[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 17, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3175-H3183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                RECEPTION OF FORMER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER of the House presided.
  The SPEAKER. Good morning. On behalf of the House of Representatives, 
it gives me great pleasure to welcome to the Chamber today the former 
Members of Congress. This is your annual meeting. And, of course, many 
of you are personal friends from both sides of the aisle, and it is 
important that you are here certainly to renew those friendships.
  As a report from the President will indicate, you honor this House 
and the Nation by your continuing efforts to export the concept of 
representative democracy to countries all over the world and to college 
campuses around this country. I endorse those efforts and hope you will 
pursue that and continue it.
  I also endorse your wise choice of Chaplain Emeritus James D. Ford as 
the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. Chaplain Ford will 
finally have his opportunity, which he has long sought, to speak from 
the floor of the House, a privileged reserved only to Members. I would 
remind him, however, that the proceedings are technically held within 
the House in recess, just to place things in perspective.
  At this time, I would request that my friend, the gentleman from 
Illinois, Mr. Erlenborn, Vice President of the Former Members 
Association, take the Chair.
  Mr. ERLENBORN (presiding). The Clerk will call the roll of former 
Members of the House and Senate who are present today.
  The Clerk called the roll of the former Members of Congress, and the 
following former Members answered to their names:

  Rollcall of Former Members of Congress Attending 30th Annual Spring 
                                Meeting

      The United States Association of Former Members of Congress

  William V. (Bill) Alexander (Arkansas)
  J. Glenn Beall, Jr. (Maryland)
  Tom Bevill (Alabama)
  Daniel B. Brewster (Maryland)
  Donald G. Brotzman (Colorado)
  Clarence J. Brown, Jr. (Ohio)
  James T. Broyhill (North Carolina)
  John H. Buchanan (Alabama)
  Jack Buechner (Missouri)
  Albert G. Bustamante (Texas)
  Beverly B. Byron (Maryland)
  Elford A. Cederberg (Michigan)
  Charles E. Chamberlain (Michigan)
  Rod Chandler (Washington)
  William F. Clinger (Pennsylvania)
  R. Lawrence Coughlin (Pennsylvania)
  James K. Coyne (Pennsylvania)
  E (Kika) de la Garza (Texas)
  Ben L. Erdreich (Alabama)
  John N. Erlenborn (Illinois)
  Don Fuqua (Florida)
  Robert Garcia (New York)
  Robert N. Giaimo (Connecticut)
  Gilbert Gude (Maryland)
  Robert P. Hanrahan (Illinois)
  William D. Hathaway (Maine)
  Dennis M. Hertel (Michigan)
  George J. Hochbrueckner (New York)
  William J. Hughes (New Jersey)
  Hastings Keith (Massachusetts)
  David S. King (Utah)
  Ernest Konnyu (California)
  Lawrence P. (Larry) LaRocco (Idaho)
  Claude (Buddy) Leach (Louisiana)
  Marilyn Lloyd (Tennessee)
  Cathy Long (Louisiana)
  Andrew Maguire (New Jersey)
  Romano L. Mazzoli (Kentucky)
  Matthew F. McHugh (New York)
  Jan Meyers (Kansas)

[[Page H3176]]

  Robert H. Michel (Illinois)
  Abner J. Mikva (Illinois)
  Clarence E. Miller (Ohio)
  John S. Monagan (Connecticut)
  G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery (Mississippi)
  Shirley N. Pettis (California)
  William R. Ratchford (Connecticut)
  Marty Russo (Illinois)
  George E. Sangmeister (Illinois)
  Ronald A. Sarasin (Connecticut)
  Patricia Schroeder (Colorado)
  Richard T. Schulze (Pennsylvania)
  Dennis A. Smith (Oregon)
  Neal E. Smith (Iowa)
  Gerald B.H. Solomon (New York)
  James V. Stanton (Ohio)
  James W. Symington (Missouri)
  Steve Symms (Idaho)
  Robert S. Walker (Pennsylvania)
  Charles W. Whalen, Jr. (Ohio)
  James C. Wright, Jr. (Texas)
  Roger H. Zion (Indiana)
  Mr. ERLENBORN (presiding). The Chair now recognized the distinguished 
minority whip, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior) for such 
remarks as he may make.
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, it is good to be with you again. We welcome 
you back to the Capitol. I want to echo the comments of the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), my dear friend and our Speaker, when I say 
to you this morning that it is good to see so many familiar faces and 
to comment how comfortable you look in your seats.
  I am sure, as some of you know, I look forward some day of joining 
you all in your present capacity, but not too soon. The great American 
historian and diplomat, John Kenneth Galbraith, once said that nothing 
is so admirable in politics as a short memory. But when I look out at 
those of you who are sitting here this morning, think that is really 
not true at all, because what we really need more than anything in this 
institution today is to depend upon your institutional memory to 
recapture the great, not only concepts and principles, but traditions 
of this body, which I think we are slowly putting back together after a 
very difficult period of time that we have gone through in the last 
decade.
  So I want to welcome all of you back on behalf of Dick Gephardt and 
our leadership. I wish you a good day today. Thank you for honoring Jim 
Ford, who I know many of you have served with while you were in the 
House of Representatives. He is a very special and a very dear man.
  I remember one instance when I was in the hospital with Jim, we were 
at, I think it was Walter Reed, we both were pretty ill and we were 
going down for an operation together. They wheeled us just 
coincidentally out of our ward together. We got out of the elevator 
together. We went down the elevator together and we separated. And just 
before we separated to go on our respective surgical rooms he said to 
me, ``Bonior, I want you to remember, this is what I call real 
chaplainship.'' He was there for me in my hour of need right into the 
operating room.
  I also want to say that I look forward to, I do not know how many of 
you going to go to the event on China today, but I am on the panel 
discussion. So I look forward to a vigorous debate and discussion of 
that issue as well.
  So welcome. I look forward to visiting with you today, and I hope you 
have a wonderful experience back in your House. Thank you.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair announces that 49 former Members 
of Congress have responded to their names. A quorum is present.
  The Chair will now recognize the gentleman from New York, the 
Honorable Matthew McHugh, President of our association, for such time 
as he may consume, and to yield for appropriate remarks to other 
Members.


