[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 147 (Thursday, November 14, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H8877-H8879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE GEKAS, MEMBER OF CONGRESS

  (Mr. DeLAY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I take this time to honor the man who just 
finished the bill on bankruptcy reform, the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Gekas) who has served in this body for 20 years, has worked on the 
bankruptcy reform bill for over 10 years, probably the whole 20 years 
that he has been in Congress, just stood up here and took all the abuse 
that could be hurled at him and showed what kind of man he was and 
passed that bill and sent it over to the Senate where we hope that it 
will receive the consideration that it deserves.
  This is a man that has worked so hard, has been so collegial with the 
other Members of this body, who lost his last election. Tonight he is 
closing down the Congress with a bill that he has worked on his entire 
career and it is sort of indicative of who we are and what we are here. 
He is a man that is so humble that he would not even stick around on 
the floor tonight. He went and left the floor after passing his bill 
because he knows that many other Members had worked on the bill. He is 
a humble man, a man of great musical talent, a man that has served on 
the Committee on the Judiciary, went through all the things that the 
Committee on the Judiciary works on and not the least of which was the 
impeachment, a very difficult time for this House, was a stalwart, and 
the kind of legislation that came out of that committee, was a 
subcommittee chairman for the last 8 years and honored this House by 
his presence and honored this House by his service, a very 
distinguished service that we greatly appreciate. We honor tonight 
George Gekas who closes the 107th Congress by passing a bill that he 
has worked on for so long.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Let me join my friend from Texas in also 
honoring George Gekas and his 20 years of service to this body. I think 
the crowning achievement this evening was an overwhelming vote for this 
bankruptcy bill. The objectionable parts of this bill were not inserts 
that he put in there as part of the political sausage-making that goes 
on between the House and the Senate; but the overwhelming 244-116 vote 
I think speaks well for the kind of bill that he worked with his 
colleagues across party lines to put together.
  A graduate of Dickinson from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he was very 
underspoken, not just soft-spoken, but understated, was someone who was 
not always out there getting the credit, issuing press releases, but he 
was here. He had one of the best attendance records in the House, often 
driving between Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., between sessions, 
getting back to his district as often as possible. He was an 
impeachment manager as the majority whip noted and had a distinguished 
career in the Committee on the Judiciary where he was involved in the 
intricacies of many bills that came out of there. His 20 years of 
service here I think are a reflection of the dedication that he put 
into public service which preceded his election to Congress. He will be 
missed from this body. I will miss him. Again, I congratulate him for 
this crowning achievement, the passage of this bankruptcy bill tonight.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from Alaska.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. 
I can only say, Members may not know that George is a person that can 
speak three different languages. He served in the military with honor 
as an officer. He has probably the greatest knowledge of anybody I have 
ever met. To have George Gekas as a dear friend, as

[[Page H8878]]

he was and is, is something I will always cherish. We are two 
opposites. I am the barbarian and he is the intellect. But we worked 
together. I watched him on this floor especially during the impeachment 
time, the dignity he brought and the knowledge that he had, the legal 
background that he used; I have the greatest respect for his abilities. 
I cherished his friendship and tonight was a crowning night for him. We 
did lose him, but we really have never lost him because he will always 
be in our hearts.
  Mr. DeLAY. I appreciate the gentleman's comments.
  Mr. NUSSLE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.
  Mr. NUSSLE. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to add my voice to the 
many who praise George Gekas tonight on his many accomplishments in his 
career. He is one of the ones who has encouraged those of us who have 
tried to reform the budget process. Every year he introduces the bill 
on the automatic continuing resolution which might have come in handy 
maybe this year. Who knows? At almost 2 o'clock in the morning, maybe 
we would have been done a lot sooner. But obviously with controversy 
but always with a good heart and a cheerful heart. He also demonstrated 
to me that we also have a personal side to all of us. We are 
legislators, we are chairmen, we get to be big shots on the floor once 
in a while. But George was also the kind of guy that liked to go and 
tickle the ivories and play the piano. He is a frustrated musician 
along with a few of the rest of us around here. He had a personal side 
to him, too, which was fun to get to know even for someone who did not 
serve with him as long as some of the rest of my colleagues. I 
congratulate him on his bill tonight and wish him Godspeed.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. NADLER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to join in the tribute to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) tonight. The gentleman from Pennsylvania 
served for 4 years as chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative 
and Commercial Law; I served for those 4 years as the ranking 
Democratic member. Though we often disagreed and obviously we disagreed 
on the bill we just passed, I must comment that the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania conducted the subcommittee with unfailing promptness and 
with unfailing courtesy and consideration despite, on some occasions, 
considerable provocation from me. I want to pay tribute to him on this 
occasion. We will miss him.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the majority whip 
yielding. George Gekas is a friend of all of ours. The gentleman from 
Pennsylvania has made a great contribution to the House. It has been my 
privilege to not just be his friend but to work very intently on his 
behalf. He is a great guy. We will miss him in the House. He has made a 
great contribution to the House. Indeed, I appreciate very much the 
gentleman from Texas raising this point at this moment as he has had 
this fantastic success at the end of his legislative career.
  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for 
initiating this tribute. It is well deserved, for a guy that I have had 
the pleasure of knowing for 20 years. We came together in 1982 in the 
freshman class. Over those 20 years, I have had a chance to get to know 
this distinguished and very fine gentleman very well. He is a versatile 
guy in so many respects. He is a many-dimensional guy and one who has 
devoted a generation to service in the House and to service of the 
people of Pennsylvania. He will be missed. I think it is so fitting 
that he came in here as a winner in 1982 and he leaves here as a winner 
tonight with his signature legislation.

