Frank. And maybe for those who do not realize it, but a
Member's family is integral to running a successful campaign. They are
all deeply involved, as the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray)
alluded to. There is a great deal of sacrifice that goes on on the part
of the family once the Member is elected, and Frank has a strong family
that loves and supports him.
I yield now to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson).
Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I did not want to pass up
the opportunity this evening to share with someone who I have only
known for a year and 10 months, but someone who I think is one of my
better friends in Congress, someone who I had the privilege of working
a lot with, because we shared a lot of time and worked on the same
subcommittees on the Committee on Economic and Educational
Opportunities.
Frank, America would be stronger and better if it had more
congressmen like Frank Riggs. And I mean that sincerely. Those who
talked about his toughness, coming back after a tough loss, coming from
a district that he probably should never have gotten elected in, but it
was only because Frank Riggs was a good man and gave it his best and
his family had support there that he was able to come to Congress from
that district and serve it very, very well.
{time} 2100
I liked his friendly style, his graciousness, his toughness. He had a
tough side. He would fight hard. And you cannot be effective here and
you will not ever reach the goal line if you do not. We shared a lot of
interests. I have some of the same forestry interests that Frank had,
some of the same problems that Frank had, and I admired his toughness
to stand tall.
We had a lot of interests in vocational and technical education and
where this country really needs to be going where we really are not
headed, Frank and I agreed on where this country ought to be going in
technical and vocational education, preparing our work force of
tomorrow.
[[Page H11011]]
Frank, I was disappointed when you decided not to run again. But I
admire you for the choice you made. You were one I looked forward to
working with in the future. But I am, hopefully, somewhere down the
road, we will have the chance to pull on the same rope.
But there was something that you may not be aware of. Of all the
Members I have met here, Frank Riggs mentioned his family to me many
evenings. When we were here in an evening, Frank was always anxious, if
we were kind of not moving as fast as we ought to be and we ought to be
getting our work done, because Frank had an event that one of his kids
was at that he felt he should be at. Frank had a family thing that he
felt he should be at. You mentioned your wife and children to me many
evenings. You may not remember that. It was just in quick passing. But
that says to me that Frank Riggs, the Congressman, had his priorities
right. He was constantly thinking about his children and his wife and
his family, and that is the priority that so often does not get met in
this country. If there is a weakness in this country, it is the breakup
of the family and the family drifting apart.
I do not know your family well, but I personally think your children
have a pretty good dad. I think your wife has a pretty good husband. I
know you care an awful lot about them. In the few short months we have
known each other, I have learned that they are most important to you,
and I honor you for that. The Committee on Education and the Workforce
will miss you. This Congress will miss you. I will miss you, because
you are a friend, the kind of a friend that I would like to get to know
better, because the more I have been around you, the more I have worked
with you, you are just a person I have learned to like.
We are going to miss you. It has been a pleasure getting to work with
you and know you, Frank. America is a better place because you served
here. I mean that sincerely.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania
for his comments.
I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger), my good friend
and colleague from northern California, really right in between Frank's
district and mine.
Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
It is, indeed, a privilege and an honor that I consider to be able to
stand here today. I was just thinking back at the speakers we have had,
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling), the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Taylor), the gentleman from California (Mr.
Rohrabacher), the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson), to name a few.
I think about, as we were trying to arrange this, and mainly you, Mr.
Doolittle, I want to thank you for taking the time to take the
initiative to set this up this evening, but I think as we were talking
about it over the last week or so and we were wondering, gee, we need
to try to do it sometime in between votes so that we will have some
Members around. What we did want to do, it has been at least three
hours since our last vote, was get Members around that would be able to
express themselves. And just the fact that we have had this many
Members this long after our last vote, I think really says so much for
you, Frank, my very good friend and colleague.
As we hear sometimes in the Rush Limbaugh show, we will hear someone
who agrees with what was being said, they will say ditto. I just have
to, I hear the different things that went on, very few people outside
those who have actually served in the House of Representatives or in
Congress really know what goes in to the job of being a Member of
Congress. It seems like a pretty neat job, which it is. But all the
time away from home, I heard you talk about how your first term here,
how you roomed together.
The families back in California, we are 3000 miles away, 3 time zones
away, all the time that is here. Then when we get back to our district,
Frank represents a district that is very similar to my own, very large,
and yours as well, very large geographically. I think that when we are,
even when we are so-called at home, we are really not at home. We are
out traveling around in one city or another that may be 200 miles away
within our district, talking to this rotary group or some other group
here or there. And really, the time that is taken away from our family
is really a major sacrifice on the part of anyone. So I can certainly
understand why it would be that you would be leaving us.
We hear all this, you would almost think that we are speaking at a
funeral. Obviously, we are not. Frank is going to have a very glorious
life after Congress here, and we certainly wish you the very best.
