[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 125 (Tuesday, September 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H9312-H9317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING BILL HEFNER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Kissell) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
  It is truly with mixed emotions that I rise tonight on the floor of 
the House of Representatives. It's a sadness in noting that last week 
we lost Congressman W.G. Bill Hefner, a Congressman from North Carolina 
for 24 years from 1974 to 1998. And we truly give our condolences and 
our regards to his daughters Stacye and Shelly and to his wonderful 
wife, Nancy.
  But the legacy of Bill Hefner did not end last week, as we're going 
to see tonight as we spend some time remembering and talking about and 
telling stories of Bill Hefner, that his memory will go forth because 
of the things he did, the person he was, and the Congressman that 
represented his district in North Carolina so well.
  Now, I have to tell you, Madam Speaker, that tonight I shall refer to 
Congressman Hefner as ``Mr. Hefner'' quite often because I was raised 
in a time and a place when the ultimate respect that you could give to 
someone is to call him ``Mister.'' And while his wonderful, loving, 
lovely wife, Nancy, convinced me that I could call her ``Nancy,'' I 
could not bring myself to call Bill Hefner anything but ``Mr. Hefner'' 
because that's the respect that people in the district had for him.
  And, Madam Speaker, as some might be saying, you know, Why is a 
freshman Congressman from North Carolina the first one to speak 
tonight? It's because Bill Hefner, Mr. Hefner, was my Congressman from 
the Eighth District of North Carolina. And with all of the 
reconfiguring that took place from time to time in my home county, 
Montgomery County, North Carolina, was always in Mr. Hefner's district. 
And it was the way that Mr. Hefner represented us and, once again, who 
he was that we want to talk about tonight.
  Madam Speaker, I believe that one of the greatest ways we can 
remember is by telling stories, and tonight we're going to talk about 
Mr. Hefner. And I have several colleagues and friends of not only 
myself but who knew Mr. Hefner at the time, and they have been so 
generous with their time to be here tonight to help us remember.
  And I just want to start out very briefly by just letting the story 
of Bill Hefner be told a little bit.
  Bill Hefner was born in Tennessee. He went to Alabama. He was a son 
of a sharecropper. He saw that his way out of poverty was through a 
gift that he had been given by God, and that's through the singing of 
gospel music. And he was very good, and he received an invitation to 
come to North Carolina.
  And this was the time period of the late 1950s and early 1960s where 
television was much different than it is today, when there was only 
just a few stations there in North Carolina, and they often filled 
their time in the afternoon with gospel singing.
  And Mr. Hefner was so good and his group was so good that they were 
asked to be part of three television stations in North Carolina. Now, 
we didn't have that many stations, so this was a great majority of the 
stations that were represented, and he became known to the people in 
North Carolina with his group, The Harvesters.
  He eventually was successful enough and a good businessman that he 
bought a radio station. And at some point in time, a former Congressman 
came in and was interviewed by Mr. Hefner, and Mr. Hefner went home and 
told his wife, You know, I believe I can do that, because Mr. Hefner 
had never been elected to a public office, never sought public office. 
He was the president of his PTA and that was his background, but his 
background was much stronger. He had the background of knowing the 
people of his district.
  So he went out, Madam Speaker, and he ran for Congress. And without 
any political background other than knowing the people and caring about 
the people and having a sense of who the people were, he was elected in 
a landslide.
  So that's the background as to this man W.G. Bill Hefner that I want 
everybody to be aware of.
  Now we want to fill it in with some personal stories, and I would 
like to

[[Page H9313]]

