[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 26, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H5656-H5666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROCEEDINGS OF FORMER MEMBERS PROGRAM
The following proceedings were held before the House convened for
morning-hour debate:
United States Association of Former Members of Congress 2018 Annual
Report to Congress
The meeting was called to order by the Honorable Martin Frost, vice
president of the United States Association of Former Members of
Congress Association, at 8 a.m.
prayer
The Chaplain, the Reverend Patrick J. Conroy, offered the following
prayer:
Lord God of history, we thank You for this day when former Members
return to Congress, to continue in a less official manner their service
to our Nation--and to this noble institution.
May their presence here bring a moment of pause, where current
Members consider the profiles they now form for future generations of
Americans.
May all former Members be rewarded for their contributions to this
constitutional Republic and continue to work and pray that the goodness
and justice of this beloved country be proclaimed to the nations.
Bless all former Members who have died since last year's meeting, 17
in all. May their families and their constituents be comforted during a
time of mourning and forever know our gratitude for the sacrifices made
in service to the House.
Finally, bless those here gathered, that they might bring joy and
hope to the present age and supportive companionship to one another.
Together, we call upon Your holy name now and forever.
Amen.
Pledge of Allegiance
The Honorable Martin Frost led the Pledge of Allegiance as follows:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of
America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Mr. FROST. The Chair now recognizes the president of the U.S.
Association of Former Members of Congress, the Honorable Cliff Stearns
of Florida, to address the Members.
Mr. STEARNS. Good morning, and thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you,
Father Conroy, for that wonderful blessed prayer.
It is a distinct pleasure to be here with you this morning, to be
back in this revered Chamber and to see so many of my good friends and
colleagues. So on behalf of the former Members of Congress, I
appreciate the Speaker's invitation to return to this wonderful place
and to present to the Congress the Former Members of Congress' 48th
annual report.
I will be joined by some of my colleagues in reporting on FMC's
activities and vision for our future. I am also submitting for the
Record a more detailed review of our activities for the year 2017.
I. Leadership
President--Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
Vice President--Martin Frost (D-TX)
Secretary--Tim Petri (R-WI)
Treasurer--Karen Thurman (D-FL)
Immediate Past President--Barbara Kennelly (D-CT)
II. Board Members
The Hon. Mary Bono (R-CA)
The Hon. Jack Buechner (R-MO)
The Hon. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY)
The Hon. Bob Carr (D-MI)
The Hon. Bob Clement (D-TN)
The Hon. Jim Courter (R-NJ)
The Hon. Jim Coyne (R-PA)
The Hon. Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
The Hon. Vic Fazio (D-CA)
The Hon. Mike Ferguson (R-NJ)
The Hon. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)
The Hon. Dan Glickman (D-KS)
The Hon. Bart Gordon (D-TN)
The Hon. Lee Hamilton (D-IN)
The Hon. Dennis Hertel (D-MI)
The Hon. Steven Horsford (D-NV)
The Hon. Jim Jones (D-OK)
The Hon. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)
The Hon. Ken Kramer (R-CO)
The Hon. Martin Lancaster (D-NC)
The Hon. Larry LaRocco (D-ID)
The Hon. Dan Maffei (D-NY)
The Hon. Jim Matheson (D-UT)
The Hon. Matthew McHugh (D-NY)
The Hon. Jeff Miller (R-FL)
The Hon. Jim Moran (D-VA)
The Hon. Connie Morella (R-MD)
The Hon. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
The Hon. L.F. Payne (D-VA)
The Hon. Nick Rahall (D-WV)
The Hon. Ron Sarasin (R-CT)
The Hon. Dick Schulze (R-PA)
The Hon. David Skaggs (D-CO)
The Hon. Jim Slattery (D-KS)
The Hon. Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
The Hon. Jim Walsh (R-NY)
The Hon. Ed Whitfield (R-KY)
The Hon. Albert Wynn (D-MD)
III. Staff
Peter M. Weichlein--Chief Executive Officer
Sabine Schleidt--Chief Operating Officer
Sharon West Witiw--Director of Community Outreach
Paul Kincaid--Director of Congressional Outreach
Patrick Egenhofer--Program Manager
Lorraine Harbison--Program Manager
Alexis Terai--Senior Program Officer
Dongwon Kim--Program Officer
Kathy Hunter--Development and Membership Officer
Alia Diamond--Communications Officer
Alexa Etheredge--Fellow
IV. Partners
The Diplomatic Advisory Council (DAC) is an informal body
of current Ambassadors posted in the nation's capital and
serves as a direct outreach to our strategic allies abroad.
All of our programming benefits from the input, guidance, and
participation we receive from the members of DAC.
