[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 121 (Tuesday, October 3, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H8625-H8626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY; RESULTS, NOT PROCESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to 
offer my best wishes to our colleague Chairman Bill Goodling as he 
returns to the private sector and express my thanks for his many years 
of service to the nation and to the people of Pennsylvania. I have had 
the privilege to serve with Bill Goodling since I was elected to the 
House in 1980 and throughout that time I have been impressed with his 
strong commitment to putting people before politics.
  Bill Goodling's 22 years of experience as a public school teacher, 
coach and principal in York County, Pennsylvania were the perfect 
preparation for his service as Chairman of the Committee on Education 
and the Workforce. Throughout his tenure as Chairman, Congressman 
Goodling has made a lasting impact on how we view the federal role in 
both education and the workforce. Chairman Goodling  has emphasized 
allowing decisions to be made on the local level and creating a federal 
system that works effectively and efficiently with local authorities.
  Since Republicans came into the majority, Bill Goodling has taken the 
primary leadership role on some of the most important legislation 
affecting Americans. He has been central to Congressional efforts to 
pass legislation to reform the welfare system and to eliminate waste in 
the Department of Education. Through bills like Dollars to the 
Classroom which would direct 90 percent of federal funding for 
education directly to the States and local school districts and allow 
no more than 10 percent to be used for administrative purposes and the 
EdFlex legislation which provide States with the flexibility to decide 
where federal funding is most needed without the typical red tape and 
regulations from Washington, he has been successful in forcing us to 
reexamine the role of the federal government in education.
  Along with these accomplishments, his work to address the needs of 
the disabled in both our education system and the workforce will remain 
a strong legacy for Bill. Since it's enactment in 1975, he has shown a 
strong dedication to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 
(IDEA). IDEA has helped to ensure that students with disabilities 
receive the same access to a quality education as other children. he 
has been tireless in his work to improve the program and to push for 
the full federal funding requirement 40 percent which, under his 
leadership and commitment is expected to happen by 2004.
  I would like to express my personal appreciation for Chairman 
Goodling's help in my attempt to promote financial literacy education 
in our schools. With his support, the House passed my concurrent 
resolution encouraging the Secretary of Education to promote financial 
literacy programs in schools. As well as this resolution, he also 
supported my request for inclusion of language in the Elementary and 
Secondary Reauthorization Act that would provide grants to states and 
implement financial literacy programs in their schools.
  While we will all miss Bill Goodling's leadership and friendship, I 
know he will enjoy this next step in his life and I wish him and his 
wife Hilda all the best.
  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I want to pay tribute to one of our 
colleagues, Bill Goodling, who is retiring this year after 26 years of 
service in the House of Representatives.
  Bill Goodling has served his constituents well in his time in 
Congress. He has honestly and consistently reflected their views, and 
he has worked hard to improve the economic health of Pennsylvania's 
19th Congressional District. He also worked tirelessly and in a 
bipartisan fashion as a member of Pennsylvania's Congressional 
delegation to address problems facing the Commonwealth.
  Bill Goodling's public service is by no means limited to his time in 
the House of Representatives. Before being elected to Congress, he 
worked as a teacher, coach, principal, and school board president. His 
experience in education allowed him to bring a practitioner's knowledge 
and experience to his service on the House Education and Labor 
Committee--and eventually to his chairmanship of the House Committee on 
Education and the Workforce. His lifelong dedication to education is an 
outstanding example of a life spent in public service.
  I am sorry to see Bill leave this body. I want to wish him and his 
family the best in the coming years.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, It is with a great deal of sadness that I 
join in bidding farewell to an outstanding Member of this chamber, one 
of the leading Members of Congress of the last quarter century, and a 
good and dear friend.
  Bill Goodling was initially elected to Congress to succeed his 
father, who represented the 19th District of Pennsylvania for 12 years. 
but Bill soon made it clear that his agenda of outstanding 
representation of his district coupled with sincerely held beliefs was 
his own. Bill brought his own distinct style to this chamber, and for 
this he is going to be sorely missed.
  For the past six years, Bill Goodling served as Chairman of the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce. In that position, he has been 
one of the more outstanding Members of our House leadership. Bill was 
never afraid to remind us that he who governs the least governs the 
best. He especially championed the right of local school boards to make 
their own decisions, free from the dictates of Washington bureaucrats.
  Bill chose to retire this year, and his shoes are going t0 be 
extremely difficult to fill. To his wife, Hilda, and his two children, 
we state that while you are gaining a full time family member we in the 
House are losing an inspiration and role model.
  Mr. Speaker, I invite all of our colleagues to join with me in 
wishing Bill Goodling and his family all of the best in the future, and 
many happy healthy years to come.
  Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, I want to join my colleagues in 
honor of Chairman Bill Goodling. For the last ten years, I've had the 
privilege of working with Bill Goodling on the Education and Workforce 
Committee to promote fairness in labor as well as education policy. 
Those that are closest to my heart are policies particularly affecting 
our nation's rural children. Our nation's children are fortunate to 
have had someone as dedicated and experienced at the helm of the 
committee charged with creating and refining

