[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 126 (Wednesday, October 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H9796-H9800]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
McKINNEY-VENTO HOMELESS ASSISTANCE ACT
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on
Banking and Financial Services be discharged from further consideration
of the bill (H.R. 5417) to rename the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless
Assistance Act as the ``McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act,'' and
ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Iowa?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the bill, as follows:
H.R. 5417
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DESIGNATION OF MC KINNEY-VENTO HOMELESS ASSISTANCE
ACT.
Section 1 of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance
Act (42 U.S.C. 11301 note; Public Law 100-77) is amended by
striking subsection (a) and inserting the following new
subsection:
``(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the `McKinney-
Vento Homeless Assistance Act'.''.
SEC. 2. REFERENCES.
Any reference in any law, regulation, document, paper, or
other record of the United States to the Stewart B. McKinney
Homeless Assistance Act shall be deemed to be a reference to
the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) is
recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield 30 minutes
to the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) for the purpose of
controlling the minority's time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Iowa?
There was no objection.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, changing the title of a major piece of legislation may
seem like a small step for Congress to take, but it has symbolic
meaning to the congressional family.
Changing the name Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Act to the McKinney-
Vento Act implies putting the names of two of our most esteemed
colleagues together, two colleagues who have passed away, the one most
recently. Like Mr. McKinney, Bruce Vento devoted his life to the
problems of the disadvantaged. He symbolized much as a friend, he
symbolized much as a colleague, he symbolized much as a constructive
legislator.
I think, though, it is important to note that this particular bill
was suggested by our good friend the gentleman from New York (Mr.
LaFalce). I certainly strongly supported him and am appreciative that
our leadership concurred.
Mr. Speaker, I think at this point I would like to turn to the
gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) to outline the causes and
background of this bill and certainly to express my strongest support
for his initiative.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, first of all I want to thank the gentleman from Iowa. I
remember the very first day that the gentleman from Iowa and I
discovered that Bruce Vento had incurred cancer. And we talked and we
said that Bruce Vento is a very, very special person and we ought to do
something very special for him. This is the least we can do.
I love Bruce Vento. I sat next to him for almost 24 years. There are
so many things that I could say about him, but maybe more than anything
else, Bruce Vento cared. He was a caring, loving human being. He cared
about our poor. He cared about our underprivileged. He cared about
equal justice. He cared about preserving the beauty of our natural
resources. He cared about the rights of consumers. He cared about the
future of our Nation's youth. And it is difficult to say what he cared
about most. But very possibly he might have cared most about our
homeless. And each of these issues, each of these causes has lost a
great friend.
Bruce Vento was a great leader, a tireless champion of the poor and
the homeless; and he brought such tremendous compassion, intellect,
vision, dedication, persistence, tenacity to the work of writing our
Nation's laws. It has also been written that all of this to be genius
must be accompanied by good sense. And Bruce Vento had good sense which
made him a genius of both a person and a legislator.
The bill before us today, cosponsored by each and every member of the
Committee on Banking and Financial Services, both Democrat and
Republican and countless other Members of this House, would rename the
Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act the McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act. It is fitting to Congressman Bruce Vento's tireless
commitment to the homeless. We will pass this today. I hope it will
become law in this Congress.
For 24 years, Bruce was a tireless champion and advocate on behalf of
homeless people. And he wrote many if not every law that brings
compassion and comfort to our homeless, to our poor and destitute.
{time} 1830
Traces of his tireless commitment can be found on any forgotten
street in urban America. His commitment can be found in a shelter where
families go for a hot meal. His commitment can be found in a vacant
building that has
[[Page H9797]]
been converted into a place where the homeless can find a bed and a
roof over their heads.
There is so much more I would like to say, but so many others wish to
speak on this bill and on Bruce's behalf, too. I just want to say one
thing. He was blessed, too, with a great staff; and I came to know two
of them in particular, Larry Romans and Kirsten Johnson-Obey, and so
much of Bruce's legislative record was only possible because of their
great ability and work, too. They represent the best of what
congressional staff can be, and I know that Bruce looking down on us
would feel it very important that we make that statement, too.
I urge everyone to support this bill and honor Bruce.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema).
(Mrs. ROUKEMA asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr.
