[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 68 (Tuesday, June 6, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3880-H3882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     MATTHEW F. McHUGH POST OFFICE

  Mrs. MORELLA. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3030) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 757 Warren Road in Ithaca, New York, as the 
``Matthew F. McHugh Post Office''.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3030

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

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       (a) In General.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 757 Warren Road in Ithaca, New York, shall 
     be known and designated as the ``Matthew F. McHugh Post 
     Office''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Matthew F. McHugh Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Fattah) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella).


                             General Leave

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks on H.R. 3030.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Maryland?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, our distinguished colleague, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Hinchey), has introduced the bill before us, H.R. 3030. 
Pursuant to the policy of the Committee on Government Reform, the 
entire House delegation of the State of New York has cosponsored this 
legislation.
  The bill designates the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 757 Warren Road in Ithaca, New York, as the Matthew F. 
McHugh Post Office.
  The Congressional Budget Office has reviewed H.R. 3030 and estimates 
that the enactment of the bill would have no significant impact on the 
Federal budget. Spending by the Postal Service is classified as off-
budget, and thus is not subject to pay-as-you-go procedures.
  Mr. McHugh studied at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, 
Maryland, the State that I represent. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in 
1960 and was the President of the student body. He then received his 
Juris Doctor from Villanova Law School, where he was the editor of the 
Law Review. He was city prosecutor in Ithaca, practiced law in Ithaca, 
New York, and was district attorney in Tompkins County, New York.
  Matthew McHugh was the predecessor of the gentleman from New York 
(Mr. Hinchey) to Congress, and represented the 27th and 28th 
Congressional Districts of New York. Representative McHugh was elected 
to Congress in 1975 and he served until 1992. He served on the 
Committee on Appropriations, the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, 
Export Financing and Related Programs, and the Subcommittee on Rural 
Development, Agriculture and Related Agencies from 1978 to 1992.
  He served on numerous other committees and organizations while in the 
House, such as the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he 
was chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislation. He was acting chairman 
of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, and he served on the 
Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families; the Committee on 
Veterans Affairs; the Committee on Agriculture; the Committee on the 
Interior; the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus; and as the 
chairman of the Democratic Study Group.
  After leaving the House, Mr. McHugh continued his participation in 
improving our Nation and the world. He is presently the counselor to 
the president of the World Bank in Washington, D.C., a position he 
assumed in 1993.
  Prior to that, he was vice president, university counsel, and 
secretary to the Corporation of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. 
He continues to serve in various capacities in organizations, such as 
the National Endowment for Democracy, the Central and East European Law 
Initiative of the American Bar Association, the International Crisis 
Group.
  He is president of the Association of Former Members of Congress, 
Bread for the World, New York State Regents Commission on Higher 
Education, the Board of Consulters of the Villanova School of Law, and 
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mount St. Mary's College.
  I had the pleasure of serving with Mr. McHugh and traveling with him 
internationally in pursuit of the best interests of our country with 
foreign affairs, and it is a great pleasure to be able to

[[Page H3881]]

speak on behalf of this bill to name the post office the Matthew F. 
McHugh Post Office.
  I urge our colleagues to support H.R. 3030, honoring our former 
colleague by naming that postal facility at 757 Warren Road in Ithaca, 
New York, as the Matthew F. McHugh Post Office.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Hinchey) will control the time of the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah).
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to speak on 
behalf of this initiative, which will name the postal facility in 
Ithaca, New York, after my dear friend, colleague, and predecessor, the 
Honorable Matthew F. McHugh.
  It gives me particular pleasure to do so following the statements 
that have been just made by the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. 
Morella), whose service with Mr. McHugh overlapped.
  I know that Matt holds the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) 
in great respect and affection, as do I, and I know very well that he 
would be very pleased if he were in this room now to have just heard 
the very lovely and kind and warm remarks that she made about him, as I 
was just a moment ago.

