Congressional Record, Volume 147 Issue 77 (Wednesday, June 6, 2001)

[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 77 (Wednesday, June 6, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H2908-H2929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

EXPRESSING SORROW OF THE HOUSE AT THE DEATH OF THE HONORABLE JOHN
JOSEPH MOAKLEY, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution (H. Res.
157) and ask for its immediate consideration.

[[Page H2909]]

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

H. Res. 157

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of
the death of the Honorable John Joseph Moakley, a
Representative from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to
the Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the
deceased.
Resolved, That when the House adjourns today, it adjourn as
a further mark of respect to the memory of the decreased.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
McGovern) is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Dreier), pending which I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate very much the leadership of both parties
for their support of this resolution.

{time} 1215

On behalf of Joe Moakley's family and staff, I want to thank my
colleagues who traveled to Boston for the funeral services last week. I
know those Members who could not be there in person were with us in
their thoughts and prayers, and I appreciate that very, very much.
I have been very blessed to have had the opportunity to speak with
our friend Joe Moakley in other settings over the past week, including
at the funeral, so I will not take too much of the House's time today.
I know that many other Members wanted to speak. But I would just like
to say a couple of things. As somebody who worked for Joe Moakley for
over 14 years and who served with him in the House for nearly 5 years,
I never met a person who made me feel better about politics or about
public service. I learned an awful lot from him, and I saw him do some
amazing things.
Mr. Speaker, I had a front-row seat to watch a real master in action.
Joe was guided by the simple but powerful principle that no one is
unimportant. From the streets of South Boston to the jungles of El
Salvador, Joe Moakley stood for and fought for fairness and fought for
justice. He made sure that Mrs. O'Leary got her lost Social Security
check. He fought to make sure that our veterans got the health care
services that they were entitled to receive. He cared deeply about the
environment, and he had a passion for civil rights and equal rights and
human rights.
And yes, Mr. Speaker, he was a Democrat and very, very proud of it.
He believed in the Democratic Party and he fought hard for the
principles and the values that he believed in. But as I am sure that my
Republican colleagues will acknowledge, Joe respected and admired those
who had different views and even a different party affiliation. Joe
Moakley was a people person and his influence and his power in this
institution was based not merely on his seniority or his status on the
Committee on Rules but instead it was based on personal relationships
and friendships with men and women of both parties.
His advice to me after I first got elected to Congress was not to
give the most fiery or partisan speeches or even to hire the most
experienced or expensive press secretary but to get to know everyone on
a first-name basis. Building coalitions and building friendships, he
would say, was the surest way to be effective. He told me shortly
before he died that what bothered him the most during these past weeks
was not the disease or even the inevitability of his death, rather what
bothered him and made him emotional was not being on the ballot again.
He loved this job so very, very much.
He worked literally to the very end. I recall visiting him a few days
before he died in the hospital at Bethesda Naval Hospital and he had an
IV in one arm and a phone cradled in the other, and he was doing
constituent services. Mr. Speaker, he loved the Members of this body,
he loved both Democrats and Republicans, and he loved the staff and not
just the staff of the Members but also the support staff, from the
Capitol Police to the elevator operators to those who worked in the
House dining room.
Joe Moakley approached death like he did his life, with a great deal
of grace and dignity and humor. He always had a quip or a joke. He
always put a smile on everyone's face. In fact, wherever you saw Joe
Moakley, you saw a whole bunch of people gathered with smiles on their
face.
Last week, the people of Massachusetts said farewell to our friend.
We had two Presidents there, a former Vice President, a lot of our
colleagues here in the House. But really what was the most moving
tribute I thought was the fact that there were thousands, literally
thousands of people who had lined the streets of Boston to pay their
last respects: construction workers who took off their hard hats out of
deference to Joe, senior citizens, people in wheelchairs, young
children, people of every background, of every religion, of every
conceivable socioeconomic background came to pay their respects to this
guy whom they not only respected but whom they loved.
Joe Moakley was not only a good man, he was a great man. I feel very
privileged to have had the honor to work with him not only on his staff
but as his colleague. He really was my best friend, like a second
father to me, and I miss him a lot.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to thank my friend from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) the
former Rules Committee staff member and now our distinguished colleague
and obviously, as he said, a very close friend of Joe Moakley's.
This has been a very challenging and difficult time for all of us. It
is obvious that we are saddened by the passing of Joe Moakley, but we
are here today to, I believe, spend some time talking about the
wonderful life and the amazing impact that he had on so many of us.
Just yesterday, I was very pleased that the Committee on Rules was able
to report out a resolution which I would like to share with our
colleagues, Mr. Speaker. Every member of the Committee on Rules was
present and participated in speaking in support of this resolution
which reads as follows:
Whereas, John Joseph Moakley served in the House of Representatives
beginning in the 94th Congress;
Whereas, John Joseph Moakley served on the Committee on Rules
beginning in the 95th Congress;
Whereas, John Joseph Moakley served as Chairman of the Committee on
Rules from 1989 to 1994;
Resolved, that the Committee on Rules, with profound sorrow, marks
the death of John Joseph Moakley on Memorial Day, May 28, 2001, and
expresses its gratitude for his many years of dedicated service to the
Committee and the House of Representatives.
We, as I said, reported that resolution from the Committee on Rules
last night. I have a lot of things that I want to say and I plan to
take time doing that, but I would just like to begin with the
resolution that was offered here in the Committee on Rules.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Frost), the ranking member of the Committee on Rules.
Mr. FROST. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, Joe Moakley was a great Member of this body, and I rise
in support of this resolution with a heavy heart. Joe's passing has
left a very large hole in the fabric of this institution, a hole that
will be difficult to mend. Joe Moakley and I were colleagues for 23
years on the Committee on Rules. In that time, I was privileged to
serve alongside a man whose heart was pure and who never ever forgot
where he came from.
Last Friday, I traveled to Boston to Joe's funeral mass. That mass
was in reality a celebration of Joe's life and the values he brought to
service in this institution on behalf of the people of South Boston, of
Massachusetts, and the entire country. Joe was a man who embodied Tip
O'Neill's maxim that all politics is local, but Joe was also a man
whose ideals transcended borders.
Joe believed in the intrinsic decency of all humankind and in the
ideal that every man, every woman, and every child in this country and
around the world deserves basic human rights and freedoms no matter
their station in life or political affiliation.
His work to bring justice to the cowardly killers of priests and
women and children in El Salvador was truly a noble fight. His courage,
his determination and his dedication to doing what

[[Page H2910]]

is right, no matter the danger, no matter the cost, should be taken to
heart by every Member of this body. His ability to work with all
Members of this body, to treat every Member fairly and to always have a
good word for even his political foes should also be what every one of
us should strive for each and every day we are privileged to work in
this institution.
Mr. Speaker, I was so deeply moved by the words spoken at Joe's
memorial last Friday. It was plainly obvious how beloved he was by his
community. But for this House, we should all hope that our own actions
we take as Members will be as celebrated as were the actions, words and
deeds of my very good friend Joe Moakley.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Sanible, FL (Mr. Goss), the very
distinguished vice chairman of the Committee on Rules and the chairman
of the Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process.
Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for
yielding me this time. I chose to speak from this desk about Joe
Moakley rather than the well. How many times I stood at this desk in
the past 9 or 10 years to yield time or to receive time from the
distinguished gentleman from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, our
colleague and friend, Joe Moakley, to do the Rules Committee business.
I cannot possibly cover all of the things that are on my heart or
that we should say about Joe Moakley in the time allotted. So many
praises are already out there as they should be, so many stories, so
many personal anecdotes, all very favorable because Joe was truly just
an extraordinarily remarkable guy.
The President of the United States, referring to Joe as a bread-and-
butter Democrat, paid him the supreme compliment, I think, by saying,
and I quote, ``He made cares and concerns of everyday people his
business.'' That is, after all, what the House is about. That is what
we are supposed to be doing. I think that is about the best you can do.
The strength and the humor, the way Joe faced life and death, I
think, showed a depth of decency and character, the kind of values that
we all aspire to and hope to achieve. He set a high standard. I guess I
could think of a number of things in common we had: frustrations, the
Boston Red Sox, his beloved Red Sox. Every year we hoped they would do
better. His desires for Central America which paralleled mine. Lots of
things we talked about, the stories he told, which were so well told. I
am no Joe Moakley. I could never tell a story like that and I would not
dare tell some of those stories to some of my senior citizens, but Joe
Moakley had a way of telling those stories and it worked. Maybe
somebody will fill those shoes someday. I do not know how.
After Joe was diagnosed the last time I had a conversation with him
following on a previous one when he had had his liver transplant and he
was sitting right there in the front row. I said, ``Joe, my gosh, you
have certainly earned a rest. There are good things in life, go out and
enjoy them a little bit while you have still got some time.'' He said,
``You know, I love this place. I never want to leave here.''
I guess the message I have today for all of us, Mr. Speaker, and I
speak this from the heart for Joe Moakley, is that Joe Moakley never
will leave this place. There will always be a bit of him here. Whether
I see George Crawford coming down the hall or other staff or perhaps
sitting in the Rules Committee, now under the gaze of Joe Moakley's
portrait staring right at us as we go about our business to remind us
to do it the right way, when I pick up a sports page and see how the
Red Sox are faring, when I hear a South Boston accent somewhere among
our colleagues, all of these are the kind of things I think that will
quickly bring back a very happy recollection of one of the true great
guys we have had here.
I am sorry to say I missed his memorial service in Boston. I was out
of the country. Obviously I miss Joe already. But I guess the good
thing is that part of Joe will always be with us.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), my distinguished colleague and the
dean of our delegation.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I would like to begin by thanking the gentleman from Worcester
for the incredible effort which he has put in over the last 2 weeks in
ensuring that our colleague Joe Moakley was able to have the kind of
services and the kind of attention which his life merited. I know that
he has thought of him as a second father. I think so many of us all
thought of him as our favorite uncle as well. I just wanted to let him
know how much we all appreciate it.
Joe Moakley actually became Boston in his life. The face of Joe
Moakley will be the face of Boston for generations to come: the Big
Dig, changing the transportation system, the cleanup of Boston Harbor,
the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, the Joe Moakley Courthouse
which appropriately is going to be the centerpiece of the new Boston
Harbor overlooking, by the way, the Evelyn Moakley Bridge.

{time} 1230

So that that as well all becomes a part of this new Boston inner
city, as generation after generation walks the streets of Boston.
What was unique about him? Well, he had an open door for everyone but
he had an open heart as well. He combined these qualities of
spirituality and statesmanship that are so rare, and I think that the
real tribute to him was how many Republicans came to his services as
well because I think that he came to symbolize all that was good about
politics in our country; in fact, all that was good about our country,
because he had the wit of Will Rogers. He had the humility of Jimmy
Stewart, but he had the tenacity of Saint Patrick when he was fighting
for justice or poverty or just trying to help any ordinary person who
was down on their luck. He gave the same amount of attention to
fighting for people whom he had never met, who were being discriminated
against, oppressed in El Salvador, as he did to chasing down every
Social Security check that he might have felt was a little bit late in
the mail for one of his constituents.
It is altogether fitting and appropriate that he died on Memorial
Day, because this was a great man from the greatest generation. I do
not think that it is just a coincidence. I think that this is actually
altogether fitting and appropriate that he would have passed away on
that day. I know that right now he is up there with his beloved Evelyn
in heaven, smiling down on this institution which he loved so much.
Each one of us is indebted to this great man who, as we all went over
to console him in these front rows over the last 2 months, all left
being consoled by him as he regaled us with his jokes and his stories
and we all left feeling that he, in fact, had reconciled himself to
being rejoined with his beloved Evelyn.
I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for
everything that he has done and for bringing this resolution today.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Atlanta, Georgia (Mr. Linder), the very distinguished
chairman of the Subcommittee on Technology in the House.
Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, the gentleman from
California (Mr. Dreier) for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I served with Joe on the Committee on Rules for a little
over 6 years now, and in those 6 years-plus I do not think I ever heard
him say a harsh word. He was a kind and decent man. It will not be said
very often, but he was a fierce partisan and a fighter for his party,
for his ideas, for his causes, and he carried out those fights with
great dignity and skill and great good humor.
I do not know how many times I have heard him use his wit or his
humor to lighten the tension or to get his way, but he did it with
great skill.
He impressed me, I suppose, as any member in politics for 27 years
has ever impressed me. He loved his job. He loved his community and he
loved this House. We will be sorely missing him for a long time to
come.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to just take a moment to commend Joe Moakley's

[[Page H2911]]

staff, his staff from the Committee on Rules, his personal staff here
in Washington and in Massachusetts. I want the record to reflect that
these are extraordinary individuals who were like family to him and a
lot of the great tributes that occurred last week and over the previous
weeks were as a result of their dedication and their commitment. If he
were here today, he would want me to acknowledge their wonderful work
and to let everybody know how much they meant to him.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my colleague, the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Lewis).
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), for yielding and for
bringing this resolution before this body.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution in honor of our dear
friend and colleague Joe Moakley. He was a good and decent man. Some
would say he was too good, he was so good. He was a tireless worker and
fighter for the people of his district and for all of the citizens of
our country. He had a deep concern for human rights, for civil rights,
for those who had been left out and for those who have been left
behind.
He will be deeply missed by the people of his beloved Boston, and he
will be missed by all of us here in this House.
Mr. Speaker, our friend, our colleague, Joe Moakley, took to heart
what Horace Mann said when he said we should be ashamed to die, we
should be ashamed to leave this world until we have made some
contribution to humanity.
Joe Moakley made more than a contribution. When we look at Boston,
look at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, when we look at America,
when we look at our world, we live in a different place, we live in a
better place because of the work, the commitment, the dedication and
the vision of this one man.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Myrick), a very distinguished
member of the Committee on Rules and the former mayor of Charlotte,
North Carolina.
Mrs. MYRICK. Mr. Speaker, I am very honored to just be able to say a
word about Joe because Joe was truly a friend to all of us. He was
always a gentleman and he was one of those people that if the rest of
the Congress could be like him, I do not think we would have any
problems. Yes, he was partisan and I was not of the same party, but we
were good friends. He respected people as people. I think back at the
things Joe has gone through because he had so many medical challenges
in his life that probably would have gotten a lot of the rest of us
down, but he always kept going and he always had that smile on his
face. No matter what was happening, that smile was there and that just
kept a lot of us going.
I know last year when I went through breast cancer, he was probably
my greatest encourager in this House. He just was always saying, you
can do it and you are going to make it and do not give up. He said all
of this to me constantly, and he just was somebody that I really
admired and looked up to.
It really did my heart good when we went to the funeral because when
you saw all of those people in Boston lining the streets and really
just in honor of Joe, it was because they knew him as just plain Joe.
They did not look at him as Congressman Moakley. He was Joe. He never
forgot where he came from. He never forgot his roots and people loved
him because of that.
He leaves a very, very big hole in this body. I was just very
privileged to have a few years to be able to call him my friend.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), the ranking member of the House
Committee on Ways and Means.
Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I have found a long time ago at my age that
the best way to handle losses like this is to take a deep breath and to
thank God that you were so privileged in knowing such a great guy.
I lost a brother, and I manage every day to wrestle with the problem
in realizing how many people just never had a brother to love and to
care for and to be with. So even though I miss him, it eases the pain
to know that I knew him.
With Joe, I remember once many years ago I was at the prayer meeting
and it was my turn to tell the people just how wonderful I was and all
of the hardships that I had, and he came to me in feigned resentment. I
said what did I say wrong? He said, you stole my story. I am on next
week.
Next week, he told the same story. It was not black. It was Irish. It
was not the Army. It was the Navy. It was not a hotel. It was a bar.
But when he got here, he felt so satisfied not with the rough times
that he had but with his dedication in trying to make certain that
other people had the opportunity to come from our background, to be
members of this wonderful body and to try to make it possible for
someone else to be able to say, yes, I am from the old neighborhood and
I am trying to make it easier for them.
Maya Angelou, a poet, said recently what Joe said in his own way,
that she was on life's train and was prepared to enjoy every minute of
the ride, but if someone tapped her on the shoulder and said, this is
your stop, you have to get off, she would say, it is not a big problem
because it has been a very, very good ride.
Joe made certain that he did not allow us to feel sorry for him. He
really lived life to the end and we know that he knew it was a good
ride.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), my friend and the very
distinguished former chairman of the Committee on International
Relations.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Dreier) for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor our good friend and distinguished
colleague, John Joseph Moakley, who passed away on Memorial Day due to
complications of leukemia.
I want to commend the gentleman from California, our distinguished
chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), for arranging
this time for us, and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern)
for taking the time to bring this resolution to the floor honoring our
good friend, Joe Moakley.
I had the pleasure and honor of serving in the Congress with Joe for
more than 2 decades. I really remember how Joe used to guide us through
one problem after another when we appeared before him in the Committee
on Rules. I vividly recall, too, how the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Rangel) and I, as part of a congressional delegation, went to Boston
under Joe's leadership to bring our fight against drugs to Boston. Joe
was devoted to that fight.
Joe was a kind-hearted man. He was dedicated, devoted to serving his
constituents. He was elected to represent the Ninth Congressional
District of Massachusetts back in 1972, appointed to a seat on the
Committee on Rules where he served as the chairman from 1989 to 1994.
Much of the time in my capacity on the Committee on International
Relations, I appeared before Joe on a number of our authorization
measures and Joe was always a true gentleman as he handled the
important debates before him.
We all recall, too, that back in 1989, following the murder of six
Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador,
Congressman Moakley was appointed to head a special task force to
investigate the Salvadoran government's response to those killings. The
Moakley Commission issued a report which revealed the involvement of
several high-ranking military officers in Salvador in those murders,
and that Moakley report resulted in the termination of our Nation's
military aid to El Salvador and is often credited with helping to end
the brutal civil war in that nation.
Joe's commitment to the people of South Boston, to those in need
throughout our Nation and to the advancement of human rights throughout
the world stands as a benchmark of his tenure in the House. When
Congressman Moakley announced in February that he suffered from an
incurable form of leukemia, it was gratifying to see how the House came
together around him and his family and how many of us took the time to
meet with him on the floor. Moreover, I was pleased that my wife
Georgia and I had the opportunity to spend some time with him during
his last days.