Leach) for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise with a very heavy heart tonight. I worked a long
time with Mr. Vento on the Committee on Banking and Financial Services.
We traded back and forth. When the Democrats were in the majority, he
was the chairman and I was the ranking; and alternately when the
Republicans took charge, but we always tried best to work together for
whatever was good for the American people.
This is very little to-do today but much, much necessary to the
visible recognition of Mr. Vento's tireless efforts here in this
Congress and certainly in improving the lot of the Nation's homeless.
So it is very appropriate, even if it is not enough, but it is very
appropriate for us to name this the McKinney-Vento bill in recognition
of his tireless work.
I will not go into the full explanation. The gentleman from New York
(Mr. LaFalce) has very nicely outlined the work that Mr. Vento has
done, but let me give a few other personal observations. He certainly
was a major force behind the 1987 law that established the emergency
shelter grant program for traditional housing, as the gentleman from
New York (Mr. LaFalce) has outlined; and, of course, his activities on
the Committee on Resources are outstanding. I was privileged to work
with him closely on the Committee on Banking and Financial Services,
and I remember as a relatively new member of the committee when he gave
leadership with the Resolution Trust Corporation and the task force.
As I remember it, it was a task force that oversaw the cleanup of the
savings and loan debacle of the 1980s. I will say, it was a good
example of how Mr. Vento always maintained his standards on behalf of
the people; financial integrity and intellectual integrity and personal
integrity, and it was a good example of that. But I guess there was
never an action that we took on the Committee on Banking and Financial
Services, whether it be on homelessness or whether it was on financial
modernization or on savings and loan cleanup, his contributions always
displayed that he was an advocate for the people to improve their
lives. Knowing him as I did, I can say that he had a heart and a soul,
and we recognize him today for that.
I guess I also want to say that we did not agree on every issue.
There were issues on which we agreed to disagree, but I will say it was
a symbol of his stature of integrity and honesty and professionalism
that we could always agree to disagree, but there was never any
personal bickering or animosity; and there was always the respect of a
gentleman and a scholar.
We are going to miss him desperately. I know I am and others in this
Congress are going to miss him desperately, but I have to say in
addition to what we are doing tonight, I for one am speaking now only
for myself, nevertheless recognize the health issues and concerns that
are integral to his passing; and I believe that whatever else there is
that needs to be done, and there is some unfinished business out there
with respect to the asbestos questions with relationship to housing and
other uses of asbestos in our communities, but I think we also have to
recognize that there has to be renewed effort and research and expanded
research, as much as we have done this year on cancer research. But we
will have to redirect efforts next year, or rather expand efforts not
redirect them, expand them next year, with the recognition of the loss
of our beloved and honorable colleague, Bruce Vento.
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Kanjorski).
Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to join with our chairman of
the Committee on Banking and Financial Services and ranking member in
paying tribute to Bruce Vento. Bruce was the sort of fellow that was a
real legislator, a quiet, gentle man.
I came to the Congress a number of terms after Bruce, but I was
always impressed with the fact that he would willingly offer his
insights as to how the Congress operated and how we could best serve
our constituents. Speaking of constituents, Bruce really had two: that
excellent district he represented in Minnesota but also all the needy
and homeless people of America. Their benefits over these last many
years, although they probably have no awareness of the fact, are to a
great deal due to his ever-present desire to see that the American
government recognized that there are needs in this country that must be
served, and he was their best ambassador and representative to serve
those needs. I think it is most fitting that we tie Bruce Vento to the
McKinney Act, because in a way Stew McKinney had some of the same
characteristics of gentleness that Bruce had; an able legislator, not a
partisan but a person that worked with real integrity. I suspect Bruce
and Stew will be in conversation now; and we in the Congress, we in
America, are poorer for their passing but inevitably as life makes its
cycle we all come to pass.
I am very pleased and honored to join the gentleman from Iowa (Mr.
Leach) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce) in supporting this
resolution, and I hope that we have the full support of the entire
Congress.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).
Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr.
Leach) for yielding and this opportunity to speak.
