[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 61 (Thursday, April 17, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2445-H2452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECEPTION OF FORMER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
The Speaker pro tempore presided.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. On behalf of the House, I consider it a
great honor on behalf of Speaker Pelosi, Leader Boehner and myself to
welcome not only former colleagues but very good friends. I am
particularly pleased to recognize the former Speaker of the House, Bob
Michel. I know that's technically not accurate. I tried to get him the
votes to get that office, but another person intervened. But we are
certainly pleased to recognize and welcome back the distinguished
minority leader to the House, a good friend. I, of course, somewhat
parochial, particularly want to recognize my good friend, Senator Joe
Tydings. When I first ran for the Maryland State Senate, I had a little
tiny brochure. On the front page of that brochure were two people--
Senator Tydings, who had been elected in 1964 and myself in 1966--both
former Presidents of the Young Democrats of Maryland, walking down the
street. So to that extent, if you're really upset with my being here,
Senator Tydings has some responsibility for that. You can talk to him.
Also, the first Young Democrats convention I attended, the President
of the Young Democrats of Maryland was a gentleman named Goodloe Byron.
Goodloe E. Byron. He served with me in the State Senate. He came to
Congress before me, tragically passed away at an extraordinarily young
age, and his wife, as all of you know, succeeded him. A friend of mine
for 40 years--she was 7 at the time when we first met--Beverly Byron.
It's particularly good to recognize you and to welcome all of you back
to the House.
The Chair will now recognize the Honorable Dennis Hertel. It's a
particular pleasure for me to recognize Dennis Hertel because, as some
of you know, he came to the Congress the same year I came to the
Congress. He left the Congress not at the request of the citizens of
Michigan but at the request of the citizens who served in the State
legislature. They divided his district up not in three ways but in four
[[Page H2446]]
ways, all that had Democratic incumbents. He chose not to take any of
them on. They were all relieved by that. You have done well in choosing
him as your leader for this year.
The chair is yours.
Mr. HERTEL (presiding). I want to thank Leader Hoyer, not only for
his very kind remarks today and for taking the time to be with us but
the fact that he has always come to help us with our one day of session
here as former Members of Congress. It's very, very much appreciated
that Leader Hoyer with his busy schedule always has time to come
forward for us.
Mr. Jim Slattery from Kansas, the President of our Association,
cannot be with us today because he has left our position as President
of the Former Members Association to become a candidate for the United
States Senate in Kansas for the Democratic nomination. And so because
he is pursuing that worthy goal, we have Jay Rhodes, who has been our
Vice President from Arizona and done such an excellent job. Jay will
step up to become President of the Association and take on those duties
today.
The Chair recognizes Jay Rhodes of Arizona, the acting President of
the Association of Former Members of Congress.
Mr. RHODES. I apologize for a little delay in getting things going.
There's been some confusion about the access to the floor of our
international guests who have always been welcomed to the floor during
this ceremony but for some reason that has not occurred, so they will
be in the galleries. I'm sorry about that. That's not the way we wanted
things to happen.
Mr. Hoyer, thank you very much. And thank you for giving us access to
the Chamber. We have a very special event, if you will, which is to
honor a very distinguished statesman, the former majority leader of the
United States Senate, Senator George Mitchell of Maine. As far as I am
concerned, that's the highest rank that you have achieved. You have
achieved others, but being the majority leader of the Senate is
something to behold and something to beholden to. We are proud that you
are a member of our Association, the Former Members of Congress, and we
are proud to recognize your service to our country as majority leader.
As a peacekeeper. I think you had more success in making peace in
Ireland than you have in baseball. But certainly your work in trying to
uncover and rectify the use and misuse of performance-enhancing drugs,
especially in professional baseball, is something that I know you're
proud of and we're proud of. We believe that your work will have taken
our national pastime and restored its luster. We are very pleased and
happy that you have assisted the country again in a very important
effort.
It's a great pleasure for me as the President of this Association to
welcome you and to present to you our Distinguished Service Award and
to ask you if you would say a few words to our group.
Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you very much, Congressman Rhodes. Thanks to
Congressman Hoyer and to all of our colleagues here. Let me say that I
am grateful to you for the kind words, Congressman Rhodes, and grateful
to all of the Members Association for the honor that you have bestowed
upon me. I think it's fitting that this ceremony of former Members be
held in the House Chamber.
I recall very clearly when I was elected majority leader of the
Senate and I attended the first official function with the Speaker.
Prior to the function, we met and I said, well, we have to decide who
goes first. He said, yes. We can discuss that, he said, but I'd just
like to call to your attention that the position of Speaker is
mentioned in the Constitution and in the laws of the United States, but
nowhere in either the Constitution or any law is there any reference to
a majority leader of the United States Senate. He said, but I'm
perfectly prepared to discuss who should go first.
I said, well, I think you've made it rather clear. Ever since then, I
have deferred to every Speaker and, in fact, every Member of the House
I ever met because it made such a powerful impression on me, about the
primacy of the House of Representatives in our system of government.
Service in the Congress or in comparable bodies around the world like
the Dail in Ireland, where I know there are many here today, and from
Canada and other countries is, of course, a high honor and a great
privilege. My service in the United States Senate, including my 6 years
as Senate majority leader, was one of the highest honors of my life. I
was fortunate thereafter to engage in other public service activities,
including 5 years in Northern Ireland where I served as chairman of the
peace negotiations and of other activities in bringing to a close the
conflict in Northern Ireland. But nothing will ever for me exceed the
honor of having been a Member of the United States Congress. I know
that every former Member here, indeed all former Members, has shared
that view. It was not very long ago, of course, that I served. Then as
now, there were challenges facing our Nation. Then as now, there were
differences between the parties. But I hope that now as then the
current Members will rise to the challenge and be able to meet the very
important problems and address the issues facing our great country and
the world.