                              {time}  1300

  I want to thank the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) very 
much for what she has just said.
  Also, I want to say that I too am honored to stand before you today 
to urge our support, the support of all the Members of the House, for 
H.R. 3030, which would rename the new post office building in Ithaca, 
New York, in honor of former Representative Matthew F. McHugh.
  Matt was my predecessor in the House, and I know many people here who 
served with him. He served with distinction for nine terms as a member 
of the Committee on Appropriations for 14 years. Matt championed issues 
like hunger in Africa that brought him no particular glory and no 
attention. He was a passionate advocate for those who could not 
adequately defend themselves and a voice for meeting our international 
responsibilities in a humane way.
  In his present position at the World Bank, and his many volunteer 
efforts, he remains a strong, dedicated leader in securing human rights 
for all.
  Matt's road to Congress began like many Members, with a career in 
law. He first moved to Ithaca, New York, in 1968 to join a law firm in 
that city. Just 1 year later, he was elected as Tompkins County's 
district attorney, making him the first Democrat to hold a county-wide 
elected office there in decades.
  In 1974, he was enlisted to run for the House seat which was then 
being vacated by former Representative Howard Robison, a very 
distinguished Republican who held that seat for a good many years and 
who was retiring at that moment. Matt McHugh won that seat and served 
the district admirably and well for 18 years.
  When he retired from the House, he was widely praised by Members of 
both parties as well as in the press for his thoughtfulness, his 
fairness, and his integrity. A national columnist, upon the news of his 
retirement, wrote that Matt McHugh was an example of ``the best the 
House can offer.'' Our ranking member, the gentleman from Wisconsin 
(Mr. Obey) said, and I quote, ``In my view, there is no Member of this 
House who more aptly sums up what public service ought to be all about 
than does Matt McHugh.''
  Throughout his years in Congress, he made Ithaca his home. Ithacans 
continue to take pride in having sent a man of such distinction to the 
House of Representatives, and community leaders there have told me that 
they welcome such a permanent commemoration of Matt and his years of 
public service. Although he was never the kind of man to seek such 
honors, I know that he deserves recognition and this permanent 
commemoration of the service he gave will remind people of the fine 
example he set.
  Naming the new Ithaca post office in his honor is one small way in 
which we can acknowledge his years of hard work, dedication, and 
commitment to the people of New York's 26th Congressional District.
  I owe a special thanks also to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Houghton), our friend and colleague, in whose district the post office 
lies, as well as to the gentleman from New York (Chairman McHugh) for 
his assistance in bringing this bill to the House. The gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Houghton) served with Matt here for a number of years. 
They were, during that service, good friends; and they continue to be 
good friends to this day.
  Matt still provides service for the country, as the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Mrs. Morella) has said, in his position as vice president and 
counsel to the president of the World Bank.
  He was, in fact, a distinguished Member of this House; indeed, as 
many people referred to him during his service here, a man of the 
House. And he continues to be a strong, dedicated, faithful citizen of 
the United States. We all owe him a great thanks for his service to the 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
LaFalce).
  (Mr. LaFALCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I probably knew Matt McHugh for longer than 
anybody in this body, because I first met him at Villanova Law School 
in the early 1960s when we were both students there. Above and beyond 
being students together, we were counselors at that time to the 
undergraduate students at Villanova University. I also came to know his 
lovely wife, Alanna, then. They were dating at that time. And when we 
talk about a great human being, we have to think of two human beings, 
both Matt and his wonderful wife, Alanna.
  From the very first day I knew him, through all of our 18 years in 
Congress together to today, there is no one I have ever respected more, 
both professionally and personally. Matt was the type of individual at 
law school who never had a bad word to say about anyone. If he had a 
bad thought, he kept it to himself. He only spoke well of others. He 
was a kind man, a gentle man as a law student.
  Mr. Speaker, I remember the tremendous job he did when he was the 
district attorney in Tompkins County at the time of the uprisings at 
Cornell, and he handled it so judiciously, so appropriately.
  He was elected to Congress in the great Watergate year, 1974. He was 
one of the ``Watergate Babies,'' and so was I. We were elected at the 
same time, and we came to Congress on the same day.
  As Members, we always like to double check ourselves. Are we doing 
something right? Are we doing something wrong? And I always wanted to 
know how Matt McHugh was going to vote on an issue, because if his 
inclinations were the same as mine, I felt pretty secure in my 
conviction. And if his inclinations differed from mine, that would give 
me pause and concern, because I trusted his judgment and knew that he 
was, perhaps more than anything else, an intellectually honest person.
  He was not a partisan. Sure, he was a Democrat more than Republican; 
he labeled himself as such. But he was not a partisan Democrat. He 
approached each and every issue on its merits.
  There are not too many individuals we can say that of. He did not try 
to fool others. He tried to give the total truth, not just a half-truth 
that would serve his own purposes. But perhaps most importantly, he 
never attempted to fool himself. And the most difficult thing in the 
world is being honest with yourself.
  So when we honor Matt McHugh, we are honoring one of the best persons 
who has ever served in this House. I am just grateful that he has 
continued to perform public service since he retired as a Member. When 
he and I first knew each other, we were counselors to students. Now he 
is the counselor to the president of the World Bank. And in that sense, 
he is not just affecting millions of people in the world, or billions, 
as we in Congress do, but virtually every person in the world in his 
position as counselor to the president of the World Bank.
  Matt would be the first to say that having one's name carved in stone 
is