start out by recognizing David Obey from Wisconsin.
  Mr. OBEY. I thank the gentleman for the time.
  Let me simply say that I see Bill in two ways. First of all, I see 
him as a legislator. He was a good, solid legislator, a member of the 
Appropriation's Committee, and I watched him day after day conduct his 
business with grace and with courage. It was not popular to oppose some 
of the tax and budget proposals that President Reagan was pushing, for 
instance, in the 1980s. I know in my district at the time, 70 percent 
of the country favored those changes. Bill Hefner had courage enough to 
point out that the numbers just didn't add up and that he carried on 
his conviction, and eventually facts proved him to be correct.
  Bill was also a person who respected this institution. He respected 
the Congress, he respected the country, he respected his party, he 
respected the other party, and he respected virtually every person in 
this institution, and it showed in the way he dealt with others in this 
body.
  But my greatest and fondest memory of Bill is rooted in his gospel 
singing. I happen to like bluegrass, and I belong to a bluegrass band 
called The Capitol Offenses, and I learned to love gospel music. And on 
many occasions, Bill would sing and I and members of my band would back 
him up. And I have to say, he was one of the best singers we ever 
performed with. He knew a wide range of gospel but he also had a solid 
voice, and he had fun doing it. He loved it, and anyone who listened to 
him knew that he loved it.
  He was a man of courage. He had a terrific sense of humor, and he 
could find a lot of ways to get things done by simply charming people 
in this place. If logic wouldn't work, if substance wouldn't work, 
there was always the Hefner charm to push things over the edge.

                              {time}  2045

  I was greatly saddened to learn of his death last week. I have to say 
that I am proud to have served in the same institution with a man of 
his courage, with a man of his integrity, and with a man of his good 
humor. I'm certain that he will be missed by his family and his 
friends. I very much am grateful for the fact that I was able to know 
him and to work with him for all of those years. I thank the gentleman 
for the time.
  Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Mr. Obey. I would like to add there about Mr. 
Hefner and his showbiz background. One of the descriptions that was 
given of Mr. Hefner at one time that I think he enjoyed the most was 
that it would be recognized that he had a showbiz background, but he 
was a workhorse, not a show horse. That summed his career up very 
appropriately, and he did enjoy that comparison.
  His humor and his ability to charm were pointed out to me one time on 
the House floor. Evidently, there was quite a serious debate taking 
place between two sides of the aisle, and Mr. Hefner somehow got the 
attention, Madam Speaker, of the Speaker at the time, and got the 
attention of the full House and looked at his watch and supposedly 
said, How much longer is this going to go on? Because I have to get 
home to watch the ``Andy Griffith Show.'' And in North Carolina there 
is no higher calling than to go watch the ``Andy Griffith Show.''
  At this point in time, I would like to yield to Chet Edwards of Texas 
for the time he may consume.
  Mr. EDWARDS of Texas. Madam Speaker, I consider myself blessed to 
have known Congressman Bill Hefner. He was a good, decent and caring 
person, and I will miss him dearly. While this man of faith has gone on 
to a better place now, his work here on Earth will continue to enrich 
the lives of millions of American citizens. There are untold thousands 
of our troops and families who are living in better housing today 
because Bill Hefner was their champion. He not only worked hard for his 
beloved Fort Bragg, North Carolina; he fought for a better quality of 
life for servicemen and -women and their families wherever they might 
live in the world. As chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee 
on Military Construction, Chairman Hefner saw to it that the service 
and sacrifice of our troops would be honored in a meaningful way.