                             general Leave

  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, my thanks to our Speaker pro tempore and to 
all of my colleagues for being with us this morning. We are, of course, 
especially grateful to the Speaker, Dennis Hastert, for taking time 
from his very busy schedule to be with us, and to the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Bonior) for his warm welcome as well.
  It is always a privilege for us to return to this great institution 
which we revere and where we shared so many memorable experiences. 
Service in Congress, as we know, is both a joy and a heavy 
responsibility, and whatever our party affiliation, we have great 
admiration for those who continue to serve in this place for the 
country.
  We thank them all once again for giving us this opportunity to report 
on the activities of our Association of Former Members of Congress.
  This is our 30th annual report to Congress. Our association is 
nonpartisan, or bipartisan. It has been chartered but not funded by the 
Congress. We have a wide variety of domestic and international programs 
which I and others this morning will briefly summarize in our report.
  Our membership now is approximately 600 men and women, the purpose of 
which is to continue in some small measure the service to the country 
that we began during our terms of service here in the House or in the 
Senate.
  I think our most significant domestic activities are our Congress to 
Campus program. As most know, this is a bipartisan effort to share with 
college students throughout the country our insights on the work of 
Congress and on the political process more generally.
  A team of former Members, one Democrat and one Republican, spend up 
to 2\1/2\ days on college campuses throughout the United States meeting 
formally and informally with students, but also with Members of the 
faculty and the local communities.
  It is a great experience for all Members, and those who have 
participated have always enjoyed it. But our primary goal is to 
generate a deeper appreciation for our democratic form of government 
and the need for young people in particular to participate actively in 
the political process.
  Since the program's inception in 1976, 119 former Members of Congress 
have reached more than 150,000 students through 267 visits to 183 
campuses in 49 States and the District of Columbia.
  In recent years we have conducted the program jointly with the 
Stennis Center for Public Service at Mississippi State University. The 
former Members donate their time to the program, the Stennis Center 
pays transportation costs, and the host institution provides room and 
board.
  At this point, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to Rod Chandler, 
the gentleman from the State of Washington, to discuss his 
participation in this Congress to Campus program.
  Mr. CHANDLER. Mr. Speaker, it has been my privilege to visit five 
campuses under the Congress to Campus program of the United States 
Former Members of Congress Association. I am an enthusiastic supporter 
of this program, and I believe that we are making an important 
contribution toward the understanding of and respect for our Nation's 
policy-making institution itself, particularly the Congress of the 
United States.
  In March, my former colleague from Michigan, Dennis Hertel, and I 
were guests at Meridian Community College in Meridian, Mississippi. 
Diann Sollie, Chair of the Social Science Division of the school, was 
the faculty in charge of our visit. In 2 days, we spoke to eight 
separate classrooms, met with talented and gifted high school students 
from the Meridian area, and visited informally with Meridian Community 
College students.
  Dennis Hertel and I are good friends and we present a compatible 
team. We do differ on major subjects, however, and the students 
appeared to enjoy and appreciate our frank discussion of these policy 
questions. We also spoke with students of our personal political 
careers and provided advice to those who expressed an interest in 
developing political careers of their own.
  Mr. Speaker, thousands of young men and women in this country are 
fascinated by what takes place here in this Chamber and in the Senate. 
They would like to contribute to their country and play a role in the 
world's greatest democracy. I believe the Former Members of Congress 
Association provides a valuable contrast to the often misleading news 
coverage of Congress.
  I would like to thank the Stennis Center for its support of Congress 
to Campus, and the fine staff of the former Members of Congress 
association, ably led by Linda Reed, for the

[[Page H3177]]

coordinating role that they play. My hope is that we former Members 
will continue to demonstrate for America's young people the treasure we 
have in the form of a country where every citizen, if they choose to, 
has a say in public policy.
  Mr. McHUGH. Thank you very much, Rod. One outgrowth of the Congress 
to Campus program was an interest in producing a book that would take 
an inside look at Congress from differing viewpoints. There are many 
fine books written by individual Members of Congress, but to our 
knowledge, there was no compendium that goes behind the scenes in a 
very personal way.
  So, our immediate past president, Lou Frey, recruited more than 30 
Members of Congress, former Members, and their spouses to write 
chapters for a book on Congress. It is being coedited by Lou and by the 
head of the political science department at Colgate University, 
Professor Michael Hayes. The book is scheduled to go to press later 
this year, and we hope that all of you will find it interesting 
reading.
  Mr. Speaker, as you know, although many of our former Members live in 
the Washington area, there are quite a few who reside in other parts of 
the country. Therefore, in an effort to broaden participation in the 
association's work, we have had some meetings outside of Washington. In 
recent years, for example, we have held meetings in the western region, 
and California in particular.
  In November of last year, the meeting was in San Diego. In addition 
to enjoying many of the attractions of that beautiful area, our Members 
met with students and faculty at San Diego State University as well as 
the University of California at San Diego. Also former Members Lynn 
Schenk and Paul Rogers, who serve on the board of directors of Scripps 
Research Institute, arranged a briefing and a reception for us at the 
institute.
  This year the regional meeting will be held in Austin, Texas, from 
October 21 to 25. Our former colleagues, Jake Pickle and Jack 
Hightower, are planning an interesting schedule that will include 
visits to the LBJ Library and ranch, tours of the State Capitol 
building and other local attractions, as well as meetings with students 
at the University of Texas. Joel Wyatt last night also volunteered to 
help with our program in Austin as well.
  We certainly hope that many of you will be able to join us for what 
promises to be a very worthwhile and enjoyable time.
  After the November elections, the association will again sponsor what 
we have called the Life After Congress Seminar, a program we have 
traditionally organized for the benefit of Members who are leaving the 
Congress. During the seminar, former Members now working in the public 
and private sectors will share insights with retiring Members about 
career opportunities and the personal adjustments involved in this 
transition.
  In addition, congressional support staff will outline the services 
available to former Members of Congress. As in the past, the seminar 
will be followed by a reception sponsored by the auxiliary to the 
association which will afford more time for informal exchanges.
  Mr. Speaker, beyond the events we organize here, the association is 
very active in sponsoring programs that are international in scope. 
Over the years, we have gained experience in fostering interaction 
between the leaders of other nations and the United States. We have 
arranged 410 special events at the U.S. Capitol for international 
delegations from 85 countries and the European Parliament, programmed 
short-term visits for individual Members of parliaments, and long-term 
visits for parliamentary staff.
  We have hosted 46 foreign policy seminars in nine countries involving 
more than 1,500 former and current parliamentarians, and we have 
conducted 18 study tours abroad for Members of Congress.
  The association also serves as a secretariat for the Congressional 
Study Group on Germany. As many know, this is the largest and most 
active exchange program between the U.S. Congress and the parliament of 
another country. Founded in 1987 in the House and 1988 in the Senate, 
it is a bipartisan group of 171 representatives and senators. They are 
afforded the opportunity to meet with their counterparts in the German 
Bundestag to enhance understanding and greater cooperation. Ongoing 
Study Group activities include conducting a distinguished visitors 
program at the U.S. Capitol for guests from Germany, sponsoring annual 
seminars involving Members of Congress and the Bundestag, providing 
information about participants in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange 
Program to appropriate Members of Congress, and arranging for Members 
of the Bundestag to visit congressional districts with Members of 
Congress. New activities are being explored to enhance these 
opportunities.
  The Congressional Study Group on Germany is funded primarily by the 
German Marshall Fund of the United States. Additional funding, with the 
help of Tom Coleman, our former colleague, has also been obtained from 
eight corporations and they are represented now on the Business 
Advisory Council to the Study Group.
  I would like at this point to yield to our friend and colleague from 
Missouri, Jack Buechner, to report on the 17th annual Congress-
Bundestag Seminar, which was held recently in Niagara Falls, and other 
activities.
  Mr. BUECHNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I 
think everyone who has served in the Congress since 1987 will be aware 
of the fact that the Congressional Study Group between the United 
States Congress and the Bundestag is the largest of any of the 
cooperative relationships with other parliaments. Currently, over 160 
Members of the sitting Congress participate in the Study Group, and the 
activities are certainly ones to be proud of and to certainly serve as 
a model for any other bicameral relationship.
  Both parties are represented in the Study Group, and they come from 
all regions of the country. Currently, the two Senate leaders are Tim 
Johnson and Bill Roth, and on the House side, the current chairman of 
our group is John LaFalce of New York, and he is joined by Joel Hefley 
of Colorado as the vice chairman.
  The support, although it is under the aegis of the Congress, the 
financial support actually comes from the German Marshal Fund and from 
generous donations from German-American business groups.
  Since the last meeting of the former Members, the Congressional Study 
Group on Germany has conducted 17 events as part of the Distinguished 
Visitors Program, and that brings German dignitaries to the United 
States Congress to meet with Members of the Study Group. Just as an 
example, some of the visiting dignitaries last year were Anke Fuchs, 
the vice president of the Bundestag; Peter Struck, the majority floor 
leader in the Bundestag; Hans-Ulrich Klose, the chairman of the 
Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee; and recently Joschka Fischer, 
Germany's vice chancellor and foreign minister.
  When these dignitaries come in, the meetings are, of course, both 
formal and informal. They make themselves available for press briefings 
and for public dialogue. Following that, there is memoranda that are 
circulated from both the Bundestag and the Congress. They are made 
available to various committees and certainly to the 160 Members of the 
Study Group who currently serve. These issues, I believe, are of 
international trade, defense, and the types of issues that, of course, 
our Members need very much to hear about.
  Last month, right prior to the Easter vacation, the 17th meeting of 
the Joint Study Group was conducted and held in Niagara Falls, New 
York. Our House Chairman, John LaFalce, was the host.
  We had Members of the Bundestag, I think we had seven Members of the 
Bundestag and nine sitting Members of the United States Congress were 
there. Along with it we had four former Members of Congress, John 
Erlenborn, Lou Frey, Tom Coleman of Missouri, and myself. And we were 
joined by business leaders of the German-American business community.
  We conducted discussions about everything ranging from WTO to the 
role of NATO, whether there was going to be a European Army come up, 
the relationship of the EU, and such things as relationships with 
China. And it was really a great event, because there was an 
opportunity for everybody to take off their legislator's hat and put on 
the

