[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 17 (Monday, January 29, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H954-H955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                GERALD R. FORD, JR. POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 49) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 1300 North Frontage Road West in Vail, Colorado, as 
the ``Gerald R. Ford, Jr. Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read as follows

                                H.R. 49

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. GERALD R. FORD, JR. POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 1300 North Frontage Road West in Vail, 
     Colorado, shall be known and designated as the ``Gerald R. 
     Ford, Jr. Post Office Building''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Gerald R. Ford, Jr. Post Office 
     Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) and the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Issa) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia.


                             General Leave

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia?
  There was no objection
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in 
consideration of H.R. 49, legislation naming a postal facility in Vail, 
Colorado, after the late Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
  President Ford helped ease a Nation during tense times. But even 
before he was President, he was widely known in this Chamber as a man 
of great integrity and openness. Although never elected to the office 
of President or Vice President, President Ford was appointed to mend a 
bruised American psyche and maneuver our country through the only 
Presidential resignation ever, to help end the Vietnam War, and to help 
ease rising inflation.
  He succeeded, and for that extraordinary service to his country his 
legacy should be remembered by all in our country and throughout the 
world.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the swift passage of this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of another down 
payment on thanking President Gerald Ford for his legacy, a legacy that 
really began, flourished and was all about this body. We are 
recognizing Gerald Ford as the 38th President of the United States 
because he did spend 2\1/2\ years as our President. But, uniquely, the 
man born in 1913 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was, in fact, a man of the 
House.
  During his entire tenure in the House, he did not enjoy time in the 
majority. Yet his goal was to be Speaker of the House. He had no higher 
calling, never sought one, but accepted the one that was cast upon him.
  At the time that he was selected to be Vice President of the United 
States, we were already mired in the Vietnam War and disgrace had been 
brought upon the Vice Presidency. It was Gerald Ford who came in 
impeccably honest, undeniably a man of the people and a man who was 
only for the people.
  That is how he was selected, that is why he was selected, it is why 
the Senate and the House thought he was the only man for the job. Who 
would have known that just a short time, 10 months later in fact, he 
would find himself cast into an even larger role, another role that he 
did not ask for.
  Yet that was who Gerald Ford was, a man who came out of athletics and 
out of university to serve in the United States Navy in 1942 because it 
was the right thing to do. He had represented a district that would 
have returned him to the House to this very day if, in fact, he were 
still alive.
  Instead, he answered a call, a call that each of us in the House has 
answered by coming to this body. That was the call of service to the 
United States.

[[Page H955]]

  As I support this naming of this post office in the place he loved, 
in the place he skied, in the place that he called home for his 
immediate period after leaving the White House, I do so as the second 
man of the House that we are recognizing here today, first Congressman 
Lane Evans and then Congressman/President Gerald Ford.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 
49, legislation to name the postal facility in Vail, CO, after our 
Nation's 39th President, Gerald R. Ford, Jr.
  I believe this bill is fitting as another means of honoring the 
legacy of President Ford, in large part because of his special 
connection to Colorado and the Vail Valley. I am pleased by the support 
it has received; all members of the Colorado delegation have co-
sponsored the legislation.
  In 1968 then-Congressman Ford and wife, Betty, first came to Colorado 
with their children to celebrate Christmas and to ski in the mountains 
at Vail. Like many other visitors, President Ford was inspired by the 
beauty of the area and found a connection to the land and to the 
surrounding community.
  The Fords later owned a home and continued to vacation in Vail. When 
he became President, his vacations in Colorado helped introduce the 
world to the Town of Vail, and in fact, the family home was dubbed 
``the Western White House.''
  Vail residents knew President Ford and his family as neighbors and 
friends and are proud of their long association with them. President 
Ford served on the board of directors of the Vail Valley Foundation. 
Vail also serves as the home of the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and the 
Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. President Ford was beloved in Vail, where 
he was known to be a good neighbor, an avid golfer and a lover of the 
outdoors.
  President Ford will rightly be remembered for his personal warmth, 
his decency, his interest in bridging the many divisions in America 
during the 1970s. My father, Mo Udall, served in the Congress with 
Gerald Ford, and while they were often on different sides in political 
matters--so much so that my father hoped to run against President Ford 
in the famous election of 1976--they were united by a common view that 
politics should unite people. They both were firm believers that in 
public life one could disagree without being disagreeable.
  This is a credo I continue to believe in, and I commend the memory of 
both good men to this House, an institution they loved.
  Coloradans, especially those in the Vail Valley, have come to think 
of him as the first President from Colorado because he was a great 
ambassador for the State, who established long ties to the people of 
Colorado.
  As a dedicated public servant, President Ford served honorably in his 
years in Congress and in the White House. Most important, when America 
needed someone to reassure their trust in government after Watergate, 
he filled that leadership role with authenticity.
  I believe President Ford's special relationship and legacy in 
Colorado should be appropriately recognized by naming the postal 
facilities in Vail, CO, in his honor.
  I urge all members support the legislation today.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 49.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those voting have responded in the affirmative.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

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