[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H9418-H9420]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING CONGRESSMAN JIM SAXTON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) will 
control the remainder of the hour.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. I thank you, Mr. Speaker, very much.
  I am here tonight to talk about one of our retiring colleagues from 
New Jersey, Congressman Jim Saxton, who after 24 years in Congress is 
hanging it up this year. Jim has been a colleague and a mentor of mine.
  When I was first elected to Congress in 1994, I remember going 
through orientation. People were asking me what it was like, and it was 
like trying to get a drink of water from a fire hose. There was so much 
information that it was difficult to get.
  Jim Saxton said, ``Listen, I have a desk in my office. I want to make 
my staff available to you, and I want you to get off on the right 
foot.'' It was the beginning of a great relationship.
  He has been a teacher; he has been a mentor; he has been a leader, 
and he has been an individual who has been focused on generating 
results. He wasn't so much interested in the rhetoric. Jim was never 
one to be running to a camera, to be wanting to do that interview and 
to get his face on TV or anything like that. He was interested in 
finding out about the problem, in determining what the possible 
solutions were and then in working for a consensus. He is known for 
many things within his district and for doing a great job in 
representing his constituents, but his work on the Armed Services 
Committee and his leadership on Armed Services is what he is best known 
for.
  To talk about that a little bit, I would like to yield time to 
Chairman Duncan Hunter, who is probably Jim Saxton's closest friend in 
this Congress of the United States, who knows more about Jim Saxton and 
who will share some of the stories with you.
  Mr. HUNTER. I thank the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey for 
yielding. Thanks for the privilege of being here.
  We just finished talking about Terry Everett, one of the real giants 
in this House, and now, to talk about Jimmy Saxton.
  You know, there are a lot of ways to describe Jimmy Saxton. Jimmy 
Saxton is the kind of guy you'd like to share a duck blind with because 
he's such a good guy, and he's just fun to be around, and he's got a 
great sense of humor.
  He talks about the time--and I'll tell the story on myself--that we 
went deer hunting one day. We were going to go bowhunting for deer. I 
told Jimmy I'd pick him up at 5:00 in the morning, and I did pick him 
up at 5:00 in the morning in my old, beat-up suburban that we called 
the war wagon.
  We were driving out toward this farm that I had permission for us to 
hunt on. We never got anything, but we had a lot of fun out there, 
watching the sun come up. We were driving out there, and I realized, 
you know, when you're deer hunting, you want to get into the

[[Page H9419]]

woods before daylight, while it's still dark. You want to get up, and 
you're blind, so you're waiting for the animals to move.
  I realized we didn't have a flashlight, and so Jimmy said, ``Well, 
darn it. I don't have one either.'' So he said, ``I thought you were 
going to bring one.''
  I was supposed to bring it, so we stopped at the first convenience 
store, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. None of them had 
it. Now, finally, at one store, just as we got next to the farm, Jimmy 
said, ``I'll bet that one's got it.'' Sure enough, it did. He went in, 
and he got the flashlight and the batteries.
  He came out, and he said, ``Hunter, I've got the flashlight.'' He 
said, ``There's only one problem.''
  I said, ``What's that?''
  He said, ``The sun is coming up right now.''
  I said, ``I don't care. We're taking that flashlight into the woods. 
We paid for it. We're going to use it.''
  So Jimmy Saxton is just a fun guy. He's one of those guys who's kind 
of like Terry, who always had his eyes on the national interest. You 
know, this place, this city and this political system is full of 
interests, and that's legitimate. Most of the interests come from our 
own countrymen in our own districts and from people who have positions 
on things that they feel very strongly about. A lot of them are 
economic positions. A lot of them are social positions. Jimmy Saxton is 
the kind of guy who can always look through all of that and see what he 
called the American interest or what I call the American interest, 
which is always to do the right thing and to want to do the right 
thing. That's what makes this country go.
  Now, Jimmy, as I said, is a hunter. He loves to hunt. I'll never 
forget the time he came out to Wyoming, and we went antelope hunting 
out there. Barbara Cubin, a great representative from Wyoming, had 
arranged for us to come out there to do some antelope hunting, and we 
did that.
  After that was over, Jimmy went on a trail drive. Now, as a boy from 
New Jersey, he doesn't get to go on many trail drives, but he went on a 
trail drive. So I gave him his picture a couple of nights ago--and the 
gentleman from New Jersey was there, Mr. LoBiondo--and it's a picture 
of a bunch of cowboys on their horses, and it's entitled something like 
``True Friends.'' I put on the inscription plate of that picture ``A 
friend for life, Jimmy Saxton; from Duncan, Lynn--'' she's my wife--
``Duncan D.--'' he's my marine son who is now running for Congress--
``and Sam.'' He's my youngest son.
  That's the way you feel about Jimmy. You work with Jimmy 
professionally, but you feel about him that he's just a great, close 
friend. Like Terry Everett, he has helped me down my long career of 
running for and mostly losing leadership positions, every now and then 
winning one.
  You know, in the end, as you've gone down this competitive trail once 
again, it's not all the results of these things, because we all win and 
lose every day whether you're winning issues or losing them or are 
winning elections or losing them, but it's the people you work with 
along the way and the people who are your friends. Jimmy Saxton is as 
true an American as those first Americans.
  You know, I imagine those first Americans who fired those first shots 
in the Revolutionary War who said now we've done it. We've got the 
biggest, strongest country in the world coming at us--the British 
empire--but they decided to take them on for freedom. I can imagine 
that among those people were lots of people who had the character of 
Jimmy Saxton--that of pure principle, of doing what you think is right 
even though it's going to have adverse consequences and of enjoying 
this great, wonderful country that God gave us called the United States 
of America.
  So I thank Mr. LoBiondo for ordering up this time.