[[Page H3178]]

one of really an ambassador of goodwill.
  But the discussions became very hot and heavy, especially on topics 
such as PNTR. We were able to go to Niagara Falls. I do have to say 
that the weather was a little rainy, a little windy, a little bleak, 
and there were only a few flowers and trees budding, but it had no 
effect upon the camaraderie that was established amongst the group.
  Barber Conable, our former Member from New York, and also the former 
head of the World Bank, joined us and we had a very lengthy discussion. 
This was at the old Fort Niagara, and we really did have a great time 
there, and I think that it really augurs well for the continuation of 
the program.
  Next year, the meeting for the first time will be held in what was 
formerly East Germany up around the Baltic, and I would hope that we 
will have a good attendance from our current Members as well as the 
former Members. So thank you very much. The growth is one to be admired 
and the participation of the former Members is certainly a good 
relationship for us to continue with the sitting Members, and the board 
looks forward to continuation of the program.
  Mr. McHUGH. Thank you very much, Jack. The association also serves as 
the secretariat for the Congressional Study Group on Japan. This was 
founded in 1993 in cooperation with the East-West Center in Hawaii. It 
is a bipartisan group of 80 Members in the House and Senate with an 
additional 55 Members who have asked to be kept informed of the Study 
Group activities.
  In addition to providing substantive opportunities for Members of 
Congress to meet with their counterparts in the Japanese Diet, the 
Study Group arranges monthly briefings when Congress is in session for 
Members to hear from American and Japanese experts about various 
aspects of the U.S.-Japanese relationship.
  The Congressional Study Group on Japan is funded primarily by the 
Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission.
  Last year, Mr. Speaker, the association began a parliamentary 
exchange program with the People's Republic of China. In October, with 
funding from the U.S. Information Agency, the association hosted a 
delegate of nine Members of the National People's Congress here in 
Washington.
  This visit marked the inauguration of the U.S.-China 
Interparliamentary Exchange Group, whose members have been appointed by 
the Speaker. The association has been asked by the Department of State 
to submit a proposal to fund a visit to China by members of this 
exchange group next year. We are also seeking funding to initiate a 
Congressional Study Group on China, which would hold monthly meetings 
at the Capitol for current Members to discuss with American and Chinese 
experts topics of particular concern. Obviously, this would follow the 
same pattern as these other study groups that we have been coordinating 
for Germany and Japan.
  I would like now, Mr. Speaker, to yield to the gentlewoman from 
Maryland, Beverly Byron, to discuss the October visit and future plans 
for the exchange program with China.
  Ms. BYRON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say, first of all, that I 
think it is interesting to note that the Senate Finance Committee and 
the House Committee on Ways and Means are taking up today the Most 
Favored Nation Status for China. And so it is timely and appropriate 
that we discuss the Chinese exchange program that this body has begun.
  In August of 1996, 10 former Members had an opportunity, at the 
invitation of the Chinese government, to spend, I guess, about 8, 9 
days in China, an extremely exciting and interesting trip. And as a 
return, a delegation of nine members of the National People's Congress, 
the Standing Committee and the Foreign Affairs group, visited 
Washington this year from October 11 to 16.
  The Chinese government paid the international transportation costs 
for the delegation and we picked up the costs while they were here.
  It marked the inauguration of a U.S.-China Interparliamentary 
Exchange group whose members were appointed by Speaker Hastert in the 
late summer. The chair of that group is Representative Donald Manzullo 
of Illinois, and Doug Bereuter of Nebraska is vice chair, and Tom 
Lantos of California is ranking Democrat.
  They had a visit to the Hill with four rounds of meetings between 
Members of Congress and their Chinese counterparts. In addition to the 
meetings with the Members, the Chinese delegation held extensive talks 
with Kurt Campbell of the Department of Defense, Tom Pickering, 
Department of State, Susan Shirk, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East 
Asian and Pacific Affairs, and then they went to the General Accounting 
Office and then Matt took care of them when they went down and visited 
with the World Bank.
  They met with the Office of U.S. Trade Representative, the National 
Security Council, U.S.-Chinese Business Council and U.S.-Chinese 
scholars. So we can see they had an extremely broad opportunity to be 
exposed.
  During the meetings with Congress, as well as during the talks with 
representatives in the administration, many contentious issues came up. 
Human rights, Taiwan, trade deficit, the U.S. bombing of the embassy, 
and joining the World Trade Organization. These conversations were 
sometimes difficult and sometimes there was a meeting of the mind.
  It was interesting, one of the members of the delegation was the 
Chinese Bishop of Beijing who wished to meet with Catholic officials 
while he was here, or some priests. We were able to set up a meeting at 
Georgetown University with Father Bill Byron, who was formerly head of 
CU, and the dialogue, as our new chaplain will be interested to know, 
was an extremely interesting one.
  The delegation also had an interest in seeing something outside of 
Washington, and so I grabbed on the opportunity and we took them to 
Annapolis. They were given an opportunity to visit Annapolis for about 
an hour and a half on their own, at which time they came back with 
numerous pictures, and we had an extensive visit and dinner at the 
Naval Academy, but they all wanted their picture taken with their 
postcard in front of the statue that was at the Naval Academy.
  They had dinner in the dining hall with the midshipmen. It was quite 
a revelation for many of them to realize that there were 4,000 
midshipmen that ate in one room, and we had a very interesting 
discussion because there are four professors at the academy that are of 
Chinese origin and speak the different dialects. So we did not have to 
work through interpreters that evening.
  They also had an opportunity to visit the Maryland State House. I was 
interested to note that the Maryland Secretary of State, John Willis, 
we have an active ongoing program with the Chinese exchange so he was 
delighted.
  As an outgrowth of this, the congressional delegation that they met 
with have been working and will be looking forward to a return exchange 
visit, probably a year from now, with some of the same Members that 
they met with before.
  Let me take 2 seconds, because no one can control a Member and no one 
can control a former Member unless they bang the gavel, but, Rod, you 
talked about the campus program. I had an opportunity to go visit the 
University of Utah in Salt Lake City with Barbara Vucanovich, and it 
was an extremely wonderful 3 days interacting with the students. So for 
anybody that has not participated in those programs, I cannot urge you 
enough to try. Thank you.
  Mr. McHUGH. Thank you, Bev. Before we leave the subject of China, let 
me just remind everybody that immediately after our proceedings here on 
the floor, we are going to have a panel, very distinguished panel, 
including Dave Bonior who mentioned it when he was here, on the subject 
of China-U.S. relations and, of course, particularly on this pending 
issue of trade relations with China. So we encourage all of you to come 
to that panel presentation immediately after this at about 10:30.
  The U.S. Congress and the Congress of Mexico have been conducting 
annual seminars for about 39 years under the auspices of the 
Interparliamentary Group; however, there is still little interaction 
between the legislators from our two countries during the rest of the 
year. The association hopes to initiate a Congressional Study Group on 
Mexico with funding from the Tinker Foundation, so that Members of