                              {time}  0210

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's remarks. I yield 
to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I am a 
relative newcomer here, but I have always enjoyed Congressman Gekas in 
the many discussions we have had. He is very proud of his Greek 
heritage, loves to serve us the Greek delicacies that we all enjoy and 
is also a superb piano player. But beyond that he is an outstanding 
Congressman, and at one time I had a bill before his subcommittee. He 
treated me with fairness, with honor, and went above and beyond the 
call of duty of a chairman in helping me get my legislation through, 
and I still remember that as a newcomer to have someone with that 
maturity and that experience be willing to help me in my efforts before 
his subcommittee. He is a great gentleman. We are going to miss him 
here, but at least he goes out with a crowning achievement and we can 
all be proud of that.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Michigan.
  I think the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) would like me to 
yield.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. And, Mr. 
Speaker, I want to join in this tribute to our friend George Gekas, and 
my friend from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) just mentioned the fact that Mr. Gekas 
regularly talked about the need for us to have an automatic continuing 
resolution, and it was the Committee on Rules that he came before on a 
regular basis, and I remember one time where on every single 
appropriations bill, he would come before the Committee on Rules making 
the case. So he was dogged in his pursuit of that just as he was in his 
pursuit of bringing about bankruptcy reform, and we all know that this 
process has been a very messy, difficult one, but it is exactly as 
James Madison envisaged it, and I think that he was looking down and 
saw George Gekas work through this process over a long period of time.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also, when I think about George Gekas, like to 
take a moment to mention another of our colleagues who is retiring, my 
very good friend from California, Steve Horn. When I think of George 
Gekas, I think of Steve Horn, another well-educated work horse. Steve 
Horn is an individual who came to this institution with an amazing 
background, having been a college president, and he is someone who, 
because of his tremendous institutional memory having worked as an aid 
to former Senator Tom Kuchel of California, he brought an understanding 
of the work of the other body and an expertise which will be sorely 
missed.
  As I think back and I see my friend from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) 
here, I am reminded of the work that we did on the issue of Y2K, and he 
will recall that our colleague Mr. Horn began very early having a wide 
range of hearings focusing on the governmental challenge of dealing 
with the turn of the century and the Y2K issue. And I want to say that 
he and his wonderful wife Nini have worked night and day representing a 
very difficult and challenging area in southern California but at the 
same time understanding the responsibility that they have had in this 
institution. So I would just like to say, Mr. Speaker, that he will be 
sorely missed and I certainly wish him well in his retirement. And I 
thank my friend for yielding.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Dreier) bringing up Steve Horn. I have known Steve 
Horn I think longer than anyone in this body because I was a Senate 
page from 1963 to 1967 and Steve Horn worked there as a legislative aid 
to Senator Tom Kuchel. When he left Senator Kuchel's office, his 
replacement was a young man named Leon Paneta. So history works in 
strange ways, but I kept up with Steve through the years, followed his 
career in the presidential administration he went into, leaving Tom 
Kuchel, and then into his academic career. Of course Steve had degrees 
from Harvard and Stanford, was a university president, well regarded in 
the Long Beach community.

[[Page H8879]]

When he was elected to Congress in 1992, it was a huge upset. This was 
a district that had been drawn to elect a Democrat, and Steve won it 
and held it every time, the only Republican most years to be elected in 
that area because he transcended politics.
  He was a very detail-oriented Member. He took copious notes on every 
hearing, what Members were saying. I hope some day he will publish that 
and share that with the world. He was active not just in the Y2K 
legislation that the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) and I 
worked on, he also wanted to put the ``M'' back in OMB, management, and 
he was a stickler for bringing management back into government. He felt 
that we spent too much time on budgetary items and not enough time 
managing that budget. I think this evening on some of the unanimous 
consent legislation going through, some of that will bear the imprint 
of Mr. Horn, as did a lot of legislation that passed through this body 
from his work on the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight when 
he was a very active subcommittee chairman for years.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman yield briefly for one 
comment?
  Mr. DeLAY. I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that my friend is 
absolutely right reminding us of the fact that Steve Horn took copious 
notes in a wide range of meetings, and I want to say that sometimes 
even when I was having conversations with my friend Mr. Horn he was 
taking notes, and I would like very much to go on record saying that I 
hope he never publishes those particular notes that he has taken in a 
number of conversations we had.
  Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I would agree with the 
gentleman. But anyway Steve is going to be missed. He is leaving on his 
own volition. We always like to say there are three ways to leave 
public office and two of them are not very pleasant. Steve has opted 
for the third role, but I hope he will remain active in government and 
somewhere find a place for him perhaps in the administration because he 
has a lot to give and a great education and great experience.

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