[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 184 (Tuesday, December 4, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H14133-H14134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1945
                 HONORING FORMER CONGRESSMAN HENRY HYDE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, one of the great things that 
has happened in my political life and serving in Congress is to have 
known Henry Hyde. Henry Hyde I think was one of the greatest 
Congressmen to ever serve in this Chamber. He was a man of integrity. 
He was honest. When he gave you his word, it was his bond. He was loved 
by everybody. Even during the controversial impeachment trial of Bill 
Clinton, he did it with honor, and he did it in a way that everybody 
respected him even though it was very, very controversial.

[[Page H14134]]

  He was a great chairman. He was the chairman of both the Judiciary 
Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee, and he did a great job in 
both areas. I served with him on the Foreign Affairs Committee and I 
was one of his subcommittee chairman, and I want to tell you, he was a 
chairman you could be proud of. He was a man who was always ready to 
listen and work with his subcommittee chairmen and anybody in the 
Congress to solve problems facing this Nation.
  He was known best, I think, for the Hyde Amendment, which stopped 
Federal funding for abortions, and it has been known throughout the 
time since that bill passed as one of the great human life amendments 
ever presented in this body or in the other body as well. He was a 
fighter. He was the kind of man who was very strong-willed, who would 
fight like the dickens. But he had a heart that was very, very soft 
where his fellow man was concerned. When he was on an issue, however, 
he had a heart that was very, very tough, and everybody that dealt with 
him knew that.
  He was probably one of the greatest orators who ever served in the 
Congress of the United States in either body. When he came down to 
speak, everybody listened. You could hear a pin drop. I know when a lot 
of my colleagues speak today they have to bring the gavel down several 
times to bring the House to order and ask for regular order, but when 
Henry Hyde came down on a great cause and spoke, you could hear a pin 
drop in this place because people knew he had something to say and they 
wanted to hear what he had to say.
  I am very proud to have known Henry. I knew him for over 20 years in 
this body. I can't tell you or any of my colleagues how great he was 
and how much I held him in high esteem. He will be missed not only 
because he was a great Congressman, he will be missed not only because 
he was a great chairman, he will be missed because he was a great 
American.
  And before I leave, I have to tell you one little story about Henry 
that he was so proud of. When he went to college at Georgetown 
University, he played on the basketball team. And one of the greatest 
players, if not the greatest player of that era, was a man named George 
Mikan, and Henry used to smile and with great pride tell everybody that 
when he played against George Mikan, in the second half he held him to 
one point. And there aren't many people who could do that.
  In addition to all of this, he authored the staunchest pro-life 
legislation in Congress in 30 years, and headed the impeachment 
hearings against President Clinton. Either of those efforts would 
naturally incite a whole camp of enemies.
  ``Henry Hyde spoke of controversial matters with intellectual honesty 
and without rancor,'' said President Bush.
  ``He was gifted as a legislator. There was a time when the Illinois 
House was divided evenly and needed 89 votes to pass a bill, and 
nothing was getting done because of partisan wrangling. People were 
angry and debilitated.
  ``Henry stood up and said he had voted against something just because 
he was on the other side of the aisle, and asked the House to 
reconsider the last bill on its merits. They wound up going back to the 
last 32 bills that had failed, and he brought people back into an 
atmosphere of wanting to work together.''
  ``Congressman Hyde played a big role in crystallizing the issue of 
abortion as central to politics and the culture,'' said Father Frank 
Pavone, director of Priests for Life. ``He has always been a driving 
force in making it clear that abortion is not one among many issues.'' 
Hyde, a Catholic, was a vocal opponent of abortion. In 1976 Hyde 
attached an amendment to a spending bill that banned Federal funding 
for abortions.
  The amendment later become known as the ``Hyde Amendment'' and has 
been at the center of the political fight over abortion since its 
passage.
  ``This erudite, scholarly man has walked with kings and kept the 
common touch,'' Bush stated. ``They're quick to say it's not the same 
Congress without him--but that we're a better country because he was 
there. And colleagues will always admire and look up to the gentleman 
from Illinois, Henry J. Hyde.''
  Born in 1924, Hyde served in the House from 1975 to 2006 and retired 
at end of the last session. Hyde served as the chairman of the House 
Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001.
  In a written statement, Boehner called Hyde ``a constitutional 
scholar, a thoughtful legislator, and a passionate orator.''
  ``But above all, he will be remembered as a gentleman who stood as a 
beacon for the bedrock principles of liberty, justice, and, above all, 
respect for life,'' Boehner said.
  On November 5, President Bush awarded Hyde the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, the highest honor the president can bestow on an American 
citizen.
  Henry, we miss you, buddy. Godspeed.

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