[[Page H3179]]

Congress can meet on a regular basis with visiting Mexican dignitaries 
and other experts on our mutual relationship.
  In the aftermath of the political changes in Europe, the association 
began a series of programs in 1989 to assist the emerging democracies 
of Central and Eastern Europe. With funding from the U.S. Information 
Agency, the association sent bipartisan teams of former Members, 
accompanied by either a congressional or country expert, to the Czech 
Republic to, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland for up to 2 weeks. They 
conducted workshops and provided instruction on legislative issues for 
new members of parliament in those countries as well as their staffs 
and other persons involved in the legislative process.
  They also made public appearances to discuss the American political 
process. In addition, the association brought delegations of members of 
parliament from all of these countries to the U.S. for 2-week visits. 
Also with funds from this USIA, the association sent a technical 
advisor to the Hungarian parliament from 1991 to 1993.
  With financial support from the Pew Charitable Trust in 1994, the 
association assigned technical advisors to the Slovak and Ukrainian 
parliaments. This initial support was supplemented by other grants to 
enable Congressional Fellows to extend their stays.
  Since 1995, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International 
Development and the Eurasia Foundation, the association has managed a 
very highly successful program to place outstanding Ukrainian students 
in internships with committees in the Ukrainian parliament. This 
program meets not only the parliament's short-term need for having a 
well-educated motivated and professionally trained staff, but also the 
longer term need to develop a cadre of trained professionals.
  At this point, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to the gentleman 
from Michigan, Dennis Hertel, to report on our program in Ukraine.
  Mr. HERTEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York. Last 
year I had the pleasure of advising the Congress about the continued 
progress of our program in Ukraine. I am now able to report that our 
goals have been achieved. We will be completing 6 years of assistance 
to the Ukrainian parliament.
  I want to give a special ``thank you'' on behalf of our association 
to Walt Raymond, Bill Brown, our former parliamentarian, and our 
colleague, Lucien Nedzi. Our most lasting accomplishment has been to 
create and sustain for 5 years a robust internship in the parliament.
  Five years ago, few, if any new staffers, were hired by the Ukrainian 
parliament. There was no new blood, no fresh thinking at the staff 
level. Staff holdovers, appointed by the former communist leaders of 
the Soviet Union before Ukraine received its independence in 1991, 
remained in place and served as a retarding influence on any internal 
effort to modernize the parliament or to pass reform legislation.
  During the past 5 years, the intern program supported by this 
association has included more than 250 young Ukrainian university 
graduates, drawn especially from law schools or those departments 
specializing in economics politics and social issues. Interns have 
served not so much as interns as we know them in our Congress, but 
really as the staff of the parliament. They have drafted laws, they 
have provided research, they supported member of parliament needs and 
provided a bridge to western parliament processes and western analysis.
  Few members of parliament speak or read western languages. It has 
been a requirement that each candidate be conversant in a key western 
language, particularly English. The activity of the interns has helped 
bring a greater sense of relevance to committee work and by assisting 
in raising the quality of work in the parliament, the parliament is in 
better position to play its role in the emerging Ukrainian democracy.
  There is evidence of success. The number of young Ukrainians 
interested in applying for intern positions continues to soar as does 
the demand by Ukrainian members of parliament for interns to be 
assigned to their committees or their offices.
  In the parliamentary year ending this summer, 65 interns have been 
involved in the program. Earlier interns who completed the program have 
found many excellent job opportunities. Some remain as parliamentary 
staffers, others have entered the executive branch, while some return 
to academia and a significant number seek to enter the growing private 
sector and business there in the Ukraine, the media, or think tanks. 
The group represents a veritable young leaders cadre, which is 
essential for the democratic development of Ukraine.
  Later this year, our association intends to turn the direction of the 
program over to the local Ukrainian management to ensure its long-term 
viability. Two independent Ukrainian groups, one academic and the 
other, the Association of Ukrainian Deputies, have committed themselves 
to maintaining the high professional standards and the nonpartisan 
selection process.
  The Ukrainian program has proved to be an excellent pilot and worth 
replication in other emerging democracies, particularly in the Central/
East European and NIS areas. As my colleague, John Erlenborn, has 
described or will describe today, the Ukrainian model has been 
successfully replicated in Macedonia by this association.
  This program initiative which supports emerging democratic 
parliaments focuses on personnel, one of the key weaknesses throughout 
the former communist region, but the key to having a successful 
developed democratic government. Changes at the top have not been 
followed by changes throughout the organizational structure in the 
country, whether in the executive, the legislative, or judicial 
branches. The idea of intern programs designed to bring new and 
energetic staffs to the region is an idea that should be followed in 
other countries. It is a great strength of our democracy and our 
government really that we have such a wide breadth of experience, and 
people that are involved in what they call civil society over there, 
and civic society.
  The people have other interests. They bring other people into it. 
They teach others. And that is what this association has accomplished 
for the Ukraine. I believe that is what this association can accomplish 
continually throughout Eastern and Central Europe, where the assistance 
is needed so much and the involvement of the members of this 
association is needed so much. The Ukrainian program, this association 
believes, will be a lasting legacy and an example for what can be done 
in Eastern and Central Europe.
  Mr. McHUGH. Thank you, Dennis. Because of the success of our 
internship program in Ukraine, as has been mentioned, the National 
Democratic Institute for International Affairs, with funding from the 
Agency for International Development, asked the association to 
replicate this program in Macedonia. In September of last year, we sent 
John Hart, who was given leave from his responsibility as press 
Secretary to Representative Tom Coburn, to Macedonia for 6 months to 
establish a program for 65 interns to the Macedonian parliament, to 
initiate a research and analysis program, and to conduct public 
outreach.
  Funds were also included to permit several former Members of Congress 
to travel to Macedonia to assist with this effort. One of those, as 
Dennis mentioned, was John Erlenborn. At this point, I would like to 
yield to the gentleman from Illinois to tell us about his participation 
in that program.
  Mr. ERLENBORN. I thank the gentleman for yielding and request the 
gentleman assume the Chair during the course of my remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, the scope of the activities of our association are not 
very well-known by the public. One of the important programs we have 
undertaken is providing help to emerging democracies, especially their 
parliaments.
  In January of this year, I traveled to Skopje, Macedonia, to confer 
with members of the Macedonian parliament concerning the intern program 
that we have established for them. This program was patterned after the 
one that we had established and operated for several years in the 
Ukraine.
  Under a subgrant from the National Democratic Institute, we chose a 
staffer from the Hill, and Matt has already identified him as John 
Hart, who worked in Macedonia selecting university students and recent 
graduates in