DAC Members
H.E. Wolfgang Waldner, Ambassador of Austria
H.E. Elfin Suleymanov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan
H.E. Dirk Wouters, Ambassador of Belgium
H.E. Tihomir Stoytchev, Ambassador of the Republic of
Bulgaria
H.E. Lars Gert Lose, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark
H.E. Francisco Borja Cevallos, Ambassador of Ecuador
H.E. David O'Sullivan, European Union Ambassador
H.E. Kirsti Kauppi, Ambassador of Finland
H.E. Emily Haber, Ambassador Designate of the Federal
Republic of Germany
H.E. Geir H. Haarde, Ambassador of Iceland
H.E. Navtej Sarna, Ambassador of India
H.E. Budi Bowoleksono, Ambassador of the Republic of
Indonesia
H.E. Shinsuke J. Sugiyama, Ambassador of Japan
H.E. Cho Yoon-je, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea
H.E. Kurt Jaeger, Ambassador of the Principality of
Liechtenstein
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H.E. Rolandas Krisciunas, Ambassador of the Republic of
Lithuania
H.E. Sylvie Lucas, Ambassador of Luxembourg
H.E. Geronimo Gutierrez Fernandez, Ambassador of Mexico
H.E. Maguy Maccario Doyle, Ambassador of the Principality
of Monaco
H.E. Henne Schuwer, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands
H.E. Tim Groser, Ambassador of New Zealand
H.E. Kare R. Aas, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway
H.E. Hunaina Sultan al-Mughairy, Ambassador of the
Sultanate of Oman
H.E. Domingos Fezas Vital, Ambassador of Portugal
H.E. George Cristian Maior, Ambassador of Romania
H.E. Ashok Kumar Mirpuri, Ambassador of the Republic of
Singapore
H.E. Peter Kmec, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic
H.E. Dr. Martin Dahinden, Ambassador of Switzerland
H.E. Serdar K7l7c, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey
H.E. Pham Quang Vinh, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam
Institutional Partners
Democracy Fund
German Marshall Fund of the United States
Japan-US Friendship Commission
Korea Foundation
The Korea Society
Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
2017 Grantmaking & Program Partners
American Bar Association--Division for Public Education
Atlantik-Brucke I
Bridge Alliance
Campaign for the Civic Mission of School
Committee of 100
Congressional Federal Credit Union
Council of American Ambassadors
Envision
Democracy Fund
Embassy of Federal Republic of Germany
Embassy of Japan
Embassy of Switzerland
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung
German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and the
European Recovery Programme
George Washington University
Hanger
Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung
Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung
Embassy of Japan
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Legacy International
Lou Frey Institute
National Archives and Records Administration
Northrop Grumman
Stennis Center for Public Service
Leadership Embassy of Switzerland
Tee It Up for the Troops
University of Maryland, College of Behavioral and Social
Sciences
University of Maryland
VF Corporation
War Fighters Sports USA
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius
2017 Business Advisory Councils
All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.
Allianz
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
B. Braun Medical, Inc.
Bank of Tokyo--Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
BASF
Bayer
Central Japan Railway Co.
CJ America
Daimler
Deutsche Telekom Inc.
DHL
Evonik Corporation
Fresenius Medical Care North America
Fresenius SE
Gale International
Hitachi, Ltd.
Hyundai Motor Company
Itochu INTERNATIONAL Inc.
Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)
KAI America Inc.
KITA
Lockheed Martin
Lufthansa German Airlines
Marubeni
Michelin NA
Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, Inc.
Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc.
Mizuho Bank, Ltd.
Nissan North America
Nomura
Panasonic Corporation of North America
POSCO America
RatnerPrestia
Representative of German Industry and Trade
Samsung Electronics North America
Sojitz
Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
United Parcel Service
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Sustaining Members
The Hon. Brian Baird (D-WA)
The Hon. Dan Benishek (R-MI)
The Hon. Rich Boucher (D-VA)
The Hon. Dave Camp (R-MI)
The Hon. Ben Chandler (D-KY)
The Hon. Charlie Dent (R-PA)
The Hon. Sam Farr (D-CA)
The Hon. Martin Frost (D-TX)
The Hon. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)
The Hon. Bart Gordon (D-TN)
The Hon. John Kline (R-MN)
The Hon. Jim Matheson (D-UT)
The Hon. Jim McDermott (D-WA)
The Hon. Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
The Hon. Tim Murphy (R-PA)
The Hon. Jeff Miller (R-FL)
The Hon. Jim Moran (D-VA)
The Hon. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
The Hon. Tim Petri (R-WI)
The Hon. Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
The Hon. John Tanner (D-TN)
V. Events/Programs (2017-2018)
January 2017
Jan. 11--CSGG: Lunch discussion with Daimler leaders
Jan. 12--CSGJ: Dinner with the Chairman and President of
Sasakawa Peace Foundation
Jan. 19--Former Members speak with students at Osgood
Center
Jan. 31--CSG: Democratic Co-Chairs discussion: 115th
Congress: Priorities for the Minority
February 2017
Feb. 6--CSGJ: Ambassador Sasae welcomes the New Members of
the 115th Congress
Feb. 6--CSGG: Bilateral Discussion for AmCham delegation
Feb. 16--Committee of 100 Panel: After the Pivot, What's
Next for US-Asia Relations?