[[Page H2912]]

{time} 1245

Joe was truly a man of public service, service in the military in
World War II, public service in the Massachusetts State Legislature,
and in the Congress. He had an amiable personality, often using his
good humor to diffuse difficult political arguments.
Georgia and I send our prayers and condolences to Joe's family. He
will be sorely missed in this body.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
New York (Ms. Slaughter), one of Joe's close friends and colleagues on
the Committee on Rules.
Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me
time.
Mr. Speaker, a giant of a man has fallen; and I do not think this
House will ever be the same. Joe Moakley was so deeply rooted in his
beloved South Boston and grateful, to the moment of his death, that the
people who lived there had entrusted him with the greatest thing that
they could give, to let him represent them here in the House of
Representatives. And represent them he did. On our way to the funeral,
we drove by many works in process in the city of Boston that are a
credit to Joe Moakley.
Most of all, though, he was a human being, to his core. He told me a
story that I think sort of summarized Joe, that when he was growing up,
he was always big for his age, which was one of the reasons he was able
to talk himself into the Navy at the age of 16. As they would be
driving down the street, if they saw anybody being bullied or anything
that did not look quite right to Joe's father, he would say, ``Well,
Joe what are you going to do about that?'' He would park the car, and
Joe would get out and fix it. And I think that trained him very well in
that Joe was expected when he saw something wrong to do what he could
to fix it.
I think he was most proud, at least I am most proud, of what he did
in Central America, because he stepped up against his own government to
right a wrong, and all of us benefited from that.
I considered him, I expect like most of you did, to be my very best
friend. I know that Joe was the person I could always go to when I had
anything in the world on my mind, say anything that I thought, and that
was the end of it, and he always helped me out.
I was his singing partner. We sang a lot of duets. He knew songs I
had never heard of in my life, I am not even sure they were songs. I am
pretty sure he made some of them up as he went along, like ``Come into
the parlor if you are Irish.'' That was one that I had never heard.
But, anyway, serving with him on the Committee on Rules from the time
that I was appointed there was one of the greatest joys of my life.
I had never seen anyone live with such joy and contentment, nor die
with such courage. As has been mentioned, Joe had several physical
infirmities that bothered him over the years, but none of them ever
slowed him down.
But the nicest thing for him, while he was not a publicity seeker,
and maybe everybody in the country would not know who Joe Moakley was,
everybody in the State of Massachusetts knew. And the wonderful things
that happened to him, the courthouse that was named after him he told
me was built on a piece of ground where he played as a child. And what
a magnificent thing at that dedication, that Old Ironsides, the USS
Constitution, gave him a 19 gun salute. I think that is the greatest
gift you could give a son of Massachusetts or a son of the United
States. And everybody showed him and had the opportunity to tell him
how much he was beloved.
I picked up a copy of the Boston Globe while we were in Boston on
Friday at the service, and, as everybody else has said, it was a most
remarkable event. The sailors who serve on Old Ironsides served as his
pallbearers bringing the casket from the church.
It said in the Globe, among other things about Joe, that he was so
loved in his neighborhood and area that at one point he was asked if he
would open up his house for Christmas for an open house as a fund-
raiser, and he was kind of loath to do it, but he said okay, if you
want me to, I shall do that.
It went off very well, and they decided they would like to do that
again, and they thought they would ask early. So the following August
the group asked Joe if he would do it again, and Joe said, well,
absolutely, I would be happy to; the Christmas tree is still up. Which
was typical Joe again.
But one of the things that I read in the paper too that struck me so
was that nobody ever parked in front of Joe's house, out of respect for
him. Nobody ever told anybody not to; it was just the feeling that they
had that somebody special lived there.
But with all of that, every inch of him was one of them. He was from
the old school, I know that, and frankly I liked that old school, and I
do not think that we will see his like again. But I personally am
grateful for the years that I had an opportunity to work with and to
get to know one of the most incredible human beings I have ever known,
John Joseph Moakley.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the distinguished
Speaker of the House.
Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Chairman for yielding me time.
Joe Moakley. I first encountered Joe when I was a young Congressman
and took an amendment up to the Committee on Rules. It was probably an
ill-advised amendment, but Joe was very gentle and very kind and kind
of let me know the errors of my way and was straightforward. On
subsequent times, when Joe was chairman and in charge of that
committee, I used to go up there, and he was about as straight as you
could get as a person you would find on either side of the aisle. He
was fair, he was honest, and he did not hesitate to tell you sometimes
the error of your ways.
But I got to know Joe probably even better. He shared an office down
the hall. When I became deputy whip, we shared an office across the
hall, and we would meet. In those days Joe was not in very good health,
but Joe was always cheerful; he always had a good word to say and an
optimistic outlook. Even though I was not here in the days of Tip
O'Neill, I think probably Joe carries out the best tradition of the
Irish-Catholic-Boston politician. He was of good nature, of good humor,
and knew the art of politics very, very well.
The last experience I had with Joe is I had the great honor of
sharing a trip to Rome with him this January. He cochaired a
Congressional delegation to Rome to carry the Congressional Gold Medal
to present to the Pope. I think I saw Joe Moakley probably in his very
best time. He relished that trip. He relished the opportunity to
present that medal to the Pope, and he said to me that was one of the
greatest experiences he had while serving in the Congress of the United
States.
We will remember Joe for a lot of things, first of all his service on
the Committee on Rules. We will remember him for his work in El
Salvador, something we did not always agree with, but certainly
something that was certainly from his heart, and he was committed to
that.
But I last saw Joe 2 weeks ago. I took a quiet trip to Bethesda and
stopped to see him. Joe was sleeping, probably one of his last days,
but he was at peace.
I remember just a couple of weeks ago when we unveiled his portrait
in Statuary Hall. Joe, I think, looked forward to that. It was
certainly a time that we had to honor him while he was here and we
could appreciate it. The glow on Joe's face that day pretty much
matched the glow on that portrait. I think that is how we will always
remember him, that cheery face that today hangs in the Committee on
Rules.
We will always remember Joe Moakley in this place.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Neal).
Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for organizing this special order
today, and to all of you who have assembled for the purpose of
remembering our dear friend, Joe Moakley.
Just before he died, even though he had the courage to call all of us
on a Sunday evening in the delegation to tell all of us that the end
was near, and he did it without flinching, incidentally. He still
maintained that great sense of humor that we all can identify

[[Page H2913]]

with. He was sitting in the corner, and a colleague rushed over to him
very sincerely and was all over him and said, I am so upset, Joe. I am
so troubled by this. I am so bothered.
When the colleague walked away, Joe said, he is more upset than I am
about this. I thought that was classic Joe Moakley.
But there is a great lesson in this life, and if I can just spend a
couple of seconds on it, I would like to.
He loved the job that he had and thought that it was a special
privilege to serve in the House where Mr. Madison and Mr. Lincoln and
Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Johnson and Mr. Nixon and Mr. Ford and Mr. Bush,
Sr., had all served. They had come from this House. And what have we
watched here for the last 2 decades? We have watched the people that
have gotten elected here overwhelmingly come here by running against
and then running down the institution.
Joe Moakley was unabashed in his support of the appropriations
process. He believed strenuously in the notion that the great privilege
that had been offered to him in life was to be a Member of the
Congress. He could be as partisan as anybody in this House.
He was a great Democrat, an old school Democrat. But do you know who
he liked to have dinner with? This is going to kill them in Alabama
when they find this out, the voters down there; Sonny Callahan, Terry
Everett, Hal Rogers. That was the group he assembled with after hours.
He enjoyed their company socially. He loved those stories about rural
Alabama and how they had come here, because we all came here under an
interesting scenario. We all got here for different reasons. We all
came to this marvelous institution, the great deliberative institution
in the history of man and womankind, because of special circumstances.
It is the memory of Moakley that we honor today.
If I might for just a second, he is the answer to this argument that
we should have term limits. Remember the great deeds that Members do
here? They generally do them in the latter part of their careers. He
thought the line item veto was perfectly foolish. Why would we have a
balanced budget amendment to the Constitution? Does the law not say we
are supposed to do that without disturbing the Constitution? Imagine
trying to use that rhetoric to soothe the public today: Gees, I love my
job. This is a marvelous institution. I am as comfortable back in the
streets of ``Southy'' with the ``townies,'' as he would call them, as I
could be anywhere.
He came to this institution with a special reverence, he treasured
the friendships, he was the great heir to McCormick and O'Neill. That
was his memory. It was a snapshot in time. He would talk about those
great battles.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Meehan) and I had this marvelous opportunity the night that they
dedicated his portrait. We fought to get him to go to that dinner,
fought to get him to go to that dinner. He was not going to go that
afternoon, and when I got there, he was sitting at the head table.
One of the things we understood in our delegation was when he spoke,
there was deference. You listened to what he had to say. That night he
talked about the great political battles that he had won. And do you
know what else he talked about? The battles he had lost along the way.
He explained how he had handled many of those difficult moments, and
he held forth in a way that everybody in the room was mesmerized, as he
spoke of names that are legendary in Massachusetts politics, and he
spoke how he had handled many of those controversial races.
But I am going to close on the note I opened with. Joe Moakley loved
service in this institution, and when I hear the rhetoric of some
Members of this House that come to the microphone to vilify the other
side, to vilify the institution that we serve in day in and day out, he
was never part of it.
He could be as partisan as they would come in this institution, and
yet he loved his service here, and he loved the Members that he served
with; peculiar friendships, peculiar alliances, but he understood that
day in and day out.
I think it is time that we all thought, look, this is the best job
that the public could ever offer to any of us, to be a Member of this
old House, as members of the American family.
I think that I would just say this, that his friendship to me, from
committee assignments, to everything else that I ever asked for, never
once in 13 years did he say no; and do you know what? Never once in 13
years did I not say thank you.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may
consume to the very distinguished gentleman from Washington (Mr.
Hastings), an able member of the Committee on Rules.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I, like all my colleagues, was saddened by Joe's death,
even though we knew that it was inevitable. But I had an opportunity to
serve with him on the Committee on Rules for 5\1/2\ years, and if I
were to describe Joe as simply as I could, he was a very courteous
individual, and I think that was something that obviously was not made
up.
He had a great wit, and there are a number of times when we have
these late night rules meetings that that wit would disarm tension, and
it would disarm tension here on the floor. But I also discovered that
he was very principled in his philosophy, but yet he was one who very
much wanted to work together.
I guess because of the job that we have here, there are a lot of
people that draw impressions of all of us through how we communicate on
C-SPAN. I recall before I was elected to this position, to Congress,
that there was a show that featured Joe Moakley on C-SPAN. It went on
for about an hour, and he would talk about his background, he talked
about his philosophy, he talked about getting a Federal building here
or there in his district, and I was struck by that program. I watched
it the whole time.
At that time, of course, I was not a Member of Congress, I did not
think that I would ever be here. But I discovered when I got here that
the Joe Moakley that impressed me with that show on C-SPAN was exactly
the same Joe Moakley that was portrayed there.

{time} 1300

I think that is probably the highest compliment one can pay to
somebody who was in politics for as long as he was, is that there was
not anything phoney about him. Joe Moakley was Joe Moakley, and that is
the individual that we will all miss.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).
Mr. FRANK. Mr. Speaker, we are all grateful to our colleague, the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), for the grace with which
he is carrying out what is for him a personally difficult process, as
he has for the past couple of months.
Speaking of personal, people have talked about Joe Moakley. It is
impossible to convey what he was like. All I can say is that he was a
walking antidepressant. You could be in the worst possible mood and you
walked in here and you went to talk to him. For those of us who had the
privilege of being his friend, it is just not going to be as much fun
to do this job for a while.
But that is personal. We are here in the Congress of the United
States, and we have to talk about what is public. People have said over
and over, correctly, that Joe Moakley never forgot where he came from,
and he deserves credit for that. People become important sometimes, and
they forget where they came from. Joe Moakley did not forget where he
came from. But there was another element of Joe that I think explains
what, to me, constituted greatness. He was able constantly to remember
where he came from and also to remember where he and the rest of us
ought to be going.
Human nature being what it is, when people are very good at a certain
set of skills, when they are very rooted in a particular set of
circumstances, when they are based in an ethnicity, a political
tradition, a particular way of doing things, inexorably they become
resistant to change, because when you are the master of a given set of
circumstances, change can seem threatening to you. It is a rare
individual who can be as good at the existing set of arrangements as
Joe Moakley was

[[Page H2914]]

and still be one of those who uses the power he gets from that to help
bring new things into being.
He represented a tough, somewhat insular, political tradition in
Massachusetts; and he became its undisputed champion. In an area where
people fought with each other, in an area that was fractious, he was
everybody's idol; and he used that power, not simply to perpetuate
himself, but to help the people he represented and others reach out. In
other words, he took the values which he represented in his particular
area and taught people how to apply them to new situations. He
represented an area where, frankly, race relations were troubled; but I
would venture to say that the members of the Congressional Black Caucus
counted him justifiably a close friend. He dealt with prejudices of
various sorts, prejudices that he and his friends and neighbors grew up
with, and he was a leader in combating them.
He took his prestige into foreign territory: El Salvador. As he
himself joked, an area that when he grew up he knew nothing about and
cared nothing about, and what he did was to recognize that the same set
of values that reminded him where he came from ought to be motivating
him to where we should go in the future, and that is greatness. That is
a man who was secure in himself, able beyond what most people are
gifted with in terms of his insight, his personal dealings, his ability
to read the situation and move forward; and it is precisely that he
never preached to people.
This was a righteous man who was never self-righteous. This was an
example of morality at its best, who made sure that no one ever thought
that he felt he was somehow better than they are; and by the force of
his personality, which was considerable, and his example, which was
even greater, he helped move this country and this House into a new
era.
I do have to note in the end that Joe Moakley was several things that
are not fashionable. He was a career politician. He was a longtime
Member of this House of Representatives. People who denigrate politics,
people who think that after you have served here for a few years, you
somehow become soured, I guess they are going to have to forget that
Joe Moakley ever lived. Because in his person, he repudiated more
stereotypes of the area that he came from, of the profession that he
had, of the whole way he lived; he transcended differences that people
have used to divide us.
So yes, personally, all of us who had this wonderful man as a friend
will miss him. We will console each other by telling stories. I dare
say that we are sad to lose Joe Moakley, but people watching television
and I will ask for unanimous consent to violate the rules by referring
to them, they have seen us laughing and smiling, not because we are not
sad, but because we console ourselves and our loss by remembering how
much fun it was to be around him; and if we cannot be around him, we
can suffuse ourselves in his memory.
My thanks to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) and to
all of us for giving ourselves this opportunity to celebrate this man
and, even more important, to celebrate what he stood for and
exemplified.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. King), another great friend
of Mr. Moakley's.
Mr. KING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I
commend him and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for
putting together this well-deserved tribute to a great friend of all of
us, Joe Moakley. It was really my privilege to be able to call Joe
Moakley a friend. So much has been said here today, and this is one
time when everything that is said about someone is true. Joe Moakley
was a Democrat to the core; but he never, ever allowed partisanship to
enter into his personal relationships, his friendships. He never let
that come between himself and any other Member of this House who wanted
to work with him on any issue, or just wanted to sit down and talk with
him.
To me, he was a fountain of knowledge and wisdom, advice. He
personified what politics should be. He personified what the House of
Representatives should be: a person who fights hard for what he
believes in, but also respects his adversary and understands the nature
of this business, the give and take; that the combat should end when
the day is over, and there is no reason why we cannot at least have
some attempt at friendship and solidarity.
The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) mentioned that dinner
that he was at with Joe Moakley just a few weeks ago. I was a tag-along
for that dinner, because I figured this is one time where I would not
get stuck by these guys for picking up the tab. It was actually one of
the most memorable evenings that I ever had, just to be able to sit
there and listen to the stories. It seems as if Joe had one last
infusion of adrenaline. He came alive. He was telling stories about
John McCormick and Tip O'Neill and the gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. Meehan) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), and the
entire delegation. They were great stories.
Yet throughout it, there was a constant thread. He was never the hero
of any of his stories. Somehow, on the battles that he spoke about that
he won, he almost positioned himself as being a spectator and those he
lost, he put himself right in the middle of it. He had a tremendous
self-deprecating sense of humor. He had an ability to see beyond the
moment. He had an ability to realize what this is all about and what
all of us are here for: to try to get a job done and make some friends
along the way.
So this House is really diminished by his absence. I know his
portrait is going to hang; I know his memory is going to remain here
forever. But the fact is that he is not here, and that is something
that is going to weigh on all of us, because he will be missed. May he
rest in peace.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Maine (Mr. Baldacci).
Mr. BALDACCI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time, and I thank my colleagues for the opportunity to speak for just a
couple of minutes about a great person.
When I was first elected to the House in 1994, I had the opportunity
to sit with Joe, because he was the dean of our delegation, and talk
about committees, talk about issues, and I found that advice and
counsel to have stayed with me through my service of four terms.
I have always found Joe to be Joe, to be somebody who you could talk
with, listen to, and to be able to strategize with, especially during
the very turbulent times when we first started in 1994 with Speaker
Gingrich and the change in power.
I remember we had one time where one of the Boston schools was
playing one of the Maine schools and one of the bets was for a box of
lobsters, and I remember bringing it up to the Committee on Rules, and
I remember Joe opening it up and Jerry Solomon was the Chair of the
Committee on Rules at that time, and taking one of the lobsters out of
the box and chasing Jerry Solomon with the lobster. He said back to me,
he said, the only problem with these Maine lobsters is you still have
the rubber around the claws so that they cannot get at them anymore.
Mr. Speaker, Joe was always there for me, and he was always there for
everybody else. One of the things that I really appreciated about him
and his service in the House is that you can tell an awful lot about a
Member when you recognize a Member's staff; sort of, the apples do not
fall far from the tree. The leadership in the office is usually given
to those on the staff, and they carry forward. In Joe's office, I
really got to meet an awful lot of nice people, a lot of people who are
very dedicated, as Joe was. We would do the Horton's kids charity; we
would be involved and they would be involved. After hours, after they
finished their work in the office, they would be going into the inner
cities here in Washington and trying to help kids get the education and
training they need. It seemed to be the entire office was working
together as one large family, and I know that is how Joe felt about
them.
In closing, I would just like to say that it is always ``Joe,''
because it is an honor to be called by your first name by your
constituents and the people that you serve, because it is a recognition
of the people that you represent that you are indeed one of them.
So I would like to thank my colleagues for the opportunity, and I