  While Members of Congress sometimes take ourselves too seriously, 
Bill Hefner was a voice of self-deprecating humor and humility. He took 
his work seriously, but never himself too seriously. In doing so, he 
helped us keep our proper perspective on ourselves and our work here. 
He used to joke that he had worked hard for over 20 years to take a 
perfectly safe Democratic seat in North Carolina and turn it into a 
marginal one. That was a reflection of his humor and his humility, 
because the truth was that any political challenges that Bill Hefner 
might have ever faced were because he was a person of courage.
  As Mr. Obey pointed out, in 1981 he was one of the very few Southern 
Democrats who voted against the popular Reagan tax cuts because he felt 
they would lead to large Federal deficits and ultimately undermine 
programs important to everyday working Americans. As long as I knew 
him, he always did what he thought was right for his district, for our 
great country and for average working families.
  In an age of special interests, Bill Hefner's cause was to fight for 
the interests of everyday, hardworking families, the kind of people who 
fight our fires, protect our streets, defend our shores, educate our 
children and make our factories run. He believed to his core in the 
dignity of hardworking everyday American citizens.
  Even after he retired from Congress, Bill would often call me, and he 
called when he was concerned that the views of working Americans were 
not being considered in Washington, D.C. Whether in office or out of 
office, Bill Hefner lived his faith by always being his brother's 
keeper.
  Bill Hefner was a special personal friend and a mentor to me. While I 
cannot fill his shoes or come close to it, I'm a better Congressman and 
a better person for having known him and having learned from him. I 
cherish the many, many personal conversations we had right here on the 
floor, Madam Speaker. I will always be grateful to the very sage advice 
he gave me on a golf course one day when he and I happened to be 
partnered against then-President Clinton and the President's partner, 
when on the 15th hole in a very close match, the President had about a 
3\1/2\-foot putt. I was not going to give it to the President, and 
Chairman Hefner called me over and put me under his arm and said, Son, 
let me just tell you something. Right now we have this line item veto 
in existence, and the Military Construction bill is sitting on the 
President's desk for signature, and you represent Fort Hood. I gave the 
President his putt, and the Fort Hood soldiers got their barracks 
thanks to the sage advice of Bill Hefner.
  The moment of so many wonderful moments, but the moment I shall never 
forget, was on June 4 of 1998 when Bill Hefner stood in this very same 
spot. We were debating an issue of the school prayer constitutional 
amendment. And I, consistent with my belief in the constitutional 
principle of church-State separation, was opposing the Istook 
constitutional amendment. During that process I was personally attacked 
by one particular faith-based group that claimed by not wanting to 
amend the First Amendment to the Constitution I was somehow un-American 
and even worse yet, I was accused of being un-Texan. Leave it to Bill 
Hefner, the man of the South, the gentleman from North Carolina who 
sang gospel music his entire life, a man of deep faith, leave it to him 
to come to this very spot to stand up and defend the integrity of his 
colleague who had been challenged. That was Bill Hefner, a man of 
deepest integrity. And that is why I will always revere him and what he 
stood for.
  To Stacye and Shelly, his daughters, and to Nancy, his widow, I would 
simply say that if my two sons had every right to be half as proud of 
me as you have a right to be proud of your father and your husband, I 
would consider my life a success.
  May God forever keep our friend, our colleague, and a great American, 
Bill Hefner, forever in His loving arms. Thank you.
  Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, to kind of point out the legacy of how 
Mr. Hefner influenced people continues today to reflect that, I had not 
been sworn in but a matter of hours before I got a phone call from 
Representative

