[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 51 (Thursday, March 23, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           TRIBUTE TO THE HON. ANTHONY C. ``TONY'' BEILENSON

                                  _____
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 23, 2017

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to pay tribute to our 
colleague and friend, Congressman Anthony C. ``Tony'' Beilenson, who, 
from 1977 to 1997, represented with distinction in the House of 
Representatives a Los Angeles-area district.
  Joining me in this statement are my colleagues: Nancy Pelosi, Dana 
Rohrabacher, Maxine Waters, Ken Calvert, Anna Eshoo, Lucille Roybal-
Allard, Zoe Lofgren, Barbara Lee, Grace Napolitano, Mike Thompson, 
Susan Davis, Adam Schiff, Linda Sanchez, Jim Costa, Doris Matsui, Jerry 
McNerney, Jackie Speier, Judy Chu, John Garamendi, Karen Bass, Ami 
Bera, Julia Brownley, Tony Cardenas, Jared Huffman, Alan Lowenthal, 
Scott Peters, Raul Ruiz, Eric Swalwell, Mark Takano, Juan Vargas, Pete 
Aguilar, Mark DeSaulnier, Ted Lieu, Norma Torres, Nanette Barragan, 
Salud Carbajal, Luis Correa, Ro Khanna, and Jimmy Panetta.
  Tony was widely admired for his integrity, thoughtfulness, and 
effectiveness as a statesman and is fondly remembered for his warmth, 
caring, and engaging personality. To our great sadness, Tony passed 
away on March 5, 2017.
  Tony was born in New Rochelle, New York on October 26, 1932, and grew 
up in the New York City area. After obtaining a law degree from Harvard 
in 1957, Tony moved to Los Angeles to work in entertainment law. Soon 
after arriving in California, he sought out public service. In 1962, he 
was elected to the California State Assembly, and in 1966 to the State 
Senate, where he served until 1977. During his tenure in the 
Legislature, Tony rose to become chairman of the Senate Finance 
Committee and authored more than 200 laws, many of which served as 
models for laws in other states and at the federal level.
  In the U.S. House of Representatives, Tony served for nine terms on 
the Rules Committee and was the second most senior minority member at 
the time of his retirement. He also spent several terms on the Budget 
Committee and the Intelligence Committee, where he served as its 
chairman in 1989 and 1990.
  Tony was an outspoken and tireless advocate for the causes he 
believed in. He co-chaired the House's Population Coalition, which 
advocated for strategies to help slow world population growth and 
improve maternal health. Serving at a time when efforts were in full 
swing to curb ballooning federal deficits and growing debt, Tony was a 
rare member who spoke out in favor of unpopular proposals. He 
introduced legislation to increase the excise tax on gasoline and 
called for steps to reduce spending on even the most popular programs. 
He believed that every federal program and tax benefit, no matter how 
popular, should be under consideration for cuts.
  Tony had a great affinity for the natural world and worked to save 
open space and protect critical habitats and endangered species. He was 
a leader in efforts to protect the world's remaining African elephants 
and rhinoceroses.
  Tony's crowning environmental achievement was the establishment of 
the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The formation of 
this park helped guarantee that tens of thousands of acres of land in 
the Los Angeles metropolitan area would remain natural havens of open 
space and continue to benefit the millions of people who live in Los 
Angeles and Ventura Counties. Tony authored the 1978 legislation that 
established the recreation area as a unit of the National Park System, 
and throughout his entire tenure in the House, he fought tirelessly for 
funding to acquire the recreation area's park land and to promote the 
area's success.
  After Tony retired, Congress passed legislation to name the 
recreation area's principal visitor center in his honor. This center, 
named the Anthony C. Beilenson Interagency Visitor Center, is located 
in the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains and orients visitors to the 
many features and offerings of the publicly accessible federal, state, 
local and privately owned lands within the recreation area.
  Tony also secured funding over a period of years to create a 160-acre 
recreational park and a 60-acre wildlife refuge in the Sepulveda Flood 
Control Basin in the San Fernando Valley. A park there is also named in 
his honor.
  While Tony was a Harvard-trained lawyer with an impressive 
legislative record, he was a self-effacing person who gave ample credit 
to those involved in his causes and accomplishments. He will be 
remembered for his ability to debate difficult and divisive issues in a 
highly respectful manner.
  We send our condolences to his wife Dolores, sons Adam and Peter, 
daughter Dayna, and nine grandchildren.

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