[[Page H3180]]

that country, training them to provide research and drafting services 
for the members of parliament who lack such resources.
  A young Macedonian lawyer also was engaged to work with John in 
launching the project, with a view toward grooming her to manage the 
project when John returned to the United States, which he did about a 
month ago.
  National elections delayed the full implementation of the intern 
project late last year. The interns were assigned to various party 
caucuses, but were not able to be fully utilized until after the 
elections.
  By the time I arrived, interns and members have begun to work 
together, and I interviewed some members to obtain their impressions. 
As one would expect, members' use of the interns varied. Generally, 
however, they assigned information-gathering tasks to them so that 
members would have a better knowledge of the current issues and also be 
prepared to offer legislative solutions to perceived needs.
  Every Member of parliament I spoke with was pleased with the work 
being done by their interns. Most of them expressed the belief that 
only with such resources would they be able to become independent of 
the executive branch which now drafts legislation and prepares the 
budget. The parliament typically has little time in which to consider 
these drafts, and thus has little or no input into the finally approved 
legislation.
  The relationship of the executive and legislative branches reflects 
the reality of their respective roles under the government structure of 
the past. Little has changed since Macedonia was successful in a 
peaceful secession from Yugoslavia in 1992. At the present time, 
membership in the parliament is expected soon to become a full-time 
occupation. It is believed that then there will be a greater demand 
from within an independent legislature exercising its collective will 
in the enactment of legislation.
  This transition from the old ways to democratic governments is a 
basic test of the success of the newly-emerging democracies. Similar 
problems are being faced by all of them with varying successes. I 
believe that the intern projects that we have initiated are necessary 
to help the legislatures transition to independent and meaningful roles 
if the voice of the people is to be heard, as it must in a democracy.
  The U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress is uniquely 
qualified to provide these resources for the education of the 
legislators in the emerging democracies. Former Members have experience 
in State legislatures and the Congress. We cannot expect other 
countries just to adopt our ways, but we can help them identify the 
basic elements of a free representative government, sensitive to the 
traditions of their country.
  In talking to some of these parliamentarians and telling them how our 
legislature operates, I always prefaced it by saying we have been 
working at this for more than 200 years, and we do not expect, number 
one, that you are going to be able to achieve the same kind of a 
legislative process too rapidly; and, secondly, it does not have to be 
exactly like ours. You choose your own, but it has to have some of the 
basic elements that any free democratic legislature must have.
  I believe that each and every one of us having served our country in 
the past still have an urge to serve in some capacity. With our 
experience, we can help other countries move toward responsive, 
democratic governments. It would be a shame to waste the resource that 
we represent. I hope that we can have more programs such as those in 
Ukraine and Macedonia.
  Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, in December of 1996, the association sent a 
delegation of current and former Members to Cuba on a study mission to 
assess the situation there and analyze the effectiveness of U.S. 
policies toward Cuba. Upon its return, the delegation wrote a report of 
its findings, which were widely disseminated through the media and were 
made available to Members of Congress as well as to personnel in the 
executive branch.
  A follow-up to this initial study mission was conducted in January of 
1999. Again, the delegation wrote a detailed report of its findings and 
shared it through media and briefings with congressional leaders and 
representatives of the executive branch.
  A final study mission to Cuba is scheduled to take place from May 29 
this year to June 3. A delegation led by John Brademas of Indiana, and 
including Jack Buechner of Missouri, Larry LaRocco of Idaho and Fred 
Grandy of Iowa will meet with representatives of the Cuban government, 
dissidents and others to assess the current State of U.S.-Cuba 
relations. When they return, they will write a report of their findings 
and again share their conclusions with Members of the Congress, the 
media, the executive branch and others. Needless to say, it is a very 
timely mission with all that is going on these days in that 
relationship.
  The association also organizes study tours for its Members and their 
spouses who, at their own expense, have participated in educational and 
cultural experiences in a wide variety of places, including Canada, 
China, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, the former Soviet Union, 
Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America. The most 
recent study tour took place in March of this year when association and 
auxiliary members, spouses, and friends visited Italy.
  As most of my colleagues know, we have three former Members of 
Congress who now serve as ambassadors in Italy: Tom Foglietta, our 
Ambassador to Italy, Lindy Boggs, our Ambassador to the Holy See, and 
George McGovern, our Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture 
Organization.
  The trip, as I understand it, was very successful, and at this point 
I would like to yield to the gentleman from New York, Gerry Solomon, to 
tell us about that study tour and the plans for next year.
  (Mr. SOLOMON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. SOLOMON. Thank you, Mr. President and former Members, Chaplain 
Ford, Speaker Jim Wright sitting over there, and certainly our leader, 
Bob Michel sitting over here. Let me be brief because we are running 
out of time reporting on the study tour this past March. And, Mr. 
Speaker, I hope you would not recognize Bob Walker to object to my 
request to revise and extend.
  The study tour to Italy was a huge success, thanks to the outstanding 
advance planning and organization by our executive director, Linda 
Reed, sitting over here. The well-attended meetings with the Vatican, 
the Vatican think tank of Justice and Peace, and Ambassador Lindy 
Boggs, our former colleague, as Matt has mentioned, were extremely 
informative and extremely interesting, as was the meeting with 
Ambassador George McGovern at the Food and Agriculture Organization, 
and the meeting in Florence with the U.S. Consul General's office.
  The entire Italy tour, made up of 64 members, spouses, friends, 
including 26 former Members, the largest ever, made visits to the 
Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica, the Coliseum and the Forum in 
Rome, and equally interesting stops in Assisi and the romantic and 
beautiful city of Florence. Everyone enjoyed the entire program.
  The discussions held with Ambassador McGovern, who incidentally sends 
his regards to all of you, as well as with other officials, including 
Catherine Bertini, which many of you know, were extremely helpful in 
explaining the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization that many 
of you on both sides of the aisle have participated in and have helped 
in a badly needed area.
  Finally, several Members stated their desire at the organization to 
consider a Study Group tour to two of our NATO allies early next year, 
perhaps, Turkey and Greece. We have that request under consideration. 
And there have been other requests now coming in, filling in on the 
reports given by our President Matt McHugh, Ben Erdreich, John 
Erlenborn and others, concerning the very, very serious need to help 
these former Soviet bloc countries in the Baltics, in the Caucasus, in 
Central Asia, in the Balkans. Their very future depends on the success 
of their parliaments. These countries have never known democracy in 
their whole history, and in the last 10 years they have struggled.
  Much of the help that we have already given is really paying off, as 
Ben Erdreich has mentioned, and we hope that we may be able to arrange 
some

