[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 137 (Tuesday, October 12, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H9839-H9840]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 643) to redesignate the Federal building located at 10301 
South Compton Avenue, in Los Angeles, California, and known as the 
Watts Finance Office, as the ``Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office 
Building''.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 643

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

     SECTION 1. REDESIGNATION.

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

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

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

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. McHugh) and the 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, I am pleased to bring before the House H.R. 643, a bill, 
as was noted, that was indeed introduced by our colleague, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), honoring the very 
distinguished colleague from California, former Representative Augustus 
F. Hawkins.
  I would note, Mr. Speaker, that if some of this sounds familiar, it 
is simply because the House in fact considered and overwhelmingly 
passed this bill during its deliberations last year.
  Unfortunately, and in no way suggestive of the merits of the bill, 
the legislative calendar in the other body did not permit them 
sufficient time to consider it. So we are here again today attempting 
to rectify that occurrence. For that I want to commend the gentlewoman 
from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) for her tenacity and for 
recognizing that what was good and owing last year remains so this 
year, and for the cooperative effort of the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Fattah) and all the members of the Committee on Government Reform 
for once more bringing this House the opportunity to vote on a very 
worthy naming bill.
  The history of Gus Hawkins I suspect in this body is well-known from 
his birth in Louisiana and his movement with his parents to California 
in 1918 when he was just 11 years old, a recipient of his AB from the 
University of California in 1931, with a major in economics, and later 
his graduation from the University of Southern California in 1932.
  After working in the real estate business, he was elected to the 
California State Assembly, where he served from 1934 to 1963, and later 
elected to the 88th Congress and to 13 succeeding Congresses running 
from 1963 to 1991.
  Simply put, Mr. Speaker, Gus Hawkins served his constituents of the 
Watts area of Los Angeles for 48 years in elective office, 28 years in 
the California State Assembly, and 20 years in the House of 
Representatives.
  He became known at that time for the Humphrey-Hawkins Act, a bill to 
reduce unemployment, move ahead in job training and employment 
opportunities for all Americans. He served in this body on various 
committees and, in fact, rose to be a leader in this House on many 
issues that were important certainly to the people that he represented 
but more so to the people of this country.
  We have had the opportunity in the past, Mr. Speaker, to honor our 
former colleagues with this naming for their community service and in 
this instance, of course, the service to their country.
  Certainly, as happened on this House floor last year, I would again 
urge my colleagues to unanimously support this bill and designate a 
naming for a very, very worthy American and a great former colleague, 
Gus Hawkins.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, let me say that, on the floor today, we have the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Goodling) and the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Clay), the ranking member who served in leadership 
positions on Gus Hawkins's former committee, the Committee on Education 
and Labor, as it was named then.
  These are gentlemen who, like Chairman Hawkins, have dedicated a 
great deal of their work to education and employment issues. It is 
appropriate that Gus Hawkins be acknowledged, and in this way the 
California delegation and particularly the prime sponsor of this have 
offered the House this opportunity.
  His work is acknowledged I think by a lot of people, but many of the 
people who have been helped by his work may never know his name.
  We were together for the 25th anniversary of the Pell Grant bill, 
which he helped move through. I went to college on a Pell Grant, and so 
have tens of millions of other young people benefited from his efforts 
in this regard. So I am pleased to support this measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman 
from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), the prime sponsor of this 
measure.
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the 
gentleman from New York (Chairman McHugh) for, again, his leadership in 
bringing this bill to the floor and my dear friend and colleague, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), for his leadership in helping 
to bring this bill to the floor.
  Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a man who spent 56 years in public 
service, a man who should have recognition in an area that he worked so 
hard to bring about a quality of life in the area of Watts. I am 
pleased to stand here as he listens to me in his home to pay homage to 
this great man, this educator, this leader of our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in yielding and paying tribute to my dear friend 
and a former member of the House by renaming the Federal building 
located at 10301 South Compton Avenue in the Watts area of Los Angeles, 
known as the Watts Finance Office, the Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office 
Building.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 643 enjoys the bipartisan support of the entire 
California delegation, Congressman Hawkins' former colleagues, and 
complete support of the U.S. Senate.
  Mr. Speaker, the Washington Post once called Gus Hawkins one of the 
most famous unknown men of our day. However, many of us knew him as a 
quiet fighter for racial justice, social equality, and education for 
minorities, women, and children.
  I can recall when I came to this floor to be sworn in, Gus Hawkins 
was sitting right here on this floor with me, and he wanted me to so 
much get on the education committee because for years he and I had 
worked together in the Los Angeles Unified School District on education 
and on helping youngsters in the Watts area and in