                              {time}  2230

  Terry Everett sat next to Mr. Saxton for a long time on the Armed 
Services Committee. Terry and Jimmy sat side by side. I was hoping, 
leaving as the ranking member, that Jimmy would take that position. And 
now he is retiring. And then I was hoping that Terry would take that 
position, and now he is retiring. We are losing two great, great, 
bright lights, two stars in this very important leadership position 
because everyone who is on the Armed Services Committee is a leader of 
sorts.
  I am kind of interested in what the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. 
Everett) has to say about Mr. Saxton.
  Mr. EVERETT. There is not a lot I can add about Jimmy, but I would 
say that I announced my retirement first. If I had known Jimmy was 
going to retire, I may not have retired and taken a shot at the ranking 
member.
  But I think one of the key things you said, Jimmy Saxton always put 
the Nation first. We hear a lot of stuff. We have experts coming from 
any direction with any opinion on any subject. Jimmy Saxton had that 
great ability to just cut through all of the background noise and come 
to the real pearl that you need to make the kind of legislative 
decisions that we have to make in the House Armed Services Committee. 
He was very, very good. I don't know anybody better in Congress who can 
do that. I have great admiration for Jimmy.
  This Congress will miss Jimmy. His steadfast hand on his subcommittee 
work, of which he has had a couple now. And I, too, thought Jimmy would 
end up being the next ranking member. He would have been an outstanding 
person to follow an outstanding former chairman and ranking member, 
Duncan Hunter. And he has a lot of same attributes, looking out for the 
guys out there in the mud and walking the roads and wearing the gear in 
the 110, 115 degree heat. Jimmy Saxton, like Duncan Hunter, always 
looked after the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines first. That is 
one reason I have great admiration for you, Duncan, and Jimmy. I just 
say God bless both of you in whatever endeavors you do in the future.
  Mr. HUNTER. Well, Terry, we are probably going to come out to your 
farm. You have a big house which will hold a lot of folks.
  Mr. EVERETT. Well, we have a lot of deer out there and you are both 
hunters. You are welcome to bring your camera any time.
  Mr. HUNTER. Terry Everett said Jimmy Saxton always cared about the 
soldiers, and he did, very deeply.
  Interestingly, I had a lot of conversations with him about weapons 
systems. Never in those conversations, and people look at this as a 
place where lobbyists come in, and they lobby for things and want you 
to support them because they give contributions or their things are 
made in your district, I never heard Jimmy Saxton say, even in total 
confidence, we need to go for this one because it is politically the 
thing to do or it is good for my campaign. He would always argue the 
merits and he was willing to be convinced the other way if there were 
enough facts on the table.
  We all visit the military bases, and we know the major bases and we 
go to them. When we go into theater in Iraq or Afghanistan, you go to 
the big bases and you spend a lot of time with the line troops. I was a 
line troop in the 173rd and our conventional forces.
  Jimmy, as chairman of the Terrorism Subcommittee, he oversaw special 
operations forces. And so he spent a lot of time going to little, out-
of-the-way places and meeting with people who weren't highly visible 
all of the time, but people who work in small teams and work in 
dangerous and difficult places.
  And kind of like the gentleman from Alabama who is one of the few 
people who served at the same time on the Armed Services Committee and 
the Intelligence Committee, and that is Mr. Everett, and understands 
the enormous character that is required of our intelligence people, 
Jimmy Saxton spent a lot of time with our Green Berets, with our Seals, 
with our Rangers and special operators, and he made sure that these 
people had the custom-made things that they need. That didn't always 
come in the regular procurement accounts. When you are undertaking 
these difficult missions, they need unusual equipment. Jimmy Saxton was 
very meticulous about making sure that they had the right stuff.
  That is an important job, and I hope that those who come after Jimmy 
have the same attention to detail and the same concern for those guys 
who need extraordinary equipment.
  He is going to be missed.
  Mr. LoBiondo, I have watched as we would listen to a debate, and I 
will

