[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H6081-H6084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  JOHN S. WILDER POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1817) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 116 North West Street in Somerville, Tennessee, as 
the ``John S. Wilder Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1817

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

     SECTION 1. JOHN S. WILDER POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 116 North West Street in Somerville, 
     Tennessee, shall be known and designated as the ``John S. 
     Wilder 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 ``John S. Wilder Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LYNCH. Madam 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 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I now yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, as chairman of the House subcommittee with 
jurisdiction over the United States Postal Service, I am pleased to 
present H.R. 1817 for consideration. This legislation will designate 
the United States postal facility located at 116 North West Street in 
Somerville, Tennessee, as the ``John S. Wilder Post Office Building.''
  Introduced by Representative Marsha Blackburn on March 31, 2009 and 
reported out of the Oversight Committee by unanimous consent on May 6, 
2009, H.R. 1817 enjoys the support of the entire Tennessee delegation.
  A longtime resident of Somerville, Tennessee, John Shelton Wilder 
admirably devoted over 40 years of his life to public service, 
including over 30 years as the Lieutenant Governor of the State of 
Tennessee.

[[Page H6082]]

  Born on June 3, 1921 in Fayette County, John Wilder attended the 
University of Tennessee College of Agriculture and subsequently 
received his juris doctor at the Memphis State University Law School. A 
distinguished United States Army veteran of World War II, Mr. Wilder 
also served as a member of the Fayette County Quarterly Court, known 
also as the county commission, for 18 years.
  In 1958, Mr. Wilder was first elected to the Tennessee State Senate 
as a Democrat representing senate district 26, which included Chester, 
Crockett, Fayette, Hardin, McNairy, and Wayne Counties. While he did 
not run for reelection in 1960, Mr. Wilder returned to the State senate 
in 1966.
  Following the adoption of a State constitutional amendment that 
extended the length of terms in the State senate in Tennessee to 4 
years, Mr. Wilder was elected to his first 4-year term in 1968 and was 
subsequently re-elected to nine consecutive terms until his retirement 
in March of 2008.
  In 1971, Mr. Wilder's senate colleagues elected him speaker of the 
State senate, a position that under the State constitution also granted 
him the title of Lieutenant Governor. And notably Mr. Wilder became the 
first Tennessee Lieutenant Governor in almost 50 years to serve under a 
Governor of a different political party, Republican Winfield Dunn.
  While the Tennessee General Assembly had not traditionally maintained 
its own staff or its own offices prior to Mr. Wilder's tenure, State 
senate Speaker Wilder undertook a variety of efforts to enhance the 
State legislature's standing, including the construction of General 
Assembly offices.
  Mr. Wilder also made a unique mark by retaining the lieutenant 
governorship of Tennessee for over 30 years. Notably, the State had not 
previously seen an individual serve more than three consecutive terms 
as speaker of the State senate since 1870. In contrast to other elected 
officials in his position, Mr. Wilder never sought higher office. And 
he often stated that ``the speaker likes being speaker.'' In fact, Mr. 
Wilder's service as Lieutenant Governor from 1971 until 2007 is 
regarded as one of the longest Lieutenant Governor tenures in United 
States history.
  During his simultaneous service as Lieutenant Governor and as State 
senate speaker, Mr. Wilder was widely admired for his unrivaled and 
genuine commitment to bipartisanship. Mr. Wilder routinely awarded 
chairmanships to both Democratic and Republican members. And in 1987, 
Mr. Wilder, a Democrat, even earned the Republican Caucus's nomination 
for Lieutenant Governor.
  Mr. Wilder's commitment to bipartisanship, for the benefit of the 
citizens of Tennessee, was further evidenced by his retirement 
announcement in March of 2008. In that address, Mr. Wilder encouraged 
his colleagues to ``be statesmen, to do what is good and right for this 
State of Tennessee and leave partisan politics out of it.'' Mr. Wilder 
further noted the destructive nature of partisan politics and 
emphasized that the success of the State of Tennessee greatly depended 
on legislators voting their conscience, absent the influence of 
partisan politics.
  Madam Speaker, let us honor this dedicated public servant, John 
Shelton Wilder, through the passage of this legislation to designate 
the Somerville, Tennessee, post office in his honor. And I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1817.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I yield such 
time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Tennessee, the author 
