[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 131 (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H9591-H9594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         WES WATKINS AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH LAB AND POST OFFICE

  Mr. ELLSWORTH. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 1713) to name the South Central Agricultural Research 
Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture in Lane, Oklahoma, and the 
facility of the United States Postal Service located at 310 North Perry 
Street in Bennington, Oklahoma, in honor of former Congressman Wesley 
``Wes'' Watkins.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1713

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

     SECTION 1. REDESIGNATION OF SOUTH CENTRAL AGRICULTURAL 
                   RESEARCH LABORATORY, LANE, OKLAHOMA.

       (a) Redesignation.--The South Central Agricultural Research 
     Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture in Lane, 
     Oklahoma,

[[Page H9592]]

     shall be known and redesignated as the ``Wes Watkins 
     Agricultural Research Laboratory''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory shall be 
     deemed to be a reference to the ``Wes Watkins Agricultural 
     Research Laboratory''.

     SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF WES WATKINS POST OFFICE, BENNINGTON, 
                   OKLAHOMA.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 310 North Perry Street in Bennington, 
     Oklahoma, shall be known and designated as the ``Wes Watkins 
     Post Office''.
       (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 ``Wes Watkins Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Indiana (Mr. Ellsworth) and the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Indiana.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ELLSWORTH. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Indiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ELLSWORTH. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, H.R. 1713 would name the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory in Lane, 
Oklahoma, as the facility of the U.S. Postal Service located at 310 
North Perry Street in Bennington, Oklahoma, in honor of former 
Congressman Wesley Watkins.
  After graduating with two degrees from Oklahoma State University in 
Stillwater, Congressman Watkins worked for the Agriculture Department 
and as an administrator at his alma mater before entering political 
life, first as a State senator and then as a Member of Congress. Mr. 
Watkins represented Oklahoma's Third Congressional District for a total 
of 20 years, both as a Democrat and as a Republican.
  I am pleased the name of Congressman Watkins will be part of his 
former district's role in the important mission of scientific research 
in agricultural issues that affect all Americans every day, from the 
fields to our dinner tables.
  This bill has the support of the Oklahoma delegation, and I encourage 
the rest of my House colleagues to support it here today.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I want to take a moment to discuss H.R. 1713, which 
would name the South Agricultural Research Laboratory of the Department 
of Agriculture in Lane, Oklahoma, and the United States Post Office 
facility in Bennington, Oklahoma, in honor of my friend and 
predecessor, Wes Watkins.
  Wes has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public service, 
first as a member of the Oklahoma State Senate and then as a United 
States Congressman from Oklahoma's Third District for 20 years. During 
his tenure, Wes had the honor of serving on three of the House's most 
prestigious committees, including Appropriations, Budget, and Ways and 
Means. Before Wes, no other Congressperson had ever served on all three 
of the House's major committees during their career.
  Beyond his committee work, Wes was intimately attuned to the 
financial needs of the constituents back home in Oklahoma. Recognizing 
the hardships Oklahoma families had to endure on a daily basis, Wes 
used his committee assignments to steer resources back to the Third 
District of Oklahoma. As a part of his efforts to restore financial 
security to his constituents, Wes took a particularly strong interest 
in economic development issues, which no doubt changed the economic 
landscape of Oklahoma's Third District for the better.
  Let there be no doubt, had it not been for Wes's dedication and 
strong leadership, Oklahoma's Third District would not have been what 
it is today.
  On behalf of Wes Watkins and my constituents back home in Oklahoma, I 
urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ELLSWORTH. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Boren).
  Mr. BOREN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor one of Oklahoma's 
most distinguished public servants and a former Member of this 
legislative body, Congressman Wes Watkins.
  Madam Speaker, the legislation that we have before us today, H.R. 
1713, would name the USDA Lane Agricultural Research Laboratory in 
Lane, Oklahoma, and the United States Post Office in Bennington, 
Oklahoma, in honor of Congressman Wesley ``Wes'' Watkins.
  Congressman Watkins' story is uniquely American. Born in De Queen, 
Arkansas, and raised and schooled in a working class Oklahoma 
agricultural family, Wes Watkins would grow and develop into one of 
Oklahoma's most prominent political figures.
  Following his graduation from Bennington High School in the spring of 
1956, a young Watkins would move to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and enroll in 
Oklahoma State University. Five year later, Watkins would earn a 
bachelor's and master's degree with honor and distinction.
  After graduating from college, Wes Watkins did what many Oklahomans 
have done. He decided to serve his State and country by joining the 
Oklahoma Air National Guard. But in the summer of 1975, Wes Watkins 
felt he had a higher calling, and that was public service. That fall, 
he would successfully run for a seat in the Oklahoma State Senate, 
representing the same ``Little Dixie'' region that the former Speaker 
Carl Albert called home.
  Two years later when Speaker Albert announced his retirement, State 
Senator Watkins decided he would run for the Speaker's former seat. 
After winning a competitive primary against the Speaker's former Chief 
of Staff, Wes went on to win the general election with more than 80 
percent of the vote, and for the better part of four decades, 
Congressman Wes Watkins would represent eastern Oklahoma in the United 
States House of Representatives. As a Member of the House of 
Representatives, Congressman Watkins would go on to become the only 
Oklahoma Congressman to serve on all three major House financial 
committees.
  Madam Speaker, I was fortunate enough to not only be represented by 
Wes Watkins in Congress, I was lucky to have the opportunity to serve 
on both his D.C. staff and his district staff, first as an intern in 
his Washington, D.C. office and then as a field representative in his 
eastern Oklahoma district. Without Congressman Watkins' guidance and 
his inspiration, I probably wouldn't be here today representing 
Oklahoma's Second Congressional District.
  Wes Watkins' record serving the State of Oklahoma is one filled with 
leadership, compassion, and selfless service. The Lane Agricultural 
Research Laboratory and the United States Post Office that this 
legislation will name in his honor will serve as a permanent reminder 
of all that he has given to Oklahoma.
  I ask that all my colleagues support this bill.