In conclusion, I thank everyone here very much. You know, for most
human beings, life is in essence a never-ending search for respect.
First and most important, self-respect and then the respect of others.
There is no one certain route to gaining respect, but I have always
felt that the best way was through service to others. And so I think
that Members of Congress, despite the fact that in ours, as in every
democratic society, there is a lot of criticism, a lot of complaint,
nonetheless, I think every Member of Congress has earned and deserves
the respect of the people for their dedication and their service to
others.
Thank you all very much for this great honor.
Mr. RHODES. Senator, thank you very much for your comments. I think
the significance of your comments is the fact that you and Members of
the other body do recognize that it is one Congress composed of two
separate and equal bodies. We appreciate that portion of your comments
as much as anything else.
We do have a scrapbook with remembrances from your former colleagues,
both in the House and the Senate, appreciating your service. And, of
course, the plaque. Now I will read the plaque since I've got my
glasses on. Actually I don't have my glasses on.
Senator, you've got a lot of these. It just says that we recognize
your lifetime of service to this body, this body being the Congress,
not the Senate, and to our country. And we appreciate it very, very
much and we appreciate your being with us this morning.
And so I present to you, A, the scrapbook; and, B, the plaque--I hope
that your wall space has room for it--again from a grateful Nation.
Thank you very, very much.
Mr. MITCHELL. I guarantee you my wall space will have room for this,
a very prominent place on my wall. Thank you very much, Jay.
Mr. RHODES. Thank you, sir.
Mr. HERTEL. The Chair recognizes the distinguished majority leader,
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
Mr. RHODES. Do you want to recognize Mr. Hoyer or do you want me to
recognize Mr. Hoyer?
Mr. HERTEL. We can both recognize Mr. Hoyer.
Mr. RHODES. Mr. Hoyer, you're recognized.
Mr. HOYER. May I use this podium?
Mr. RHODES. You may do whatever you wish, Mr. Majority Leader.
Mr. HOYER. Let me come over here.
I tell a story when I greet, as so many of you have, constituents to
the floor of the House. I tell them the story that few Members of the
House did I come with a more negative perception of than John
Rousselot, as you can imagine. John Rousselot had quite a reputation
around the country. And I say that to them for the purpose of saying
that I ended up thinking John Rousselot was one of the really
delightful human beings with whom I served, notwithstanding our deep
disagreements. Some of you who served during his term will recall, as
we know, John had a problem with his leg, but he used to delight, as
you recall, going over to that rostrum and talking to you us. You
remember that, Bob, I am sure, very well. He did it, however, not in a
confrontational way but with a twinkle in his eye, as if to say, I'm
coming over
[[Page H2447]]
here and I'm going to tell you guys what you really ought to be doing.
And I really always enjoyed it.
When Jay said, well, I'm not going to speak from that rostrum, I'm
going to come over here, it reminded me of that.
Unfortunately, as all of you know through the years now, the aisle
has become more a wall than an aisle. A division has grown. I lament, I
really do, Bob Michel's loss from the House and from the country's
service in this body--he still serves our country as all of you do as
well--because he was, with Tip O'Neill, two unifying leaders who tried
to bring us together, not agreeing necessarily but disagree in a sense
of trying to get together to solve problems with our different
perspectives being involved. As all of you know, I have a deep
affection for Bob Michel for that reason. But I always come here--
before I was majority leader I came here--because I want to thank all
of you for the service you have given to our country, the friendship
you have given to me and so many others in this body.
Some of you I see on a regular basis. The Historical Society
obviously making such a continued contribution. I saw Ben Gilman 2 days
ago at a breakfast at which I spoke. But I really wanted to reiterate
the welcome of Speaker Pelosi to all of you back to the House.
I also want to recognize our friends, and I'm not sure which one of
you are here, from Great Britain, from Ireland. As a matter of fact, I
think there are 19 Irish Parliamentarians here. There are a couple from
Greece and New Zealand; Great Britain, as I said; and Canada. So we
have five nations represented who with the United States have something
in common with one of them, Great Britain. And we have much in common
with all of us. We welcome you to the House. You are friends and great
allies at a time of challenge for the global community, both in terms
of economics, in terms of terrorism, in terms of moving our
international community towards a more peaceful resolution of its
problems.
Senator Mitchell. Did he leave? I'm sorry. I should have said that at
the beginning. I was going to invite Senator Mitchell, based upon his
experience in Northern Ireland, if he might visit us here and see if he
can resolve the differences between the Senate and the House. I thought
that might be a very useful contribution to the country. We're having
some problems. You may have noticed. The Senate is a strange body,
Senator Tydings. We're trying to work with them, but it is very
difficult.
In any event, I want to welcome all of you back and thank you for
what you have done for our country on both sides of the aisle, as
Americans, not as Republicans or as Democrats but as Americans, and say
how honored I am to have the opportunity to join with you on this day
when you return, to remember what you have done here, but to also
remember the friendships that we have made here.
Good luck to you. Thank you very much.
Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank the majority leader. Let me say that it's
very appropriate that my Republican friend Mr. Rhodes and I both
introduced the majority leader because if there was an award for
statesmanship for an incumbent, I think our majority leader would
certainly achieve that.
It's something to always follow the model that Tip O'Neill set for
us, of being bipartisan in the ways that affect our country. I remember
the great affection that Tip O'Neill had for Bob Michel and how they
worked together, even though they fought on issues on a daily and
weekly basis of importance to our country. I remember Tip O'Neill
telling me about the love he had for one of his very best friends,
Jerry Ford, the President from Michigan, a Republican, who was as
partisan as Tip when he was the minority leader here in the House. What
I have seen in the distinguished majority leader is taking from the
Speakers that I was honored to serve under, taking the intellectual
abilities of Mr. Foley and the partisan aggressiveness of Mr. Wright
and the wisdom and the common touch of Tip O'Neill, and that is
embodied in our distinguished majority leader. He then carries forth
the fact that you can be an active partisan on behalf of your party in
your beliefs and at the same time reach over and work with the minority
and understand their viewpoint even as you are strong and aggressive on
the principles that you believe in. So we thank the distinguished
majority leader again for taking the time to be with us and for his
leadership on behalf of our country.