of the bill, Marsha Blackburn.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from 
Massachusetts for his wonderful words about Governor Wilder. I will 
tell you, though, we probably are having Governor Wilder and some of 
his friends listening in Somerville, Tennessee, today who are saying, 
we need an interpreter on that one so that they can understand that 
wonderful New England accent to our Southern ears. Thank you so much 
for those gracious words.
  It is indeed an honor to stand and to recognize Governor Wilder. And 
as the gentleman from Massachusetts said, today is his birthday. He is 
88 years old today, so it is wonderful that we are having this 
resolution come forward today and that we are able to designate the 
post office in Somerville, Tennessee, for this dedicated public 
servant.
  He chose to be a Democrat, but he legislated from the center. And it 
is so amazing when you look at his career and all that he accomplished, 
because, Madam Speaker, he chose to build a bipartisan conservative 
governing coalition. And he really took a great amount of pride in the 
fact that he established that for the State of Tennessee. Indeed, when 
you look at the fact that the legislature in the State of Tennessee is 
a coequal branch with the executive branch, you see Governor Wilder's 
handprints on this.
  Those of us who had the opportunity to serve in the State senate and 
serve with Governor Wilder did have the opportunity to participate in 
the way he addressed that coalition. He really is the embodiment of 
``public service.'' And as has been stated, he served under the 
leadership of both parties.
  He served as Lieutenant Governor when our now senior Senator, Senator 
Alexander, was Governor. Lieutenant Governor Wilder was indeed the 
Lieutenant Governor under his time of service. And indeed Governor 
Wilder is the one who granted Governor Alexander an extra 3 days on his 
term when Governor Wilder moved forward with what he called 
``impeachment Tennessee style'' for the incumbent Governor who was in 
place prior to Senator Alexander taking the reins as Governor of our 
State.
  Indeed, Lieutenant Governor Wilder served as Lieutenant Governor when 
my predecessor in the Seventh Congressional District seat, former 
Congressman and former Governor Don Sundquist, was in office. So 
Lieutenant Governor Wilder has a storied career. I also have the 
opportunity to serve as his Member of Congress now. And when he was in 
the State senate and speaker of the senate and Lieutenant Governor, I 
shared the representation of many of those west Tennessee counties with 
Governor Wilder.
  So he has truly had such an incredible career in public service that 
it is an honor for me to be able to stand here and to recognize him and 
to make certain that we in this body pay tribute to him by naming that 
post office for him there in Somerville, Tennessee. I know some of my 
colleagues have come to the floor to speak on this resolution. And, 
Madam Speaker, as we all know, in the State of Tennessee, anyone who 
serves in public office has sought the advice of John Wilder. So 
whether you served with him in the State senate or not, everyone went 
to him for advice and counsel as to how they would carry forth their 
public duties and how they would serve in the State of Tennessee.
  So I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. I thank the 
gentleman from Massachusetts for his very kind words. And I thank my 
colleagues for joining me on my bill, H.R. 1817, to appropriately honor 
and recognize our former Lieutenant Governor.
  I rise today to pay tribute to John S. Wilder, former Lieutenant 
Governor of Tennessee, and to express my support of H.R. 1817, 
legislation to have a Postal Service office building in Somerville, 
Tennessee named the ``John S. Wilder Post Office Building.''
  Mr. Wilder commendably served the state of Tennessee for just shy of 
fifty years, in part as a member of the Tennessee Senate and as 
Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. He served as Lieutenant Governor of 
Tennessee and Speaker of the Tennessee Senate from 1971 to 2007, 
becoming both the longest serving Lieutenant Governor and the longest 
serving head of a legislative body in United States history. For his 
extraordinary life achievements, I today honor a man who through 
example has exhibited devotion to his community and to the state of 
Tennessee.
  Today, June third, Mr. Wilder celebrates his eighty-eighth birthday. 
The first born son of Martha and John Wilder, John Shelton Wilder grew 
up in Fayette County. He enlisted in the army and served our country 
during World War II. After the war, he attended the University of 
Tennessee School of Agriculture, and then enrolled in Memphis State 
University, now the University of Memphis, from where he obtained a 
degree in law.
  Mr. Wilder was first elected to the Tennessee Senate in 1959. In 
January 1971, the Tennessee Senate elected Mr. Wilder to be the Speaker 
of the State Senate, which also made him Tennessee's Lieutenant 
Governor. During his tenure in the Tennessee Senate, Mr. Wilder was 
noted for his exceptional leadership skills and his ability to cross 
party lines