[[Page H8626]]

education policy. Through his steadfast commitment to promoting 
children's issues like literacy, technology, quality teachers, and IDEA 
funding--Bill Goodling has truly been a champion for children across 
this country.
  At the end of this session, Bill Goodling and I will both be stepping 
down and moving on to new challenges in private life. But no matter 
what the future has in store for Bill Goodling, I know his commitment 
to our nation's children will continue and that our country is a better 
place because of his service.
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to honor my good friend 
Bill Goodling, who retires this year after a quarter-century of service 
to this country in this House, during which he has become one of the 
nation's foremost advocates on common-sense education policy.
  Since becoming Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, 
Bill Goodling has fought tirelessly to send more control over our 
schools to local authorities. Bill's leadership and success in 
education policy have created options for educators and students 
throughout the U.S. which were not previously available.
  For the last quarter-century, Bill Goodling has been a friend, 
mentor, and leader on education issues. Like many other Members, I have 
looked to him for guidance. I am proud to have been his colleague, and 
honored to call him a friend. The people of Adams, York, and Cumberland 
Counties are truly fortunate to have had Bill Goodling represent them 
in Congress for all of these years. I thank him for his friendship and 
wish Bill and Hilda the very best for the years to come.
  Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank everyone for 
their overly generous comments that were made this morning. It has been 
a labor of love. We have done a lot of wonderful things together in a 
bipartisan fashion, always with the best interest of children in mind.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that when I leave here, the echoes will still be 
in the Chamber saying: Quality, not quantity. Results, not process.
  But I want to leave three challenges to Members. First of all, this 
is the greatest institution in the world. It is the most important 
institution in the world. We do not do a very good job of making sure 
that everybody in this country understands that and everybody in the 
world understands.
  I know how it is at home. They bad mouth this institution. They say 
disparaging remarks about some of our colleagues, and we let them get 
away with it because they will always say, Now, we are not talking 
about you. You are a good Member.
  Well, I always tell them, I would like to see anyone get 435-plus 
members in any organization together to do as well as this group does, 
to be as honorable as this group, to be as dedicated as this group. And 
we just have to make sure that everybody understands that and we do not 
let them get away with making bad remarks.
  Philosophically, we may have awful arguments and disagreements and so 
on. But man-to-man, woman-to-woman, man-to-woman, et cetera, in this 
institution, all of these people were very successful people before 
they ever came here, and I would hope that we would take that challenge 
and make sure that everybody understands everything we do, everything 
we say, not only affects our constituents but all over the country, all 
over the world. We are the greatest institution and the most important 
institution.
  Secondly, I would hope that every vote is cast with the best 
interest, and particularly in the area of education, with children. I 
do not care about perception or anything else. What is it that we are 
doing that will assure a quality education for all of our children? 
Fifty percent of our children are not at the present time receiving a 
quality education, and I am sorry that I could not do more about 
bringing about that quality while we were here.
  And then last, I worry about the young Members and their young 
families. In fact, they are in my prayers constantly. This is not a 
family-friendly institution. All I say to my colleagues is put that 
family first, always put the family first. And I am sure that they will 
reap great rewards by doing that.
  Mr. Speaker, lastly let me say, we owe so much to our staffs. I am 
not going to recite all the staff members that I have. But my district 
staff, my staff on the committee, the staff in my office here, they are 
just wonderful, wonderful dedicated people giving hours and hours and 
hours of their time and sometimes not paid too well for doing it. And 
so my hat is off to the staff.
  Again, I thank my colleagues for their generous comments. And always 
remember: quality, not quantity; results, not process.

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