Mr. Speaker, I rise as a cosponsor and strong supporter of H.R. 5417,
legislation to rename the Stewart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act as
the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. To borrow a line from our
16th President, arguably our greatest President, Abraham Lincoln of
Illinois, it is altogether fitting and proper that we honor our
recently departed colleague, Representative Bruce Vento of Minnesota,
in this way. After all, if it were not for Representative Vento and his
determined efforts, the Stewart B. McKinney Assistance Act would never
have been created.
Bruce Vento was one of the earliest and strongest proponents of
enacting a major Federal legislative response to homelessness. His
tireless efforts were rewarded with the enactment in 1987 of the
McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, but his dedication to homelessness
did not stop there. Up until the very end of his life, Representative
Vento remained a vocal and true champion of homeless assistance
programs. The success of the McKinney Act in helping hundreds of
thousands of Americans regain the stability in their life is testament
to the foresight, hard work and character of the man who helped to
shape this law. In celebration of this success and of the gentleman's
distinguished congressional career, it is only fitting that the act on
which Bruce Vento worked with such passion is renamed in his honor, and
I am very honored to be on this bill.
Mr. LAFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
New York (Mrs. Maloney).
Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that
I join my colleagues in adding our colleague, Congressman Bruce
Vento's, name to this important legislation. We all knew that some day
Members of Congress would stand here in the well of the House to praise
Bruce's many accomplishments. It is truly sad that this day has come so
soon.
In my years in Congress, I have enjoyed a close working relationship
with
[[Page H9798]]
Congressman Vento as colleagues on the Committee on Banking and
Financial Services. The Committee on Banking and Financial Services
deals with some of the most complex issues in all of Congress. Bruce
put in the time and mastered the range of complex issues. As a teacher
himself, prior to coming to Congress, he became a resource to all
committee members, providing counsel on a host of complex issues from
financial modernization to intricate housing programs.
All along the way, Bruce served as a tireless advocate for all
consumers. He truly stood up for the working people time and time
again. He made it his focus to ensure that individual's rights are
protected when they do business with the most powerful banks and
financial companies in the world. His legacy on the committee and his
impact on consumer banking law will live for decades to come. It is
truly appropriate that we add his name to this legislation, the aim of
which is to aid the homeless. Providing housing for the less fortunate
was part of Congressman Vento's daily work. President Clinton said it
best yesterday at a White House event saying, and I quote, ``that
Congressman Vento was a great teacher, a great representative and a
wonderful human being.''
Let me convey to Congressman Vento's family, his friends, his
dedicated long-time staff here in Washington and Minnesota, and to the
people of Congressman Vento's fourth district my strongest and
heartfelt condolences.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Bentsen).
(Mr. BENTSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. BENTSEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to rise in strong support of this
bill, and I commend the chairman and the ranking member for their work
on this. The people of Minnesota clearly have suffered a loss in the
passing of Bruce Vento, but so have the American people; and also, I
think all of his colleagues on the Committee on Banking and Financial
Services and his colleagues on the Committee on Resources as well.
I had the opportunity to serve with Bruce for the last 6 years, and I
found him as one who could be a mentor, who could be an ally,
occasionally he was an adversary but he was always an honorable one in
any role that he played.
Having sat through numerous hearings with him, having traveled with
him, it is hard to understand the level of institutional knowledge that
has been lost in his passing.
I dare say that Bruce Vento's fingerprints are probably on every
major piece of financial legislation that has passed this Congress in
the last quarter century and every major piece of environmental
legislation, national parks legislation, that has come through this
Congress.
We, as American citizens, owe him a great debt of gratitude. Bruce
was one who was willing and steadfast in his support of the American
consumers, of the average working men and women of this country; of
ensuring that their rights were protected; ensuring that our
environment was protected, but Bruce was also one that at the end of
the day felt it was his role, I believe, as a Member of this House to
get something done.
He was willing to reach across the aisle, to reach that bridge across
issues that divided members on the committees and in the House, between
this body and the other body, to get legislation passed that in the end
would do good for the American people.
{time} 1845
I just want to say that I think it is extremely fitting that his name
be added with McKinney's name to the homeless act, and I commend the
chairman and the ranking member for doing that.
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding time to me.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to echo the sentiments that have already been
expressed by so many on this floor, but also so many throughout
America.