The Chair would like to also thank Mr. McNulty from New York.
Chairman McNulty has always been very generous with his time, also,
with the former Members and we appreciate his time today with such a
busy schedule.
The Clerk will take the roll.
The Clerk called the roll of the former Members of Congress, and the
following former Members answered to their names:
Former Members of Congress Participating in 38th Annual Spring Meeting
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Mr. Broyhill of North Carolina
Mr. Buechner of Missouri
Mrs. Byron of Maryland
Mr. DeNardis of Connecticut
Mr. DioGuardi of New York
Mr. Frey of Florida
Mr. Garcia of New York
Mr. Gilman of New York
Mr. Goodling of Pennsylvania
Mr. Hertel of Michigan
Mr. Hockbrueckner of New York
Mr. Hughes of New Jersey
Mrs. Kennelly of Connecticut
Mr. Konnyu of California
Mr. Kramer of Colorado
Mr. Kyros of Maine
Mrs. Long of Louisiana
Mr. McHugh of New York
Mr. Michel of Illinois
Mr. Nichols of Kansas
Mr. Parris of Virginia
Mr. Rhodes of Arizona
Mr. Sarasin of Connecticut
Mr. Shaw of Florida
Mr. Thomas of Georgia
Mr. Zeliff of New Hampshire
Mr. HERTEL. The Chair announces that 26 former Members of Congress
have responded to their names.
The Chair recognizes the President of the Association, Mr. Rhodes,
the distinguished gentleman from Arizona.
Mr. RHODES. Thank you, Mr. Hertel. For those of you who don't quite
understand what the cast of characters is here, you would have expected
that our friend Jim Slattery from Kansas would be standing here as
President of the Association. Jim made a decision to return to Kansas
and to run for the Senate. He also made the decision that that
commitment of time and effort would not allow him to devote the time
and effort that he had remaining on his term of office as President of
the Association, so he did resign. The by-laws really don't say a lot
about when an officer resigns to run for office again, but they do say
when the President is not here, the Vice President shall act as
President. And so I am technically the Vice President and I am here
acting as the President. If anybody wants to challenge me, do so now or
forever hold your peace. Within the ordinary course of events within
the next few days or so, I will be elected to be President, and then
you will have no challenge whatsoever. But I am here for Jim and I want
to acknowledge Jim's service to the Association, to the Congress and to
the country. He has served this Association extremely well. We have
made great progress, building on progress that began about 6 years ago,
or more, with Matt McHugh and then with Larry LaRocco and then with
Jack Buechner. Your association has grown in stature and in numbers and
in activities. We're going to outline a lot of that activity here for
you today.
It is also a great pleasure for me to welcome to our meeting former
Parliamentarians from Canada, from the United Kingdom, from Ireland,
from Greece, and from Turkey. We are very, very honored to have you
with us. We are very honored to have the kind of association that we
have with your respective associations. We hope to continue to have
those grow as well. And we will continue to carry out the activities
that have made us, I think, a more vibrant and, I think, a more
productive portion, quasi-governmental portion of the Government of the
United States. We have accomplished a lot and we have a lot more to do.
I look forward very much to a 2-year term as President. I am going to
be assisted very ably by Congressman Hertel, who will be the Vice
President, and by Congressman Buechner, who has graciously agreed to
continue in the post of Past President. I don't think Jack has a vote,
but he does have
[[Page H2448]]
a role to play because he has been extremely active in the growth of
the organization and we need his experience and we need his advice and
we appreciate the fact that he is going to continue in that role.
That's the last nice thing I'm going to say about you.
But I'm going to introduce you, because I want you to tell the
Association what you and we have been doing in the area of democracy
building.
Jack, welcome back. It is good to see you.
Mr. BUECHNER. If the gentleman will yield, I am glad to be back. I
want to thank everyone for participating in the programs that we've put
together on the international end of it. In particular, something new
for the association is its participation in the International Election
Monitors Institute, the IEMI. It's a joint project of our association
with our sister organizations in Ottawa and Brussels. I am pleased that
some of our Canadian and European delegates, our colleagues active in
the IEMI, have made the trip to D.C. to be with us today. Of course,
joining the Prime Minister of Great Britain and also the Pope. What a
great time to be in Washington, D.C., for the springtime.
The first goal of our institute is to take former legislators, and I
am going to use the term ``legislators'' rather than Parliamentarians
or Members of Congress. I happened to see something the other day that
``parliament'' comes from the French word which is basically parle, to
talk. Congress comes from the Roman word which is a gathering of
enemies. And I thought, I wonder if the Founding Fathers were playing a
little joke when they called it a Congress. These legislators we have
taken from the EU, from the United States and Canada and we have
training sessions in proper election monitoring.
It's easy to think that because you've run for office and held office
that you know something about elections. Well, you may know something
about a ridings in Calgary or about a congressional district in South
Carolina, but that doesn't mean you know what you're doing in Chad, and
we're not talking about Florida chads, we're talking about the country
of Chad or someplace that is having an ongoing uprising by a minority
party or a different tribal distincts. The Orange Revolution taught us
a whole lot about what election observations were all about. Sometimes
it was just sitting and making sure that the guys in charge--sometimes
gals in charge--were not manipulating the vote. So we have been able to
put together these training sessions and we've hosted other meetings.