[[Page H2915]]

would like to say God bless to Joe Moakley.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu).
Mr. SUNUNU. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for
putting together this tribute today.
As I drove down to the memorial service on Friday, I listened to the
radio and there were two ``townies,'' as the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) would describe them, Mike Barnical and Will
McDonough, and they paid a wonderful tribute to Joe Moakley. They
talked about his personality, the way he threw himself into his work
and, most important, his dedication to his community, to South Boston.
I think they understood that he was so good at what he did because he
was a product of that community, and there is no service that is easier
to render than when you are helping a neighbor, than when you are
helping your town, than when you are helping the people you grew up
with. They told story after story about Joe walking the neighborhoods,
sitting in a restaurant, reading the newspaper, saying hello and
reaching out to everyone who came by to talk to him and everyone that
came by to offer a favor. It was a very personal tribute, but I think
it was one that recognized the goodness in the man.
Even a more powerful tribute, however, was the description that Jim
gave, the description of the outpouring of emotion in the town of South
Boston itself. As I got to South Boston, of course the roads were
closed off leading to Saint Bridgett's and I got out of the car and
walked the last 4 or 5 blocks. It was astounding, it was heartwarming
and touching to see people lined up four and five deep, even five
blocks from the church, school children, construction workers, police
officers, and they were all people that were of the community that knew
Joe, that knew the kind of dedication that he brought to his people and
to his neighborhood.
It could not have been a better day. It was a glorious, sunny day.
There was an enormous American flag at the crest of the hill on
Broadway. There were schoolchildren lining the streets, and the Red Sox
had won the night before; and I thought, if you were going to pick a
day to be remembered, it could not be a much finer one than that. Joe
was a great politician, as many people have pointed out. But I think he
was a great politician because he was such a good man; and more than
anything else, that is what his service will be remembered for, and I
think that is what his friends and neighbors and South Boston will
remember him for.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I am glad to join him. All of us have staff members and they have
become extraordinarily close. We work together sometimes some intense
and long hours, and I know how much Joe Moakley thought of the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern). To the extent that Joe is
gone, he certainly will live on in the gentleman on this floor who
replicates his decency, his honesty, his integrity, and his ability,
and his commitment to people. I say to the gentleman, we count him as a
colleague who will reflect Joe's values on this floor for years to
come.
Mr. Speaker, this is D-Day. It was the beginning of the end of the
great conflict in our lifetime. There were other conflicts, and there
will be others, but Tom Brokaw correctly reflects on the Joe Moakley
generation as being the greatest generation.

{time} 1315

On December 7, of course, 1941, that war began essentially for the
United States. We had been participating to some degree, but it began
for us then, that day that will live in infamy.
Days after, Joe Moakley, at the age of 15, said, ``I am going to be a
part of the defense of freedom,'' and he volunteered for the United
States Navy. Initially, as I understand, even he could not get away
with it, being 15. But a few months later he bulked up, I suppose, and
maybe grayed his hair a little bit. I am not sure what he did, but he
made it in, because he wanted to serve. He wanted to be in the
forefront of the defense of liberty of the country that he loved.
It has been said so many times here that Joe Moakley did not forget
from whence he came. I went to the Maryland State Senate at the age of
27, and there was an individual there who I thought was old then, but
he is probably younger than I am now. His name was William Hodges. They
called him Bip Hodges. He had been a fighter, a prize fighter. He
represented the Sixth District of Baltimore City.
He was, from my perspective, sort of a Damon Runyon type figure.
Everybody loved Bip Hodges. Everybody in his district referred to him
as Bip. I thought when I went there fresh out of law school that this
was sort of a rough-hewn guy that really did not know what was going
on.
I had the privilege of serving with him on the Senate Finance
Committee, and every day that I served with him, every week and every
month and every year, I became more aware of how in touch he was with
his district, of how in touch he was with his people.
I do not frankly think it was so much that Joe Moakley never forgot
his district; Joe Moakley was what he came from. To that extent, I
think everyone who has spoken reflects the truth that Joe Moakley
represented exactly what the Founding Fathers wanted this body to be:
representatives of their people.
No one with whom I have served better reflected that representation,
that sense of his people, of their decency, of their fortitude, of
their faith, of their courage, better than our friend, Joe Moakley. The
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) spoke of it, as have others.
He loved this institution. He loved what it represented, as well as
the opportunity that it gave him, as he did as a boy of 15 defending
freedom on the front lines, and here defending freedom at every
opportunity; as has been mentioned, sometimes in the front lines, and
sometimes when his people perhaps did not exactly understand what the
defense of freedom was and what he was representing.
We have all been blessed to have served with a person of the wit, of
the warmth, of the well-grounded and in-touch nature that was Joe
Moakley. There are a lot of smart people in the world, but there are
not so many wise people. Joe Moakley was smart, Joe Moakley represented
his people, and Joe Moakley was a wise and extraordinarily good human
being.
The Founding Fathers, were they on this floor speaking, I think would
say, ``Joe Moakley is what we had in mind when we created the House of
Representatives.'' His friend, Tip O'Neill, has been called a man of
the House, and he was. His dear friend, Joe Moakley, was equally a man
of the House, a man of south Boston, a man of Massachusetts, a man of
the Irish, a man of America. How blessed America was by the life of Joe
Moakley.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Palm Beach, Florida (Mr. Foley).
Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Dreier) for the opportunity to speak today.
For a moment, let me be the boy I was, born in Newton, Massachusetts.
Coming to this Congress, I always follow things that happen in Florida
and Massachusetts, and none was more exciting for me than having
conversations with Joe Moakley.
Joe and I would spend frequent July Fourths together in Chatham. We
would have wonderful times. We would break out in song and Joe would
tell stories, and like many people have reflected on, Joe would be the
life of party, but not try to be the center of the party.
I was over on the side of the Chamber where Joe sat 2 weeks ago. I
saw Joe, and he was sitting in his chair. I said, ``Joe, we will see
you in 6 weeks. We are going to have our July Fourth kickoff. You will
have to lead us in song again.'' He said to me matter-of-factly,
``Mark, I won't make it this year. You are going to have to do the
duties yourself.'' It knocked the wind out of my sails, because he
looked so evidently healthy and content as he sat there. Even knowing
he was sick, he never burdened us with his pain or his anguish.
Many times on this floor, Members complain about the time they spend

[[Page H2916]]

here and the schedule being so frenetic, and not ever being able to
plan their days. I would sometimes pass Joe and I would say, ``This
place is a mess, isn't it, Joe?'' And he said, ``Hey, Mark, I have no
place to be. Evelyn is waiting for me in heaven. This is great. I am
fortunate the people in South Boston gave me the chance to rise to a
position where I could help my neighbors.''
Some of the Members have commented today about how brutal this
process can be. We needed only to spend a moment with Joe Moakley to
know that there was hope for all of us; that if we looked into his eyes
and into his heart and recognized how gifted we are to serve the people
we represent, that rather than rhetoric, we should apply ourselves to
the principal Golden Rule of helping and serving.
Joe had a unique quality about him. It is hard to quantify in words,
even though my colleagues have done such a wonderful job in doing it.
South Boston, many people probably do not realize, has had its share of
tough times, but Joe always, there again, put the best face on his
community and talked about how neighbors help neighbors.
In reading the press accounts over the weekend, we realize that there
was a living patron saint of a community. God has a unique way of
blessing people with unique talents. He blessed Joe with the tenacity
to stick up for the underdog. He gave him the ability to tolerate some
of the excesses of Members who serve here. He gave us a chance to look
in the mirror at times and reflect that we are here only by both the
grace of God and the best wishes of our constituents.
I tell freshmen Members when they come to this process to recognize a
few points: one, that we are only here and invited to the parties
because of the title that precedes our names. When our time in office
is over, we will be quickly forgotten, so we should not take ourselves
too seriously. Joe never did. He never did. Yet, being the congressman
from the district he represented was his joy in life.
I know we have had some late nights, and I know the gentleman from
California (Mr. Dreier) and others have had some real heated debate
with Mr. Moakley. But the thing that came away from all of these
contests is that we can disagree without being disagreeable.
If Joe Moakley were here today, he would laugh and tell us to sit
down and stop all this babble because we are taking far too much time
of the House's business on celebrating him. But I believe in my heart
that as we proceed to pass this resolution unanimously commending him
for service, we also know deep in our hearts that Boston, South Boston,
that all of the cities not only contained within Joe's congressional
district but the entirety of Massachusetts and of our Nation thank Joe
Moakley for his service.
The one thing I would always do, though, and it was funny, when we
would spend this time in Massachusetts, I would avoid long durations of
conversations with Joe simply because I have settled in Florida now for
44 of my 47 years on this Earth. If I stayed with Joe too long, I would
start talking about things with my accent, because he would see me on
the floor or in parties and he would say, ``Hey, Mark, how are you,
kid? How are you doing? Hey, I love your car. I saw your car. It is a
good-looking car, kid.'' If I would stay too long, I would get that
Massachusetts accent back.
So I salute Joe. I thank God I got a chance early in Congress to get
to know him early on in my term, and to be able to witness what I
believe is a legend of this process. His guidance to many of us in this
process is appreciated, and I know if we can try and emulate his style,
if we take a moment to appreciate his gentle touch, and if we would all
refrain, when we are here at the well and when we have a chance to
blurt our words over the airwaves, that we pause just a minute and
think of the Moakley rule; pause just a minute before we say something
inappropriate or hurtful; pause just a minute and say, how would Joe
approach this situation? It is always fun to win, but it is better to
win with honor. Joe knew how to do that with great style.
So let us institute the Moakley rule from now on as a tribute to our
colleague, our hero, and our friend, Joe Moakley, and think before we
speak; and if we have to speak in loud tones, do it civilly,
responsibly, and with respect for this great institution.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Meehan).
(Mr. MEEHAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I too want to thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for all of the wonderful work he has done
over the period of the last several weeks. Joe loved him very much. The
op ed piece the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) wrote for
the Boston Globe was a powerful, powerful expression of love and an
expression of Joe Moakley's life.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to acknowledge all of the people from Joe's
staff who are here. I would daresay that there is not a Member of
Congress who had a closer relationship of love with his staff than Joe
Moakley did. I also want to compliment all of the members of Joe's
staff for all of the work they have done over the last few weeks, as
well. I know Joe is looking down and is very, very proud of the job
that members of his staff did.
It has been, I guess, about 4 months since Joe announced that he had
an incurable form of leukemia. I remember the Sunday when he called the
members of the delegation. I had gone to Taunton in Joe's district as a
member of the Committee on Armed Services. Joe was not going to an
event, and they asked me to go and sort of say good-bye to a group of
Reservists who were going over to Kosovo.
I went in and did the ceremony, and there were a lot of television
cameras there. I got home and my wife said, ``Gee, you were on all the
stations.'' I got a call about an hour and a half later, and it was Joe
Moakley on the line. They said, ``Do you want to wait?'' I covered over
my phone and said, ``It is Joe Moakley. He is going to give me a hard
time about those television cameras down in his district.''
Then he got on the phone with the shocking news that he had an
incurable form of leukemia.

{time} 1330

I will never forget that conversation, anticipating what I am going
to say to have a split second response, not knowing what he was calling
for.
Joe was a remarkable person, a very, very funny, sharp person. I was
reminded listening to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal)
talking about some of the stories, and the gentleman from New York (Mr.
King), I was fortunate enough to have been at a dinner 2\1/2\ weeks
before Joe passed away. I want to remind the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) that Joe Moakley ran, he told us that night,
as an independent for Congress to avoid the Democratic primary because
he had figured out exactly what the people in his district were
thinking and knew that he could be sworn into the Congress as a
Democrat having gone directly to the general election. What a wonderful
night of stories. So many stories, so little time to tell them.
But one of the stories that stands out to me was, after the President
had recognized Joe for his battle with cancer, has recognized him. The
gentleman from New York (Mr. King) was over the next morning, and Joe
would sit over here, and the gentleman from New York ran over and said,
``Joe, how do you do it, the President of the United States coming up
to you and praising you that way, everybody spending so much time, Joe
Moakley. What a tribute. How do you do it?'' Joe looked up with a split
second response and said, ``Peter, believe me, it is not worth it.''
The strong message that he sent with that.
There was 2 weeks ago, Joe was very committed to Suffolk University,
and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) had gotten an honorary
degree and went over to thank him, Joe is a member of the board of
trustees, for recommending him.
Now, Joe looked up and he said, ``Now, you are going to get the
doctor, right? It is the doctor.'' He said, ``Yeah, it is all set.''
``But, Richey, you know it is the doctor, the doctor of law.'' Richey
said, ``Yeah, it is the doctor of law.''
Joe looked at him and he looked at me, and he said, ``You know,
Meehan