[[Page H9420]]

come in and sit next to you, and we will both listen to Jim Saxton. He 
will share some of that great wisdom of his about issues, and it is 
always straight ahead. It is always the best advice he can give, and it 
is always in the best interests of our country.
  Thanks for letting me come out. Since I presented Jim with his 
picture of, guess what from the west, horses, I am going to retrieve 
that back from his office and present it to him four or five more 
times.
  Thank you for yielding to me.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. I thank you very much.
  Picking up what Mr. Hunter said, shortly after the global war on 
terror began, I believe it was my first trip into theater, Jimmy Saxton 
was codel leader. And for a rather new member of the Armed Services 
Committee, to understand how this all came over, Jim Saxton had a 
passion for understanding where the problems were and getting results.
  As Chairman Hunter indicated, he focused on special forces. I 
remember we visited with some special forces folks. Jimmy, true to 
form, listened very intently and found that there was a problem that 
was occurring with some small items, batteries that troops in the field 
had a great deal of difficulty with at the time.
  I remember Jimmy talking about it and getting a lot of detail and 
coming back before one of the subcommittee hearings with I believe it 
was DARPA, and he explained in great detail what the problems were and 
had people focusing on something that they wouldn't have focused on 
only because he was there with the troops and had them in mind. Very 
respectful, very bipartisan, very inclusive, and a real model for how 
to get things done. And especially on Armed Services where, and I 
believe everything we do here is important, but Armed Services is not 
selling wheat to Bulgaria. It is about the lives of the men and women 
in uniform who are volunteering and serving our Nation, and Jimmy 
Saxton always had their best interests at heart.
  And when it came to the State of New Jersey, we are not considered a 
military State, but we have some great military bases. Jimmy Saxton 
looked at the three bases. We had Fort Dix, Fort McGuire and Lakehurst 
Naval Air Station, and he saw the great value in what they were doing. 
But he saw an even greater value in the quality of work that they could 
do if they could be combined together in a mega-base.
  People sort of smiled and chuckled when they first heard about this. 
And he came to Mr. Hunter about it and he convinced Duncan it was a 
good idea. Jimmy, as he always did, very quietly rolled up his sleeves, 
and when that last BRAC commission came out, we now have a mega-base. 
It is good for New Jersey, but it is really good for America. It makes 
sense for America. It makes sense for our men and woman in uniform to 
integrate these assets into something that is much more powerful as a 
whole than they were individually.
  He was a great assistance to me with the 177th Fighter Wing, which is 
in my district, the 2nd Congressional District. It is the premier 
homeland security base in the entire Nation because of its strategic 
location. When our jets are alerted and they fly combat air patrols 
over Washington and New York, they are 8 minutes from the time they are 
alerted to get over our Nation's capital.
  We had need for military construction projects to keep this alert 
facility on a solid footing. Jimmy came along with you, Chairman 
Hunter, on one of those trips, and he was the kind of guy who rolled up 
his sleeves. He was not just interested in his district, but what was 
best for the country. He did that time and time again.
  My regret is I feel I have so much more to learn from him and he was 
such a great mentor and teacher. I am thinking about contacting 
Webster's and making sure that when they put the word ``congressman'' 
in the dictionary, they put Jim Saxton's picture next to it because as 
far as I am concern, he epitomizes what we should all be about, 
focusing on the greater good and focusing on what is best for America 
and understanding how to get results and not just produce rhetoric.
  Chairman Hunter, I thank you for your years of service, and I thank 
you for joining me tonight and honoring Jim Saxton.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Perlmutter). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LoBIONDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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