We have gotten a 3-year grant from the Canadian International
Development Agency. We've sent dozens of U.S., Canadian and European
former legislators who have gone through this training and are now
well-versed in an actual set of responsibilities and challenges that
come with election observation. A part that's very significant is a
code of conduct, to make sure that when our representatives are in
these different election areas, that they know what they are supposed
to be doing and what they are not supposed to be doing. This is an
interesting thing, especially for United States politicians going
someplace where the microscope is always on whatever it is we do. A
mere stumble can sometimes, and I don't mean physically, but a turn of
phrase.
One of the things that happens, you should know, is that sometimes
the electoral mechanism, somebody in a country will look at one of our
representatives and say, well, what do you think we should do? The
inclination is, well, I'd throw that ballot out. Or I'd accept that
ballot. One of the things we train our representatives to do is to be
cool and to step back and to say, it's your election, not our election,
and we're just here to make sure that the world knows what goes on
here. Now you decide what to do with that ballot. It's a very, very
powerful thing.
We have had an international delegation that went to the Morocco
elections. We had 52 observers from 19 countries. We deployed to 12
regions in Morocco and visited 375 polling stations. In addition,
observers participated in briefings and meetings before election day to
ascertain the political and legal climate in which the Moroccan
electorate could cast their votes. We saw a well-organized and
transparent election on September 7. Moroccan authorities had trained
polling officials well and ensured that voters were given the
opportunity to cast a secret ballot without undue influence. There were
reported irregularities, but the overall impression gathered by IEMI
monitors was that the Government of Morocco should be congratulated on
a free, fair, and transparent election process.
But one of the problems was participation. An awful lot of people
said, you know, even though I've got the first opportunity to vote, I
think that the King's going to influence it or the Islamic parties are
going to be overrepresented, that they had the same kind of skepticism
that we in the West frequently have to encounter, that low turnout of
37 percent, but a high number of protest votes. One vote we saw at the
polling station said, I can't vote for any of these idiots, which is
sort of the ``none of the above'' with a little more emphasis. But it
showed there was an evidence for further political reform necessary in
Morocco. Former Parliamentarians can play a crucial role in encouraging
widespread engagement in the process. It is IEMI's hope that over the
next few years leading up to Morocco's 2012 elections, former
legislators will be invited to assist in developing reforms such as
civic education or effective political leadership.
In addition to participating in those missions and conducting several
training sessions, the IEMI has created a strategic plan which
envisions its expansion over the next 5 years. Part of that vision is
to become active not just in election observation missions but in
democracy building work, now being carried out worldwide by U.S.,
Canadian and European NGOs. For example, former legislators could play
a crucial role in aiding a peaceful transition of government following
an election. We could work with newly elected legislators as they begin
their work in a representative democracy. We could share our experience
when it comes to the nuts and bolts--we all know about the nuts in the
legislative branch--but, for example, the work of committees or relying
on a professional staff. In many countries, there are no professional
personnel to work with the legislators. I recall one of the first
things that happened when I was a new member of the Association is we
actually helped the Ukrainian Parliament train what were basically law
students and political science students, train somebody to work with
the Parliament because there was no one there. And in the Russian Duma
in the early stages, if you wanted to introduce a bill, you had to
actually bring enough paper to print copies for every member of the
Duma. That was just one of those little things that starts a democracy
rolling, but you have to deal with it. We believe that via the
Institute, we are positioning ourselves to play an integral part in
democracy building.
Before I yield back the floor, let me recognize Doug Rowland, if you
would stand up. Doug is the President of our Canadian counterpart, our
neighbor to the north, but is also the President currently of the IEMI.
He deserves a round of recognition. Doug, thank you for your efforts
and for all the members of the board.
With that, Mr. President, I thank you for giving me the opportunity
to report on the IEMI.
Mr. RHODES. Jack, thank you very much.
Jack mentioned that the root meaning of the word ``parliament'' is
talk. Jack demonstrates the fact that he really is a parliamentarian,
because there's nothing about which he cannot talk at length. I wonder,
though, if you know what the root meaning of the word Congress is. If
you look up Congress in a dictionary, the first definition is sexual
intercourse. Then it gets into what you said it was, which is
conversation amongst others. Fortunately, I think that we mostly do the
latter, I hope.
Another of our international programs is something that I would like
to have our friend Beverly Byron from Maryland report on. We have done
quite a number of external programs that Beverly is an expert on and
will share her expertise with us, hopefully as a Congressman and not as
a Parliamentarian.
Mr. HERTEL. The Chair recognizes the distinguished Congresswoman from
Maryland, Beverly Byron.
[[Page H2449]]
Mrs. BYRON. I'm afraid to touch that podium after his remarks.
Mr. RHODES. I don't blame you.
Mrs. BYRON. Let me first of all thank our acting temporary
President--until this afternoon.
Mr. RHODES. Are you going to challenge me?
Mrs. BYRON. Oh, I don't know. It's early in the day. I've got
probably a couple of hours. You can never tell.
Let me say that I have been tasked to talk about a program that I
think is one that the acting Members and the former Members have put
together and have worked very hard--the Study Groups on Germany,
Turkey, Japan and Mexico. I originally thought I was just going to be
talking about the German Study Group which I have been interested in
and have no problem with the pronunciation on the German names, but I
have Turkey, Japan and Mexico. And so bear with me as we go along.
The Association serves as the secretariat for the Congressional Study
Groups. Germany is the largest and most active exchange program. It is
U.S. Members of Congress and Parliamentarians of Germany. It is a
bipartisan organization, much as this one is, and they alternate the
Chairs, Democrats and Republicans, on the U.S. side. The German group
is celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year. The primary goal of
the Study Group is to establish a dialogue between Members of Congress
and their counterparts in the Bundestag. The group has a Distinguished
Visitors Program where they bring high-ranking German elected officials
to the Capitol. Last year, the Study Group on Germany organized events
featuring political leaders such as Chancellor Angela Merkel; Dr.
Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag; and Minister Sigmar
Gabriel, Federal Minister for the Environment. Every year, the Study
Group brings approximately eight Members of Congress together with
sometimes an equal number, sometimes more, of the German legislators
for several days, focusing on discussions with a predetermined agenda.
The Parliamentarians usually are joined by several former Members of
Congress and former Members of the Bundestag. They also have officials
of the two federal governments attending, think-tank and foundation
representatives, and members of the German-American corporate
community. In 2007, the annual Congress-Bundestag seminar took place in
Hamburg, Germany. This year the Study Group is going to be in Utah for
its 25th annual seminar and it will be taking place in the current U.S.
president of that organization, Rob Bishop's, district. The upcoming
program is going to discuss topics such as NATO, relations with China,
and renewable energy. Our program this morning is on the energy issue.
I think it's one that we all are very much interested in.
We need to thank the Study Group's supporters because it could not
operate without financial support. Here comes the advertisement: Craig
Kennedy and the German Marshall Fund are extremely active. The Marshall
Fund has funded this program for many years. The Business Advisory
Council also donates support on the administrative side of the Study
Group and current companies such as Airbus, Allianz, BASF, Daimler,
Deutsche Telekom, DHL Americas, EDS, Eli Lilly, Fresenius, Lufthansa,
RGIT, SAP, Siemens, and Volkswagen, to name but a few.
Modeled after the Congressional Study Group on Germany, the
Association has established other Study Groups. The Turkish group in
2005. Turkey as we all know is important for so many reasons: Peace in
the greater Middle East, the expansion of the European Union, the
transformation of NATO. The Study Group on Turkey brings current
Members of Congress together with their legislative peers, government
officials and business representatives in Turkey and serves currently
as a platform for participants to learn about U.S.-Turkish relations
firsthand. Thanks to funding from the Turkish Coalition of America, the
Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey and TOBB, the German
Marshall Fund also funds some of the work with the Turkish group, and a
group of corporate sponsors, the Study Group on Turkey has brought
important guests to Capitol Hill. That includes then Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul, who is now President of Turkey; Assistant
Secretary of State Daniel Fried; and many delegations of Turkish
Parliamentarians.
The Congressional Study Group on Turkey also conducts an annual U.S.-
Turkey seminar. In 2007, that conference took place in Ankara and
Istanbul. A congressional delegation met as we did when we were Members
with high-level representatives, including Speaker of the Grand
National Assembly of Turkey Arinc, as well as Turkish Prime Minister
Erdogan. Discussions included Iraq and Turkey's bid to join the EU.
This year's seminar will take place in May in Memphis in the district
of Representative Steve Cohen. Members of Congress and their
counterparts in the Turkish Grand National Assembly will discuss issues
such as, once again, energy security, civil society, and the Middle
East.
The Association also serves as the secretariat for the Congressional
Study Group on Japan. This was founded in 1993 in cooperation with the
East-West Center in Hawaii. The Congressional Study Group on Japan is a
bipartisan group of 89 Members of the House and Senate. The Japanese
Group arranges opportunities for Members of Congress to meet their
counterparts in the Japanese Diet in addition to presentations by
American and Japanese experts about various aspects of U.S.-Japanese
relations. Recently featured guests have included Japanese Ambassador
to the United States Ryozo Kato; then Foreign Minister Taro Aso; and
Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Six-Party Talks, Ambassador Chris
Hill. The Congressional Study Group on Japan is funded by the Japan-
U.S. Friendship Commission.
Last but not least we have the Congressional Study Group on Mexico.
It is a unique organization in that it serves as a bipartisan forum of
legislators and congressional staffers to engage in issue-specific
dialogue with Mexican elected officials and government representatives.
By being involved in the group, the two countries' political decision-
makers receive a comprehensive picture of the issues revolving around
U.S.-Mexico relations. We are working closely with the Woodrow Wilson
Center on the Mexico project.
These Study Groups are examples of how the Former Members Association
can provide an educational service to current Members and working
together furthering issues for our Nation. I look forward to being a
part of the Study Groups. I think those of you that are not involved in
it would get a great deal of satisfaction in having an opportunity to
see that we are still continuing as former Members in many of the areas
and issues that we have been involved in.
I thank you, the new acting-temporary-prospective President, for the
time this morning.
Mr. RHODES. Thank you, Congresswoman Byron, very much not only for
your remarks but for your participation. It's very valuable to all of
us. As Beverly has said, the value of these Study Groups is bilateral.
I think that we and our sitting Members whom we involve in these
exchanges learn a lot and I think that the counterparts in the other
countries also learn from us, and we learn basically that many of our
problems are very, very similar. It's fascinating and it's a great
experience.
I next want to have Matt McHugh come forward and report to you on our
various student-based exchange programs which we loosely call Congress
to Campus. Matt has been intimately involved in the expansion and
growth of the Congress to Campus Program which has been dramatic and a
very great reward to an awful lot of former Members of Congress and
hopefully to some students out there in the world. But from time to
time, Matt, I think we learn more than they do. Matt is a longtime,
very, very valuable member of the Association and we appreciate very
much everything that you do for us.
Mr. McHUGH. Thanks very much, Jay.
As he indicated, my role this morning is to present our report on the
Congress to Campus Program which as many of you know is now run
exclusively by our Association in cooperation with the Stennis Center.
David Skaggs, who did such a great job for us for some years, is now
the Secretary of Education in Colorado. But the transition from his
organization, the Council
[[Page H2450]]
on Excellence in Government, has been very smooth and successful. As
most of you know, the Congress to Campus Program is the Association's
flagship program for our members. It sends bipartisan teams of former
Members to colleges, universities and high schools across the country
to educate the next generation of leaders on the importance of civic
engagement. The participating students benefit from the interaction
with our Association members whose knowledge and experience, as we
know, are a unique resource. But at the same time our members benefit,
as Jay has said, through our continued involvement in public service
and the ability to engage these young people on issues of importance to
them.