[[Page H2917]]

has one of those. If he has one, you ought to have one as well.
Jim's op ed piece in the Globe, Jim goes in to see Joe at the
hospital, and everyone is concerned about Joe. Jim looks at him and
says, ``Joe, you look better than I do, for crying out loud. You look
great.'' Joe looks up and says, ``Better than you, huh? That is not
saying much.''
At the end of the day with all of the events, wonderful events, the
foundation raising millions of dollars at a wonderful dinner here in
Washington, a wonderful dinner up in Boston, the wonderful dedication
of the courthouse, and what a beautiful ceremony that was, the
wonderful portrait unveiling here, and then the wonderful ceremony at
Saint Bridget's in South Boston, to see the lines of average every-day
working people, seniors, waiting in line for hours and hours and hours.
There was someone in back of me that said, ``Excuse me, you are a
congressman. You serve with Joe, right?'' She said, ``You know, Joe
threw me out of a night club when I was 19 years old,'' and with a
smile. I said, ``Oh, you did not mind.'' She said, ``Well, he was a
bouncer.'' I said, ``How did he know enough to throw you out?'' She
said, ``My brother was a pal of his. I was under age, and my brother
tipped him off, says I am going to call Joe Moakley and let him know to
keep you out.'' She smiled.
So many wonderful stories. The ceremony at the State House, thousands
of people waiting in line. Then the wonderful tribute that everyone
across the Nation had the opportunity to see at the church on Friday.
When all is said and done, though, the difficult part for all of us
in the Massachusetts delegation was coming back to this Chamber on
Tuesday at about 6:15 when, after every weekend, we would come back,
and Joe would be over here in the left-hand side, and every member of
the delegation would go up to him and talk to him about what had
happened. He would have great stories. He did not miss anything that
happened over the weekend. If one wants a news program or newspaper
article, Joe read it, and Joe had something to say about it. That is a
part, I think, all of us are going to miss the most is not having that
unique opportunity to interact with a great American, Joe Moakley.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume the
gentleman from Staten Island, New York (Mr. Fossella).
Mr. FOSSELLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time as well as to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for
his efforts here just for two reasons. One is to pay honor to a man
that I got to know in my brief time here in Congress. Obviously I did
not know Joe Moakley as well as so many others here and regaling the
stories over the years. But the brief time I did know him, I came to
respect him and honor him. Those are things that I think if we can just
set some time aside to pay tribute, that is why I am here.
But the second and probably more important reason why I am here is
that my great grandfather served in this body, 1935. He died when he
was in Congress. He died from cancer. Obviously I did not know my great
grandfather. His name was James O'Leary, probably not too dissimilar in
his politics than Joe Moakley. Although one distinction, everyone has
been focusing on Joe Moakley, the Irish politician. The fact is he was
half Italian, and I guess the unofficial head of the Gaelic and garlic
caucus, as he liked to put it, as am I.
But the fact of the matter is, while my grandfather served in this
body and, again, probably had similar views to Joe Moakley, a few years
before my grandmother died, she gave me a leather-bound book. In that
book were transcripts of a ceremony similar to this. That had my
grandfather's colleagues on the floor of the House paying tribute to
then-Congressman O'Leary.
I read it, and it gave me an inkling of sort of the sense of what the
man was like, an understanding that perhaps few great grandchildren
could share, but to me was important. What I got out of it was he was a
man of honor, of witness who had a sense of humor, who loved this
country, who loved the Congress, who loved serving the people and never
forgot where he came from, again, things that we have heard all today
that Joe Moakley was and represents.
So while this may be not necessarily for the folks who are here
today, nor for the folks back in South Boston that truly loved Joe
Moakley or throughout Massachusetts, but 55 or 65 years from now,
perhaps one of Joe's relatives will open up a book and see what his
colleagues thought about him. It is for those folks who may be reading
it, let them know that we respected him and we honor him.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Olver).
Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time.
Mr. Speaker, we in the Massachusetts delegation have lost our dean
and our lodestar. I will always be grateful to Joe Moakley for helping
to define my role in Congress. Like everyone in our delegation, I
looked to him for guidance, and he reminded all of us to be true to our
roots.
Joe Moakley is gone, but he will never be forgotten. Joe Moakley
chose to spend the last few months of his life fighting for the causes
he believed in. He never yielded, and he never gave up. Joe served as
an example and an inspiration both throughout both his long career and
final days, particularly his final days, bringing determination and
humor to every issue that he tackled. He leaves an impressive legacy.
Whether Joe was working to increase funding for low-income home
energy assistance or fighting to end the oppression in Latin America,
the unifying threat of his service was that he stood up for those who
were being overlooked. He cared for people who needed help the most.
I am deeply saddened by his passing, but I feel lucky to have known
him and served with him in this Congress.
As long as there are Members of this body who fight for human rights
around the globe and here at home for the rights of American workers
and their families to live with dignity, Joe's spirit will be with us.
The Nation will miss Joe Moakley. He will not be forgotten.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for bringing us all together today on
behalf of this resolution, and also the gentleman from California (Mr.
Dreier), the chairman of the Committee on Rules.
We all loved Joe Moakley, and it is among the highest privileges of
my career to express the deepest appreciation for his life on behalf of
the people of Ohio's 9th District, extending sympathy also to the
people of Massachusetts' 9th District, indeed the people of the entire
State of Massachusetts, to his relatives, to his good friends, many,
many of them here in this House.
We all deeply admire the life of this golden-hearted gentleman from
Massachusetts, Joe Moakley. I truly, as one who served with him for 19
years, will deeply miss him, will miss his presence on this floor,
usually sitting here or usually sitting here, but always accessible to
all the Members and always making us feel a part of a family.
I think it was interesting for Members not from Massachusetts to
watch how all of the Members from Massachusetts would gravitate around
him. It was a lesson to all of us about how to build family in one's
own delegations. It is a lesson, I think, that is not lost on any of
us.
For myself, on Memorial Day, the day of his passing from this life, I
happened to travel to Vietnam and did not have access to the news for
almost a week. I dedicated my presence in Vietnam during a ceremony at
which we returned the suspected remains of two of America's service
members from the Vietnam era to our government. I dedicated my presence
in his honor, and not until I was flying back home several days later
and picked up the newspaper did I realize that he had died on Memorial
Day. It hit me very, very hard.
When I think of him, I think of the words love and affection, a
gentleman with no affectations, someone who had such great perseverance
in every aspect of his life. I remember how he weathered the loss of
his wife, which is a loss I know that he felt every day, and that

[[Page H2918]]

he had the type of bearing that automatically drew respect from all
those that he met.
There are many people who teach us how to live, but I have to say
also, Joe Moakley took some of the most difficult moments that any
human being could experience, and he weathered them here with us, with
his friends on this floor. He taught each of us how to die. He had such
strength. He had such greatness to him that even those of us who saw
him just a few weeks ago down here on this floor could not even imagine
he was ill. Yet, none of that difficulty did he share in any verbal
way. He maintained that sense of inner strength and outer strength and
gave us the strength to walk alongside him as he journeyed in his last
days on this earth.
I shall never forget him. He made me, I hope, a better Member of this
House and a better Representative. I want to thank the people of
Massachusetts for sending him here to serve the people of the United
States in the cause of freedom. He did it ably, and he did it with
dispatch. He did it every day. He made each of us better through
knowing him.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). All time has expired. The
gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Tierney, is recognized for one hour.
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, this should come to no surprise to us that
there are more Members here that want to commemorate Joe, and I ask
unanimous consent that we have another hour to have Members express
their condolences and memories; and I ask that one-half of that time be
managed by the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) and one-half of
that time be managed by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
McGovern).
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Massachusetts?
There was no objection.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Maryland (Mrs. Morella).
Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for
introducing this important resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I am honored to represent Maryland's 8th Congressional
District, but my roots were in Massachusetts, so I always felt an
affinity to the delegation of Massachusetts and followed what was going
on there also.
But I rise, Mr. Speaker, to honor and praise our good friend, Joe
Moakley, a great man, a great leader. He was a man who literally gave a
lifetime of service, a patriot, a public servant, a dear friend.
He enlisted in the Navy at the age of 15, served courageously in the
South Pacific during World War II. He served in all he did with grace,
commitment and integrity. A great leader, a great politician.
He represented South Boston with ferocious dedication and passion,
not only here in the Congress, but also in the Massachusetts State
legislature and the Boston City Council. He was, I think, in his own
words, a bread-and-butter politician working day after day for his
people.
The community of South Boston was blessed to have him, and we are
blessed to have known him. He delivered for the people of South Boston
as few Members have delivered for their districts. I know his favorite
song was ``Southie Is My Hometown''.
Outside of Boston, outside of South Boston especially, he is perhaps
best known for his work on behalf of human rights in El Salvador, that
Moakley Commission that did the investigation work and resulted in
better relations and movement toward peace in El Salvador. His
passionate quest for truth and justice made him a true international
leader.

{time} 1345

He once said compassion is a strength, not a weakness. He said that
helping people is our obligation. These actions are the proper
responsibilities of our government. He not only said it, he acted it.
He made us proud to serve.
I do remember, though, he once said at one of the tributes to him,
``You know, until I became part of the El Salvador Commission,'' called
the Moakley Commission, ``to me, foreign policy was going to East
Boston for an Italian sub.'' Well, I said to him one day, ``Well, Mr.
Moakley, I note that you made that statement, but I also saw you listed
as a member of the Italian American delegation.'' And then he confessed
to me that it was his mother who was Italian. So he very well
represented both groups.
We will all miss our colleague, Joe Moakley. We will miss his
integrity, his honesty, his laughter. He will be deeply missed by all
of us but remembered in love.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume
to thank the gentlewoman from Maryland for her kind remarks and
reminding us that Joe Moakley loved music. Yes, ``Southie, My
Hometown,'' was one of his favorite songs, which commemorates his
hometown of South Boston, but the record should also reflect that he
liked, ``If you're Irish, Come Into the Parlor,'' ``Steve O'Donnell's
Wake,'' and his favorite was ``Redhead,'' which I do not know whether
under the House rules I can submit the words for the record or not. I
will have to check that with the Parliamentarian. But he really did
love music.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. Tierney).
Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, I was just going to suggest to the
gentleman if he started singing that, we were going to start leaving.
I just want to start by saying that Jim McGovern was a friend to Mr.
Moakley in life and continues to be a loyal friend even now, and I want
to thank him for putting together this time and for all he did in the
last couple of weeks, as well as throughout Joe's latter years of his
life and being that kind of friend and doing us all the honor of
befriending him in that way.
I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) for
participating in this hour and for also being a friend, even though he
was, of course, of another persuasion in party. I think Joe transcended
that, as does the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) and others.
I think the public would be well served to remember that Joe Moakley
gave people an idea of what people down here strive to be, and that is
a person who really wants to do the people's business and wants to do
it in a civilized fashion, and he did that every day of his life.
I want to also mention the staff of Joe at home in his district
offices, as well as here in his Washington office and on the staff of
the Committee on Rules. I know how lucky he was to have such tremendous
staff, and I trust they already know and have shown us how much they
know they were lucky to have had a mentor and a friend that they could
love and work with. I know we will all benefit in the House with their
continued good services, and I want to thank them for all they have
done for him and all they do for us.
It is fashionable in Massachusetts now, Mr. Speaker, to start
resurrecting the memory of John Adams. Joseph Ellis has written a book,
``The Passionate Sage,'' and others have started to remember the good
that John Adams did as our second president and begun to wonder why he
has not been memorialized. The two words that come to mind when we
think of John Adams are also words that describe Joe Moakley. One is
integrity. Joe always had integrity. He always let people know exactly
where he stood and why he stood there. He was always on the right side
of things and it did not matter whether you were rich or poor, where
you came from, what your background or education, Joe seemed to know
what the right thing was and he knew how to stand for people at the
right moment.
The other is, of course, authenticity. Just as John Adams was the
authentic deal, Joe Moakley was the authentic person all the time. He
never put on airs. He never tried to be something he was not. And in
fact it is just as well, because he was all that any person should be.
He was, in fact, somebody that everybody in the delegation looked up
to. We had respect for him.
Joseph Ellis talks in his book about John Adams, ``The Passionate
Sage,'' about John Adams' theory that everyone strives for something,
whether it was to be the captain of the economy, whether it was to be a
person of title in the ministry, the clergy, the military, in politics.
Whatever it might be, they all really were looking for respect. And in
fact, Joe Moakley lived a life sort of

[[Page H2919]]

subconsciously looking for respect because he just lived a life that
had that agenda to him day in and day out.
We all respected Joe Moakley and what he stood for. We respected the
relationship he had with his constituents and with all the people down
here. It was best shown, I think, by the tremendous outpouring of
people that stood out there in that line from South Boston to
Braintree's Blue Hill Cemetery stood there for a long period of time
just so they could finally say good-by to Joe Moakley. It has been an
honor to know and serve with this gentleman, and I think we will always
remember his authenticity, his integrity, and we all know what great
respect everybody here has for him.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my very good friend,
the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon).
(Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to revise
and extend his remarks.)
Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my
colleagues for taking out this special order to a great American and a
great friend to all of us. My favorite quote from Joe Moakley was a
statement he made in 1989. It summarizes Joe Moakley, I think, to the
inner soul of his body. He said, ``As soon as we're born in
Massachusetts, we're baptized into the Catholic church, we're sworn
into the Democrat party, and we're given union cards.'' That was Joe
Moakley's legacy.
But Joe Moakley, in the 15 years I have been here, has been the most
tolerant person I have ever met. When I went through some health
problems 5 or 6 years ago, it was Joe Moakley who was the first to
approach me, not only to ask me how I was but, on a continual basis
throughout that year, would prod me to continue to control my weight,
to watch what I was eating, and to exercise. He was concerned about me.
And as Joe developed problems and I knew he had become sick, he would
still ask me every day about how I was feeling or how I was doing.
Joe Moakley could disagree with you on an issue and be as far on the
opposite side of the spectrum as you could get, but he was always a
friend. I had a particular relationship with Joe in dealing with our
Nation's firefighters. I have a special fondness for them all over the
country and so did Joe Moakley. Joe Moakley was a firefighter's friend.
He was concerned about the Boston firefighters, he was concerned about
the volunteers in rural America, and he was always willing to step up
and make sure we did the right thing to pay respect to these brave
heroes, and that truly was Joe Moakley.
He was a role model. When you come to Congress, you look to certain
people that set role models for how you should act and how you should
conduct yourself. You could not find a better example of that kind of
person than Joe Moakley. He was someone that was always there as a
friend, always had a smile on his face, always willing to reach out and
shake a hand. And any time another colleague had some request, Joe
Moakley was always prepared to try to assist.
Mr. Speaker, we come to this body as politicians from across America;
and some of us leave this body in different forms. Joe Moakley left
this institution as a statesman.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, last Friday, at the funeral for Mr. Moakley, his
lifelong friend, the former president of the State Senate in
Massachusetts, now president of the University of Massachusetts, Bill
Bulger, encapsulated the Aristotelian view of politics when he said
that ``Politics is the art of making people happy.''
We all know that Joe Moakley spent a great deal of time making people
happy in many ways. First and foremost would be the very serious
responsibility he took with his work here, knowing that public policy
was very important to ensure happiness for people. He obviously focused
on that great sense of humor because he knew that that brought
happiness to so many of us. And he also focused on his very important
constituent service, and by constituent service I mean any other human
beings. We were all constituents of Joe Moakley's because he wanted to
help us.
The Speaker of the House stood here and talked about how Joe helped
him with an amendment, he regularly helped me with many, many different
things. So I think that view that was first outlined by Aristotle is a
very appropriate one when it comes to the life of Joe Moakley.
There are many stories, I said last night up in the Committee on
Rules, as we reported out our resolution, that I was going to share
some of them with our colleagues here on the House floor. This is a
very sad time, but we obviously are celebrating his life. And among
those stories I am reminded of what was described by this great
Massachusetts delegation, who has no Republicans. There are no
Republicans in the Massachusetts delegation, I know they are happy
about that, I wish we had one or two Republicans at least in the
Massachusetts delegation. While I am not an honorary member of the
Massachusetts delegation, having chaired the committee on which Joe
served and having the job Joe used to have, and he desperately wanted
to have back, in my chairmanship of the Committee on Rules I sort of
feel as if I am in many ways tied to them. And, frankly, through Joe's
illness, have spent more time with members of the Massachusetts
delegation than my California constituents would like for me to,
probably.
But during that period of time we were able to hear many of Joe's
great stories, and his partisanship, his commitment to the Democratic
party did come through because he often ribbed me with stories. And I
will tell you one of them that came to mind when I went to the funeral
and Joe's two great brothers reminded me of one of the stories that I
had regularly told. Joe liked to tell this story, and I said that I did
not think he was ever going to die because he told the story about Mr.
O'Leary, who went to the registration desk and said that he wanted to
change his registration from Democrat to Republican. The man at the
registration desk said, ``Mr. O'Leary, you've been a Democrat your
entire life. Your brothers and sisters are all Democrats. Your father
is a Democrat. Your grandfathers were both Democrats. Why in the world
would you consider changing your registration from Democrat to
Republican?'' He said, ``Well, I just went to the doctor last week and
he told me that I have 6 weeks to live, and I'd much rather lose one of
them than one of us.''
That is why I said to Joe that I did not think he was ever going to
die because he did not change it. Well, when I went to the service, his
brother Bob came up to me and he said, ``David, I took Joe a
registration card to his deathbed, but he would never change from
Democrat to Republican.'' And he was extraordinarily loyal and
dedicated to so many.
The comment that he made about loving this institution, I mean it was
such a thrill for all of us to be able to see this litany of honors
that we were able to present to Joe before he passed away. They have
all been mentioned: the fact that the President of the United States in
his first address to a joint session of Congress, he a Republican, Joe
a Democrat, recognized Joe Moakley and the challenges that he was
facing; the fact that we were able to waive the rules and pass a bill
naming, while he was still alive, the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse in
Boston; the fact that the President of the United States held his first
Rose Garden signing ceremony in recognition of the signing of that bill
that named the Moakley courthouse; the fact that we had a great dinner
with over 800 people here in Washington honoring Joe; the fact that we
saw the dedication of the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse and then a big
dinner that followed that; and then, of course, the portrait unveiling
which took place here in Statuary Hall. And only Speakers of the House
have had portrait unveilings in Statuary Hall, so it was a great
tribute to Joe that we were able to unveil his portrait there.
I quoted the artist, Gary Hoffmann, who said to me just before we had
the unveiling that when he began to paint Joe's portrait, he had what
he called sort of a regular-sized canvas. He gave the dimensions, and I
do not remember exactly what the dimensions were, but he said then,
that just meeting Joe and the presence that he had, he had to do a
larger canvas, he said, because Joe

[[Page H2920]]

was such a commanding individual. And I think that that demonstrates
the great presence that he had for us and that so many people had for
him.
When he announced that he had this terminal illness, he went before
the press and said that he had been told by his doctors not to buy any
green bananas. And so when he came back from his first meeting
following that announcement in the Committee on Rules, I had Vince
Randazzo, our staff director, get the greenest bananas I could possibly
find because we wanted him to hang around for a long time. And so I
presented him with green bananas when the Committee on Rules convened,
and in that typical Moakley fashion, he looked to me when I handed him
the green bananas and said, ``I'd much rather have the gavel.''
He very much wanted to again be chairman of the Committee on Rules,
and I have to say I have somewhat mixed emotions about that. But I was
very pleased that I was able to spend so much time with him. He was an
inspiration. I said at the close of our meeting last night that his
interview on the Today Show saw the question posed to him, ``What is it
you would like to most be remembered for?'', and he said, ``I'd like to
be remembered for having done a good job and for having not forgotten
the people back home.''