Feb. 18-25--CSGJ: Member Study Tour to Tokyo and Nagoya
Feb. 22-24--Congress to Campus: Millersville University
Feb. 26-28--Congress to Campus: Middle Tennessee State
University
Feb. 27--CSG: Dinner hosted by the Ambassador of South
Korea
March 2017
Mar. 5-7--Congress to Campus: United States Naval Academy
Mar. 5-11--Congress to Campus: United Kingdom
Mar. 8--Congress to Campus: Penn State University, Erie
Mar. 15--Former members speak to the ABA National Civics
and Law Academy students
Mar. 16--Congress to Campus: University of Maryland
Mar. 17--Former Members Speak to students at the Washington
Center
Mar. 17-23--CSGG: District Director Study Tour to
Stuttgart, Germany
Mar. 21--Former members speak with professors visiting from
Japan
Mar. 27-29--Congress to Campus: Cumberland University
Mar. 30--Former Members speak with Korean business leaders
Mar. 30--Congress to Campus Webinar
Mar. 20--Annual Statesmanship Awards Dinner
April 2017
Apr. 2-4--Congress to Campus: St. Bonaventure University
Apr. 6--CSGG: Trade and Manufacturing in the Digital Age
Apr. 13--Regional Meeting in Chicago, IL
Apr. 25--CSG: Tax and trade in the 115th Congress
Apr. 25--Former Members speak with the Emerging Young
leaders program fellows
Apr. 26--Former Members speak at UMD Civil Rights Symposium
May 2017
May 1--Former Members roundtable with Legacy International
Fellows
May 2--CSGG: President Trump's Trade Agenda discussion with
AmCham
May 3--CSGJ: Science and Technology conversation with
Japanese Diet Members
May 6-12--CSGG: Senior Congressional Staff Study Tour to
Berlin and Dusseldorf, Germany.
May 16-19--District Director Study Tour to Houston, TX
May 16--Former Members meet with Bob Walker Fellows
May 23--CSGG: German Minister of Economic Affairs and
Energy Conversation
May 27-June 3--34th Annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar in
Hamburg and Berlin, Germany
May 27-June 3--CSGJ: Senior Congressional Staff Study Tour
to Tokyo and Nagoya, Japan
June 2017
June 1--National Archives Panel: Congressional Reform
June 7--CSGG: Lufthansa chair and CEO Roundtable
June 9-11--CSGJ: Retreat for Chief of Staffs of the new
Members of the 114th and 115th Congress
June 26--Former Members speak to middle school students
visiting Washington D.C.
July 2017
July 10--Former Members speak with middle school students
visiting D.C.
July 11--14--District Director Study Tour to Boston, MA
July 14--CSGJ: Conversation with Budget Committee from
Japanese Diet
July 14--FMC Regional Meeting in Boston, MA
July 17--The Members: FMC's 10th Annual Congressional
Charity Golf Tournament
July 17--Former Members speak with middle school student
visiting Washington D.C.
July 18--ROK Roundtable: ``Future of U.S.--Korea
Relations''
July 19--Former Members discussion ``The State of U.S.
Politics'' One Year into the Trump Administration
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July 20--CSGJ co-chairs speak with visiting Japanese
Professors and the Chiefs who traveled to Japan
July 20--Congressional Staffers speak with interns
July 24--Former Members speak with middle school students
visiting Washington D.C.