I first knew of Bruce Vento through one of his fellow Minnesotans who
moved to the community where I live in Chicago, Al Arcello, who was
actively involved in prevention programs.
He said to me when I came, you ought to get to know Bruce Vento, and
get to know him I did. I got to know him through his work, through
observation of his sensitivity and his ability to reach out, especially
to those who are sometimes called the least ones in our society, those
who are untouchable, unreachable; the homeless, those that we do not
always see.
I serve on the board of directors of a homeless newspaper,
Streetwise. I can tell the Members, from all of those who sell
Streetwise, all of those who have benefited from assistance to the
homeless, I say on their behalf, we thank Bruce Vento for reaching out
and representing those who oftentimes are left behind and not
represented.
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to
me.
Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening in support of H.R. 5417, to rename
the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act the McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act.
I am very proud to join with my colleagues in doing this and paying
tribute to a very, very great human being, a great legislator, a great
and important and respected Member of the United States Congress, now
deceased.
I am very proud that I have had the opportunity to serve on the
Committee on Banking and Financial Services with Mr. Vento. I am very
proud and pleased that I came to this Congress at a time when many of
the great minds still held forth in this Congress.
Mr. Vento was one of those Members who was an expert in the field of
banking and housing and the wilderness. He exemplified the best in what
a legislator could and should be all about.
This that we do today is but a small tribute to him, because when we
review the tremendous contributions that he has made to this country
and to this Nation, one could understand why we would readily want to
in some way show our appreciation for all that he has done for all of
us.
Mr. Speaker, it was said today when I had a discussion with one of my
former staff members that he remembered Bruce Vento because he always
concerned himself with these questions: How will this measure impact
the environment, and how will this measure impact low- and moderate-
income communities?
Mr. Speaker, this is very important to me and to members of my staff.
We work for the least of these. We do our best to represent poor people
and to represent working people, and to represent folks who do not
oftentimes have any way of connecting to the great policy-making
bodies, either at the local, State, or Federal level.
So when we see legislators who do not have to necessarily spend all
of their time trying to represent working people or poor people, we are
extremely appreciative for that. Mr. Vento was such a legislator. The
work that he has done, both for the wilderness and the homeless, is
appreciated in so many ways.
In 1994, the Wilderness Society honored Bruce Vento with its
prestigious Ansel Adams conservation award. That is just, again, a
small token for the work that he has done to ensure the continued
viability of millions of acres of wilderness lands, forests, and
precious national parks from Alaska to American Samoa to the Boundary
Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota.
With the preservation of these lands, the Earth itself has prospered
from the passion of Bruce Vento. Again, the work that he did for the
wilderness and the preservation of our precious national parks was
matched by the work that he did defending the rights and humanity of
the homeless. He saw his work for the homeless as a defense of human
rights.
I am hopeful that what we do here today not only inspires us, but
many others yet to come who will some day serve in this body so that
they can understand that they, too, can have an impact on the direction
of this Nation and of this world; that they, too, can come here with a
vision for what is good for this country, what is good for
[[Page H9799]]
human beings, and work in ways that will help to better this society.
I join my colleagues here today to say to our friend, our colleague,
Mr. Vento, we are going to miss him. We are going to miss all that he
has taught us and the ways that he led us, but we are going to remember
him in this small way, by the renaming of this legislation. With the
renaming of this legislation, the work that he has done will live on
and will never be forgotten.
Again, I am very appreciative for the opportunity to have served with
Mr. Vento.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to just stress a couple of things about the
life of Bruce Vento. He was a wonderfully committed legislator who
combined compassion with practicality; who had populist concerns, but
not a populist hate.
The committee that I served with Bruce on, the Committee on Banking
and Financial Services, has jurisdiction over banks and housing and
over the economy, in some ways. It is interesting to me that in Bruce's
work, he was not against any individuals or institutions.
In fact, he was a liberal Democrat who rather liked banks, especially
smaller banks, and especially community banks. He just understood that
it was important, if you have a banking system, that that system serves
all Americans. So his emphasis as someone in the banking community was
never to be against anything, but to be for better ways for banks to
serve. That is one reason that he developed such an interest in
ensuring that competition was maintained and that investment was
maintained in various aspects of our communities.