[[Page H6083]]

in garnering the support of both Republicans and Democrats. His 
reputation with both parties enabled him to be continuously re-elected 
Lieutenant Governor every four years from 1971 until 2007.
  Moreover, he served as a state senator until 2007 concluding his 
remarkable career in public service.
  Mr. Wilder has been a member of many commissions, association and 
committees, including the Southern Legislative Conference Executive 
Committee, the Tennessee Judicial Council, Tennessee Industrial and 
Agricultural Development Commission, and the National Conference of 
State Legislatures Legislative Leaders. In addition to his legislative 
work, he has an active business career as director of Health Management 
and Cumberland Savings Bank, chairman of the board of Cumberland Bank 
Shares and First Federal Bank FSI Holding Company, and he continues to 
participate in the management of Longtown Supply Company, a family 
owned cotton business founded in 1887. Additionally, he has worked as 
an attorney in the town of Somerville.
  Mr. Wilder has been an extraordinary public servant for nearly fifty 
years. With gratitude for his service to the state of Tennessee, I ask 
all members to join me in support of H.R. 1817.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, at this time, I would like to yield 5 
minutes to the gentleman from the Ninth District of Tennessee (Mr. 
Cohen).

                              {time}  1030

  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Speaker, and Mr. Lynch 
and Congressperson Blackburn for bringing this to the floor and for 
extending the time.
  I particularly want to thank Congresswoman Blackburn for initiating 
this concept because John Wilder deserves recognition, and he deserves 
recognition by having this post office named for him. We name post 
offices quite frequently for people, people that deserve it. But John 
Wilder put Fayette County on the map. And when you put a county on the 
map, the post office in those small counties is the place where the 
county is. That's where mileage is measured from and people congregate 
and political gatherings occur and all that.
  John Wilder was my friend, is my friend, and has had an unbelievable 
contribution to the people of Tennessee. I know it's been discussed how 
many years he served as Lieutenant Governor, longest-serving elected 
official in the free world of a legislative body, and how much he 
accomplished.
  I served in the Tennessee State Senate with John Wilder for 24 years. 
I think one of his most significant moments came before I knew him, at 
a time when there was segregation in the South and there were efforts 
to penalize black farmers in Fayette County, an instance that John 
Wilder refers to it, and many people do who remember it, as Tent City.
  And there were attempts to take advantage of the sharecroppers and to 
force them in certain ways, and John Wilder didn't go along with the 
establishment and he stood up for civil rights, and he stood with the 
black farmers in Fayette County, the African American tenant farmers, 
and refused to punish those black tenant farmers by evicting them or 
calling in their crop loans. That's a moment that John Wilder refers to 
when he speaks, and I believe, for those who are people of conscience, 
people in the civil rights movement throughout the Midsouth remember 
John Wilder for that principled stand. It was a stand by which men were 
known.
  One of the other things that John Wilder did that is most significant 
is he instituted a system in Tennessee where our judges were taken out 
of the political spectrum to the extent possible and put into a 
selection system. The Wilder plan, which survived an attempt to 
eliminate it in this general assembly, has served Tennessee well, 
provides that appellate judges are selected, not elected but selected, 
and that that meets the provisions of our State constitution and allows 
for judges who are not well known by the public to be chosen by a merit 
process. They have to stand for approval elections at the public 
ballot, the general election, but they are chosen not initially in 
contests where people have to go raise money and campaign on name 
recognition, but are selected based on their qualifications as 
submitted through a panel and chosen by the Governor from a list of 