                              {time}  1615

  Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to a 
fellow member of the Oklahoma delegation, Congressman Cole.
  Mr. COLE. Madam Speaker, it is a great privilege to be here with my 
colleagues and participate in honoring our former colleague in this 
Chamber, Wes Watkins. Usually when you come down to the floor on an 
occasion like this, you are armed with all sorts of wonderful prepared 
remarks, and you lay them out.
  But I would rather talk about my friend, Wes Watkins, spontaneously 
and, frankly, from a rather unique perspective because I have run races 
against him, and I have run races for him. And I have to tell you, I 
never beat him when I ran a race against him, but I was a lot more 
successful working for him.
  He is really an extraordinary political figure in his own right. As 
my friend, Congressman Boren mentioned, he served as a State senator. 
He was a

[[Page H9593]]

Congressman. He ran for governor twice, frankly, nearly getting the 
Democratic nomination in 1990. Had he gotten that, he undoubtedly would 
have won the election and have been the Governor of our State. He ran 
again in 1994 as an Independent. Very unusual. By the way, his 
congressional district voted for him as a Democrat, voted for him as an 
Independent, and then later voted for him as a Republican. I have never 
seen a loyalty directed toward an individual that way.
  In the course of his 1990 campaign, he got to be pretty good friends 
with my client, Frank Keating, who later went on to be Governor. Frank 
Keating thought so much of Wes Watkins, his opponent, that he offered 
him a job in his Cabinet as a Secretary for international trade because 
Wes was so passionate about bringing jobs and opportunity to the people 
of Oklahoma. That says a lot about you as an individual that one of 
your opponents thinks so highly of you that they want to move you over 
into their administration.
  Unfortunately, some of Wes's colleagues in the State senate in 
Oklahoma decided that having run as an Independent instead of a 
Democrat, they were not inclined to do that. But a number of years 
later, an opportunity came up when the seat that he won came open 
again. Our good friend, Bill Brewster, decided to retire. And I 
remember, Wes was still registered as an Independent, and there was 17 
days before the cutoff when you had to choose your party. The minute 
that Frank Keating, then Governor Keating, saw that congressional seat 
was open, he literally within 20 minutes called Wes Watkins and said, 
Wes, I want you to run for Congress. I don't care if you run as an 
Independent; I don't care if you run as a Democrat. I'm a Republican. I 
would like you to run as that. That doesn't matter. We are going to do 
everything we can. We need you back in the Congress of the United 
States. We need your passion and your commitment for economic 
development and to help the people of this State.
  Wes honestly made, I would say, a tough political call because he 
would have won as a Democrat. He would have won as an Independent. He 
chose to become a Republican for a lot of reasons, but I think partly 
because he thought we were in the majority then, he thought he would be 
very effective in that role, and he was. He was an extraordinarily 
effective Congressman for his State.
  Now, when I think about Wes, you can't think about Wes and not think 
about Lou Watkins, his partner, his only real political consultant and, 
quite frankly, now a regent at Oklahoma State University, one of the 
really fine public figures and one of the best classroom teachers I 
ever saw in my life. As a college political science professor, I used 
to occasionally go and deal with her students. And incredibly fair. 
Together, they have done so much good for our State. They are deep in 
the hearts of the people that they manage to serve.
  I do want to tell one polling story and one media story about my 
friend, Wes Watkins. When he first decided to run as a Republican, the 
district was literally registered over 80 percent Democrat at that 
time. We did a survey. In the survey you ask what are called open-ended 
questions: What do you like most, what do you like least about this 
individual.
  I never saw this before, 97 percent of the people could tell you 
something specific about Wes Watkins, all of it positive: he helped my 
father get a job; he helped bring this business to our community. It 
was the most incredibly impressive testimony for an individual's good 
deeds and using public office in an appropriate way to help people that 