[[Page H9314]]

Edwards telling me what a great influence that Bill Hefner was on him 
and how that mentorship and role model is not forgotten. It continues 
from year to year to year.
  At this point in time, I would like to yield to our friend from South 
Carolina, Representative John Spratt.
  Mr. SPRATT. Madam Speaker, I came here in 1983. And as I did, Bill 
Hefner was just coming into his own. Speaking of his name, you want to 
call him only ``Mr. Hefner.'' I will never forget one night we got on 
an airplane, as we did many nights, US Airways, and someone spoke to 
him as Congressman this and Congressman that. And the stewardess said, 
I didn't know you were a Member of Congress. What's your name? He said, 
Bill Hefner. She said, I don't believe I've ever heard of you. He said, 
well, you probably know my brother Hugh. He was always ready for a quip 
like that.
  I rise to salute this wonderful guy with great sadness learning of 
his passing. I didn't know him well, but I knew him when I came here 
because from the time I was a boy I had watched the Harvesters on WBTV 
in Charlotte, North Carolina, right after Arthur Smith. He was the lead 
tenor on the Harvesters, and they were good. And they stayed that good 
harmonizing for the next 50 years. You couldn't beat them. They were 
just top rate.

  Howard Coble got into a little fray with Bill sometime back because 
he went into his district and spoke against him in an election. Next 
election, Bill returned the compliment. This time, he was not speaking, 
though, he was singing. He went in and made three to four gospel 
singing experiences and packed the houses and everything, and Howard 
called him up and said, I was awfully surprised to see you come 
directly into my district. He said, Howard, you came into my district. 
Let's just have this understanding. If you come back, next time, I'm 
not coming in by myself. I'm bringing the whole quartet and we're going 
to sing you right out of that seat, too. From there after, they had a 
mutual accord that the one would stay out of the other's district. 
That's the kind of guy this is that we're talking about, a wonderful 
guy.
  He put on the airs of being a populist sometimes, but he was a lot 
smarter than he put on, and a lot richer for that matter. He looked at 
the Reagan tax cuts that probably would have profited him and a lot of 
his constituents, and said, it's not the right time. It will only add 
to the deficit. And he was proven only too right. We were debating in 
our caucus one morning years ago another tax cut that was not nearly 
the same size, and he finally got up and said, I don't know why we are 
spending so much time talking about this tax cut. It ain't going to 
benefit anybody but two people in this caucus. One of them is Norm 
Sisisky, and the other is John Spratt.
  I got up and I said, point of personal privilege, Mr. Chairman, this 
poor-mouthing populist owns the second largest Cadillac dealership in 
North Carolina and a radio station in Concord. He loved it. He never 
let me forget it. He never jumped me again for benefiting from tax cuts 
either.
  He became a voice that people listened to because he could get up and 
speak to something and go right to the pith of it. It's really a gift. 
He had that gift. As I said, he was a lot smarter than he let on being.
  One of my favorite recollections of Bill's debate, we were debating 
the B2 bomber. He got up and said, you know, if this bomber is so 
stealthy as everybody says it is and you can't see it, you can't find 
it, radar can't even see it, what I would suggest is we save ourselves 
$50 billion. Let's don't build it, but let's tell the Russians we have 
built it, and they will go crazy trying to find it. That's the kind of 
humor he brought to the people's House, talking like that all the time 
with a humorous cover to it but a for-real serious substance to it as 
well.
  He was a great guy. This place has been known through the centuries 
as the House of the people. Bill Hefner helped this House earn its 
reputation as a House of the people. We will miss him greatly. He 
served here with real distinction. He deserves every word of praise 
being said about him tonight.
  Thank you, Madam Speaker.
  Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Mr. Spratt.
  Madam Speaker, if we had opened this up to everybody who knew 
Congressman Hefner who could have been here tonight, we couldn't have 
come close to getting this in within an hour. There are so many people 
that he affected, and I certainly appreciate the colleagues that are 
with us tonight.
  Next I would like to recognize a fellow Congressman from North 
Carolina, Mr. David Price.
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. I thank my colleagues for scheduling 
this time tonight for us to remember our friend and colleague, Bill 
Hefner, to honor his memory.
  I first got to know Bill when I came to this body in 1987. He was 
already a fairly senior Member. He became an important mentor to me and 
a valued friend and colleague. As many have said already, Bill came 
from a humble background. He never lost touch with working people. He 
had a natural empathy and understanding of people who were struggling 
in life, great sympathy for the underdog. He was a man of great 
compassion, and that compassion was not feigned. It was something that 
came naturally to Bill, an innate sense, I think, in Bill, of fairness 
and decency. There is not going to be a speaker here tonight, I promise 
you, that doesn't refer to Bill's sense of humor. He was the funniest 
man probably that ever served in this Chamber. He could cut through 
tense moments in these overheated debates in a way that was a marvel to 
behold.
  Sometimes, as Mr. Edwards said, he showed great courage in the way he 
dealt with those debates. I have a memory very similar to Chet Edwards. 
This one comes earlier when I had been here only a year or so. It was a 
debate of the so-called ``Grove City'' bill which was a proposal that 
unfortunately would have put an adverse interpretation on civil rights 
laws. And it was a bill the effect of which was being greatly 
exaggerated by a prominent figure of the religious right of that time. 
He said that if this bill was passed, churches would have to, and I'm 
quoting him here, to hire a practicing active homosexual drug addict 
with AIDS to be a teacher or youth pastor.
  Well, Bill Hefner was watching this go on, and like all of us, he was 
getting his switchboard flooded with calls coming in alarmed about this 
from well-meaning people who didn't know what to make of this. I wrote 
a book a couple of years later and remembered, looked back at this 
episode because it impressed me so much at the time. In my chapter on 
religion and politics, I quoted Bill Hefner, what he said coming to 
this floor and cutting through that debate, and the words I'm going to 
read don't do justice to the effect he had just in his commonsense way. 
Bill said, I find reprehensible not those thousands of people who have 
made the phone calls, but the people that have instigated this 
misinformation. If it means I lose my position in the U.S. House of 
Representatives if I do not cave in and base my vote on what people 
believe to be true but what I know not to be true, I say to my 
colleagues, this job is not worth that to me. I remembered that and 
looked it up. And it still stands for me as a memory of effective 
debate in this House, effective not just rhetorically but because of 
its being said from the heart and its being said with true conviction.
  Bill was a member of the Appropriations Committee, chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Military Construction, a champion of our servicemen and 
-women, of their housing and of their quality of life. An elementary 
school at Fort Bragg bears his name, as does the Salisbury Veterans 
Administration Hospital.
  Bill was a mentor to many of us. He gave me pep talks on more than 
one difficult vote. He could put everything in perspective. I valued 
that mentorship, that support, and that encouragement.