three and then stand for reelection. And I think all but one of those 
people have been approved by the electorate and maintained. So his 
stand for civil rights and his stand for meritocracy in the judiciary 
are the two things I think John Wilder has done that are most, most 
admirable of the many.
  He also set up a Board of Education for the State to help K-12 and to 
put some common sense into the education processes in our State. No 
things are more important than civil rights, education, and a fair and 
impartial judiciary, and John Wilder stood for all of those.
  He's been a lawyer and respected in the courtroom. He's a farmer. 
He's a banker. He has interests in just about any business that's 
important to west Tennessee, and anything that got done in west 
Tennessee, rural west, and Memphis included, John Wilder had a stamp on 
it.
  There's a tower at the University of Memphis known as the John Wilder 
Tower because he was most instrumental in securing funds for the 
University of Memphis, which is the great State university in west 
Tennessee.
  John Wilder helped me in my career, appointed me chairman of the 
State and Local Government Committee, for which I served, I think it 
was, 12 years in that body. And although there were times when he was 
not as enthusiastic about the Tennessee education lottery as I was, at 
the end, there were 22 votes on the board in the Tennessee Senate to 
provide, give the people the right to vote on a lottery provision that 
had been banned in our constitution since the early 1800s, and that 
vote, with those essential 22 votes, every one was necessary, Governor 
John Wilder was one, Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn was another, 
Congressman Lincoln Davis was another, led to students in Tennessee 
having the opportunity to go to school.
  I thank John Wilder. I thank Congresswoman Blackburn for bringing 
this, and I'm proud to be a cosponsor of the John Wilder Post Office.
  Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, at this time it is my pleasure to introduce 
yet another friend of the former Lieutenant Governor, Jimmy Duncan, a 
member of the committee and a fellow Tennesseean. I yield him such time 
as he may consume.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for 
yielding me this time, and I want to express my appreciation also to my 
colleague from Tennessee, Congresswoman Blackburn for bringing this 
legislation to the floor, very appropriate legislation.
  I have come here to express my great admiration and respect for 
Governor Wilder, in addition to the very kind things that my 
colleagues, the gentleman from the 9th District, Congressman Cohen, has 
said, and also what Congresswoman Blackburn has said.
  The hills and mountains and valleys of east Tennessee are very, very 
different from the flat lands of west Tennessee, but we're all 
Tennesseeans. And even though my district in east Tennessee is very far 
from Governor Wilder's district in west Tennessee, still, I have known 
of his work for our State for many years now, and I have great respect 
for that.
  I also have seen him in action each year for many, many years, 
hosting the annual legislative luncheon at the University of Tennessee. 
And Governor Wilder did so much for the University of Tennessee, his 
alma mater and my alma mater.
  I read a few years ago that less than 20 percent of the people in the 
State legislative bodies around the country have served, that less than 
20 percent have served more than 12 years. And so turnover in 
legislative bodies is at a higher rate or level than any time in our 
history, contrary to what some people think. So anyone who serves in 
office for such a long number of years as Governor Wilder has really 
accomplished something that very few people have done in our history. 
And you don't serve in office for as long as he did without helping 
thousands and thousands of people and doing many, many good things, 
both for individual citizens and for the State as a whole.
  And so I just wanted to come here briefly. I did not have the 
privilege of serving in the State senate, as Congressman Cohen and 
Congresswoman Blackburn did. I never served with Governor Wilder, but I 
certainly met with him many times and saw him at different 
inaugurations and at various

[[Page H6084]]