I have ever seen in my life.
  We sent the media consultant to travel with him around the district 
for 3 days. She came back and I asked, What did you think?
  She said, In 3 days I only met one person who didn't call him Wes in 
every little town. She said it was actually a young lady, probably 16 
or 17 years. She came up to say, Mr. Watkins, could I please shake your 
hand. Thank you for something you have done for my family. The 
consultant said he just threw his arms around her and said, Honey, just 
call me Wes.
  He is just a remarkable human being. I want to thank both of my 
colleagues for this recognition, particularly my good friend, Dan 
Boren, who worked with him. Wes Watkins has done as much for our State 
as anybody I have seen in my political lifetime. And continues to do 
it. And so does Lou. This is such a fitting and appropriate honor. I am 
happy to join my friends as a cosponsor and look forward to voting for 
this particular piece of legislation with a great deal of pleasure.
  Mr. ELLSWORTH. Madam Speaker, we have no further speakers, but I will 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LUCAS. Madam Speaker, we have no further speakers, and I yield 
myself the balance of my time.
  Madam Speaker, as you've heard my colleagues in the Oklahoma 
delegation address today, Wes is a unique individual. He is a self-made 
man. In a world where the American ideal is coming from nothing to 
becoming something, which is the ideal goal, I think, of all of us, Wes 
represents that. Remember, he was born just across the line in Arkansas 
in 1938. He lived his life in Oklahoma. He was born in the Great 
Depression period, a time of economic challenges for all Oklahomans and 
all people in rural America. He came from a family that had tremendous 
challenges. But he and his mother and his brother overcame those. He 
put himself through university at Oklahoma State. He was southeast 
district FFA vice president. He was State president of what was then 
the Future Farmers of America. He made himself a homebuilder. He got 
himself elected to the State senate over tremendous opposition. He got 
himself elected to the United States Congress.
  This individual that we know as Wes, and many Americans on the floor 
remember as our colleague, Congressman Watkins, is an amazing fellow 
from the absolute, most humble beginnings in a great little community 
called Bennington to accomplish for his friends and neighbors back 
home, because everyone was his friend and everyone was his neighbor, 
what he did is a testament. That is why I am so pleased and we are so 
pleased on this side of the aisle to name these two important 
facilities in the old 3rd Congressional District in his honor because 
he worked incredibly hard for the good folks of the 3rd District of 
Oklahoma and, by the actions he took, improved everything for all of us 
across America.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ELLSWORTH. Madam Speaker, if there is no objection, I yield 1 
additional minute to Mr. Boren from Oklahoma.
  Mr. BOREN. Madam Speaker, I wanted to add a couple of things as a 
former staffer to Congressman Watkins--and Congressman Cole was very 
eloquent in his remarks, and so was my good friend, Frank Lucas.
  There are so many of us, not just myself but there are many of us in 
congressional offices across Washington, D.C., people in State 
government in Oklahoma, a lot of folks involved in agriculture, who can 
trace back their start to Wes Watkins.
  I can tell you when I was starting out and I was looking for a job, 
he is the first person who gave me an opportunity. There are so many 
countless people that could say the same thing. So his legacy isn't 
necessarily just his name on a building. It is also all of the people 
and all of the families that he has touched. And also I wanted to say, 
and Tom Cole brought this up, Lou Watkins. She has been his partner for 
so many years. She has been a State regent at Oklahoma State University 
and a constant mentor to all of us.
  With that, I hope my colleagues would support this legislation.
  Mr. ELLSWORTH. Madam Speaker, I did not know Congressman Watkins, but 
after this moving testimony, I would encourage all of our colleagues to 
pass H.R. 1713.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Clarke). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Ellsworth) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1713.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

[[Page H9594]]



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