[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 28, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H6006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING CONGRESSMAN SAM FARR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, last night, several hundred people 
gathered to wish Sam Farr farewell to his congressional career, 
celebrating a half century of public service.
  Sam started in the Peace Corps, volunteering in Colombia in the 
sixties. He was active as a local government official, and in the 
California State legislature and finally 23 years in Congress.
  He came by his calling honestly. He was born on the Fourth of July.
  Son of Fred Farr, a State senator and a Johnson administration 
official, Sam has been dedicated to the widest range of issues of 
anybody I have worked with in my years in Congress. He has worked on 
issues of livable communities, transportation, land use planning, and 
healthy agriculture. He took very seriously the fact that he 
represented California's ``salad bowl.'' He has been a leader in 
marijuana reform, with the famous Farr-Rohrabacher amendment slapping 
the Federal Government's hands back from interfering with medical 
marijuana.
  You know, there is a movie from 1983 with Woody Allen. In ``Zelig,'' 
this kind of nebbish chameleon-like person showed up everywhere in all 
of these important events in the twenties and thirties. Well, Sam has 
sort of that characterization. Although, unlike a nebbish or chameleon, 
Sam was bold, he was infectious, he was warm, but he was everywhere in 
the course of the last 20 years.
  Just this last year alone, we saw the unprecedented oceans 
protections that were implemented by the Obama administration. Sam 
Farr's fingerprints are all over that act, working for 20 years on 
oceans protections as the major oceans advocate in Congress.
  Sam was in Cuba with President Obama as we opened up relations with 
that island after a half century of isolation. He has been on the right 
side of that issue from the beginning. Luckily, he was able to be 
there.
  He has been honored by the nation of Colombia, where he served as a 
Peace Corps volunteer. Last weekend, Sam was there with Secretary 
Kerry, celebrating the peace accords that brought an end to that 
tortuous conflict.
  You know, people complain about Congress being too partisan, too 
gridlocked. It is true. But for 23 years, Sam Farr has shown that no 
matter who is in charge or how bad it gets, a smart person with a big 
heart, a great staff, persistence, and passion can make amazing things 
happen. He has given many gifts to his constituents and to the Nation, 
but one gift may be overarching, if people here take seriously, is his 
example of how to be a Congressman.

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