[[Page H3882]]

not a true measure of the person or of his impact on the world. But I 
and many others will take considerable pleasure in knowing that high 
above Cayuga's waters for decades to come, Matt's name will be seen by 
millions of Ithacans and other New Yorkers. And parents will tell their 
children, Matt McHugh? Oh, he is probably the best public servant this 
town, this county, this State has ever known.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope you and all our colleagues will join me in 
supporting this honor for one of the best Members of Congress our 
institution has ever known, Matt McHugh.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from San 
Diego, California (Mr. Filner).
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for 
yielding me this time, and I thank him for introducing this motion for 
a great former Member of our body. I thank also the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton) 
for their support of this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I have the honor of rising in support of this measure to 
name the post office in Ithaca after Matthew McHugh. We have heard a 
lot about his legislative accomplishments, his work in the Committee on 
Appropriations, his work at the World Bank. I had the privilege of 
meeting Matt McHugh before he held any of those offices, a little after 
the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) knew him.
  I was a student at Cornell in 1968 when Matt McHugh was the Ithaca 
city prosecutor. ``Town and gown'' relations between Cornell and Ithaca 
were never very good, but in 1968 at the height of tensions around this 
country and at the Cornell campus, literally uprisings, the tensions 
were even worse. And yet the Ithaca city prosecutor was respected by 
students at Cornell, and he respected us as students.
  It was that mutual respect and that mutual sense of good feeling 
which has characterized the career of Matt McHugh ever since that day.
  At 30 years old, he was elected the first Democratic district 
attorney for Tompkins County, New York. Many students at Cornell, 
including myself, worked in that first campaign for Matt McHugh. The 
respect that he earned in that job, as the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
LaFalce) intimated earlier, led to his election to Congress in 1974, 
again, as the first Democrat from that area in a very, very long time.
  Now, Matt McHugh was the kind of man who kept up his relationships. 
He was never a man who was unfriendly; always a gracious, sharing, 
caring individual. I kept my relations with him as a Hill staffer in 
the 1970s and 80's. And what we are saying today, those who knew him 
and those who served with him, is that Matt McHugh saw politics as a 
noble profession. Everybody who knows Matt McHugh, and knew him as an 
elected official, learned that, in fact, politicians, elected 
officials, could be noble; that elected officials had not only 
intelligence and insight, but they had integrity and ethics, fairness, 
and in the case of Matt McHugh, grace.
  His wife, Alanna, and his wonderful daughters, played a key role in 
all of his life. He was proud of them and they were proud of him, and 
he showed what a family in politics could do together.
  Mr. Speaker, having lived in Ithaca for 10 years, and I think the 
only Cornell alumnus in this body at the present time, I know that all 
Ithacans will be proud that a post office in their city will be named 
after Matt McHugh.
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank our friends, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. LaFalce) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), for 
their words about our dear friend, Matt McHugh. I also want to express 
my deep appreciation to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) 
for the wonderful and very thoughtful things that she said about our 
friend and colleague, Matt McHugh, as well.
  Having followed him here to the House, I can say also without 
hesitation or fear of conviction that he set, while he was here, a very 
high standard indeed and he continues to set a high standard in his 
continuing public service at the World Bank.
  We in New York are very, very proud of this man and the service that 
he has rendered to our State and to the country. It is with a great 
deal of pride that I offer this measure to the other Members of the 
House.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Hinchey) has introduced this resolution to name this post office. 
During my time with Matt McHugh here in the House of Representatives, I 
will also say that I found him to be fair, open-minded, warm, 
bipartisan, and a very committed professional.
  I am pleased that he is continuing with his work with the World Bank, 
because he is helping those who are oppressed and those who need the 
Bank's services in other countries.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I urge this body to vote for H.R. 3030, to name the 
post office the ``Matthew F. McHugh Post Office.''
  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 gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3030.
  The question was taken.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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