{time} 1400

I know this has been said over and over again, but that really does
come through.
I think it should be an example for all of us to not forget the
people back home, to focus on those individual concerns that people
have.
Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I will miss him greatly. He was a
wonderful friend. There is no way we will be able to see anyone meet
the great standard that he set for this institution.
Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Without objection, the
gentleman from Massachusetts will control the remainder of the time.
There was no objection.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) for
those very eloquent words on behalf of our friend, Joe Moakley. Joe
Moakley had a great deal of respect for the chairman of the Committee
on Rules and really treasured their friendship. Those words are
especially meaningful to Joe's family and staff, and I thank the
gentleman for the courtesies that he has extended us over the last few
weeks.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to take a moment to recognize the
House Chaplain, Father Coughlin, who is on the floor today, and thank
him on behalf of Joe's family for the many kindnesses that he extended
to Joe during his final days. Father Coughlin provided Joe a lot of
comfort and peace of mind in his final days.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. Capuano).
Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot about what Joe Moakley
was; but I would say I have known Joe all my life, even before I knew
him. Joe Moakley is of South Boston. It is not just South Boston. Joe
Moakley is of the entire Ninth District.
When I spoke to Joe, I did not just see a Congressman who happened to
be a Congressman. I saw a bus driver, I saw a truck driver, I saw a
priest, I saw a milkman, I saw a longshoreman, I saw a teacher, I saw a
cop. I saw a secretary. Joe Moakley had in him what we all have in us
when we first try to enter the political realm: the love of the people
we want to represent, the feeling that we know them so well. He was one
of the few who was able to keep it for so many years. That is why we
are here today honoring him: because he earned it.
Mr. Speaker, he did not earn it because of the legislative
accomplishments that he had, although he did earn many accolades on
that level. He earned the love and admiration of the people at home
because he loved them back. That is really what Joe was. He was just a
man who never could stop giving of his heart and his soul of the people
who elected him.
Mr. Speaker, that is why I wanted to express my personal appreciation
for everything he stood for, for all of the best of politics and the
best of the people from Massachusetts.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Callahan), the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee
on Energy and Water Development, and a good friend of Joe Moakley.
(Mr. CALLAHAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, Joe Moakley was a friend, a true friend.
In reflecting on Joe's history here in this House of Representatives,
he recognized something that very few first-term Members of Congress,
very few second-term Members of Congress recognize: that this is an
institution that runs solely on respect. It is an institution of
compromise where you must compromise. You do not compromise your
principles; you compromise the issue of the day in order to keep our
country running.
Joe Moakley chaired the Committee on Rules when we were in the
minority. Mr. Speaker, I told this to Joe Moakley, that sometimes he
could come up with some of the darnedest recognitions of power that
that committee has of anybody I have ever known. Some of the statements
that he was in the minority when he was ranking member on the Committee
on Rules, I accused Joe at dinner one night of going back into the
1980s and extracting some of the opposition's opposition to a rule. We
were fighting the same rule that Joe Moakley had devised then. And now
Joe Moakley was fighting the same rules that Joe Moakley had devised.
This institution, it is a mystical institution; and few people
understand what we are all about. They do not think that we have
families and that we love one another in this House, that we have
respect for one another. The only thing they see is partisan division.
Well, Joe Moakley and I overcame that. We would have dinner quite
often together, and we would not talk about issues on the floor.
Sometimes we would joke about them, but we would not discuss them. We
would talk about our families and our home. We would talk about this
institution, not whether or not we were Republicans or Democrats.
It was a pleasure for me to grow friendly with Joe Moakley, and it is
a pleasure for me to remember Joe Moakley as my friend and to join with
my colleagues in the House on both sides of the aisle in extending to
Joe's family for the passing of their husband, father, their loved one,
and our friend.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Eshoo).
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time.
Mr. Speaker, let me say to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
McGovern), as blessed as each one of us felt to know Joe Moakley and to
have his friendship, I do not think that he had greater love for anyone
here than he did for you. We feel the same way. We know that the
gentleman is going to continue in Joe Moakley's great footsteps, in his
beliefs and everything that he fought for. You are our new Joe.
Mr. Speaker, let me thank Mr. Moakley's staff for serving him so well
because through their service, the fullness of his representation was
felt here.
Whenever I think of Joe since his passing, and I know the angels
stood outside the gates and greeted him with open arms, and I think Tip
O'Neill was right there, too, to bring him through the gates, he has
earned the highest place in heaven because of how he lived on this
Earth. Thank God Joe Moakley was born because in that person, in the
soul and the person that was shaped, he did great things because they
were good things.
I think his goodness emanated out of his faith, first of all. He
believed in the beatitudes. He understood that there was a holiness to
each human being. So it was that he set out in everything that he did
to actually feed the hungry, to cloth the naked, to stand next to the
extraordinary, ordinary person because he saw the face of almighty God
in each person.
Mr. Speaker, his constituents understood that because they knew how
much he loved them and that the service that he gave back to them was
really embedded in the beatitudes. So he celebrated the Constitution.
He lifted

[[Page H2921]]

it up. He made each one of us feel extraordinary. I think also because
his life was so instructive to us, we recognize that he was the real
thing. He was the real thing. He was totally authentic. He did not
smoke his own exhaust. He never thought of doing that. He loved life.
He loved this place because he saw the dignity of America and what this
country represented around the world to people.
When the world came to him in terms of El Salvador and he took that
delegation there, his outrage over the assassination of modern day
martyrs, those Jesuits then gathered at the altar of God to celebrate
the mass to say farewell to a man who had lived life so nobly.
So he is not only their hero and the hero of the Southies and the
townies, but to all of us. Today we are saying, Thank God, Joe, you
were born. You taught us how to live. You taught us how to represent.
You taught us about conscience. You taught us about friendship, you
taught us about dignity, and you taught us very well how to best love
our country and the world, that is, to bring the love of God and the
dignity of his face to every single human being.
Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. McGovern), for organizing this; and I thank our Republican
colleagues who have joined with their voices and their tributes to
honor this beautiful man. I do not think we will ever be the same
again; but if we take the lesson of his life up, we might get to be
partly as good as blessed Joe.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise
and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I might think of Congressman Moakley as having the luck
of the Irish, and know that I have learned about his Italian heritage,
the spirit of Italians. I know Joe Moakley through his staff, and I
thank them for the kindness they have exuded as reflected by his
spirit; and I thank Joe Moakley for being a Member's Member.
Mr. Speaker, Joe Moakley was the chairperson of the Committee on
Rules, and I did not have the privilege of serving with him as
chairman, but to me he was always the chairperson. What I like about
him, he appreciated the work that Members had to do. He appreciated
Members. And he realized as we came before the Committee on Rules, we
were doing our work and he treated us as such.
He also realized that many times, although he was governing the rules
portion of the debate, many Members would come to the floor and say
just a minute, talking about everything but procedure, really talking
about their belief and the issues, and he understood that; and I want
to say thank you.
As I looked at his bio, I am moved by the fact that he started life
as an adult very early because at 15 he enlisted in the United States
Navy and served in the South Pacific.
Mr. Speaker, I do not know what it was about Memorial Day. I was in
Houston, and I had just finished a Memorial Day service, and I felt
compelled to reach out to him as he was hospitalized. I wanted to say
to his family, You are in our prayers. Obviously, I was not able to get
to Joe or a direct family member, but I did speak to a member of his
staff; and I simply said, Our prayers are with you, we will keep you in
our prayers.
I probably needed that more than Joe because I simply wanted to be
able to let him know how important an institution, yes, institution, he
was to this body, but as well to his great State and this Nation.
Of course we do not see him as that. He was a people's person. He
cared about everyone, and I believe the long lines in his beloved State
evidenced not people's desire to give special acknowledgment to a
politician, although he did not step away from that; but it was to give
acknowledgment to their special Joe, Joe Moakley, their Congressperson,
the person who believed in them.
My tribute is to be able to thank him even more than the
conversations we had the pleasure of having when he, too, sat on the
floor of the House, the words we passed, the comments about this
process and democracy, and his strong and deep abiding compassion.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to simply add in the Record seemingly the
words Joe Moakley used to describe himself, a quote that says: ``I
believe that compassion is a strength, not a weakness. I believe that
helping people is our obligation. Many would call this old-fashioned
politics. For me these actions are the proper responsibilities of our
Federal Government.'' So says our Congressman, Joe Moakley.
Mr. Speaker, I close again with a deep abiding thanks for what he
personally was to me, his kindness exhibited, his ability to rise
above, and his willingness to share with those of us who were simply
trying to do the business of our constituents.

{time} 1415

To him I say this:

Isn't it strange that kings and queens
And common people like you and me
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings
Are builders for eternity.
For unto each of us is given a book of rules
And a bag of tools
And each must make ere life is flown
A stumbling block or stepping stone.

Joe Moakley, not a stepping stone but a giant mountain, a giant of a
man. God bless you.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the eulogy
delivered at Joe Moakley's funeral by Monsignor Tom McDonnell of St.
Augustine's Parish in South Boston as well as the eulogy delivered by
the president of the University of Massachusetts, William M. Bulger.

Monsignor Tom McDonnell, St. Augustine's Parish, South Boston

St. Augustine once wrote that if we ever wish to find hope,
we must learn to remember. And it is this remembering that
leads to the hope that must be the center of our reflection
today as we give our brother, friend, colleague and public
servant back to God.
My own memories will I know color my words. I remember a
political novel about a thinly-disguised mayor of Boston. And
years later, I can remember the words of the fictitious
Monsignor about the hero. With due application, they apply so
aptly to Joe. His words were to the effect that ``to die in
God's grace, to have loved many and left behind many friends,
and to have done a great deal of good--what more needs to be
said about any man.'' Indeed, we might leave our thoughts
here, except for one thing. The phrase quoted above overlooks
what contributed to Joe's goodness and greatness. It
overlooks the Congressman's roots as a So. Boston Irish-
Italian Catholic American.
There was a spiritual depth in Joe which could easily be
overlooked. After his public announcement regarding his
disease, he asked to meet with me--and had one question:
``What more should I be doing to get ready to meet God?'' He
had received the Sacrament of Reconciliation and he was given
the sacrament of the sick by his friend Cardinal Law. But
being the pragmatist he was, he wanted to know if he should
be doing anything else.
This question, coming from the deepest part of himself, was
a natural one to those of us who were raised in the Catholic
tradition--where we were taught that the purpose of our
existence was to lead us to spend an eternity of happiness
with God. It was a question which took on the aspect of
prayer--spoken in the language of the heart. And ultimately,
it pointed to the faith-dimension of Joe's life.
It would be wrong, however to look at Joe simply in terms
of a local politician. I believe his pursuit of justice for
those murdered in El Salvador proved that Joe was a true
statesman who did not, however, forget his roots. His was a
passionate pursuit of justice. And as the first Scripture
reading notes, the just are in the hands of God.
I doubt whether Joe ever read Aristotle on his frequent
trips between Boston and Washington, but he instinctively
embraced the ideas of this Greek philosopher that the
vocation of the politician is to strive to make others happy.
This idea, combined with the Christian belief expressed in
the Acts of the Apostles that Jesus was one who ``went about
doing good'' explains the motivating forces for Joe's
political life and successes. As the Gospel points out, there
are many ways to our Father's home.
As we have seen in the past few months, Joe exercised a
great appeal to so many people. I believe people saw in him 2
virtues for which people are hungry; integrity and
authenticity.
But there is something else which also must be mentioned.
While Joe was not without fault, his virtues outweighed his
faults. It was the visible virtues of his care and compassion
which earned him such ecomiums as the ``voice of the
voiceless.'' But I think the key to Joe's personality and his
success as a politician is to be found in a few verses
written by the poet politician Patrick Pearse. He wrote:

Because I am of the people, I understand the people,

[[Page H2922]]

I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their
desire:
My heart has been heavy with the grief of mothers,
My eyes have been wet with the tears of children
I have yearned with old wistful men,
And laughed with young men . . .

Because Joe never forgot he was a man of the people, he had
an empathy and compassion for them. These virtues likewise
are expansive. And Joe's legacy to us was to be a role-model
of these virtues. But he also challenges now--to make these
virtues come alive in our hearts. If we do--whatever our
vocation is--the world will become a better place.
____

President William M. Bulger, Remarks Delivered at the Funeral of U.S.
Representative John Joseph Moakley

It is of surpassing significance, isn't it, that Joe was
summoned to the joy of eternity on Memorial Day? A day set
apart for reflection and tribute in grateful memory of all
who have given their lives for the strength and durability of
the country we love.
Joe's spirit enlivens Memorial day for us: patriotism,
gratitude, remembrance. Long years of unselfish devotion to
bringing the ordinary blessings of compassion to those most
needy among us stand as silent sentinels to his inherent
goodness, to his desire to make a difference in the quality
of life for less fortunate friends and neighbors.
His helping hand was always extended in genuine recognition
of the responsibility he believed was his to make things
better for those in need of encouragement and inspiration. To
him the ideal of brotherhood was not simply something to be
preached but, more importantly, he was challenged by his soul
to exemplify this ideal in positive advancement of the common
good.
Everyone knows the facts of Joseph Moakley's background and
career. They are impressive and worth knowing, but they
reveal little about the man himself, little of who he was, of
what he was, and of why.
He lived his entire life on this peninsula, and it was here
in this place that his character was shaped. It was, and it
still is, a place where roots run deep, where traditions are
cherished, a place of strong faith, of strong values, deeply
held: commitment to the efficacy of work, to personal
courage, to the importance of good reputation--and withal, to
an almost fierce sense of loyalty.
No one spent much time talking of such things, but they
were inculcated.
And no one absorbed those values more thoroughly than did
Joseph Moakley. To understand them is to understand him.
In recent months Joe Moakley would reassure his friends in
private conversation that he slept well, ate three meals
easily, and was not afraid.
He had a little bit of the spirit of the Irish poet (Oliver
St. John Gogarty), who said on the subject of death:

Enough! Why should a man bemoan
A fate that leads the natural way?
Or think himself worthier than
Those who braved it in their day?

If only gladiators died or heroes
Then death would be their pride;
But have not little maidens gone
And Lesbia's sparrow-all alone?

The virtue of courage was his in abundance. But Joe had,
during his lifetime, become the personification of all that
was best in his hometown.
And he was a man of memory; he recognized the danger of
forgetting what it was to be hungry once we are fed . . . and
he would, in a pensive moment, speak of that tendency to
forget as a dangerous fault.
Joe exemplified the words of Seneca: You must live for your
neighbor, if you would live for yourself.
And he abided by the words of Leviticus in the Old
Testament and St. Matthew in the New Testament, ``Thou shalt
love they neighbor as thyself.'' These are words that he
would have absorbed at home, at St. Monica's, St. Augustine's
and at St. Brigid's.
And Joe brought his competence, dedication, his lofty
principle to the public purpose that he saw as most
worthwhile. His steady determination in his various public
offices, and as a member of Congress, earned him the respect
of his colleagues and the confidence of his party's
leadership. It also explains the overwhelming support he
received from a truly grateful constituency as expressed in
their many votes for him solidifying his position of public
responsibility.
His devotion to justice and an imbedded sense of humanity
moved him to investigate the Jesuit murders and the ravishing
of innocent women in El Salvador. He volunteered for a task
most unusual for him. But he, guided by his aide, Jim
McGovern, brought to bear his own deep commitment and those
old solid working principles that had become a cornerstone in
his lifetime quest for fairness and equity. The success of
his effort is recognized by all, especially by an
appreciative Jesuit community that had suffered from a sense
of abandonment.
When I saw how he thought about that particular achievement
in his life, it brought to mind the wonderful words of
Pericles: ``It is by honor, and not by gold, that the
helpless end of life is cheered.''
Joe, dear friend and neighbor through these many eventful
years, we are struck, as we think about it, by your startling
contradiction: humility and pride. You were never
pompous seeking the applause of the grandstand. You
diligently shunned the glare of the spotlight. You did not
expend your energy in search of preening acclaim. You were
too self-effacing for that. Humble, indeed.
One the other hand you were a proud, proud person: proud of
your religious faith, proud of your family, proud of your
South Boston roots and neighborhood, proud to proclaim the
ideals that animated your public service--ideals that have
been expressed in the unsought torrent of tribute that has
flooded the press and airwaves in recent sad days. Humility
and pride, seemingly contradictory traits, coalesced in your
admirable character, commanding abiding recognition, respect
and, yes, affection.
Joe, the dramatic focus on you during the President's
recent appearance before the Congress highlighted your
humility and pride. During the course of his address, our
eminent President Bush paused for a moment to digress. He
singled you out Joe, for special recognition. He described
you as ``a good man.'' Whereupon, as you stood in your place,
spontaneous bipartisan applause shook the Congress. This
episode also reverberated in thrilling dimensions throughout
your Congressional District. Thank you President Bush for
this tribute to a good man and for other manifestations of
your respect for our Joe and his services to his country.
Joe, you were good enough, as one neighbor to another, to
ask me to participate in this liturgy of sacrifice, sorrow
and remembrance. With many another heavy heart it is
wrenching to say goodbye. God is with you, I'm sure Joe, as
you now join your beloved Evelyn and your parents in the
saintly joy of eternity. We pray He may look favorably on us
who lament your loss and who are challenged to follow your
example of integrity and justice and useful service.
Fair forward, good friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr.
Blumenauer).
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me
this time.
In the rough and tumble of the people's House, sometimes we can
obscure the humanity of this institution. I have been thinking a great
deal about that these days, just finishing reading a biography of Tip
O'Neill in which Joe Moakley was prominently featured.
During the last 30 years, Joe Moakley has left his mark. He left his
mark on his district to be sure in a physical sense; and we have found
out in this last week again, spiritually. He left his mark on hundreds
of pieces of legislation during his long tenure on the Committee on
Rules. He left his mark in the area of foreign affairs. Just as he
helped speed El Salvador's transition to democracy, in recent years he
was helping evolve a more rational United States policy toward Cuba
with his meetings with Castro and the Pope. But it is here in the House
where Joe Moakley's legacy will be most strongly felt.
In the 5 years I have been a Member of this Chamber, I have never
heard an unkind word or an unfair word from him or about him. In these
years, it was difficult for him not only leading the good fight from
the position of the minority leader on that committee, but personally
he had significant travail. But he never modified his principled
politics, his strong convictions or his gentle manner, offering his
friendship and humor until his last minute as a Member of this Chamber.
Today, our remembrance of Joe Moakley allows this House a chance to
hold a mirror up to itself. This little glimpse that we have witnessed
here over the last several hours of the House being humane is an
important part of his lasting legacy.
Thank you, Joe, for reminding us what the people's House could be.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Watt).
Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding me this time for this tribute and for organizing this tribute.
I think the thing that I probably most underestimated when I came to
Congress 9 years or so ago was the extent to which Congress is a family
of people. It has the same kinds of personalities that all families do.
Some of them are socially inclined and some of them are distant and
some of them are friendly and some of them not so friendly. To some
extent, to a great extent, we each individually have the opportunity to
make our choice about how we become a member of this family. We have
had a lot of vexing over those 9 years that I have been here about the
erosion of the family aspects of this institution, and we have retreats
periodically to deal with that.