But, Frank, I want to thank you in a number of different areas for
being the friend to me that you have been. You were, right off the bat,
as you know, there have not been that many friends to those who live in
our timber-dependent communities of the United States, certainly in
California. And for so long there was maybe John Doolittle, Bob Smith,
north of me, myself were about all there were for a number of terms,
several terms when I first served here, out of 435. And how welcome it
was when Frank Riggs was elected.
Now, we had someone else that was fighting for, as Mr. Bilbray
pointed out, to bring about the, to make our decisions on forest health
and forest practices based on science, the most recent science, the
most current science, not just on politics and what was politically
popular in Washington or nationally, but what indeed was in the best
interest for our national forests and for the people who live there,
the real people, the fathers, the mothers, the children who work there,
who have been working and living there for three and four and five
generations. Again, our districts are very similar that way.
I have parts of all of 12 national forests. I know you have a number
of national forests there along the beautiful Pacific Ocean right
adjacent to mine. I want to thank you for always being a voice for what
was right, for someone who would do your homework and find out what the
facts were and make your decisions accordingly. I want to thank you for
that. Many a time we have stood together, albeit not very many of us
standing in this 435-Member House, but nonetheless we would be up there
fighting the battle. And I would always know I could count on Frank
Riggs to be there with me. Again, Frank, you have been a friend in
so many, many different ways.
I also have to mention another great joy, again there are so many
things we do and it is an incredible job we have. As I know you do,
consider this one of the greatest privileges that anyone can have, to
represent citizens, 570,000 approximately in our congressional
districts here in Washington, D.C. But one of the nice things that we
do each year is have our annual charity baseball game. This is not a
softball game. This is baseball. It has been being played for many,
many years. And even back when we were a minority, and I spent my first
6 years here in the, first 8 years here in the minority, about the only
thing that we as Republicans were able to win at was baseball. We used
to beat the other side. We were beginning to lose a few games, and then
Frank Riggs was elected.
And boy, were you an asset. Thank goodness you came out to our
baseball team, that magic, golden glove that you had playing short
stop, that wonderful bat you had batting third in the lineup. That is
our power hitter. Again, it was just a pleasure not only to serve with
you here but to serve with you on the congressional baseball team. As I
recall, we won most of those games and we did win the trophy, the best
of five games. And at the same time, able to donate in the vicinity of
$60,000 each year, as we have done, to the Children's Hospital and
other good causes.
Again, Frank, I want to thank you. I want to thank your wife, Cathy,
and your family for all the effort you have given to serve our Nation.
We will sorely miss you but, again, I am looking forward to visiting
with you. I know our friendship will go on for many, many years after
you leave here, after you graduate from the Congress here. I am looking
forward to that. Again, thank you on behalf of myself, my colleagues
and our Nation and certainly Northern California. Thank you for your
great effort.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I would just like
to, before I yield to the gentleman
[[Page H11012]]
from Georgia, just like to briefly highlight two or three areas of
Frank's legislative involvement that I am very proud of him for.
One, he introduced a resolution affirming the right of the Boy Scouts
of America, a voluntary association of free individuals, to set
standards for membership and exclude those who do not reflect its
traditional and moral values. As is consistent with what you heard
about Frank, his courageous, really fearless nature, he carried that
resolution and waged that battle. And many of us, including me, are
grateful for that.
He also has been extremely active. In fact, he gave up, in what is
almost unheard of, I do not know of any other example of this,
certainly while I have been here or before I got here. He was a member
of the prized Committee on Appropriations. And that is a very difficult
committee to get on. They are the ones who recommend how all the money
is going to be spent for the budget. He got off of that in order to get
on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and eventually become
chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Youth and Families.
And he has fought tirelessly for children while having that
stewardship, including a bill that he sponsored called HELP, helping
empower low income parents scholarship amendments. This would allow
them to offer opportunity scholarships to poor urban and rural
children.
Although that legislation was not successful, I believe it is the
type of legislation that eventually will pass here. And when it does,
you can look back to Frank Riggs, we can all look back, as the one who
started that ball rolling and who had the foresight to wage that battle
in what eventually, I believe, will be a successful effort.
He also wrote the English language fluency act to end Federal support
for the disastrous bilingual education programs. And this was modeled
in California's English for the children initiative, which this
legislation passed the House this last September. He also offered an
amendment to the higher education act prohibiting public colleges and
universities who accept Federal funds from setting admissions criteria
on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin or ethnicity.
Frank is, frankly, someone who went against the trend. And I hope he
will not feel bad if I say this, but I observe that the longer he was
here, the more conservative he became. Frequently and as a general
rule, the trend is just the opposite. The longer you are here, the more
liberal you become. But Frank was never one to fit into a mold.
Frankly, these actions that he has undertaken, these bits of
legislation, I felt would have qualified him to be a member in good
standing of the conservative action team. So in my mind you will always
be an honorary member of that by your philosophy. I think you have
reflected those values in your actions.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).
Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Doolittle) for the yielding to me. I am glad to be here on Riggs
behalf.
