[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 41 (Friday, March 9, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S2989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DESIGNATING THE UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE AT SOUTH FEDERAL PLACE IN 
    SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO, AS THE ``SANTIAGO E. CAMPOS UNITED STATES 
                              COURTHOUSE''

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    DESIGNATING THE FEDERAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 400 MARYLAND AVENUE 
 SOUTHWEST IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AS THE ``LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON 
                   DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION BUILDING''

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 DESIGNATING THE UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE LOCATED AT 555 INDEPENDENCE 
STREET IN CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI, AS THE ``RUSH HUDSON LIMBAUGH, SR. 
                       UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE''

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Senate proceed en bloc to the consideration of the following two bills 
which have been received from the House and are at the desk: H.R. 544 
and H.R. 584; that the Environment and Public Works Committee be 
discharged from further consideration of H.R. 342, and that the Senate 
then proceed to its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will state the bills by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 544) to designate the U.S. Courthouse at South 
     Federal Place in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the ``Santiago E. 
     Campos United States Courthouse. ``
       A bill (H.R. 584) to designate the federal building located 
     at 400 Maryland Avenue Southwest in the District of Columbia 
     as the ``Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education 
     Building.''
       A bill (H.R. 342) to designate the U.S. Courthouse located 
     at 555 Independence Street in Cape Girardeau, MO, as the 
     ``Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. United States Courthouse.''

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bills, 
en bloc.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to support H.R. 584, a 
bill to name the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, 
DC, as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Federal Building. I am the Senate 
sponsor of the bill, and Senator Cornyn is the cosponsor.
  Lyndon Johnson was the first President to be elected from the State 
of Texas, and a man, who throughout his over three decades in public 
life, contributed immensely to improving and enhancing education for 
all Americans.
  President Johnson was born in Stonewall, TX on August 27, 1908. After 
graduating from high school, and spending a year as an elevator 
operator, he began his career in the field of education. In 1927, he 
borrowed $75, and started attending the Southwest Texas State Teachers 
College in San Marcos.
  After graduating in 1930, he devoted a year to teaching mostly 
Mexican children at the Welhausen School in Cotulla, ninety miles south 
of San Antonio. Decades later, when he was in the White House, 
President Johnson reminisced: ``I shall never forget the faces of the 
boys and the girls in that little Welhausen Mexican School, and I 
remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college 
was closed to practically every one of those children because they were 
too poor. And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this 
Nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to 
any American.''
  Lyndon Baines Johnson never did rest--and after serving as a teacher, 
a principal, and as head of the Texas National Youth Administration, in 
1937, he ran for, and won, a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
  He was subsequently re-elected to the U.S. House in every election up 
until 1948, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Later, in 
1961, he resigned from the U.S. Senate to become Vice President; and on 
November 22, 1963, a date that none of us will ever forget, Lyndon 
Johnson became the 36th President of the United States.
  In 1965, President Johnson signed two landmark education bills: The 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (which authorized the first real 
Federal assistance to grade school education) and The Higher Education 
Act (which funded scholarships to undergraduate students).
  In the same year, President Johnson launched Project Head Start as an 
eight-week summer program to provide preschool children from low-income 
families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, 
health, nutritional, and psychological needs.
  During his six-year presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson signed a combined 
total of over 60 education bills. In a very real sense, he was 
America's first ``Education President.''
  After leaving office, President Johnson continued his involvement in 
education by teaching students while he wrote his memoirs.
  President Johnson passed away on January 22, 1973, and even though 
it's been 34 years since his passing, he still doesn't have a Federal 
building in the District of Columbia named after him.
  I believe it is time that President Johnson's distinguished service, 
and particularly, his outstanding work on behalf of education, be 
recognized in our Nation's capital.
  Naming the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC, as 
the Lyndon Baines Johnson Federal Building is a fitting honor for this 
smalltown Texas teacher who, after decades of service, went on to 
become our ``Education President.''
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
bills be read the third time, passed, the motions to reconsider be laid 
upon the table, en bloc; that the consideration of these items appear 
separately in the Record, and that any statements thereon be printed in 
the Record as if read.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bills (H.R. 544, H.R. 584, and H.R. 342) were ordered to be 
engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.

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