Part of this relates to the American dream. All of us have various
feelings about what the American dream is. One is that it includes a
home. Well, issues of the homeless concern people that by definition
have been deprived aspects of the American dream. We have all come to
understand to some degree, and none of us as deeply as we should, that
homelessness is not simply an aspect of someone without a structure. It
usually involves a whole group of societal problems. Some of them might
be psychiatric, some might be elements that relate to addictions, and
sometimes disease itself.
Mr. Speaker, the problems of the homeless came to the attention of
Congress rather late. In fact, it is astonishing how little attention
public bodies paid to this problem. But because of Bruce, we started
to.
About 13 years ago, finally the law was enacted. When that law was
enacted, and a number of people had roles in ensuring that it came
about, Bruce led the way. Then, as it was about to be enacted, it was
revealed that one of our Members, this one on the Republican side, who
was a man of some substance but had an ailment, in this case an ailment
sometimes identified with the homeless, he got pneumonia related to a
social disease called AIDS.
This Republican stood up for people that had problems sometimes
analogous to his own, sometimes much more serious. Bruce Vento
suggested that the bill be named for him; that is, it was Bruce Vento's
idea and his argument that this initiative that came largely from the
majority party, the then the majority party, the Democratic Party,
would be named for a Republican, Stewart McKinney.
I think nothing could be more appropriate, as we look at the life of
Bruce Vento, a man who had a disease related to a different kind of
social problem, one that relates to industrialization, asbestos, that
he should have his name associated with the McKinney bill, which was
actually from the beginning more a Vento bill. So this became the
Vento-McKinney bill.
I would also like to comment as someone who, from a more distant
perspective, followed the career of Bruce in his advocacy of our
national park system.
Bruce basically picked up the cudgels of the Udall family and has
become the greatest congressional champion of our national park system.
Part of this which is interesting to me is not only the issue of parks
and their role in society, but parks stand in the American dream not
only with the notion of the West and the great body of forest and
mountains that is our country, but they are basically second homes
available to all Americans, whether those Americans actually earned
them or not at a particular moment in time. They are refuges for
everybody.
In a way, the national park system that Bruce was such a champion of
was a home circumstance. So Bruce Vento leaves as his mark on this body
not only the notion of standing up for concerns for the homeless, but
also for ensuring that all Americans have a second home at any point in
time within our national parks.
Finally, let me just conclude with a couple of observations of a very
personal level. Bruce was a very committed individual with an
absolutely infectious laugh. He also had a very sardonic wit,
particularly to those he opposed. Sometimes my party was more the
beneficiary of the second than the first.
But interestingly, in this era in which we talk about nonpartisanship
and bipartisanship, Bruce gave a very good name to the word
``partisan.'' Bruce was a partisan Democrat, but he was always with
decency and always with humor, always with a sense of perspective. This
is one of the things so many of us loved very much about Bruce.
{time} 1900
Finally, I would like to echo a comment that my good friend, the
gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce), made about a staff member,
because I think it symbolizes a great deal. The congressional family is
a wide family and Larry Romans who worked with Bruce was as much an
alter ego as anyone could be. On legislation, he certainly played a
larger role than most Members of Congress. I think that is something
that only Members of Congress truly understand.
So our heart goes out to Bruce's family, his three kids, his wife,
and also his staff.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I think we have heard just a few of the sentiments that
the Members of Congress have, feel, share about our beloved brother
Bruce. The words of the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) were especially
eloquent. I thank the gentleman for making them so eloquently, and I
know Bruce appreciates them.
When I think of the accomplishments of the past two Congresses when I
have had the pleasure of serving as either the de facto or de jure
ranking member, none of them would have been possible without Bruce.
When we think of credit union reform, I did not attend a meeting in my
office without Bruce Vento by my side.
When I think of the meetings that we had on what some have said is
the preeminent legislative enactment to this Congress, the financial
services modernization, the Graham-Leach-Bliley bill, it would not have
happened without Bruce, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on
Financial Services and Consumer Credit, because it required
understanding and it required compromise and it required tenacity and
goodwill, balance, perseverance; and it was essential that Bruce be
there. It would not have happened if Bruce had opposed it.