                              {time}  2100

  He helped me get on the Appropriations Committee, and then he helped 
me figure out how to get things done once I got on the Appropriations 
Committee.
  He was a mainstay of our delegation, one of our most influential 
Members, yes, but also a Member who helped us all stick together, whom 
we all liked and respected. We enjoyed his company. And I think it's 
fair to say that Bill's role in our delegation has never quite been 
filled since he left.

[[Page H9315]]

  I remember very well the dinner that was given for Bill shortly 
before his retirement. The Harvesters Quartet, pretty elderly gentlemen 
by that time, they were gathered from all over the country, they came 
in and sang one more time. And Bill's friends and associates and 
colleagues got up one after the other and told many stories like those 
we heard tonight. It was one of the most enjoyable and heart-warming 
evenings I have ever experienced in this city or anywhere else.
  So I'm pleased to join tonight in honoring Bill, in recalling our 
friendship, our common labors with him. He served North Carolina and 
this Nation faithfully and well in ways that continue to inspire.
  Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, David. And I think, as was just pointed out, 
that while we have memories of Mr. Hefner and how he could turn serious 
conversations with humor and charm, that when necessary he stood up for 
his beliefs and effectively stated those in a way that spoke of the 
core being that he was.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to next recognize another gentleman from 
North Carolina, Representative Bob Etheridge.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, 
Representative Kissell, for organizing this Special Order this evening 
for a good friend and, as all of you already heard, a 12-term Member of 
this body.
  Bill Hefner, who passed away on Wednesday, September 2 of this year, 
provided a selfless service to our State of North Carolina and to this 
Nation, as you heard from a number of my colleagues already. But in his 
passing, we've lost a good friend; North Carolina has lost an 
outstanding citizen and a man who was instrumental not only in this 
body, but in his community, in his State, in everything he did; Nancy 
has lost a devoted husband; and Stacy and Shelly have lost a loving 
father. He was a grandfather, also, who loved children. You've heard he 
was a native of Tennessee.
  The first time I remember meeting Bill Hefner was more years ago than 
either one of us want to admit. I was running for State superintendent, 
and if you run in North Carolina, it's an elected office. So you run, 
and anybody who has a good size group, you wanted to be there. And I 
went to the Eighth District, they were having an Eighth District rally. 
And it was the largest group I went to I think all year, other than one 
where all the educators get together, and Bill Hefner was doing his own 
singing at his own rally. And I note that's the most unusual political 
rally I had ever been to.
  I heard of Bill, but I hadn't met him. I learned very quickly he knew 
how to politic in a unique way. Those people who left that gospel sing 
that he was singing at, it made no difference to them whether he was 
Democrat, Republican, liberal, or conservative; they loved Bill Hefner. 
He was their man. And there were people at that rally I didn't see at 
any other rally I went to all year. It was because he had a message. 
They believed in him, and he made a difference in their lives.
  Yes, he was president and owner of a radio station, and he made a 
difference. And he was a bright person, much smarter than he wanted to 
admit. And yes, he had more resources than he would ever acknowledge. 
You would think he was the poorest guy in the room if you were around 
him, but he did okay.
  He was the leader of the Harvesters Quartet, yes, but the last time I 
remember hearing Bill sing--I enjoyed the meeting as Congressman Price 
talked about--he came to my district, held a gospel sing, and he called 
me ahead of time to let me know he was going to be there. He said, Now 
if you can be available, you might want to show up. He said, I might 
say a good word for you. Well, I recognized if Bill came to your 
district, you better show up--he filled up the Civic Center. And Bill 
enjoyed that as much as he loved his family, as he loved being in this 
body. And he was a businessman at heart because as soon as he finished 
on that stage he was selling those cassettes. He had a delightful time 
and the people loved him. But that was Bill Hefner. Bill Hefner enjoyed 
what he was doing, whether he was legislating or whether he was singing 