[[Page H2923]]

The family aspect of this, I think, for me was more personified by
Joe Moakley than almost anybody else I know in this institution. He was
a Member's Member, as a function of his position on the Committee on
Rules, I am sure in part, but probably more as a function of his
personality and who he was and how he chose to be a part of this
family. He was always, always readily willing to share a joke of some
kind every single time you had a conversation with him, and you never
heard, at least I never heard, the same joke more than once. Maybe he
could remember what jokes he had told to what people. I just think that
this tribute and Joe Moakley's life is a testament to this family
nature of our institution.
I thank Joe, I thank his staff on the Committee on Rules, and his
personal staff for personifying that family attitude. I am just
delighted that I had 9 years to be a part of this part of Joe Moakley's
family.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Pelosi). I also want to thank her for organizing a
wonderful get-well card to Joe that was delivered a few days before he
died of all the women Members of the House. They all wrote very
personal and very uplifting notes. He got such a kick out of it that he
could not help but brag about it to everybody who walked in that room.
I want to thank her for that.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time and for organizing this tribute in honor of our precious Joe
Moakley and for the great friendship that he had with Joe. The words
that he expressed on many occasions on events honoring Joe in the
months before his leaving us, in expressing those words, Jim McGovern
expressed so much of what all of us felt about Joe. Of course he felt
it more intensely and more universally, but we all had some level of
participation in those comments.
We all know how much Joe loved Jim McGovern. Indeed, I think Jim's
election to Congress at one point meant more to Joe Moakley than his
own. It was his mission. When you were elected, it was in your own
right but with great pleasure to Joe Moakley.
To Jim McGovern, a former staff member and then colleague to the
great Joe Moakley and to his personal staff and the staff of the
Committee on Rules, thank you for all that you did to make his work in
Congress so great. The sympathies of my own office and those of my
constituents go out to the staff, both staffs of Joe Moakley. We are
all in your debt for all of the work that you helped Joe do in this
Congress.
The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) mentioned the card. I
am glad he did, because one of the wonderful things at Joe's funeral is
when I met his brothers and sisters-in-law, they said to me how much
Joe enjoyed the card. The note I sent with it was that this card was
signed by every woman, Democrat and Republican, in the House of
Representatives. I think that is unprecedented. We all competed to have
the most important message for Joe that would get his attention. Some
of us did better than others. Joe's family told me that they were going
to frame the card and place it in his library in Suffolk. That should
be a source of great pride and enjoyment to the women Members. It was a
card from the women Members. With an accompanying note we said that we
wanted everyone who took care of Joe in the hospital and everyone who
cared for Joe personally to know how precious he was to the women
Members of Congress; that the men were jealous they could not sign the
card, they thought we were putting our phone numbers, but I guess that
was just to amuse Joe.
Also at Joe's funeral, we were blessed to see such an outpouring of
support from his constituents and from the clergy in South Boston and
indeed from the Boston area led by the Cardinal. Our own Chaplain was
there. We all know that the cocelebrants were overflowing from the
altar and filling pews in the church. Such was the recognition of the
greatness of this man and the humanitarian contribution that he made.
One of those participants, Monsignor Thomas J. McDonnell, whom the
gentleman from Massachusetts has entered his full eulogy into the
Record, but in that eulogy, Monsignor Tom McDonnell emphasized Joe's
roots as South Boston Irish-Italian Catholic American.
I was so delighted to hear the Italian part because Moakley being an
Irish name that is where a lot of the emphasis was, had been in the
final tributes. But Joe took great pride in his Italian American
heritage as well as has been mentioned here and of course the Italian
American community took great pride in Joe Moakley.
No wonder he understood coalition politics. He was the
personification of it himself, being Irish, Italian, Catholic and
Democrat from South Boston. I think that the pride that he took in his
ethnicity, in his Italian and his Irish background, that pride he took
made him understand more clearly the pride that so many other ethnic
groups and nationalities take in their own backgrounds. That gave him a
sense of respect for all the people that he came in contact with.
We all know his important work with the Jesuits in El Salvador, but I
wanted to take a half a moment to talk about his work with the
Salvadorans in America. Our colleague the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Eshoo) talked about Joe and the Gospel of Matthew of the least of
our brethren and seeing the spark of divinity in all of these people.
He certainly did with the Salvadorans and the Guatemalans, in this case
focusing on the Salvadorans when they were about to be deported to El
Salvador because the U.S. Government did not view the fear of
persecution that they had in the same way as they viewed the fear of
persecution for Nicaraguans. Joe Moakley stepped in to stop that
deportation.
He was a leader. He came to my district. We had 80,000 Salvadorans
and Guatemalans to be deported in San Francisco. Joe came and met with
the representatives of that group. They received great hope from that
meeting. They saw in his eyes his understanding, his empathy, his
sympathy for their cause; and they knew that they would be better off
for it. I just wanted to add that to the, of course, great history that
we all know of Joe and the assassination of the six Jesuits, their
housekeeper and her daughter.
For the last 14 years, I and everybody who has been in this body even
one day, some of our very newest Members who may have shared only a
week or two of being a Member of Congress while Joe was, will always be
able to take pride in the fact that they served as a colleague to Joe
Moakley. That is a badge of honor, to have been his colleague.
He did great work which many of our colleagues have discussed here in
detail. He never forgot his roots, his South Boston, Irish-Italian,
Catholic American roots, and he worked in this body to represent those
people, to represent the needy. In doing so, he was working on the side
of the angels; and now he is with them.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I want to begin by first of all thanking the leadership of both
parties. I want to thank Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Armey. I
want to thank our Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and our Minority Whip
David Bonior and the leaderships of both parties for helping bring this
resolution to the floor today and also for all that they did to help us
expedite the naming of the Joe Moakley Courthouse in South Boston. That
dedication meant an awful lot to Joe. It was an appropriate way to
honor him because that courthouse stands for justice. Joe Moakley's
entire career, whether it was in South Boston or whether it was in El
Salvador, was about fighting for justice. I think that that was an
honor that meant a great deal to him.

{time} 1430

I also want to thank the medical staff here in the Capitol, Dr.
Eisold, and all of his doctors and support staff for all that they did
for Joe. Their assistance and their advice was invaluable. I know he
would want me to thank them, as well as the men and women at the
Bethesda Naval Hospital who provided him the very best care and did so
in an incredibly warm and caring manner. I think all of us who were
with Joe during those final days will never forget their generosity and
I want to acknowledge them here today as well.
I want to thank my colleagues who have come to the floor to express
their

[[Page H2924]]

love and respect for Joe. It is evident that people felt passionately
about him and felt strongly about him, as he did about the Members of
this House.
He loved this place. He loved his colleagues. He did think of
everybody as family, and I say thank you to them not only on behalf of
myself, but his brothers Tom and Bob, who I know are watching in
Boston; his Boston staff; his Washington staff, some of who are here on
the floor; those who are in the offices. All of us who cared about Joe
Moakley really do appreciate those comments and take great comfort in
hearing some of the stories.
Mr. Speaker, at times like this I wish I were a better orator. I wish
I could describe better Joe's career and Joe's accomplishments, which
are many. I wish I could better describe what he meant to me. We have
heard speaker after speaker talk of his great accomplishments in Boston
and all the construction and all the projects that are going on. He
used to like to joke that his favorite bird was the crane, and if one
goes to Boston it looks like a giant breeding ground for cranes.
He was very proud of all that he did. He was very proud of the work
he did in El Salvador, fighting for justice on behalf of those six
priests who were murdered.
I remember when Speaker Tom Foley had appointed him to head up this
task force to investigate those murders. There were a lot of people who
were skeptical that Joe was up to the assignment. After all, this was
Joe Moakley, a bread-and-butter Democrat from South Boston.
I remember in response to a question to that end, he said, look, you
do not need a Ph.D. in diplomacy from Harvard to know the difference
between right and wrong; and what happened to those priests in El
Salvador and what happened to countless civilians in El Salvador who
were victims of this senseless violence was wrong. We need to act and
we need to do something about it, and he did. In the end, he helped
bring peace to El Salvador.
People talked about his humor. I wish I could tell all the Joe
Moakley stories. Some of them are a little off color, and I cannot do
that on the House Floor.
The day he died, his family had asked me to announce to the world
that he had passed away. I said then and I will say it again here
today, the world is going to miss Joe Moakley, and I already do. He was
not only a good man, he was a great man and I really appreciate all of
my colleagues participating in today's tribute.

[From the Boston Herald, June 2, 2001]

Fond Farewell: Moakley Took Common Touch to D.C.

(By Peter Gelzinis)

Before the Washington honor guard glided with exquisite
precision toward the hearse, tender voices sent a jubilant
rendition of ``Just A Closer Walk With Thee'' floating out
over East Broadway. In the sweet, unfiltered echo of the St.
Brigid School choir, Deborah Spriggs could see her boss'
smile . . . and hear him greet her with the usual, ``Hey,
good morning, kiddo, what have ya got for me today?'' When
the crisp soldiers eased John Joseph Moakley's flag-draped
coffin into the warm sunlight, a cold reality seemed to
ambush his devoted secretary as she waited for him one last
time outside the church. ``All I could think of when the
honor guard carried him right past me and up the steps,''
Deborah Spriggs said, ``is that when I walk in the front door
of House-152 on Monday, there'll be a huge pile of mail on my
desk, like always. ``But there'll be no one to talk it over
with. He won't be there to say, `Deb, tell me what I'm doing
today.' ''
The world called him Joe. But the woman who served as Joe
Moakley's palace guard in Washington, who doted on him like a
mother hen and over the course of 20 years came to love him
like a daughter . . . Deborah Spriggs always called him
``Congressman,'' or ``Mr. Chairman.'' ``To be honest, it took
a little while for us to click in the beginning,'' she
recalled, shortly after placing a rose on his casket. ``We
had this language problem. I couldn't understand his Boston
accent, and he couldn't understand my Tennessee accent. But
once that got straightened out--after I learned what a frappe
was and that `lastics' was another way to say rubber band--
taking care of Joe Moakley became a dream. These past couple
of days I've told people that I've got to get myself a job.
Because it feels like I've been on a vacation for the last 20
years.''
Yesterday, Deborah Spriggs belonged to a ``family'' who
stood somewhat apart from all the luminaries and the vast,
grateful universe of ordinary people. As Joe Moakley's staff
prepared to follow his casket into the church, they drew
close to one another, as if sheltered by the rare gift of
memories that belonged to them alone. After Joe told the
world he was dying, he urged his staff to take flight, to
seek other opportunities, to think of their own futures. No
one left.
As the cardinal delivered words of resurrection, Deborah
Spriggs leaned on the memory of sharing the last few days of
Joe's life, of listening to his brothers, Bob and Tom, share
stories around Joe's bed. ``All of us, we lived at the
hospital those last few days,'' Deborah said, ``even when it
became too late for me to bring him his coffee frappes, we
never left his side. We just stayed close to him, crying and
laughing, then laughing and crying some more.'' ``Do you
know,'' said Deborah's husband, Sterling, ``that when our
oldest son was born and we had a problem setting up day care,
Joe Moakley insisted that we set up a playpen right there in
his Capitol Hill office.'' ``For two months, our son,
Brandon, slept and cried and ate in a U.S. congressman's
office. And if he was sleeping, Joe would go to a smaller
room to do his work. He didn't want to lose my wife for three
months, but at the same time he wouldn't allow her to be away
from her newborn son. And this was back in the days when
there was no day care on the Hill.''
After a day of tribute and tears, after people from Southie
to Braintree lined the roads with signs of love, after Friday
afternoon traffic was shut down on the Expressway and Route
128, Deborah Spriggs recalled the day Joe Moakley picked them
up at Logan and spent a weekend proudly showing them his
city. ``I knew how deeply he felt about my wife,'' Sterling
Spriggs said, ``still, we had come to Boston to celebrate his
25 years as a congressman . . . and he's driving us around. I
just couldn't get over it.'' ``How can I ever forget it,''
Deborah said. ``He picked us up for breakfast, took us out to
the Kennedy Library and then sat in the car until we came
out. `Don't worry,' he says, `take your time, I have a spare
pair of shoes right here in the car.' After he got through
driving us all over South Boston, taking us up to Castle
Island . . . he looks at both of us and says, `Whaddya say we
go to a movie?' So we did.''
We buried a hero, yesterday. Deborah Spriggs bid farewell
to a joyous part of her life. On Monday, she will go to work
in an office that won't be the home it once was. And she will
listen for the unfiltered echo of a lovely man. ``Good
morning, kiddo, what have ya got for me today?''
____

[From the Capitol Corridors, Feb. 22, 2001]

Joe Moakley--We Miss Him Already

(By David Baumann)

Reporters aren't supposed to take sides in elections. But
back in 1994, some of us Capitol Hill correspondents were
unhappy with the results simply because the Republican
takeover meant Rep. Joe Moakley, D-Mass., wouldn't be
visiting the press gallery four or five times a day.
You see, the House Rules Committee, located across from the
daily news gallery, doesn't have restrooms. So Moakley, then
the Democratic chairman, had to use the press gallery's men's
room. Each time he'd walk through, he'd rub someone's
shoulders, offer a compliment, follow it with an insult, then
ask for a needle and thread to sew a button or settle in and
tell a story. He'd also patiently answer any question a
reporter might have. It was worth hanging out in the back
room of the gallery just for Moakley's visits.
Now, as Washington learned last week, Moakley is retiring.
After surviving a liver transplant, a rebuilt hip and various
other ailments, the 73-year-old South Boston congressman has
an incurable form of leukemia--so incurable that reportedly
his doctors are frank in saying he might not even survive
this term.
The news left people all over Capitol Hill devastated. To
put it bluntly, Moakley is one of those people who make
Capitol Hill livable, even in the face of government
shutdowns, impeachment and disputed elections. He's among the
last of a breed of old-style pols who understand that
politics is a game--not a blood sport--and that it can be
played with good humor. In that sense, he is most often
compared to his close friend, the last House Speaker Tip
O'Neill. ``Tip O'Neill and Joe Moakley were both masters of
the politics of the old school,'' said Rep. Barney Frank, D-
Mass. But Frank added that Moakley proved ``you could be a
master of old ways and welcome the new.''
The grandfatherly Moakley also is one of the few members of
Congress who can get away with kissing a young woman reporter
on top of her head. And he is so well-liked that he may have
set the record for having a courthouse named after him. As
the Massachusetts delegation took to the House floor to
credit the 73-year-old with delivering the projects to
rebuild Boston, both the House and Senate passed a bill
naming the Boston federal courthouse after Moakley within two
days of this retirement announcement.
The outpouring of affection is not surprising, given the
good will and humor Moakley displayed throughout his career.
In 1998, for example, he was asked to compare the reign of
hard-line conservative and then-House Rules Committee
Chairman Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., to his own reign from 1989
to 1994. ``Actually, Solomon has been fair,'' Moakley told
National Journal's CongressDaily. ``He's been as bad as I
was.''
Solomon, who retired from Congress last year, recalled
sitting in the chairman's seat talking to someone before a
1993 committee hearing. All of a sudden, he heard Moakley:
``Solomon, hell will freeze over before you ever sit in that
seat.''

