[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 29, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H5036-H5038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             MAURINE B. NEUBERGER UNITED STATES POST OFFICE

  Mr. MCHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1327) to designate the United States Postal Service building 
located at 34480 Highway 101 South in Cloverdale, Oregon, as the 
``Maurine B. Neuberger United States Post Office.''
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1327

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

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The United States Postal Service building located at 34480 
     Highway 101 South in Cloverdale, Oregon, shall be known and 
     designated as the ``Maurine B. Neuberger United States Post 
     Office''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the United States 
     Postal Service building referred to in section 1 shall be 
     deemed to be a reference to the ``Maurine B. Neuberger United 
     States Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. McHugh) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh).
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill under consideration today, H.R. 1327, was 
introduced on March 25, 1999, by the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. 
Hooley) and the Committee on Government Reform passed the measure by 
voice vote on June 24.
  H.R. 1327 designates the United States Postal Service building 
located at 34480 Highway 101 South in Coverdale, Oregon, as the 
``Maurine B. Neuberger United States Post Office.''

                              {time}  1645

  Mr. Speaker, the bill is cosponsored by all members of the House 
delegation from the State of Oregon, pursuant to the long-standing 
policy of the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Also, as a 
point of information, post office naming bills do not affect direct 
spending or receipts; and, therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not 
apply.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to say a few words about the honoree of 
this proposal. Maurine B. Neuberger is an Oregonian to the core, having 
been born in Cloverdale, Oregon, in 1907, attending public school and 
completing her education at Oregon College of Education and the 
University of Oregon. She also attended the University of California at 
Los Angeles.
  She met her future husband, Richard Neuberger, when she was teaching 
English and Physical Education in Oregon. He had just been elected to 
serve in the Oregon House of Representatives when he resigned to enlist 
in the Army during World War II. After his return, Maurine and Richard 
were married. He then won a seat in the State Senate

[[Page H5037]]