During each visit, our bipartisan team conducts classes, meets
individually with students and faculty, speaks to campus media,
participates in both campus and community forums, and meets with local
citizens. Institutions are encouraged to market our visits to the
entire campus community, not just to those students who are majoring in
political science, history or government. Over the course of 2\1/2\
days, hundreds of students are exposed to the former Members' message
regarding the significance of public service. There is one more visit
scheduled for this academic year, after which we begin recruiting
schools for next year. The program has made both domestic and
international visits this academic year, including a visit to campuses
in the United Kingdom and Canada and, for the first time, two separate
visits to campuses in Mexico. By the end of next week, the program will
have made 26 campus visits in this academic year. More than 30 members
of our Association have made visits this academic year, and I want to
take the opportunity to thank all of you who have participated in the
program and certainly encourage those of you who have not had the
opportunity as yet to do so, it's a great experience for us.
I also want to extend our thanks to the campuses, the faculty and
staff members and students who worked so diligently on each of these
visits. Without their hard work, these visits would not have been
possible. We rely heavily on the universities to take the lead in
coordinating logistics relating to each visit and appreciate the time
they devote to ensuring their students will receive the benefits of the
program.
We have also continued, as I mentioned at the beginning, our
relationship with the Stennis Center for Public Service in the
administration of the program. Association and Stennis Center staff
work very closely together on a day-by-day basis to make the program
such a great success. We appreciate both the staff support and the
steady financial contribution we get from the Stennis Center each area.
We look forward to working with them in the years ahead as well.
I am also pleased to announce that in the next academic year for the
first time we will be receiving a financial contribution and some
support from the Joyce and Donald Rumsfeld Foundation. The Foundation's
generous grant will enable our Association to reach out to more
students and more schools, many of whom have not participated in the
past. And so on behalf of our members, I want to thank Secretary
Rumsfeld for recognizing the importance of our reaching out to the next
generation of leaders.
We have also continued working with the People to People Ambassador
Program that brings young people to our Nation's capital for a week of
events centered on the concepts of character and leadership. These
students are far younger than those who participate in the Congress to
Campus activities, but they have already demonstrated a commitment to
the ideals that the Congress to Campus Program seeks to promote. The
Association's involvement in this program allows our members living in
the Washington area to speak to these younger students on the
importance of public service and to answer any questions they might
have. A number of our members, as you know, are working full time still
and the People to People engagements allow them to continue their
public service in this particular way. The events are typically held in
the early morning at suburban locations. Again, I want to thank all of
our colleagues who have participated in this program. I want to mention
in particular our colleague Orval Hansen of Idaho. I don't know if
Orval is here this morning. If not, he deserves recognition, because he
has made it to nine of these visits early in the morning to meet with
these younger students, seven of those visits in the last month alone.
That is enormous dedication, and we are grateful to him in particular.
I want to conclude by again expressing appreciation to all of those
who have made the Congress to Campus Program such a great success and
by encouraging all of my friends here to participate. As you know, a
democracy can prosper only if its citizens are engaged, and as former
legislators we have a particular responsibility, I think, to encourage
others to do so, particularly our young people.
Thank you very much.
Mr. RHODES. Matt, thank you very much. I just want to echo what Matt
says about the Person to Person program. I've participated in one,
which started at 6:45 a.m. in far out Bethesda. This is all junior high
school kids. At 6:45 they are up and dressed and scrubbed and raring to
go. I'm standing there saying, what am I doing out here at 6:45 in the
morning? It's worth it.
I want to emphasize what Matt emphasized, which is that the purpose
of this kind of activity is not to say to a kid, this is how you
prepare yourself to run for Congress, or to run for public office. The
purpose is to say to them, a career in public service is a career worth
pursuing. Public service encompasses a whole lot of things. Being a
teacher, being a fireman, being a policeman, a garbage collector or,
like a garbage collector, a Congressman. But the point is to emphasize
to the young people that public service is not a career to be shunned,
it's a career to be sought.
Matt, your leadership on this is greatly appreciated.
My next project is to try to introduce a real hero for the
Association. It's difficult to do because he knows he's a hero and will
tell you himself if I don't do it. Lou Frey has served as President of
the Association, and for the last 11 years Lou has chaired our annual
dinner which, as I think you probably all know, is the lifeblood of the
Association. When it became clear, Beverly, that I was going to become
President, I called Lou and I said to him, Lou, you've got to do it 2
more years. Lou said, I can't. I'm tired. I'm tired of the whole thing.
I don't want to do it.
I said, Lou, please?
And he said, Okay, I'm in for 2 more.
Lou has not only done the dinner, he has started several other
projects for us. I would call upon the Honorable Member from the State
of Florida, Mr. Frey, to enlighten us as to what he has been doing. We
would all like to know.
Mr. FREY. Thank you, Jay. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
I would first like to also acknowledge the tremendous work that your
predecessor, Jim Slattery, did. He did an incredible job. He worked
incredibly hard. You two worked together to give us great leadership as
I'm sure that you and Dennis will do the same. I did start the
Statesmanship Dinner 11 years ago and it was a good idea. The only bad
one was not figuring out who was going to be the chairman of it. We
still haven't done too good a job on that. This was our most successful
dinner. We honored all the women who have served in the Congress and
were serving in the Congress. Speaker Pelosi was kind enough to come
and accept the award. And also Lindy Boggs was the honorary chairman
whom we all dearly love. She and Cokie were there. It was a really,
really nice event. Beverly Byron did a great deal of work; Nancy
Johnson. Incredible group they had to help us raise money. It was the
biggest crowd we've ever had, thanks to the efforts of many of the
women who served in the Congress. As you know, that is our big fund-
raising event and we use it for a lot of different activities.
One of the things that we have found in my State, and I'm sure it
isn't true in your State, but basically we are civically illiterate.