[[Page H3181]]

study tours there in this part of the world in order to perhaps 
undertake a ``Peace Corps of Former Members'' who could give their old 
sage, badly needed advice to many of these parliamentarians, many of 
whom are very young and have had no experience whatsoever and really 
need our help.
  So these are things we have under consideration. We would certainly 
appreciate any feedback that you might have, and I thank the President 
and the Speaker.
  Mr. McHUGH. Thank you, Gerry. Those of us who put this program 
together sometimes worry that the annual report will be overly long and 
dry, and we apologize if it is. But I think it is important that get a 
sense of the wide variety of programs that we run as an association so 
that you can participate in those and so that others will be aware of 
what we are trying to do to help.
  All of this, of course, requires financial support. And at the 
present time, we get our financial support primarily from three 
sources. Our membership dues, and we thank all of you for paying those 
this year; also from our program grants from foundations and others 
that support the individual programs that we have described; and from 
an annual fund-raising dinner that has become a very important part of 
our financial base.
  As many of you know, on February 22 of this year, we held our Third 
Annual Statesmanship Award Dinner, at which our friend and colleague, 
Lynn Martin, was honored. We presented Lynn with the Statesmanship 
Award in recognition of her service as a Member of Congress, as 
Secretary of Labor, and as a leader in many other community activities.
  I want to acknowledge and thank at this point Lou Frey, our friend 
and colleague from Florida, who, once again, chaired the dinner. He had 
a great deal of help, but he led the effort and we are grateful to him 
and we thank him again for agreeing to do that next year as well.
  I would also like to recognize at this point Larry LaRocco from Idaho 
who, among other things, was one of our entertaining and talented 
auctioneers at the auction which we hold in conjunction this annual 
dinner.
  Mr. LaROCCO. Thank you, Mr. President, I appreciate you yielding to 
me. I will give you a short report on the dinner. As treasurer, one has 
to assume many roles and being auctioneer happened to be one of them.
  Since 1998, the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress has 
instituted an Annual Statesmanship Award Dinner and Auction to honor a 
former Member of Congress and raise funds to defray the costs of 
implementing the Congress to Campus program. Each year approximately 
400 people, including sitting Members of the House and Senate, attend 
this outstanding event.
  This dinner is a wonderful opportunity to honor a colleague, visit 
with friends, and raise money for a good purpose. The auction has two 
components, a silent and live auction of political memorabilia of 
significant historical value, and Jimmy Hayes has played a major role 
in collecting this memorabilia for us.
  The spirit of this dinner is most important, because it is noted for 
its blatant display of bipartisanship, comity and commitment to public 
service by each former Member of Congress. It is an evening filled with 
mutual respect and gratitude for the opportunity to serve our Nation 
and its legislative bodies.
  One of our colleagues is honored at this dinner for his or her 
outstanding work in Congress and after leaving public service. And as 
our President has just described and reported, our good friend and 
colleague, Lynn Martin, was honored this year.
  The association made note of Lynn Martin's achievements and 
contributions through her commitment to fair workplace standards capped 
by her service as Secretary of Labor. Our first Statesmanship Award 
Dinner in 1998 honored Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and the 
1999 dinner paid tribute to the work of our distinguished colleague, 
Lee Hamilton, who now heads the Woodrow Wilson International Center for 
Scholars.
  Our former President and board member, Lou Frey, shared his vision 
and possessed the skills to organize the first dinner, and has acted as 
the chairman for each subsequent dinner. He brings an incredible amount 
of energy and organizational talent into building a successful event 
for the association.
  I encourage each member to support this dinner as you have in the 
past. As Matt has mentioned, we only have a couple of sources of 
funding for our programs and this is a major source. And besides the 
dues that we all pay, this provides the funds for our unrestricted 
activities, and last year we netted about $70,000 for this dinner and 
we hope to be on a good glide path to raise even more. I encourage to 
you come. We have invited each sitting Member of the House and the 
Senate to join us and we enjoy their participation and their presence 
at the dinner.
  I have never invited anybody to this dinner that has not come back 
and told me that it is one of the most outstanding evenings that they 
have ever spent in Washington, D.C., to see former Members come 
together in the spirit of bipartisanship, enjoying each other's 
company, regaling each other with stories and smiling and feeling very 
proud of their service in this legislative body.
  Mr. McHUGH. Thank you very much, Larry. Mr. Speaker, in addition to 
the financial support which we have referred to, the association 
benefits tremendously from the effort and leadership of many people. I 
want to just expressly thank the officers of the association with whom 
I have had the privilege to serve: John Erlenborn, Larry LaRocco, Jack 
Buechner, Lou Frey and others, the members of our board of directors 
and our counselors, for providing the excellent guidance and support 
necessary to make all of these activities we have described possible.
  In addition, we are assisted by the auxiliary of the association 
which is now led by Nancy Beuchner, Jack's wife. It goes without 
saying, I am sure, that none of these programs could be effectively run 
without the staff of our association: Linda Reed, our executive 
director; Peter Weichlein, our program director, who has special 
responsibility for the Congressional Study Group on Germany; Katrinka 
Stringfield, our administrative assistant; Victor Kytasty, who runs our 
Congressional Fellow program in Ukraine; and Walt Raymond, a senior 
advisor for our international programs. We are really very grateful to 
each and every one of them for the help that they give us on a day-to-
day basis.
  The association also maintains close relations with counterpart 
associations of former Members of parliament in other countries. And we 
are very pleased that we have two representatives of those other 
parliament's former Members associations with us here today. I am 
pleased to recognize and welcome Barry Turner, the President of the 
Canadian Association of Former Members of Parliament, and George 
Ehrnrooth from the Association of Former Members of Parliament in 
Finland, who are with us today and who have been with us on many 
occasions in the past as well.
  I also want to mention an invitation we have received from the 
Association of Former Members of Parliament of Australia for our 
members and their partners to be guests at a reception being held in 
Sydney on Tuesday, September 26, 2000, which is during the 21st 
Olympiad, which is being held in Australia this year. Unfortunately, we 
cannot pay your way to go to that, but if by chance you are going to 
the Olympics in Australia, I know that you would enjoy the camaraderie 
of that reception, which is hosted by the Former Members of Parliament 
in Australia. If you need more details on that, please talk with Linda 
about that.
  Mr. Speaker, it is now my sad obligation to inform the House of those 
persons who have served in Congress and have passed away since our last 
report last year. The deceased Members of Congress are the following:
  Carl B. Albert of Oklahoma;
  Laurie C. Battle of Alabama;
  Gary Brown of Michigan;
  George E. Brown, Jr. of California;
  John H. Chafee of Rhode Island;
  Carl Thomas Curtis of Nebraska;
  David W. Dennis of Indiana;
  Bernard J. Dwyer of New Jersey;
  Floyd K. Haskell of Colorado;
  Henry Helstoski of New Jersey;
  Byron L. Johnson of Colorado;
  Ed Jones of Tennessee;