events in Nashville and in my hometown of Knoxville. And so I 
appreciate Governor Wilder, and I admire and respect him, as I said 
earlier.
  And I thank the gentlelady from Tennessee for bringing this 
legislation to the floor.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I don't believe we have any further 
speakers at this time, but I will continue to reserve our time.
  Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I join with the other 
Members, primarily of the Tennessee delegation, who so aptly are 
wishing a happy birthday to the Governor today on his 88th birthday. 
And I do support strongly the naming of this post office after a public 
servant of such a unique character and longevity of service.
  And now that we have dispensed with this portion, the suspension, the 
noncontroversial part, as is the tradition of this committee, sometimes 
we make a point of other things on this allocated time. And today I 
believe that it's appropriate to speak about the impending, before 
August, cap-and-tax scheme that has been proposed by the Speaker and is 
likely to come to a vote.
  We on this side of the aisle are deeply concerned about a system 
which is designed to raise the cost of all utilities in America, with 
no offset, no offset, for the ultimate CO2 that is likely to 
be created by moving those jobs overseas. It's very clear that cap-and-
tax, if not uniform and enforced, would simply move American jobs 
overseas. And the bill, which is being considered by the Global 
Warming, otherwise sometimes called the Junket Committee here, is in 
fact something that I oppose, and I oppose because it is very clear 
that we cannot, in this body, simply make a decision that we're going 
to stop producing a certain amount of CO2 in the United 
States. And this, I might mention, while Air Force One consumes an 
incredible amount of CO2 or produces an incredible amount of 
CO2 while flying empty over New York City.
  The world and the air around us is not isolated. If we go forward 
with a cap-and-trade initiative that is not globally enforced by every 
single nation, we simply are pollution laundering. We're saying we're 
going to have cleaner cars here, we're going to have cleaner this here, 
and yet CO2 will be produced in other places. Already it is 
very clear that China, for every single product it produces, is more 
energy intensive than the same product produced in the United States. 
Literally, when you import the same product from China that would 
otherwise be made here, although it may be cheaper, it produces more 
CO2 and a great many other pollutants.
  I've been to China. I've been to Hanoi. I have been to many of these 
countries, and what I generally see are leaves blackened from the 
burning of coal, with not even scrubbers, much less any sequestration.
  So, Madam Speaker, as we do not disagree one bit on the naming of 
this post office, this side of the aisle has to make it very clear that 
we do object to the present form that is being proposed without any 
real inclusion of Republicans and with the American jobs at stake.
  And with that, I would yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Madam Speaker, I do want to bring this discussion back to 
the point at hand and this bill that seeks to honor Governor Wilder. 
And I would hope that, in taking the moment to dedicate this post 
office--and I chair this committee, and we do name a lot of post 
offices here. As a matter of fact, I think sometimes we'll run out of 
names before we run out of post offices. But I do think that this is 
one that is so well deserved because of the wonderful career of 
bipartisanship, and it disappoints me greatly that people would take 
away the focus of this dedication to harp on a bunch of hot air about 
some other issues that are going to have plenty of time to be debated.
  This is a moment that we have to honor this gentleman, Governor 
Wilder, for his wonderful accomplishment, and in all the testimony here 
given this morning by his closest friends and his strongest advocates, 
he is one of the most bipartisan leaders that we have had in this 
country, and he has held that position as Lieutenant Governor for over 
30 years. So I want to make sure that he gets the recognition that he 
deserves.
  I want to congratulate Mrs. Blackburn for being the lead sponsor of 
this, and Mr. Cohen and all of the House Members, both Republican and 
Democrat, on behalf of the Tennessee delegation for the wonderful work 
that they've done.
  And I ask all of my colleagues to join with us in giving due honor to 
Governor Wilder by naming this post office in Somerville, Tennessee, in 
his name.
  Mr. TANNER. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution, 
which honors a long-time leader in our state, whose career has been 
distinguished and historic.
  John Shelton Wilder was first elected to the Tennessee State Senate 
in 1958, and, in 1971, was chosen by his Senate colleagues to serve as 
Senate Speaker and Lt. Governor. He served in these capacities until 
2006, making him the longest-serving leader of a state legislative body 
anywhere in this country. Because of his trademark bipartisanship and 
his insistence in wanting ``the Senate to be the Senate,'' the 
Tennessee State Senate accomplished many things under Lt. Governor 
Wilder's leadership.
  I had the honor of serving alongside Lt. Governor Wilder in the 
General Assembly when I served in the Tennessee House of 
Representatives. During my time in this body, I have been honored to 
represent some of the same counties that Lt. Governor Wilder 
represented in the Tennessee Senate. I know firsthand how dedicated he 
has always been to serving the public and helping families in West 
Tennessee and across our state.
  Madam Speaker, I hope you and our colleagues will join us in 
supporting this resolution to honor Lt. Gov. John S. Wilder--known to 
many of us in Tennessee simply as ``Governor Wilder''--for his long 
public service.
  Mr. LYNCH. I yield back the balance of our time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1817.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. ISSA. Madam 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 motion will be 
postponed.

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