Forty percent of the adults in Florida cannot tell you the three
branches of government. Seventy-three percent of the fourth graders in
a multiple choice test can't pick out the Constitution as our leading
document. I'm talking about my State. I happen to have seen the
statistics, and I would suggest that maybe we're not alone in this
area. But in Florida
[[Page H2451]]
we don't teach civics. Many States in our country don't teach civics.
One of the things that we have been trying to look at as an
organization is how do we reach out to the students. How do we reach
out to the teachers so that they'll have something to turn to if
they're interested in teaching civics. Of course, one of the answers is
the Internet. What we did last year is we experimented with programs
that the former Members would do on key issues and used the Internet to
get it out to high schools and colleges around the country. That worked
pretty good. This year we're going to take it to another step. We're
going to really put together a library, if you will, for teachers.
We're working with the Presidential Classroom teachers, we're going to
work with the institute that I have, and the former Members.
Let's take a subject like electoral college. We will have a 50-minute
lesson plan for teachers, 30 minutes will be a discussion by the former
Members on that issue, 20 minutes for the teachers themselves. We'll
put maybe 50 of these together over the next 3 or 4 years so that the
teachers all around the country can punch in for free, get that lesson
plan, and teach civics. How in the world can you have a country that is
as great as ours and the people don't know what they have? Thomas
Jefferson said a country that's half ignorant never was and never will
be free. We've probably lost a couple of generations. I'm not sure how
we'll ever get those back. But we are not going to lose the younger
generation. We're going to reach out to them as we're doing in these
programs, the stuff that Matt is doing. I think we can make an
incredible difference in terms of our young people, not preaching party
but preaching what we have and what our country's about. So they'll
make a decision. Whatever it will be, we may agree or disagree, but at
least it will be a decision based on some facts and on some knowledge.
I want to thank many of you for help with the book we're writing, the
second edition of the Former Members book. As you know, the first
edition is used in many colleges. The second one, if you haven't sent
your final ideas in on your rules of politics, please do. It will go to
the publisher in August. We were honored about a month and a half
before President Ford died, I had been trying to get him for really a
couple of years to do it, he sent us five pages on what his political
rules of life were, which will be really interesting. That book will be
out certainly in August. We hope that it will add to what teachers can
use, not necessarily from an academic style but as a supplement to what
really goes on in this wonderful place.
I want you to know that, according to the Washington Post, we're back
for an annual ``schmoozefest'' and it will get ``boozy'' tonight. I
don't know where the reporter is to listen to all these things that
this group is doing. I'm very proud to be part of this. I'm proud of
how we continue to put back. This is not really a social organization
anymore. It is really an organization of people who have given to the
country and now can't give 100 percent but try and give as much as they
can back to this country. It is certainly needed. I don't think there's
any group of people who have more knowledge, who have more ability and
don't have any skin in the game in terms of any personal involvement in
what's going on.
I thank each and every one of you for what you're doing. I think it's
great. I think, as the President said, there's a lot more we can do,
and we will do. Thanks to this organization, a lot of young people and
people not only here but with our colleagues, a lot of people around
the world are going to have more idea of what's going on and why
understanding what we've been given in this great country is really
worthwhile.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
Mr. RHODES. Lou, thank you.
I'm going to insert something into the script here that wasn't here,
but I'm going to ask you to help us as far as the dinner is concerned
because one of the greatest conundrums that we face is trying to
identify somebody whom we, A, should honor; B, would like to honor;
and, C, who will sell tables. If you have any thoughts and suggestions
along those lines, we would greatly appreciate hearing them. Quickly.
A couple of other programs that we have going that you should know
about. One is a golf tournament. We've had the golf tournament for
quite a few years. It brings together sitting Members and former
Members. This is generally not bipartisan. We generally pit each other
against each other on a partisan basis. But it's fun. But this year
we've changed the format slightly and it is going to be a charitable
event, and we hope that that will expand it greatly. The charity is a
fund for disabled veterans, especially veterans from Iraq and
Afghanistan. The tournament is on July 14 at the Army/Navy Club. I
encourage you, A, to participate; and, B, to encourage others to
participate as well. I think it's a cause that we all would agree is
well worthwhile.
I should tell you that the Association sponsors, on a sporadic basis
but generally biennially, a study trip for our members abroad. Last
fall we took about 40 of our members to Ireland. In retribution, the
former members of the Irish Parliament have sent 30 of their members
here this week. I don't know if that's because of the way we behaved or
misbehaved in Ireland. I did not go. I have talked with many of our
friends who did go and the one thing that's unanimous is that they had
a good time. The other thing that's unanimous is they don't know
exactly what they did that was so much fun, but they had a good time.
We appreciate you all being here with us very, very much. And we're
coming back.
I want to take a minute to thank Jim Slattery for his service as
President of the Association. Jim and I had known each other pretty
well when we were both Members, but we got to know each other a lot
better over the course of the last couple of years. Jim and I did a
Congress to Campus visit together to Baker University in Baldwin,
Kansas. It was a very, very rewarding experience. I can't emphasize
enough what Matt said to you, that if you haven't done a Congress to
Campus, do it. You will profit from it and you will benefit from it.
And hopefully somebody else will, too. But you definitely will. You
will definitely come away with the feeling that the generation that's
coming up is not all bad. There are some good people and there are some
very, very enthusiastic and intelligent people who want to contribute.
It's well worth the time.
We have a plaque for Jim. It will read just sort of like what I said
the plaque for Mr. Mitchell read, which is: Thank you very much. We
appreciate your participation, your association and your friendship,
and we wish you the best.
Now this is a bipartisan organization and we don't take sides. I will
say to you that I wish Jim Slattery physically the best. Not
necessarily politically but physically. I know that he misses us and we
miss him, and we're very, very supportive of his desire to return to
public service.