[[Page H3182]]

  Robert H. Mollohan of West Virginia;
  James C. Murray of Illinois;
  Richard B. Ray of Georgia;
  Hardie Scott of Pennsylvania;
  Abner W. Sibal of Connecticut;
  Fred Wampler of Indiana;
  Charles Wiggens of California;
  Bob Wilson of California.
  I would respectfully ask all of you at this point to stand for just a 
moment of silence in memory of our colleagues.
  Thank you very much.
  Mr. Speaker, as you know, we now reach what I think is one of the 
real highlights of our festivities during the annual meeting, and that 
is the presentation of our Distinguished Service Award.
  We present this each year to a distinguished and outstanding public 
servant. The award normally rotates between the two parties, as do the 
officers of the association. Last year, the award was presented to a 
Democrat, our distinguished former Speaker, Jim Wright, who as others 
have mentioned, is here with us again today and we are deeply grateful 
that he is able to be with us, along with his wife, Betty.
  This year, we are being totally nonpartisan and we are extremely 
pleased to be honoring a man who has been a very special friend and 
counselor to many of us, former House Chaplain, James David Ford.
  Before serving as House chaplain, Jim had a very distinguished career 
with which many of you are quite familiar. After graduating from 
Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, receiving a Master of Divinity 
from Augustana Seminary in Illinois, and attending graduate school at 
Heidelberg University in Germany, Jim served 1958 from 1961 as pastor 
of the Lutheran Church in Ivanhoe, Minnesota. From 1961 to 1965, he was 
the assistant chaplain at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New 
York. And at the tender age of 33, he was appointed by President 
Johnson as the senior chaplain at the Military Academy, where he was 
appointed three times more and served in that position from 1965 until 
1979, during which he counseled the corps of cadets not only at West 
Point, but also our active duty personnel in Vietnam.
  On January 17, 1979, Jim was elected chaplain of the House of 
Representatives and was reelected to that post every 2 years until his 
retirement this year.
  As you know, he has received countless awards and honorary degrees in 
recognition of his outstanding service to this institution.
  Jim Ford's devotion, exceptional counseling skills, and marvelous 
sense of humor have sustained many of us throughout the years. However, 
in addition to these qualities, Jim has many other talents, some rather 
unusual and extraordinary. In the spring of 1976, for example, he was 
captain of a 31-foot sailboat called the Yankee Doodle, which, with two 
crewmen, sailed from Plymouth, England, to West Point, New York. This 
Bicentennial adventure lasted 52 days at sea and covered 5,920 miles.
  Jim has appeared on the NBC ``Today'' Show, giving exhibitions of 
trick skiing and ski jumping. He also appeared on the CBS show ``I've 
Got a Secret,'' and some of us old-timers can remember that show. His 
secret was: ``Can perform a backwards ski jump.'' Not many of us can do 
that. Maybe some of you have seen the picture of him actually doing it. 
Jim also pilots an ultralight airplane in the Virginia foothills and is 
currently planning to sail across the Atlantic alone. So his talents 
are numerous.
  Jim, why don't you come up, if you would, please. He asked, does he 
get to talk. He cannot wait.
  Jim, there are two gifts that we present to you as a symbolic gesture 
of our great affection and one of them is a plaque. I do not know how 
many plaques you have, but this is a very nice attractive one. I hope 
you like it. Let me read to you what the plaque says, and I quote:

       His parishioners were politicians all. His parish was the 
     gilded hall where the soul of freedom dwells. To the Reverend 
     James David Ford, Chaplain of the U.S. House of 
     Representatives, 1979 to 2000. The U.S. Association of Former 
     Members of Congress thanks you for your dedicated pastoral 
     services to the People's House and its men and women. You 
     have provided counsel and comfort to our cadets at West 
     Point, our soldiers in Vietnam, and our Representatives in 
     the United States Congress. You will be missed. Sail on. 
     Washington, D.C., May 17, 2000.