or telling a good story.
  As I came to know Bill over the years--and I only served with him 
here two--I understood that his political service really was an 
extension of his gospel singing, which really was what he loved to do. 
He cared about people. He cared about what he did. But he cared about 
his religion. And both of those were powerful ways for him to serve his 
fellow man.
  Many of the members of the North Carolina delegation, as you already 
heard from Congressman Price, learned the ropes of effectively 
advocating for our constituents here in Washington from Bill. When I 
first came--any Member who is a freshman here, you get a lot better 
services now than you did when I came 14 years ago, even though people 
tried to help you--Bill was the first one to offer. He said, If you 
need a place to meet with folks, you can use my office.
  Well, you know, somebody who is coming up here, hadn't been to 
Washington much even though I served at the State level, that meant a 
lot. He opened the doors of his office; I used it to meet constituents 
and other people. But that's what Bill Hefner was about; he was about 
making you feel at home. He led by example, both as a public official 
and later as a private citizen.
  He was known for his passionate support of our military veterans, as 
you've already heard this evening. He only represented Fort Bragg in 
the last few years it was in his district of his years here in 
Congress, but he represented them every day as a Member of this body. 
And that's why you have a school on that base named for him and you 
have military hospitals named for him, because they knew that Bill 
Hefner was a friend of veterans, he was a friend of the small business 
owners, and as you've heard this evening, he really was a friend of the 
working poor as well as the working class.
  His life of service will continue to inspire all that knew him. And 
his love for North Carolina can be seen through his work on our 
highways, in our schools, in our veterans hospitals, and yes, in the 
laws that he helped pass in this body.
  He retired from Congress almost a decade ago, but his work and 
influence will not be forgotten. He was a respected legislator, a 
dedicated public servant, and a great North Carolinian. It is fitting 
that we honor Bill Hefner and his family this evening.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague Representative 
Kissell for organizing this Special Order in honor of a good friend and 
twelve-term Member of this House of Representatives. Former Eighth 
District Congressman Bill Hefner, who passed away on Wednesday, 
September 2, 2009, provided selfless service to our State of North 
Carolina and to this Nation. In his passing, I lost a friend and North 
Carolina lost an outstanding citizen; a man who was instrumental in his 
community, county, State, and country.
  A native of Elora, Tennessee, Bill moved to North Carolina after 
graduating from the University of Alabama and became the president and 
owner of radio station WRKB in Kannapolis from 1954 to 1967.
  I met Bill Hefner at a political rally in North Carolina decades ago 
while he was with the radio station. He was the lead singer in the 
`Harvesters Quartet', a gospel music group, and he led that political 
rally with his voice because he just loved to sing. As I came to know 
him through the years, I understood that his political service was an 
extension of his gospel singing. Both were powerful ways for him to be 
of service to his fellow man.
  Many members of the North Carolina congressional delegation learned 
the ropes of effectively advocating for our constituents while in 
Washington, DC, from Bill Hefner. Bill lead by example, both as a 
public official and later as a private citizen. Congressman Hefner was 
known for his passionate support for military veterans. In fact, the 
Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, was named 
in his honor in 1999. He was a friend to veterans, small business 
owners, the working poor, and the middle class. His life of service 
will continue to inspire all who knew him. His love for North Carolina 
can be seen through his work on our highways, our schools, our 
veterans' hospitals, and in our laws.
  Bill Hefner retired from Congress almost a decade ago, but his work 
and influence will never be forgotten. He was a respected legislator, a 
dedicated public servant, and a great North Carolinian. It is fitting 
that we honor him and his family today.
  Madam Speaker, I join his family and our State in mourning a great 
legislator and a tremendous human being. I yield back.
  Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Bob.