It would not have been shaped the way it was without Bruce helping to
shape it; that is the business side of the job. That is extremely
important, but there are so many other things that go into this
Congress, the intangibles, when we get to know an individual. I
probably knew Bruce as well as I knew anybody in this body.
I have been on a few trips in my tenure in Congress. I never went on
a trip when I did not ask Bruce to come with me. He came with me most
of the time. One of the great values of the trips is not just learning
about other countries and other people, but coming to know your
colleagues, too; and we came to know each other so very well.
We shared so many things together: shared values, shared meals,
shared wine. We shared a common heritage not just as Americans, but as
Italian-Americans, and Bruce was so proud of that heritage. He knew how
to live and he knew how to die, and he lived right.
He worked hard and he played hard. He worked by the rules. He played
by the rules. He knew how to be ferocious. He knew how to laugh.
Traveling with
[[Page H9800]]
him was always a great pleasure because we knew he worked and worked
hard, so we could be proud of the trip; but we knew that he would love
it and make it an enjoyable trip the entire way, too.
Bruce started out his career as a teacher and then he came to
Congress, but throughout his entire congressional career, he taught us
a great many things. For most of his 24 years, he taught us how to
live, and for the last 6 months or so he taught us how to die. We honor
ourselves when we honor Bruce by naming this homeless bill the
McKinney-Vento homeless bill.
Mr. Speaker, I insert the following article for the Record:
Bruce Vento: Just Another Guy From the East Side Who Went on To Do
Great Things
(By Garrison Keillor)
There was a dinner in Washington, D.C., Tuesday night to
honor a guy from St. Paul's East Side.
The president dropped by and dozens of U.S.
representatives, Republicans and Democrats. And at the end,
when the guy from the East Side stood up to say his piece, he
got a long, long standing ovation. You could have gone around
the room and stolen everyone's dessert, they were so busy
applauding him.
Congressman Bruce Vento, a modest man and a hard worker, is
stepping down after 24 years representing the 4th
Congressional District, and I must admit I voted for him all
these years because I'm a yellow-dog Democrat and he's a
Democrat. So now I'm a little taken aback to see what a good
man he is who I unthinkingly supported all these years.
This isn't how our civics teachers taught us to exercise
the franchise, but a person doesn't have oceans of time to
study up on candidates. I sure don't. I heard Mr. Vento speak
once years ago, speak very movingly about the problem of
homelessness and about the importance of wilderness, and that
was good enough for me. But if he had stood on his hind legs
and barked, I still would have voted for him.
Wilderness preservation and the plight of the homeless are
not issues that pay a big political bonus. You become a
wilderness advocate and you're going to be hung in effigy and
yelled at by large men in plaid shirts. Homeless people tend
not to turn out in numbers at the polls.
But Mr. Vento applied himself to the issues he cared about,
did his homework, made the rounds of his colleagues, carried
the water, dug the ditches, fought the good fight, made the
compromises, and wrote the landmark legislation that became
law and that made a real difference in the world. And I'm not
sure how many of us in St. Paul are aware of this.
There have been only three congressmen from St. Paul in my
memory, and that covers 50 years. Gene McCarthy, Joe Karth,
Bruce Vento--all DFLers, all good men and all of them got to
Congress on the strength of yellow-dog Democrats like me.
They got re-elected simply by doing their job, representing
working people, speaking the conscience of the Democratic
Party, and applying themselves to the nuts and bolts of
Congress.
A political party serves a big function that TV or
newspapers can't. It pulls in idealistic young people, puts
them to work in the cause, trains them, seasons them, and
gives the talented and the diligent a chance to rise. If it
can produce a Bruce Vento, then a party has reason to exist,
and if it can't, then it doesn't. Simple as that. Then it
fades, as the DFL has.
People say it's inevitable for political parties to fade,
part of the loss of the sense of community, blah blah blah,
that people are cynical about politics and more interested in
lifestyle and media and so forth, but we are poorer for the
loss of parties and the devaluation of endorsement.
Bruce Vento never could've gotten elected in a media-driven
campaign, the sort in which high-priced consultants and media
buyers spend 15 million bucks to make the candidate into a
beautiful illusion.
