[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 103 (Thursday, July 25, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H5618-H5619]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO HON. TONY HALL

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Tony Hall has taught us well, 
and I want to be a good student. Though he is going to Rome, let me 
tell you that Afghanistan, Mr. Hall, cannot wait until you get to Rome. 
Sub-Saharan Africa cannot wait until you get to Rome. Parts of Texas 
cannot wait until you get to Rome. Because there is hunger in these 
places, in fact, famine, and we are delighted that Congressman Hall 
will be able to be not a soldier but a general in the war against 
hunger.
  I guess I have had the privilege of knowing you longer than my tenure 
in this House, because in the 18th Congressional District, Tony Hall 
was like the other Member that represented us. Your good friend, 
Congressman Mickey Leland, made sure that we understood the issues of 
hunger and that we are, in fact, our brothers' and sisters' keeper.
  I remember hearing about Bill Emerson. I remember hearing about the 
Select Committee on Hunger and now knowing the story of, before I got 
here, your hunger strike when efforts were made to dismantle that 
committee. What we learned is that hunger grows. It will not end on its 
own. And Tony you did not mind whether it was in style or was out of 
style, or that the issue was a popular issue today. He consistently 
stayed the course. The congressional hunger fellows that many of you 
may have had experiences with or may not, today are a steady force of 
trained, young, bright professionals, committed, passionate souls who 
today fight hunger because of their spiritual guru in Tony Hall.
  He certainly spoke out and still speaks out against homelessness, but 
he finds causes and he never lets up. The blood diamonds that many of 
us may not have been exposed to, I remember traveling to Botswana and 
the issue was made known, ``We are doing good things with our diamonds. 
What is that Tony Hall doing?'' I am glad I joined his cause, because 
when you see the dismemberment of children or the amputation, the 
severe violence against children over these diamonds in countries in 
West Africa, you know that his heart and his mind and his message and 
his actions were in the right place.

[[Page H5619]]

  So for me it has been, I guess, sort of a continuing of the spirit 
that we knew in Texas. Mickey Leland would not have wanted this day to 
pass without his words being offered: Thank you, friend. Thank you, 
friend.
  And so as a student of yours, though my efforts may not have been as 
they should have been, let me recommit myself, and when I say that, I 
suggest that all of us are filled with the responsibilities of this 
body, but let me recommit myself to the teacher's teachings and that we 
will fight against hunger. We wish you well and we know that you, in 
your role in Rome, will fight hunger around the world. We thank you. A 
heavenly and sincere farewell to you and your wife. We thank you for 
all of your service.

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