Mr. Speaker, I am not going to call him Frank Riggs. I am going to
call him Riggs, because since a small boy growing up at the Athens
YMCA, I called all guys who were near my age by their last name. But
Frank Riggs, being an old school gentleman type, called me on the House
floor one day and said, ``I really prefer to be called Frank and I
think we should dignify this place in doing such.'' So Frank, you
trained me, and I will call you Frank even when I see you from here on
out.
I want to say this, I knew Frank Riggs as a candidate in 1992. I was
given a poster of the gang of 7. The gang of 7 was everybody's hero
model. The gang of 7 consisted of Mr. Doolittle, among others, and the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr.
Nussle) and Mr. Riggs. I am leaving out the other three. Mr. Herger, if
you were one of them, I apologize. But we all loved the gang of 7
because they were the ones who were the young turks who blew open the
House bank scandal, which the folks of America did not understand why
there were so many overdrafts by Members of Congress.
{time} 2115
We were just so appreciative of this young energetic, very small, but
determined group who blew the whistle on that and said this Congress
cannot continue to have such shenanigans.
So I knew who Frank Riggs was. It took me two more years to get a
chance to meet him because he had a little mishap on the way to
reelection that year, with no fault of his own. He has one of the most
difficult and competitive districts in the country.
But Frank rejoined us in 1994, and I had the opportunity to serve on
the Committee on Appropriations with him. He was a very energetic
Member. He had been here. It showed. He knew his way around the place.
He immediately jumped on all kinds of other issues, education, WIC,
D.C. scholarships, regular scholarships, English first, all kinds of
issues that affect California, agriculture, particularly looking into
issues that had to deal with the California wine industry.
He was just a very great Member to sit next to. Then the next year he
moved over to the Committee on Education and the Workforce and became a
superstar on that. I think the previous speakers have covered that, so
I have got to go back to another personal story.
Bipartisan retreat on the train to Hershey, Pennsylvania, looking
over at my seat, I had my family and my four children running up and
down the aisles, and looked over there, and there was Frank. Frank had
on some headphones. He had two pencils in his hands, and he was playing
the drums, and he was rocking out, having a great time, much to the
absolute humiliation of his teenage children who were sitting there
looking around saying, ``Dad, would you please quit doing this.''
But I could tell that, even as they were calling him down in that
embarrassment that teenagers sometimes can have of us parents, they
loved him. It was ``Dad, you are being dad again, and we love you, but
can you cut it out a little bit.''
Cathy and her relationship with him, we got to know them sitting next
to them on this train. I can tell it is just a great family.
I was a little bit disturbed when his teenage son, who is a big
strapping boy, I think is six feet tall, started e-mailing my 15-year-
old daughter, but those things happen. If my daughter has to get
interested in boys, I will reluctantly accept that. If it has to take
place, somebody who is an offspring of Cathy and Frank Riggs has got to
be okay, because having served with his dad for these years that I have
had the honor to serve for, I know he is a first-class guy.
The House is better having a guy like this in the House, and the
country is stronger because of Frank Riggs' service, and we will miss
him dearly. I wish you the best.
Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Recalling our
early days together, I must say, every now and then, back in those
days, it seems like we had a lot of late nights here. Every now and
then, we would go over to the Pentagon City Mall and have ribs and
baked potatoes at the Silver Spoon, which was a great experience.
I kind of looked forward to those occasions since we were both back
here on our own for the first 8 or 9 months or so. That was better than
having to cook for ourselves. That was always preferable. So, Frank,
those are memories I will treasure as we move on here in life.
I recall once Frank Riggs told me in a conference, I do not remember
how this came up, but he told me that there were three things that he
had considered being when he grew up. This is what he thought as a
young person.
One was to be a police officer, which in fact he did become, serving
I believe in the Santa Barbara Police Department and then eventually, I
do not remember the county, but it is Marin County or one of those up
in Northern California, the sheriff's department.
The other thing he wanted to be was a high school coach. He never
became a full-time high school coach, but he did, indeed, and does, I
guess, presently serve as high school coach for both his daughter and
as well for his son, two different teams. Being a Member of Congress
and a subcommittee chairman, I do not know how he did it, but he did
all those things at the same time.
[[Page H11013]]
The third thing was that he was very interested in becoming a member
of the clergy. He never actually became a member of the clergy, but he
has reflected, I think, fundamental values in his service here as a
member of the United States House of Representatives for 6 years.
Frank, I do not know if I have shared this with you, but there is a
great quote I often use, and it means a great deal. It is from a former
chaplain in the United States Senate Everett Hale, who said ``I am only
one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do
something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do
the something that I can do.''
I would say, Mr. Speaker, that Frank Riggs reflects the statement of
the Senate Chaplain, someone who has done his best to make a difference
and who has, indeed, made a difference for men, women, and children in
this country, who has honorably served in the United States House of
Representatives, and who will be long and fondly remembered.
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