  We also have a scrapbook, Jim, of letters from your many friends 
here, and colleagues, extending congratulations and affection to you 
for this award and, of course, for your great service. And so we want 
to present this to you now as well.
  And now it is my great privilege to present to you Reverend Jim Ford.
  Dr. FORD. Thank you very much for this award. I am honored and 
delighted to be here. My family are here too.
  There are some who say that I get this award as an attempt to keep me 
quiet and not write my book, which I of course will never do. I follow 
Martin Luther's remarks in the 16th century when he said, ``There are 
just too many books being written.''
  I would like to introduce my successor over here Chaplain Coughlin. 
Stand up, Chaplain. The new chaplain.
  Matt mentioned the things that I have done. One of the things you 
probably will not believe is he said I went off a ski jump backwards. 
In Minnesota, that is what we did. In Minnesota, we had nine months of 
winter and three months of poor sledding, and many of us were ski 
jumpers. I did go out one day and they bet me I could not go off. We 
did single jumps, double jumps, triple jumps. They bet me that I could 
not go off backwards and I did.
  I was on the show, ``I've Got a Secret,'' and that was my secret and 
they could not guess it. And when it was announced that I had gone off 
the ski jump backwards, Henry Morgan raised his hand and said, 
``Chaplain, I want to ask you a question. Is this when you first began 
to believe in God?''
  And, Chaplain Coughlin, I want you to know something. When you hear 
that story about the chaplain praying, it is a Senate joke. The Senate 
Chaplain went out to pray for the Members, took one look at them and 
decided to pray for America. That is a Senate story, Chaplain, not our 
side.
  You know, I started out in Lake Wobegon country, Minnesota. Garrison 
Keillor country. A town of 700. I was a country pastor, started out 
where my father and grandfather had started as pastors, within 50 
miles. And I never thought I would inherit the title of chaplain. I 
went to West Point in 1961, in my 20s, and met General Eisenhower who 
came to church one Sunday. Omar Bradley, I discussed D-Day with him.
  I knew MacArthur. In fact, I was there when MacArthur gave a famous 
speech. He gave one here, but he gave a more famous one called ``Duty, 
Honor, Country'' at West Point in the early 1960s. All he had on the 
podium was a crumpled piece of paper. He said he worked on that speech 
for 40 years, and his little piece of paper only said the word, 
``doorman.'' He began his speech this way. He said, ``As I left the 
Waldorf this morning, the doorman said to me, `General, where are you 
going today?' And MacArthur replied, `I'm going to West Point.' And the 
doorman said, `Nice place. Have you been there before?' ''
  But over the years, I got to know these men, Schwarzkopf, whom you 
know as a general, I remember as a captain and the meanest player in 
the noontime basketball league. Wes Clark, who just retired as NATO 
Commander, was one of my cadets. Barry McCaffrey, that you are going to 
hear at lunch, was one of my cadets. I am particularly proud that 
Senator Jack Reed, used to serve in the House, now in the Senate, was 
one of my cadets at West Point, Class of 1971. And presently John 
Shimkus from Illinois who serves in this body was also one of my 
cadets.
  I must tell you, even though it is late, of an important dream that I 
had last night. Of course, a chaplain is ecumenical and bipartisan. But 
I had a dream last night that Army was playing Navy in Philadelphia in 
football. And the two teams were going back and forth and neither team 
could score. And just before the end of the first half, a jet airplane 
flew over the stadium and let out a sonic boom, which the Army team 
took to be the gun ending the first half, so the Army team ran off the 
field. Three plays later, Navy scored. On a field goal.
  I came here after that 18 years going through the war as chaplain in 
1979. As you know, I always wore the clerical collar. Tip O'Neill 
called me ``Monsignor.'' He thought I was an Irish priest from South 
Boston. He had a committee. I mentioned their names,

[[Page H3183]]

George Mahon, the Chairman; John Rhodes, the Republican Leader, and Jim 
Wright, who is with us today on the Democratic side. The committee, we 
met in that office right over there. Now I know how important it is to 
have an office right off the floor.
  They asked me this question: What do you think about religion and 
politics? And leaping into my mind was a quote that the Governor of 
Minnesota had used in a chapel talk many years before, quoting Martin 
Luther, and I gave in answer to them, I said, ``As Martin Luther said 
in 1530, quote: Send your good men into the ministry, but send your 
best into politics. Because in the ministry it all depends on the 
spirit, but in politics you have shades of gray, ambiguities, and you 
need the finest people.'' Of course, after that self-serving comment, 
they hired me on the spot. But I also believe it. I grew up that way, 
and I believe it.
  When I left this place, I wrote a letter to the Members and I said 
that my feelings about Congress were strong when I came, and they are 
strengthened now that I leave. Religion points to the goals of life, 
politics tells us how to get there. We can agree on justice and peace, 
or faith, hope, and love. Call it what you will. But in politics, we 
have the give and take of argument and debate as to the how of 
achieving our goals.
  I remember as a young man in the 1950s, I went to the Soviet Union 
and I visited the legislature and it was quiet. And in the 1960s, I 
went to the East German legislature and it was quiet. Democracy is 
noisy. I like the noise. I have been with the noise here for 21 years. 
It is a part of the gift of democracy.
  Concluding, in my 21 years here, I counted up I have been here for 
about 35 joint meetings. And as you know, it is a joint session when 
the President comes; it is a joint meeting when the Heads of State 
come. And during this time, in these 35 speeches that I heard, I do not 
think one of them has lived under one constitution for 200 years. We 
are a young Nation with a very old and mature Constitution.
  I heard Vaclav Havel speak here from Czechoslovakia. Remember, he got 
up and said ``I am just a playwright. What do I know? There is no 
school to be President.'' And we celebrated democracy with him.
  Lech Walesa of Poland got up, and he said, ``I am an electrician. If 
the lights go out tonight, I can fix them. But now I am leading a 
country.'' Or Nelson Mandela, 27 years in prison who stood up here and 
spoke about reconciliation.
  It has been a pride to serve as your chaplain for these many years, 
for politics is a noble vocation, a noble opportunity and calling. I 
have observed your debates. I have listened to your private concerns. I 
have encouraged you in your service. I have celebrated with you the 
joys of democracy.
  When you think of your service as former Members in this Congress, I 
say to you stand tall and be proud, because your politics has been a 
noble vocation. Thank you.
  Mr. McHUGH. On behalf of all of us, Jim, we thank you again for your 
friendship and your warmth and your great service to this institution 
and to us.
  We also welcome and wish our best to the new chaplain, who I am sure 
will serve with equal distinction.
  Mr. Speaker, the Members of the association were honored and proud to 
serve in the U.S. Congress and in a way we are continuing our service 
to the Nation in other ways now, but hopefully ones that are equally as 
effective. Again, we thank you for letting us make this annual report, 
and this concludes our session for today, and we again invite all of 
the Members to the next panel at 10:30 on the China-U.S. relations. 
Thank you very much.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair again wishes to thank the former 
Members of the House for their presence here today. Before terminating 
these proceedings, the Chair would like to invite those former Members 
who did not respond when the roll was called to give their names to the 
reading clerks for inclusion in the roll.
  The Chair wishes to thank the former Members of Congress for their 
response here today. Good luck to all of you.
  The Chair announces that the House will reconvene at 10:45 a.m.
  Accordingly (at 10 o'clock and 26 minutes a.m.) the House continued 
in recess.

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