I want to thank Dennis Hertel and Mike Parker and Jack Buechner for
their service to the Association, both current and in the future. And I
want to recognize our professional staff. As any bureaucracy as we have
grown more successful, we've grown more staff. We currently have five
permanent staff, led by Pete Weichlein, whom you all know; but joined
by Whitney Novak, who is an Executive Assistant; and Tracy Fine, who is
a Program Officer; and Rebecca Zylberman, who is a Senior Program
Officer. It must mean she's older than Tracy. I'm not sure what that
means. And Sudha David-Wilp who is without peer in terms of what she
does for us in putting together the international programs. She is
terrific. Once again our great welcome to our visitors from other
countries, from other former Parliaments.
Before I do the sad thing, which I really am not enthusiastic about
doing, I want to recognize one particular member of our Association,
and that's our former Republican leader, Mr. Michel. We appreciate your
continued support, your continued activity, your continued love of your
country and all that you do for all of us. Thank you for being here
with us this morning, Bob.
Now I need to read the list. It seems that this list gets longer and
I'm not sure what that means about all of us, but this is the list of
those of our Members who have passed in the course of the past year
since our last annual meeting. They are:
[[Page H2452]]
Robin Beard of Tennessee
Daniel Baugh Brewster of Maryland
Frank Welsh Burke of Kentucky
Julia Carson of Indiana
Donald Clancy of Ohio
Jo Ann Davis of Virginia
Mendel Davis of South Carolina
Bill Dickinson of Alabama
Jennifer Dunn of Washington
John Flynt of Georgia
Paul Gillmor of Ohio
Gilbert Gude of Maryland
Augustus Hawkins of California
Peter Hoagland of Nebraska
William Hungate of Missouri
Henry Hyde of Illinois
Tom Lantos of California
John Mackie of Michigan
Wiley Mayne of Iowa
Thomas Meskill of Connecticut
Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio
Joseph G. Minish of New Jersey
Parren J. Mitchell of Maryland
George Sangmeister of Illinois
Robert Sweeney of Ohio
Craig Thomas of Wyoming
Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan
Charles Vanik of Ohio
Joseph Waggonner of Louisiana
Robert Young of Missouri.
I would like for you to stand up and let's have just a moment of
silence for our fallen comrades.
Thank you.
Mr. Hoyer mentioned that things aren't as friendly and as engaging as
they were when we were here. That's all true. I have thought many times
sitting out there where you are about the words that we see in front of
us, Justice, Tolerance and Liberty. To the extent that we have liberty,
and I believe that we do, and to the extent that we have justice and I
believe that we do, we're lacking in tolerance. I would say to all of
us that we might take it upon ourselves to talk to our sitting
colleagues from time to time and say to them, we wish you guys would
get along a little better and work harder on the business of the
country rather than on your own reelections and your own egos. I think
that probably is almost a duty for us, to remind them that this body
doesn't exist for single individuals, it exists for the body and it
exists for the institution and it exists to forward the business of the
country.
I don't think that that's outside the purview of the charter of the
former Members of Congress. That's not lobbying an issue. It's lobbying
attitude and it's lobbying getting things done. There's only one way to
get into this organization, and that's to get elected. There are only
three ways to leave. Two of them are not pleasant. There's nobody
sitting here now who took the way out with your boots on, but several
of us who left because we were defeated in elections and several of us
chose to resign, or retire, but we are former Members of this
institution and I think that we ought to assert ourselves with our
sitting colleagues when we feel that they are not forwarding the
interests of the country as much as we would like for them to do and
the country would like for them to do.
Mr. Speaker, that concludes the annual report of the Former Members
of Congress. And we did it 5 minutes early.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank the President for his presentation and
his leadership today and commend him, because this is a record time for
our association. I think it's because our association has gone from
having some retired people that were a bit long-winded to having more
and more active people and go right to the point about, as we have seen
this morning, reporting on the activities of the Association, how we
have reached out to the Nation and the world as far as leadership for
democracy and public service.
I want to take a moment just to thank Ken Kramer, a board member, for
all his leadership, Ken from Colorado; and Barbara Kennelly for her
leadership on the board and with our association across the board; Mr.
Zeliff from New Hampshire for all he's done in support of our
association. And to go through the list of the people that made the
presentations today: Mr. Buechner, who's just done such an excellent
job all these years of giving advice and counsel and leading our
association. Mr. Matt McHugh from New York who was past President, also
who continues to demonstrate and lead in the area of public service,
especially for our young people now today. Lou Frey, who has been with
us all these years as past President but chairman of our Dinner
Committee and without his leadership we would not have the opportunity
to do the things we are doing in our country and around the world with
the finances that he has helped raise, especially for our Congress to
Campus Program where we now reach over 60 campuses per year.
And, finally, to thank Doug Rowland from Canada, the past President
there of their parliamentary association that we helped with in their
infancy but now he has shown great leadership of the highest order in
the IEMI and helping us with training election monitors not only for
ourselves but for other former parliamentarians in an international
organization with the European Union and the association of former
Canadian parliamentarians.
Let me close by just summarizing what Jay, our President, said about
our staff. We simply have the best staff in Washington, D.C. I think we
can say that in one sentence.
The Chair again wishes to thank all the former Members of the House
for their presence here today. Before terminating these proceedings,
the Chair would like to invite those former Members who did not respond
when the roll was taken to give their names to the Reading Clerks for
inclusion in the roll. The Chair wishes to thank the other former
Members of the House for their presence here today. Good luck to you
all.
The Chair would advise that the House will reconvene at approximately
10:30 a.m. this morning.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, before we adjourn, could we identify and ask
our distinguished visiting Parliamentarians to rise and make them a
part of our Congressional Record today.
Mr. HERTEL. They are in the gallery. We recognize them now, Mr.
Gilman, and we thank them all for coming.
Our proceedings are adjourned. Thank you.
Accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 58 minutes a.m.), the House continued
in recess.
____________________