[[Page H9316]]

  Madam Speaker, continuing the North Carolina trend, I would like to 
recognize Representative Brad Miller from North Carolina.
  Mr. MILLER of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I also rise to honor 
Congressman Bill Hefner, and I appreciate Mr. Kissell organizing this 
tribute tonight.
  Congressman Hefner had a down-home style that never changed. Some 
folks in Washington thought it didn't really fit with their idea of 
what an influential Member of Congress, an effective Member of Congress 
is supposed to be like, but that was always their problem, not his 
problem. He never changed.
  Everyone who spoke tonight has spoken of the Harvesters, his gospel 
music group that he continued to sing in. His political rallies 
continued to be gospel sings, the Harvesters performing. Now, that 
sounds like something out of the 1930s from the movie, ``O Brother, 
Where Art Thou?'', but this was still in the '90s that he was doing 
this. That was long past the era that was dominated by political 
consultants, smart guys who read polls and produced TV ads. And 
political rallies at that time were supposed to be three people who 
were sitting in front of their television when a political ad came on. 
During that period Bill Hefner was still doing political rallies that 
were gospel sings and packing large halls.
  And it wasn't just at political rallies. He had the Harvesters come 
perform at veteran hospitals, including the one in Salisbury that is 
now named after him, and was very popular with the veterans who were in 
those hospitals. And he did become a great advocate for veterans, a 
great advocate for our men and women in uniform. He visited military 
installations, saw the conditions in which our military were living, 
and became a crusader for better housing for our troops.
  Bill Hefner ran for Congress on the promise to be a spokesman, a 
representative, a voice for the common man. He remained faithful to 
that promise. He never changed. He was the same guy when he ended his 
service after 24 years, one of the most influential members of the 
Appropriations Committee, a subcommittee chairman, a cardinal. He was 
the same guy as he was when he was elected.
  He understood working Americans because he was one. He may eventually 
have done very well, but that's where he started and that's where his 
heart always was. He always understood what life was like for ordinary 
Americans.
  I am proud to be here tonight to honor Bill Hefner. And I am very 
grateful that he is an example for all of us who still represent North 
Carolina in Congress.
  Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, at this point in time I would like to 
recognize Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, ladies and gentlemen of the House, and my 
friend, Larry Kissell, who is doing a wonderful job representing the 
District that Bill Hefner loved and whose people loved Bill Hefner, I 
came to Congress in 1981. Bill had been here for 6 or 7 years when I 
got here. He was on the Appropriations Committee; I went on the 
Appropriations Committee not too long after coming here.
  Bill Hefner has been regaled by all of his friends from North 
Carolina. And I know Chairman Obey, who served with Bill on the 
Appropriations Committee as I did for well over a decade, can tell, I'm 
sure, numerous stories late into the night about Bill Hefner. And what 
warm memories I have of Bill Hefner sitting on the aisle back here. And 
all my colleagues remember he would sit on the aisle and you would go 
by and Bill would sort of look up with a twinkle in his eye and he 
would tell you story after story after story.
  I remember one night I was going to give a speech and I wanted a few 
jokes, so I called Bill Hefner up and he gave me a couple of jokes, and 
I used them, and they worked very well. So I can say Bill Hefner was my 
writer, I suppose. But he was a wonderful, wonderful representative, 
and he was a representative in the best sense of that term. He 
represented his people. He represented North Carolina. He represented 
his country. He represented the men and women in our Armed Forces whom 
he loved and whom he served with great fervor and affection. Bill 
Hefner loved his country, he loved his colleagues, and his colleagues 
loved Bill Hefner.
  It's been talked about how he loved to play golf. I like to play golf 
as well--I'm not very good, but I love to play, like so many other 
hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people in this country who 
like to say we play golf. We play at it, I suppose. But Bill was a good 
golfer. And he had a tournament down at Pinehurst every year. And I 
used to go down and play at Pinehurst with Bill. And you not only went 
down to play golf, you just went down to have this warm, gracious, 
outreaching human being make you feel good about serving with him in 
the Congress and make you feel good about North Carolina and your 
country.
  Bill Hefner was a great resource of North Carolina. He then moved 
further south and became a county commissioner for a little bit, my 
good friend is telling me.
  Bill Hefner will be missed. Bill Hefner used to tell me, he said, You 
know, Steny, I was elected in my district; it was a safe district then, 
and I've worked very hard and I've turned it into a marginal district.
  I think you all heard him say that. That was one of his favorite 
sayings, Larry.