[[Page H2925]]

``Of course,'' Solomon, added, ``a year later hell froze
over'' and the GOP captured the majority. Solomon said
Moakley made his job chairing meetings much easier, despite
their fiercely partisan differences. ``When things would get
tense... he would tell an Irish story or some other story''
and the tension would be broken, Solomon said.
Moakley enjoyed watching the Republicans try to govern in
the early years of their majority. One of his funniest lines
came after reports circulated that former Rep. Bill Paxon, R-
NY., had participated in the attempted coup against then-
Speaker Newt Gingrich. The revelation came shortly after
Paxon's wife, then-Rep. Susan Molinari, R-N.Y., announced she
would resign from the House to anchor a new CBS Saturday news
program. Moakley's take on the matter? ``Now, the Molinaris
have two anchors. One is at CBS and the other is around
Gingrich's neck.''
Moakley tried to retire once before--resulting in one of
the true unscripted surprises on the Hill. With his wife
battling brain cancer, Moakley decided he wasn't going to run
for election in 1996 so he could spend more time with her. He
scheduled a late-afternoon news conference on the Hill and
word leaked out that he would retire. Members of the
Massachusetts congressional delegation and democratic members
of the Rules Committee showed up to pay tribute to Moakley.
The congressman appeared at the news conference, only to
declare to a shocked audience that his wife had persuaded him
to run again. Unfortunately, Moakley's Boston news conference
brought no similar surprises.
____

[From the Washington Post, June 2, 2001]

``Regular Joe'' Moakley Is Laid to Rest

(By Pamela Ferdinand)

Boston, June 1.--Rep. John Joseph Moakley (D-Mass.), known
simply as ``Joe'' to his constituents, was laid to rest here
today, hailed by a vast community of admirers that included
two presidents, as a powerful man who never forgot his
working-class South Boston roots.
Moakley, 74, died Monday of leukemia. With occasional
laughter and tears, thousands of mourners--including
President Bush and former president Bill Clinton--accorded
him all the pomp and circumstance in death that the self-
effacing dean of the Massachusetts congressional delegation
never sought in life. At the late congressman's request, his
funeral Mass took place in the tiny parish church where he
often sat unnoticed in the 10th pew from the back. But his
death brought together Bush, Clinton and former vice
president Al Gore for the first time since Bush's
inauguration--a feat some said only Moakley could have
orchestrated.
Bush strode down the church's red carpet at the stroke of
noon, a lone figure in an overwhelming sea of liberals and
Democrats. He sat next to Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift (R)
in the left front pew, which also included Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.) and his wife, Victoria; Gore, Bush's bitter
rival for the presidency; Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.);
Clinton; and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.). ``It was one
of those Kodak moments. It truly was,'' said Rep. William D.
Delahunt (D-Mass.), who sat behind Gore. ``Joe symbolized
every man, and he was every man's hero.''
Bush, who did not address mourners, previously honored
Moakley in his first address to Congress after the
congressman announced in February that he had terminal cancer
and would not seek a 16th term. The president barely paused
to shake hands with Clinton and Gore before slipping out a
back door with Swift at the end of the nearly two-hour
service. The president's attendance underscored Moakley's
stature and friendship with members of Congress on both sides
of the aisle. Others in attendance included Sen. John F.
Kerry (D-Mass.), White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card
Jr., House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and former
representative Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-Mass.), among others.
``He and the president didn't always agree, but Congressman
Moakley always brought a human touch, an affable nature to
the business of the Congress and to his relations with the
White House,'' said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Clinton stopped first at the State House, where more than
5,000 people knelt and prayed before the late congressman's
flag-draped casket during a seven-hour vigil Thursday. ``Joe
Moakley proved you could disagree without being disagreeable,
that you could fight and have honest differences without
trying to hurt your adversary,'' Clinton said. ``He brought a
certain nobility and meaning to public life.'' Outside St.
Brigid Church, hundreds of people crowded sidewalks in
silent, prayerful tribute as bagpipes played and a military
honor guard stood at attention. Earlier in the day, the
funeral procession arrived slowly from Beacon Hill, passing
City Hall, where Moakley served as a councilor, and the
federal courthouse and homeless veterans shelter that bear
his name.
Moakley, a Navy veteran, was later buried with full
military honors in a cemetery south of Boston next to his
wife, Evelyn, who died in 1996. The couple had no children.
``It's a pretty sad day for South Boston,'' said Robert
Loughran, 54, a Vietnam veteran standing outside the American
Legion on West Broadway, where storefront posters read, `We
love you' and `We'll miss you.' ``He was just a real genuine
guy who made a great politician. He was a good soul.'' A
children's choir opened the service led by Boston Cardinal
Bernard Law. Moakley was eulogized as a regular Joe who
performed extraordinary deeds, one of the last Boston Irish
Democrats in the tradition of House speakers John W.
McCormack and Thomas P. ``Tip'' O'Neill Jr., who believed
``all politics is local.'' ``His helping hand was always
extended in recognition of the responsibility he always
believed was his to make things better for those in need of
encouragement and inspiration,'' said University of
Massachusetts President William Bulger, a close friend who
recalled Moakley's humility and humor, even in the face of
death. ``The virtue of courage was his in abundance, but Joe
had in his life become the personification of all that was
best in his home town.''
Sen. Kennedy, who addressed mourners Thursday, called
Moakley ``a remarkable congressman, outstanding leader and
one of the best friends Massachusetts ever had.'' ``Service
to his nation. Service to this state. Service to his people.
Service, service, service. It's no wonder God chose to call
him home on Memorial Day,'' Kennedy said.
Born and raised in South Boston, Moakley spent his entire
life on the peninsula of Ward 7. At age 15, he enlisted in
the Navy and served in the South Pacific during World War II.
He spent nearly two decades in the Massachusetts legislature
and won a seat on the Boston City Council in 1971. Moakley
was elected the next year to represent the 9th District in
Congress, where he was appointed chairman of the House Rules
Committee in 1989. An ardent and unapologetic hometown
champion, he helped secure record federal funding for Boston
Harbor, the ``Big Dig'' highway project and historic
landmarks. He fought to boost support for welfare programs,
higher education and fuel aid for low-income families. He won
78 percent of his district's vote in 2000.
Moakley said he considered his greatest achievement his
work to cut off military aid to El Salvador and the effort to
prosecute the murderers of six Jesuit priests, their
housekeeper and her daughter in 1989. Moakley led a special
congressional task force whose findings helped convict two
Salvadoran soldiers and put an end to U.S. aid to the Central
American nation. ``It is never a crime to speak up for the
poor and helpless, or the ill; it is never a crime to tell
the truth; it is never a crime to demand justice; it is never
a crime to teach people their rights; it is never a crime to
struggle for a just peace,'' he said about his effort. ``It
is never a crime. It is always a duty.''
Today's service capped weeks of tributes to the late
congressman, but many here said Moakley will be remembered in
much smaller ways. They will miss him sitting in his car by
Castle Island, having a beer at the corner table at Farragut
House under his black-and-white portrait or standing in line
for a hot dog at Sullivan's. Out of respect, no one ever
parked in front of his two-story shingled house, even in a
snowstorm. They came to him when a brother needed a job, a
mother did not receive her Social Security check or when they
fell on hard times. ``He was a person you could talk to about
anything,'' said Alice Faye Hart, a 62-year-old great-
grandmother whose home was saved by Moakley from foreclosure.
``He was what you'd call a real friend.''
____

[From The Boston Globe, June 1, 2001]

A Neighbor to All People

(By Brian McGrory)

The words will tumble forth today in magnitude and
gratitude, so many important people standing at the altar of
St. Brigid's paying tribute to Joe Moakley as the last of a
dying breed. They'll describe him as a common man who rose to
lofty heights but never forgot those back on the ground.
They'll say he was every inch, every day a product of South
Boston, true to his beloved hometown until the moment on
Memorial Day afternoon when he drew his final breath.
But there is another truth, a seldom spoken truth, that
explains as well as anything else the depth and breadth of
the grief that has engulfed this city all week like a fog
bank that refuses to blow out to sea. It is a truth that
should be instructive to politicians across the nation, and
here at home, who strive to someday be mourned rather than
defeated. And that truth is this: Moakley transcended South
Boston even while being faithful to its needs. In a famously
parochial neighborhood where too much of life is divided
along racial lines, he casually but relentlessly championed
the causes of those who looked markedly different than his
base of support. And no one--not blacks, not whites--ever
felt shortchanged.
We've heard an outpouring of memories and tributes these
past few days from men who look a lot like Moakley. But
what's been left largely unsaid is that in the blackest
neighborhoods of Boston, there are hundreds if not
thousands of residents who have benefited from his work
and are crushed by his death.
Bryon Rushing, the black state representative from the
South End, shared a story yesterday. The bulk of the state's
black voters used to be split between Moakley's 9th District
and the 8th District. The Legislature wanted to consolidate
the minorities into one district in the early '90s. After
much indecision, Moakley told state officials that he'd
prefer to see blacks in the 8th. The reason: He someday
wanted to see a black congressman elected from
Massachusetts--a feat he didn't think probable if Roxbury
shared a district with Southie.

[[Page H2926]]

But Rushing remembers receiving a telephone call from
Moakley a week or so before the districts were approved. ``If
you took every black person I have,'' Moakley said in his
inimitable way. ``I want some back.'' ``He was quite
remarkable,'' Rushing says with a laugh.
Always, Moakley had blacks and Hispanics working in his
congressional offices in Washington and Boston. He fought
tooth and nail--and successfully--for funding for the African
Meeting House site on Beacon Hill. Even with a redrawn
district that was just 7 percent black and 5 percent
Hispanic, he continued bringing money back to Mattapan,
Roxbury, and Dorchester for public housing and neighborhood
health centers.
He greased the skids for untold numbers of foreign-born
constituents trying to gain citizenship. He once helped a
Haitian family fly an ailing family member to Boston from
their native country.
``We have lost a giant and a giant who really reached
across racial and ethnic lines,'' says state Representative
Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester. ``What he did was reach out
and build bridges. He never left the minority community
behind. He helped us not just in words, but in deeds.''
He is famous for championing human rights in El Salvador,
less famous for his cosponsorship of the Haitian Refugee
Fairness Act. A Moakley friend recalls the congressman dining
with colleagues and diplomats as he rattled off detailed
reasons why the United States should ease embargos on Cuba.
He knew it cold. None of this is to suggest that his beloved
Southie didn't warrant his immense skills and attention. He
looked within even as he looked beyond, and his proudest
moment may well have come last month, when they named the
Federal courthouse after him on the same land where he spent
his boyhood scavenging watermelons that fell from the freight
trains.
It will be said today that Joe Moakley was a man of the
people. Indeed he was--a man of all the people.

Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor our colleague Joe
Moakley, who passed away May 28.
Joe Moakley was the kind of Representative we all should aspire to
be. He was a dedicated public servant who enjoyed doing his job. He was
a kind, generous, thoughtful, courteous individual who in nearly 50
years in public life made few if any enemies and earned the respect and
affection of his adversaries as well as his allies. He represented his
constituents ably while also taking the lead on important national
issues like aid to El Salvador and the School of the Americas. He will
be sorely missed.
Joe Moakley was true to his roots. Born and raised in South Boston,
he lived in this neighborhood all of his life. He served his country in
the military. He was low-key and unpretentious. Joe never forgot where
he came from. He served his constituents well during his 16 years in
the Massachusetts statehouse, and he worked hard in Congress to secure
Federal funding for the people and institutions of Boston and
Massachusetts throughout his congressional career.
Joe Moakley served on the House Rules Committee for many years,
including 6 years as chairman and 6 years as the ranking member. In
that capacity, he demonstrated a remarkable ability to reconcile the
often-contradictory demands of partisanship and collegiality. Joe
Moakley defended his legislative positions aggressively while
strengthening the institution of the House through his consistent
decency and fairness. He was a credit to this institution.
In short, John Joseph Moakley was a man who dedicated his life, his
considerable talents, and his energies to public service. His death is
a tragic loss to his country as well as to his friends.
Mr. COSTELLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend and
colleague, Joseph Moakley. Joe was a dear and true friend. He was
always there to give advice and share his personal experiences. He has
been an outstanding member of this House, working tirelessly for the
people of his district and our nation. Like his friend and our former
Speaker Tip O'Neil, Joe never forgot where he came from and never
forgot that ``all politics is local.''
I have enjoyed working with Joe on human rights issues. Joe's
dedication to fairness and justice was demonstrated in bringing to
justice the ruthless murderers of six Jesuit priests and their
housekeeper in El Salvador in 1989.
In addition, Joe's ability to work with members from both sides of
the aisle helped him lead the Rules Committee for six years. Joe's
humor and unfailing courtesy have set a high standard for all of us to
follow in the House.
Joe achieved impressive levels of achievement and accomplishment, and
I have always been especially impressed by his devotion and dedication
to service. I believe it is important to honor his legacy by continuing
to support his goals and ideas. It is most fitting and proper that we
honor Joe Moakley, and Mr. Speaker, I know my colleagues join me in
appreciation of this extraordinary individual.
Mr. MURTHA. Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I come before
my colleagues to pay parting tribute to a beloved friend and mentor of
mine in this body, the late Congressman Joe Moakley of Massachusetts.
I got to know Joe originally through another close long-time friend,
Tip O'Neill. I was a young freshman right out of Vietnam when I came
here and quickly gravitated to Tip and Joe because they brought to
Congress and to our country principles I admired and sought to uphold:
a strong commitment to helping people, working for the less fortunate,
pulling together to get things done, and doing what is right. That is
what Joe and the Speaker exemplified and I am grateful to have served
with both of them and to have learned so much from them. I learned a
great deal about statesmanship and how to get things accomplished in
this body through Joe's leadership. Joe Moakley was without a doubt one
of the most influential, dedicated and effective Members of the U.S.
Congress.
The country and this House have been lucky to have a man of such
great character as Joe Moakley serving here for so many decades. It
goes without saying how much he will be missed. There have been many of
us Members of Congress, but there are few who will always be remembered
by those who served with them the way that Joe will be remembered. Joe
Moakley is one of those rare solid friends and outstanding Americans we
will always feel blessed to have known. We will remember his
friendship, his character, his grace, his concern for people and for
our country, his tireless work in service to them, his example. I pray
we will always strive to live up to it. God Bless and Keep you, Joe.
Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to our departed
colleague and friend, Joe Moakley.
Joe was the type of person that just about everyone could relate to.
His humor and his kindness set even his political critics at ease. Who
didn't like Joe Moakley?
I could relate to Joe on several levels--not the least of which being
our common name. We both entered politics at about the same time in our
lives, we both came from similar Irish neighborhoods--he from South
Boston, myself from Queens, and I would like to think we both got into
politics for the same reason.
There is no mystery why Joe got into politics at the age of 25. He
truly saw politics as the tool for action for the greater good. Joe
always said that being elected to Congress was the greatest job of all,
because he had the ability to directly impact people's lives. He
wouldn't have had it any other way--as he often said--caring for the
person ``upstairs, downstairs and across the back fence.'' His
constituents describe him as the embodiment of his district in South
Boston.
Hard work on behalf of people defined Joe's life. He became an early
defender of the environment in the Massachusetts legislature. Joe's
long commitment to the clean-up of Boston Harbor carried over to his
days in Congress where he helped secure millions of dollars in Federal
funding to restore the harbor to the beautiful waterfront it is today.
As a fellow Irishman, I respect Joe Moakley's distinguished record on
Irish affairs. Joe came to Congress at the height of the violence in
Northern Ireland. Over the years he was in Congress, he was
instrumental in ensuring that the peace process succeeded. From the
unrestrained aggression of the 1970s to the prospects for long lasting
peace and reconciliation today, Joe Moakley kept his finger on the
pulse of the Northern Ireland Peace process.
In public service, Joe represented the ideals of St. Ignatius of
Loyola--to be a man for others. Joe's legacy is not only bricks and
mortar in South Boston, but his moral voice and commitment to service
to our nation.
For Salvadorans, including many in my district in New York, as well
as human rights activists, Joe Moakley will always be most remembered
for his work to end the abuses of human rights in El Salvador. After
six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, were murdered
in El Salvador in 1989, then House Speaker Tom Foley appointed Moakley
to head a special task force to investigate the Salvadoran government's
response to the killings.
The Moakley Commission issued a report that revealed the involvement
of several high ranking Salvadoran military officials in the murders.
This report resulted in the termination of U.S. military aid to El
Salvador and is often credited with helping to end the brutal civil war
in that country. Joe remained passionately involved in the situation
all his life. In a fitting homage, Joe's work to help end the decade
long war which claimed 75,000 in El Salvador has been immortalized in
the PBS documentary ``Enemies of War.''
I feel privileged to have served with Joe in this Chamber. I learned
from his humor, his intelligence, and his heart.
I join this Chamber in wishing our friend a fond farewell.
Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in both sorrow and celebration to pay
tribute to a life well lived by John Joseph Moakley, a man who died
with the voices of his friends and