[[Page H9840]]

other deprived areas of getting a quality education.
  While I could not go on this education committee, I really do 
appreciate the support that he has given me and indeed the support he 
has given youngsters throughout this Nation in trying to bring a 
quality education to those who otherwise would not have had that.
  Gus committed his life to serving others, and his 56 years of public 
service spanned a period that included the Great Depression, World War 
II, McCarthyism, both the Korean and Vietnam wars, the civil rights 
movement, and the war on poverty. He witnessed an assassination of a 
President and the impeachment of another.
  He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1907. When he was 11, he and 
his family moved to Los Angeles to escape the racial discrimination 
that was prevalent in the South at that time. His legislative career 
began in California's State Assembly, where he served for 28 years and 
was often the legislature's only black member. His record in Sacramento 
included the passage of the State's first law against discrimination in 
housing and employment.
  He also carried successful State legislation concerning minimum wage 
and wages for women, child care centers, Workers' Compensation for 
domestic employees, and the removal of racial discrimination on State 
documents. This is the type of man he was.
  After his remarkable tenure in the State Assembly of California, Gus 
was elected and sworn as a Member of this body in the 88th Congress in 
1962. He served as chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing in the 
97th Congress, the Joint Committee in the 97th Congress, as well as the 
Committee on House Administration in that same Congress. And he served 
in the 98th Congress as well on that committee before serving as 
chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor in the 101st Congress.
  By and large, Mr. Speaker, Gus Hawkins was known by his colleagues as 
a hard working, trustworthy, low-key legislator who concentrated on 
issues of importance to his district, which included the Watts area.

  He preferred to do his work behind the scenes and let others capture 
the headlines. He is the author of more than 17 Federal laws, including 
the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act; Title VII of the Civil 
Rights Act, establishing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; 
the Job Training Partnership Act; the School Improvement Act, which 
rewrote virtually all major elementary and secondary education 
programs; and the Civil Rights Restoration Act.
  In 1978, he coauthored and passed the Humphrey-Hawkins Full 
Employment Act, which pledged Federal Government efforts to reduce 
unemployment by four percent by 1983 if the private sector failed to do 
so.
  The Humphrey-Hawkins can be seen as Gus's great effort, legislative 
accomplishments, because it established a real blueprint for moving 
this country ahead in job training and employment, the foundation to 
every other policy and an area that Gus Hawkins firmly believed that we 
had to have job training and quality education for quality employment.
  Throughout his remarkable career in public service, Gus has 
championed the rights of children, the poor, the elderly, the working 
people, and minorities. But the one thing that is so noble about this 
man, he never forgot who he was and where he came from. Nor did he 
forget the people whom he served.
  It is only fitting that we rise to pay tribute to him by 
redesignating this Federal building located in Watts. As my friend, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah) said, a lot of children may 
not get to know him, but they will see his name on a building in the 
area that he solely wanted to make a better quality of life for all 
folk.
  This Federal building will be located at 10301 South Compton Avenue 
in the Watts area of Los Angeles, and it will be known as the Gus 
Hawkins Post Office Building.
  I would like to again thank all of my colleagues of the California 
delegation and all of the cosponsors, which were all the members of the 
California delegation, as well as other Members of this body, for this 
legislation and for joining me in a bipartisan fashion to pay tribute 
to a great man, a great American, a man who will want to be remembered 
by his friends and colleagues alike as someone who simply loved 
children. But he not only loved children, he loved the State of 
California; the State that he was born in, Louisiana; and, of course, 
he loved this country.
  The Honorable Augustus F. Hawkins, distinguished Member of the United 
States House of Representatives, deserves no less.

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) who has expressed, I think, a very 
understandable interest in this, a gentleman who served with the 
designee.
  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, never has a finer gentleman entered the halls of the 
House of Representatives than Gus Hawkins. He was, and is, a perfect 
gentleman. I had the privilege and the learning experience of sitting 
beside him as the ranking member while he was chairman of our 
committee. My wife and I had the opportunity on numerous occasions to 
travel with Gus and Elsie, something that we truly enjoyed. Elsie 
learned a long time ago that to get to Gus's heart, you go through his 
stomach with some of her homemade apple pie, and I supplied her with 
the Goodling apples in order to make that apple pie even better.
  Truly it is fitting that we honor a great gentleman like Gus Hawkins.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I would only state that I think as the gentlewoman from California 
(Ms. Millender-McDonald) has persistently now for 2 years in a row and 
as we heard here today very eloquently stated, along with the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling), that this is a very, very worthy 
recipient of this designation. I would certainly urge all of our 
colleagues to join us in supporting it.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 643, 
a bill that would designate the Federal building located on 10301 South 
Compton Avenue in Los Angeles, California, currently known as the Watts 
Finance Office, as the ``Augustus F. Hawkins Post Office Building.''
  Augustus Hawkins, a former member of this body for many years was 
born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1907. When he was 11 years old, he and 
his family moved to Los Angeles to escape the racial discrimination 
that was prevalent in the South. It is those experiences that impacted 
heavily upon his life and prompted him to enter a life of public 
service.
  Augustus Hawkins' career began in the California Assembly where he 
served for 28 years and was often the legislature's only black member. 
His record in Sacramento includes the passage of the State's first law 
against discrimination in housing and employment.
  After his remarkable tenure in the Assembly, Gus was elected and 
sworn in as a Member of the 88th Congress in 1962. He served as 
Chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing in the 97th Congress, the 
Joint Committee in the 97th Congress, as well as the Committee on House 
Administration in the 97th and 98th Congresses before serving as 
Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor in the 101st Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague Representative Millender-McDonald 
for introducing this bill and urge its passage.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stearns). 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. 643.
  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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