Mr. Vento is the wrong man for that kind of politics. His
eyebrows are too big; he isn't cool enough. He is a modest
and principled and hard-working guy, but you couldn't put
this over in a 30-second commercial. He managed to get to
Congress because there was a strong DFL party that endorsed
him, and so voters like me pulled the lever and gave Mr.
Vento the wherewithal to be a great congressman. Which he,
being a true East Sider, never told us he was. But which I
now think he was.
Unknowingly, we did something great in sending him there.
And our partisan loyalty gave him the freedom to take on
thankless tasks, like protecting wilderness and dealing with
the homeless.
I sat in the back at Mr. Vento's dinner and thought what a
shock it is when you realize that the country is in the hands
of people your own age. You go along for years thinking it's
being run by jowly old guys in baggy suits and then you see
that the jowly old guys are people you went to school with.
Mr. Vento is about my age, and I feel for him. He is
fighting lung cancer and it has taken its toll on him. He
looks haggard but game.
His three boys were at the dinner in Washington, and their
wives, and the event felt like a real valedictory. If Mr.
Vento had wanted to make us all cry into our pudding, it
wouldn't have taken much.
But he was upbeat and talking about the future and about
national parks and the decoding of the human genome and
saying, ``All we need to do is take this new knowledge and
apply it to public policy,'' and thanking everybody and
grinning, and you had to admire him for his command of the
occasion.
A man who is desperately ill and on his way out of public
life stages a dinner that raises money for a scholarship fund
for teachers. Bruce Vento is a man of great bravery and
devotion and foresight who represented us nobly in Congress,
whether we knew it or not.
Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, today, we say goodbye to a good friend and
colleague, Bruce Vento.
Bruce was a humanitarian in every sense of the word.
He called environmental issues his one ``true passion'' and he
pursued that passion in a way that lifted up all Americans.
He was a strong leader in the Committee on Resources with a keen
understanding of environmental issues.
He worked to protect and strengthen America's national treasures--our
urban parks, our public lands, and other public resources, and he
fought for tropical rain forests and the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge.
He believed in making our country not just a wealthy country but a
beautiful country, marked by forests, rivers, mountains and streams
that all American could visit and enjoy.
Bruce was `'a hero'' who had ``done more for parks than anyone I
know,'' one of his fans said of him.
Bruce was also special because he cared so very deeply about all
people and the sanctity of the places in which they lived.
He earned a reputation as a strong advocate for the homeless, and it
was well-deserved. He tried to lift people up through better housing
and emergency shelter, a powerful reminder that this country should not
leave behind anyone.
Bruce spend the last decade working for the Hmong people who fought
on the side of the United States in the war in Vietnam, and who were
trying to become citizens of our country.
He was also a tireless advocate for consumer protections as a senior
member of the Banking and Financial Services Committee.
A strong voice for his constituents, a beloved son of the state of
Minnesota, Bruce represented that state's 4th district with dedication
and commitment to his party and to the people he represented.
Bruce and I entered Congress in the same year and my journey through
this institution is bound with Bruce's journey. I am proud to say that
I had a wonderful colleague, a good friend, and a man who will be
sorely missed not just by me, but by a nation that prides itself on a
commitment to democratic values, a safe environment and humane
treatment for every American.
We will miss you Bruce.
Mr. LAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart as the House
pays tribute to the distinguished work or our friend and colleague,
Bruce Vento.
It is appropriate that we recognize his lifelong work as a champion
of the homeless by renaming the ``Stewart B. McKinney Act'' the
``McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.'' In 1987, it was Bruce who
led the efforts to enact a comprehensive homeless assistance program,
named after his late colleague and friend, Stewart McKinney, then the
Ranking Republican on the Housing Subcommittee.
I am privileged to have worked closely with Bruce over the last
several years, in particular, on homeless reform legislation designed
to focus efforts on permanent housing and the hope of ending
homelessness forever. As the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing
and Community Opportunity, I have known no other that has been more
sincerely dedicated to the problems associated with homelessness and
families in need of affordable housing. He will be missed.
Life is fleeting, for us all. But what we do while we are here can
affect so many and have such a lasting impact. Bruce's tireless work
has made and will continue to make a real difference in countless lives
of those less fortunate.
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Tancredo). Without objection, the
previous question is ordered.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read
a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider was laid on the
table.
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