[[Page H2927]]

colleagues raised in his praise. We prayed even as we knew better, that
God would let him stay with us, because this House needs men like Joe
Moakley. We need his spirit, his courage, and his strength of purpose
that kept him in public service for so many years. But God needed Joe
more.
Joe Moakley was to die as he had lived: in the service of his people
right up to the end. I will not forget the way in which he let us know
that he had not much longer to dwell among us. He said: ``My doctor
told me not to buy any green bananas.'' Who but Joe would have had the
courage and the wit to thus announce his imminent leave-taking from the
House and from the world. Joe was leaving the place where he spent so
many years in tender service to the people of south Boston--the people
he loved and respected all the days of his life. Joe Moakley's natural
sense of humor was well known, often bringing laughter to bear against
the times his colleagues despaired of compromise or consensus.
But Joe didn't just serve the people of south Boston--although he
would tell you they came first. He served the entire Nation as he
upheld the Constitution he swore he would uphold on behalf of people's
rights, working long hours in Washington, and even longer hours spent
among his constituents against poverty of body and soul. His
constituents who were faithful to him to the end knew they will never
see the likes of Joe again.
When someone like Joe Moakley passes on--who died as he lived in
passionate pursuit of the rights of people everywhere--the whole world
mourns his passing. He died as he would have wanted to die--working
till nearly the very last day before the Memorial Day recess. Dying, he
carried on with his life, speaking to the hardships of others and none
of his own. Dying, he remained totally pledged to the people who sent
him to do a job only he could do. Dying, he was full of grace, and
nearly always full of his special humor.
And speaking of humor, who but Joe, would announce that he had only a
short time more to live in this world by saying his doctor told him not
to buy any green bananas? Who but Joe Moakley could look into the face
of death still smiling? Joe's smile was the solace he offered to you
and to me, so that we would be comforted and unafraid at hearing his
news. This did not mean that he did not love life. No one loved life
more than Joe Moakley. But maybe after having toiled in these fields
for so long, he tired of the battles of the flesh, and welcomed the
spiritual journey ahead.
Just as he committed himself to public service more than 30 years
ago, he committed himself to his leave-taking mere months ago, using
humor as his walking stick. And as he stepped into the sunset of his
life, he understood the love that poured from the hearts and minds of
best friends and mere acquaintances and knew it was all for him. I am
glad he knew of the great well of love and respect that we had for him
before his death. That he could receive his bouquets while he lived.
I take this opportunity to pay tribute to Joe Moakley, friend and
colleague, and to quote Shakespeare in his memory:
``And when he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars and
he will make the face of heaven so fine, that all the world will be in
love with night, and pay no worship to the garish sun.''
Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember and pay tribute
to our dear departed colleague, John Joseph Moakley and I thank
Congressman McGovern and Chairman Dreier for bringing this resolution
to the floor. America lost a giant with the death of Joe Moakley. All
of us here in the House lost a good friend. Joe handled his incurable
leukemia with great courage. He taught us how to live and he taught us
how to die.
Congressman Moakley's background and his record have been well-
chronicled and I won't take the time to repeat it here. He began his
long distinguished career in public service at the age of 15 when he
enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the South Pacific
during the Second World War. Upon returning from his service in World
War II, he attended the University of Miami and we are proud in South
Florida to claim him in even a small way as one of our own.
Suffice it to say that in over 28 years of service in this House
since his election in 1972 as the Member from the 9th District of
Massachusetts, Mr. Moakley served his constituents in South Boston and
the American people with great distinction. He brought great passion,
commitment, and a tremendous zest for public service to his work. Joe
was fair. He was honest. He was cheerful, and, above all else, he was
always straight with you.
His work as Chairman and then as Ranking Member of the Committee on
Rules is very well-known. He was always willing to lend a helping hand
to Members, whether it was a brand new Member or the Speaker of the
House. His pioneering work dedicated to ending human rights violations
around the world, particularly his work against the death squads in El
Salvador, will always be remembered. The working people of this country
had no better friend than Joe Moakley.
Joe Moakley was a man of the people who never forgot where he came
from. He was serious about his work, about serving his constituents,
and about helping anyone in need, but never too serious about himself.
He possessed a modesty, friendliness, and humility that made him
accessible and easily approachable. His warmth and his wit were his
calling cards. Joe was always ready with a story or a joke. Whether
here on the floor, in the Rules Committee, or just in a chance meeting,
I always looked forward to seeing Congressman Moakley. He always
managed to brighten my day, and I know that he had the same effect on
all of his colleagues.
Joe was an outstanding Congressman, a man who fought hard for his
district, for the principles of the Democratic party, and for his
beliefs. Yet he always had room in his mind and his heart for all of
his colleagues, whether or not they agreed with him. He personified
decency.
His legacy and the memory of his achievements will always serve as a
role model for all of here in House. I will be forever grateful that I
had the honor and privilege to serve with Joe and I will miss him. God
bless you Joe. May you rest in peace.
Ms. PRYCE of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, Joe Moakley was one of the most
upfront even-handed Members that I have had the privilege to serve
with. This House will sorely miss him.
As Ranking Member of the Rules Committee, Joe always had a joke for
the members, a smile for the staff, and a twinkle in his eye even as we
worked late into the night. He was a friend to all and a mentor to
many.
A classic Bostonian politician, Joe's life was dedicated to serving
the people well. And last week, I learned first hand just how much
South Boston and those whom he represented loved him. It was an honor
to join his community in their sad good-bye.
For the Members of the Rules Committee Joe will not be forgotten. His
presence remains with us and his portrait hanging just upstairs in our
committee reminds us that he is watching over us.
Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in
paying tribute to one of the finest public servants to grace this
floor, Joe Moakley. Congressman Moakley was a friend, a leader, and a
gentle teacher to the scores of us who looked to him for advice and
guidance.
Much has been made of Joe Moakley being one of a ``vanishing breed''
of politician, but I don't think that's true. I think he was, and will
always be, a shining example of the ultimate public servant, someone
universally respected by his peers and revered by the constituents he
never forgot. The crowds of people who came to say their final goodbyes
to him along the streets of Boston are a far stronger testament to Joe
Moakley's life than anything that we could ever say here.
This is a man who lived his own saying: ``It is never a crime to
speak up for the poor, the helpless or the ill; it is never a crime to
tell the truth; it is never a crime to demand justice; it is never a
crime to tell people their rights; it is never a crime to struggle for
a just peace. It is never a crime. It is always a duty.''
I join my colleagues in gratitude to Joe Moakley for his leadership
and his friendship during my years in this House. While we will never
be able to fill his shoes, I hope my colleagues and I will try.
Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, last month the House lost a valued Member
when Joe Moakley passed away. I didn't always vote with Joe and there
were a number of areas we disagreed about. But you didn't have to see
eye-to-eye with Joe Moakley to recognize that he was a great American.
When people speak fondly of the way things used to be, I believe what
they're really missing are the qualities that carried America through
our most challenging moments. Courage, compassion, integrity,
patriotism, perseverance, and faith in God. He had these qualities in
abundance.
When our country faced the daunting challenge of the Second World
War, Joe Moakley was so eager to join the fight that he broke the rules
to shorten the odds for America. He was only fifteen when he sailed off
to the South Pacific to defend freedom.
Over the course of his life, he carried out the commitment to service
he learned from his father. Hard work defines his life because he never
stopped working for his constituents in South Boston. Those of us who
served with him soon grew to understand his commitment to the House.
On the Boston City Council, in the Massachusetts State House and here
in the House of Representatives, he won elections, lost elections,
overcame adversity and always maintained his deep loyalty to the people
of his district.
In his manner, he was open, friendly, and down to earth. We can all
learn a lot about life by remembering the way that Joe Moakley faced a
challenge.

[[Page H2928]]

From the beginning of his life until his final struggle drew to a
close, he greeted adversity with determination, he met fear with
courage, and he lived out the last days with the calm confidence of a
good man strengthened by a deep and sustaining faith.
To know Joe Moakley was to respect him. We honor his service to this
House and to our nation. America can always use more of the qualities
Joe Moakley brought to public service.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute
to one of my most admired colleagues in the House of Representatives,
Congressman Joe Moakley of Massachusetts.
Joe Moakley was the quintessential Boston Irish public servant. For
more than 50 years he served his nation, his state of Massachusetts,
and the hard-working men and women of South Boston in one form or
another. In the long, and inspiring tradition of such great men as
former Speaker Tip O'Neill, Joe was the kind of Representative that has
shown time and time again that he is a leader on the national and
international stage, yet remained ever loyal to the people of South
Boston and all of Massachusetts.
When I first arrived here as a freshman member in 1999, Joe Moakley,
who was the Dean of the New England House delegation, was one of those
remarkable people I looked to as a model of how I wanted to conduct
myself as a Member of Congress. With character, dignity, devotion, and
loyalty, Congressman Moakley continues to serve as a constant reminder
that we are indeed part of a noble profession.
Joe Moakley's remarkable time in public service began when he was a
mere 15 years old, when he enlisted in the United States Navy for
service in the South Pacific during the Second World War. After
graduating from college in Florida, and law school, Joe Moakley ran for
the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1952 where he served until 1960.
And in 1964, he was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate where he
served until 1970. It was in 1972, after briefly serving on the Boston
City Council, that he was first elected to the United States House of
Representatives from the 9th District.
It was not long after he began his second term that he gained a seat
on the House Rules Committee, where he still serves today as Ranking
Member. In 1989, he was made Chairman of that Committee. As Chairman,
he conducted himself with his characteristic sense of integrity and
humor.
Through all his years of service, he worked tirelessly for his
District, giving them the same full measure of devotion that he gave to
other matters, such as human rights abuses in Central America, which he
helped investigate and report on. His actions helped expose injustice,
and likely contributed to the end of a brutal civil war in El Salvador.
I've always believed that the measure of a person's life is not
contained merely in the years they spend in office, but rather in how
their actions in office continue to positively affect the
neighborhoods, District and people they served, long after their time
in service has drawn to a close. If a person's actions have improved
the life of even one person, or one family, or one community, then
there is no end or limit to what their service has meant to others. And
for Joe Moakley, there is no end in sight.
No matter how long I spend as a member of this body, I am now, and
will always be, proud to say that I served with Joe Moakley.
Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to join my colleagues in
paying tribute to a special member of this House and a good friend to
many, Joe Moakley.
An unapologetic liberal Democrat from South Boston, Joe had a
remarkable ability to reach across the aisle and make friends with the
most unlikely of people.
Not long after coming to Washington, I was invited to join a regular
dinner gathering of conservative Republicans and Democrats. Among them
was Joe Moakley. I don't mind telling you that my time spent with Joe
was some of the best in this Congress.
I count myself fortunate to have befriended Joe, or did he first
befriend me? Joe was that kind of guy. Perhaps you didn't think you had
anything in common, but he would quickly make you feel welcome no
matter what your political differences. Joe had the capacity to cast
aside partisanship and bring people together. That is a rare quality
that is woefully in too short supply in this House. We need more Joe
Moakley's in this Congress.
The passing of Joe Moakley is not only a deep personal loss to me and
to all who count themselves his friends; and there are many. It is also
a loss to this body and to our great country. I learned a lot from Joe.
He reminded us that it is possible to look above our daily
disagreements and love this institution and one another.
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I am deeply saddened by the
passing of Joe Moakley, who was a wonderful man and a great leader for
his constituents of Massachusetts and for our Nation. He was an easy-
going, good-hearted gentleman with a great sense of humor that I will
always treasure. As the dean of the New England Congressional
delegation and the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, Joe
wielded a great deal of power. Yet when you were in his presence, you
never felt out of place because he made you feel so comfortable and at
ease.
Joe Moakley is a House colleague that I have always tried to emulate.
Despite his seniority in Congress, he was an `ordinary Joe' and a true
man of the people. Spending a half-hour with Joe Moakley was a great
way to get a lesson in old style politics, the politics of the people.
And he always said it the way it was . . . Joe always got right to the
point. When I talked to him a few weeks ago, he wasn't pondering his
imminent death. Instead, he was celebrating his great life. It was
terrific these past several weeks that Joe had the opportunity to enjoy
many tributes to him. So many people from all walks of life had the
chance to tell him how much he really meant to all of us. I know that
Joe is already on the fast track to heaven. He was a treasure to the
House and one of the most effective legislators this chamber has had
the fortune to have. We wish him farewell, and keep his family and
friends in our prayers.
Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to pay tribute to one
of the finest Members of Congress to have served in the United States
Congress. Joe Moakley was more than a colleague, he was a personal
friend of mine and he was a great American.
I was one of the driving forces behind the effort to name the U.S.
Courthouse in Boston after Joe, and no one is more deserving of such an
honor. The constituents of the 9th District of Massachusetts were
blessed to have this great man represent them, and I feel blessed to
have had the opportunity to serve this great country with him.
I want to pass my sincerest condolences to the family of Joe Moakley.
The U.S. Congress will never be able to replace him, nor will it ever
forget him.
Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, Joe was a vital member of the Democratic
Caucus and left a deep imprint on every Member who served with him in
the House of Representatives. He served with wonderful distinction on
the House Rules Committee. He brought to his constituents the things
that they wanted and that made a meaningful difference in their lives.
But what truly set Joe apart was his humanity. Quite simply, he was
one of the warmest human beings I have ever had the pleasure of
knowing. He always had a kind word, a sense of respect and sympathy for
his constituents. He worked every day in his years in Congress fighting
to bring the values of his hometown, in South Boston, to our corridors,
and this floor. When a senior citizen had trouble getting her Social
Security check, Joe was there. When a student had trouble obtaining a
loan for college, Joe was there. People of every age, every race, every
religion and ethnicity could come to Joe and talk with Joe and have
his undivided attention because he cared deeply about them.
Those values found expression in Joe's work abroad. During the 1980s,
Joe traveled to El Salvador after the horrible murders of the six
Jesuit priests and their housekeeper. Before this time, Joe used to
joke that, ``my idea of a foreign affair used to be driving over to
East Boston for an Italian sub.'' But Joe heard about horrible human
rights abuses in Central America and decided to do something about
them.
He pursued justice in El Salvador. And, perhaps more than anyone
else, he was responsible for bringing the perpetrators to justice. He
struck a blow for human rights. It reflected who he was and the
essential decency for which he stood.
He called his constituents part of ``his family.'' But it wasn't just
constituents who were part of Joe's family. It was everyone he came
into contact with. He had the ability to make better and bring hope to
the lives of other people, and this is a quality that we in this body
will never forget, will always cherish, will continue to fight for
every day, every way in honor of Joe and the best values in our
country.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the resolution and
to pay tribute to the memory of my friend and colleague, John Joseph
Moakley.
For the last 20 years, I sat with Joe on the House Rules Committee.
He was not combative, but in his gentle way he fought for the interests
of his party and his principles. His friendly style endeared him to
members on both sides of the aisle despite the highly partisan nature
of the committee.
Joe's great strength as a member of Congress came from his love of
the job. Public service was his calling. He believed that government
could help people. Here was a man who was proud to be a politician. It
was an old-fashioned view, but thankfully, one that never went out of
style. The people of his district loved him for it.

[[Page H2929]]

When I attended his funeral in South Boston, I was struck by the
outpouring of genuine affection from his constituents. They lined the
streets to pay their last respects to Joe.
I hope that Joe's legacy will be the enduring belief that politics
can be honorable and that government action improves our lives.
I will miss Joe--his humor, his stories, and his warmth. I will miss
his unflagging efforts to make the world a more just place.
Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the list of Joe Moakley's achievements is
long and impressive. He was a champion of obtaining funding for
projects to improve Boston. Courthouses, Libraries, dredging the Boston
Harbor were among them. And he was a committed Member of the
Massachusetts delegation. But above all he was a generous, kind and
compassionate man. He never had a mean word for anyone and he had a
real compassion for everyone in the world. In the course of his duties
as a congressman he met with several El Salvadoran refugees who feared
returning to El Salvador where they might be killed. Accordingly, he
made it his business to see that this did not happen and that other
refugees in the same situation be allowed to remain in the United
States.
My first personal memory of him was because of the massacre of six
Jesuit priests in El Salvador and his appointment by the Speaker in
1989 to investigate this slaughter. I was also appointed to this
special committee and got to know him well as we interviewed everyone
who had anything to do with this terrible incident. Conscientiously, he
reported back the failures of the Salvadoran Judicial and military
systems. His report and the attention to the overall situation was
helpful in ending that terrible tragedy.
One of my own passions, closing the School of Americas, was his too
and although we never closed the school in fact we worked very hard
together to do so. We also worked very hard to open up Cuba. This kind,
loving man, should be commended for the universal view he took of life.
He knew that one is sent to serve one's constituents but there is a
larger duty too, to root out injustices all over the world. To help
everywhere that you can. We will miss you Joe--the world and me.
Mr. QUINN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in tribute to our former colleague,
Joe Moakley. All the stories and praise we are hearing this morning on
the Floor are all sincere and well-deserved, because Joe was the kind
of Member that we would all like to be: smart, well informed,
energetic, good humored and always a gentleman.
I was proud to call Joe a friend, and we had worked with each other
since I entered Congress. The one issue we worked very closely on
together was LIHEAP. Joe was dedicated to making sure the amount of
money to help low income people was increased, and he was a tireless
crusader on this issue.
Members on both sides of the aisle respected Joe. No one doubted his
genuine concern for people, and that he always fought for what he
thought was right. Even in the face of his illness, Joe never gave up
fighting for his constituents.
His district, the Congress, and the Nation have lost a very dedicated
public servant. He will be greatly missed, and I send my prayers to his
family, friends and staff.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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