                              {time}  2115

  Now, the good news for you, Mr. Kissell, is you're going to do the 
opposite. You're going to take a district that could have gone either 
way, and you're going to turn it into a safe district. I appreciate 
that, but nobody would have appreciated it more than Bill Hefner. My 
friend Brad Miller, a friend of Bill Hefner's and a colleague from 
North Carolina, told a story.
  Bill Hefner was a singer. He was a real talent. He loved to sing, and 
he loved to entertain, and he loved to be a comedian, and he loved to 
make people, as I said, feel good. He accomplished that with great 
frequency and with great ability. We'll miss Bill Hefner. Bill Hefner 
was what's good about our country, which he loved so dearly.
  As I said, he loved the men and women who served in the Armed Forces, 
and he served them so well as chairman of the Military Construction 
Committee. I remember I had the opportunity to travel to Germany and to 
some other NATO allies in Europe with him in the 1980s, and it was 
clear that he was extraordinarily knowledgeable about the needs of our 
men and women stationed overseas in terms of the quality of their 
lives. He mirrored Ike Skelton or Ike Skelton mirrors Bill Hefner in 
terms of his commitment to our men and women in the Armed Forces.
  So I am pleased, Larry Kissell, to join you, your colleagues from 
North Carolina, my chairman--I served on the committee for 23 years--
Chairman Obey, and my good friend Chet Edwards, who now chairs the same 
subcommittee that Bill Hefner chaired. Bill was also a member of the 
Armed Services Committee, of course. So I thank you for letting me know 
that you were doing this Special Order to rise in memory, respect and 
deep affection for a wonderful American, for a wonderful advocate of 
his faith, for a wonderful family man, and for a wonderful Member of 
this body.
  God blessed America when he gave us William G. Hefner. I yield back.
  Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Steny.
  Madam Speaker, I am going to conclude now, but you don't finish when 
you talk about Bill Hefner, because, as we've seen tonight, the legacy 
will not end. It will continue for all the good things he did, but I 
want to talk a little bit about the personal side of Bill Hefner and 
what he meant to me.
  There are all of these things we've heard tonight, and as I mentioned 
earlier, he was my Congressman. I must say that, while those many years 
he represented us, I wasn't involved in party politics. I never ran for 
public office like Mr. Hefner, and there came a time when I felt that 
maybe that was what people like me should do because that's what Bill 
Hefner had done. He was a man of the people. He recognized the working 
people, and he stood up for those people.
  I said, you know, we have seen in our district, the wonderful Eighth 
District of North Carolina, that, if you go out to the people and if 
you tell them who you are and if they recognize in you the knowledge 
that you know who they are and if they know that you respect

[[Page H9317]]

them and that you are concerned about them, as we saw for 24 years, 
those people will reward you by sending you to Congress. So it was with 
knowledge of what Mr. Hefner had done that I ran for Congress. I come 
from a very small town, Biscoe, North Carolina--1,500 people--and 
needless to say, it wasn't exactly a turning moment in North Carolina 
politics when I announced that I would run for Congress. It is with the 
legacy, though, of Mr. Bill Hefner that people look to the person for 
what he says and not who he is and not where he comes from.
  One time in my home county, Montgomery County, which is also a small 
county, President Bill Clinton was coming to visit our local hospital. 
He was accompanied by Mr. Hefner, and together they went visiting there 
in the hospital. I heard this story, and I think it kind of sums up 
everything about Bill Hefner. They went into the room. The President 
and Mr. Hefner went into the room of a patient's.
  Mr. Hefner said, I'm Bill Hefner, and this is President Clinton.
  The gentleman, the patient, said, You're Bill Hefner? I've been 
wanting to meet you all my life. You're a wonderful Congressman. I've 
even sent you a little bit of money, and I love the way you sing. 
You're the best singer ever.
  He never once recognized that the President of the United States was 
also in the room. It was all about Bill Hefner. Bill Hefner's favorite 
song was ``If I Can Help Someone.''
  Mr. Hefner, Shelly, Stacye, and Nancy, please know that you have 
helped many people. Thank you so much, and God bless Bill Hefner.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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