and Maurine also decided to run for public office. She won a seat in 
the Oregon House, making the Neubergers the first husband and wife team 
to serve simultaneously in the Oregon Legislature.
  Maurine Neuberger did not seek reelection to the Oregon House when 
her husband was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1955. After her husband, 
the Senator, died unexpectedly from cancer in 1959, Maurine chose to 
run for her husband's seat in 1960 and won, making her the second woman 
in our Nation's history and the first and, to date, the only woman from 
Oregon to serve in the U.S. Senate.
  She made her mark in the Senate, Mr. Speaker, by fighting for 
consumer rights, civil rights, the rights of the poor, conservation, 
campaign finance reform, and public health. As I am sure we will hear 
from later comments, she led the crusade to put warnings on cigarette 
packages and is credited with coining the phrase, ``The Surgeon General 
has determined that smoking may be hazardous to your health.'' She 
worked diligently to establish a Department of Consumer Affairs and to 
improve packaging and labeling regulations by the Food and Drug 
Administration.
  Even while pursuing other issues, Senator Neuberger continued to 
remember her home State and was instrumental in preserving the 
beautiful coastline of Oregon while at the same time working to attract 
tourism and programs to coastal towns and to reducing poverty in rural 
areas in her State.
  She was known as a consensus builder, but she never backed down from 
fighting for principles in which she believed. Senator Neuberger was 
the first woman to filibuster the Senate, speaking for 4\1/2\ hours.
  She did not seek reelection in 1966. Instead, she served on the 
President's Consumer Advisory Committee, the U.S. Advisory Committee 
for Arms Control and Disarmament, and the President's Commission on the 
Status of Women. She was also a consultant on consumer relations for 
the FDA, and served on the national boards of directors for the 
American Cancer Society and the American Association for the United 
Nations. She taught American Government at Boston University, the 
Radcliffe Institute and Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Senator 
Neuberger now lives in Portland.
  Mr. Speaker, as this brief but nevertheless very impressive resume 
strongly illustrates, Senator Neuberger continues the very proud 
tradition of honoring very worthy individuals through these postal 
naming bills. I want to compliment the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. 
Hooley) for her work and diligence in bringing this very deserving 
honoree to our attention, for putting together the bill and bringing 
together the consensus of Members necessary to bring this measure to 
the floor today. Certainly Senator Neuberger is a most deserving 
individual, the kind of American to whom we can all look for guidance 
and for inspiration. I would certainly encourage all of my colleagues 
to join me in supporting the passage of this very worthy legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I am also honored to have the opportunity to participate in this very 
important naming bill introduced by my colleague from the State of 
Oregon. I want to first thank the majority chairman, for he has 
continued to be gracious and bipartisan in his leadership of the Postal 
Subcommittee. It has been a pleasure to work with him.
  On this occasion, we come to move a very important piece of 
legislation, because it recognizes something that all too often goes 
unmentioned, which is that many, many States have had difficulty with 
the election of women to the United States Congress, House and Senate. 
I come from a State in which we have among our congressional delegation 
at this point not one female member. The State of Oregon has been ahead 
of the game for a long time, and it is symbolized by the honor that is 
bestowed through this bill.
  But rather than talk about the details, I would recognize my 
colleague and yield to her, since she is the sponsor of this measure, 
the opportunity to explain its purpose and why it is that the full 
committee under the leadership of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. 
Burton) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman) and the Postal 
Subcommittee found it, I think, important to move this legislation 
swiftly.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman 
from Oregon (Ms. Hooley).
  Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my 
colleagues for passing this bill out of their subcommittee and full 
committee and for their leadership to bring this on the floor today. I 
would particularly like to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Waxman) and the office of the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt) 
for their assistance as well.
  It is a huge honor for me to stand here today to ask that this post 
office be named after Senator Neuberger. She has been an inspiration 
not only to me but to most of us in this State.
  The other thing I want to recognize today is my colleagues from 
Oregon who have joined me in honoring this great Oregonian, Senator 
Maurine B. Neuberger.
  H.R. 1327 renames the Cloverdale Post Office in Oregon after one of 
our State's former United States Senators, Maurine B. Neuberger. This 
is to recognize her lifetime of public service. She absolutely 
exemplifies what public service is all about. She has meant so much to 
the State and this country; and, as they said, she is a true Oregonian 
in every sense of the word.
  She was born in Cloverdale, Oregon, in 1907 and still lives in Oregon 
today. She has worked hard throughout her life and held careers in 
Oregon ranging from a schoolteacher to a State representative and then 
U.S. Senator.
  Maurine embodies all the traits that we Oregonians hold near and 
dear. She has worked hard; patriotism; she loves this country and loves 
our State and has a deep-seated love for those around her and for 
public service.
  After her husband, United States Senator Richard Neuberger's sudden 
death in 1959, Maurine Neuberger ran for and won her late husband's 
seat to the U.S. Senate. As we have heard before, Maurine was only the 
second woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, and she is still the only 
woman from Oregon who has served in the other Chamber.
  During her tenure in the United States Senate, Maurine became famous 
for her fighting spirit and tireless crusades on behalf of consumers, 
public health, campaign finance reform, which we are still dealing with 
today, civil rights, and environmental conservation. She also played a 
crucial role in President Johnson's War on Poverty. She became known as 
a principled consensus builder with the political will to tackle the 
country's most pressing problems.
  After cancer took her husband's life, Senator Neuberger led the fight 
in the Senate to put warning labels on all cigarette packages; and 
again, as we have heard, it was Maurine who wrote the actual words, 
``The Surgeon General has determined that smoking may be hazardous to 
your health,'' a warning label on cigarettes which we are all familiar 
with.
  We have to remember when she stepped forward on that fight, this was 
in the 1960s. We are still in that fight on cigarettes. Her efforts 
were considered very bold and courageous steps at that time in 
educating the public of the dangers of smoking. I think that is why 
Oregon maybe has the laws that it has today on smoking and why it is a 
very low smoking State. I think it was led because of Maurine 
Neuberger.
  She was also known for her work to establish a Department of Consumer 
Affairs and pressured the Food and Drug Administration to improve their 
packaging and labeling regulations. She was also one of the very 
earliest advocates for the Medicare program.
  After serving her full 6 years in the Senate, she chose not to run 
for reelection in 1966 because, frankly, she said she did not want to 
raise money from all those people she was going to have to raise money 
from, and she said it would just cost too much for reelection. Instead, 
she went on to serve on the President's Consumer Advisory Committee, 
the U.S. Advisory Committee for Arms Control and Disarmament, and the 
President's Commission on the Status of Women.
  Now, if that was not enough, we have to remember this person has been 
in

[[Page H5038]]

public service her entire life, she also found time to work as a 
consultant on consumer relations for the FDA, serve on the national 
board of directors for the American Cancer Society and the American 
Association of the United Nations, two different boards, and then to 
teach government at several universities, including Reed College in 
Portland.
  Maurine Neuberger is a treasure to the State of Oregon and to this 
country. I cannot tell my colleagues how happy I am today that we will 
be able to show just a small token of our appreciation by renaming the 
Cloverdale Post Office in her honor. She is an inspiration to me and 
should be an inspiration to all of us.
  Thank you, Maurine, for your long years of public service.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Waxman), the ranking Democrat on the full committee.
  Mr. WAXMAN. I thank the gentleman for allowing me to express not only 
my support for this proposal but my appreciation to the chairman the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) and the gentleman from Indiana 
(Mr. Burton) for moving this so expeditiously. I want to congratulate 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) on his leadership in all 
of these issues that have come before the Committee on Government 
Reform. I urge all Members to support the resolution.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Very briefly in closing, let me respond to the very gracious comments 
of the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), the ranking member of 
our subcommittee, in saying how much I have appreciated his leadership 
and his hard work on a whole range of issues, but certainly on this 
bill as well. I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), too, 
as the ranking member on the full committee, for his initiative and his 
support in assisting us in bringing forward this measure which, as we 
have heard from the very, I think, heartfelt comments of the 
gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley), as to how former Senator 
Neuberger is most deserving of this honor.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the unanimous support of our colleagues on this 
legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. McHugh) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1327.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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