September 2017
Sept. 5--CSGE: Dinner hosted by Danish Ambassador
Sept. 11--CSGG: Roundtable Discussion with Federation of
German Industries
Sept. 12-14--Congress to Campus Penn State University
Sept. 25--Former Members speak at local high school
Sept. 25--CSGJ: Dinner with Business Advisory Council
Sept. 26--Former members on a panel discussing effective
lawmaking
Sept. 26--Former Members host delegation of former EU
parliamentarians
Sept. 26--CSGG: Discussion featuring Ambassador Wittig of
Germany
Sept. 27--FMC Annual Meeting
Sept. 27-29--Congress to Campus: Millikin University
Sept. 27--Memorial Service in Statuary Hall hosted by FMC/
FMCA
October 2017
Oct. 1-7--District Director Study Tour to Iceland
October 5--DAC an evening with Ambassador of Finland
Oct. 8-10--Congress to Campus: Indiana State University
Oct. 11--Former Members Discussion with U.S. Embassy in
Turkey
Oct. 11--Mini Congress to Campus: Lutheran College
Washington Semester
October 12--CSGG co-chairs meet with German visitors
Oct. 14-18--CSGE: Member Study Tour to Geneva, Bern, and
Zurich Switzerland
Oct. 15-17--Congress to Campus: Rhode Island College
Oct. 14-20--CSGG: Senior Congressional Staff Study Tour to
Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany
Oct. 14--Congress to Campus: United States Naval Academy
Oct. 16--Former Member roundtable with North African
Professional Fellows
Oct. 26--CSGJ: Breakfast with Governor Omura of Aichi
Prefecture
Oct 22-24--Congress to Campus visit to the Naval Academy
November 2017
Nov. 2--Breakfast Discussion with Committee of 100: China,
North Korea and President Trump's trip to Asia
Nov. 5-11--Congress to Campus: United Kingdom
Nov. 6--CSGJ: Dinner discussion with former Members ``One
Year After November 8, 2016''
Nov. 7--An evening with former Members discussing NAFTA
Nov. 16--National Archives Panel: Vietnam 50 years: Lessons
Learned and Lessons Ignored''
Nov. 29--DAC Dinner: The Future of NAFTA hosted by Mexico/
Canada
December 2017
Dec. 13--CSG: ``The Future of NAFTA'' Roundtable Discussion
Dec. 14--Appreciation Reception for Friends of FMC hosted
by H.E. Sylvie Lucas, Ambassador of Luxembourg to the U.S.
January 2018
January 8--Dinner with Retiring Members of Congress
January 11--Former Members speak to college students
visiting DC
February 2018
Feb. 1--National Archives panel: Meet the Better Half:
Congressional Families
Feb. 5--Farewell Reception for Japanese Ambassador
Feb. 6--Roll out Reception for the Congressional Study
Group on Korea
Feb. 11-13--Congress to Campus Denison University
Feb. 11-13--Congress to Campus Millersville University
Feb. 13--Dinner with Retiring Members of Congress
Feb. 25-17--Congress to Campus: Hobart and William Smith
Colleges
Feb. 26-28--Congress to Campus: Suffolk Univ.
Feb. 27--Coffee with Senator Cardin
Feb. 27--Discussion: The rebalance of global Energy after
the Shale Revolution
March 2018
March 4-10--Congress to Campus UK
March 4-6--Congress to Campus Naval Academy
March 13--Former Members speaking to high school students
visiting DC
March 13--Embassy Discussion: The American Korean
Relationship in a Dynamic Security Environment
March 19-21--Congress to Campus visit to Ohio State
University
March 21--Statesmanship Awards Dinner
March 22--A conversation with former Members ``Perspectives
on US domestic politics, US-Korea Trade and Security
April 2018
April 2-4--Congress to Campus: Georgia College and State
University
April 5--Breakfast discussion with Michelin North America
April 6-11--District Director Study Tour to Ireland/North
Ireland
April 13-19, 2018--District Director Study Tour to Germany
Leipzig and Dresden, Germany
April 15-17, 2018--FMC--Congress to Campus--Bonaventure
University
April 17, 2018--CSGK: Breakfast with KITA chairman
April 22-24, 2018--Congress to Campus: Napa Valley
Community College
April 24th--``The 18 Midterms: U.S. Politics in an Election
Year''
April 24th 10:30-11:30--Congress to Campus High School
Webinar
April 27th--Infrastructure in the 115th discussion
April 28-May 5, 2018--CSGK Member Study Tour
May 2018
May 3, 2018--Fms Roundtable with visiting Russian
delegation
May 4, 2018: FMC--Legacy International Congressional
Roundtable and tour
May 10, 2018, 6:30 PM--SAC: Reception ``An Evening with
Ambassador Jha''
May 15th 9:00-10:30AM--Meet with Bob Walker Fellows
May 17th--CSGJ BAC: Prospects for the Midterm Election
May 18--Panel discussion: unseen benefits of Congressional
Travel
May 20-21-- District Director Symposium
May 22--Panel discussion: Leaving the Iran Deal:
Implications for the World
May 23--C-100: Breakfast on Trade and Economic Relations
May 26-June 2, 2018--6th Annual Senior Congressional Staff
Study Tour to Japan
June 2018
June 4--Dutch Senior Civil Service briefing with Former
Members
June 7--District Director Fly-in (Republican)
June 8-10--CSGJ Chief of Staff Retreat on Asia
June 11-12--FMC/CSGJ--``Bringing Washington to New York''
in cooperation with Mizuho
June 12, 2018--Envision: Former Members meet with Middle
School Students visiting D.C. on the House Floor
June 13, 2018--FMC/C-100: China Breakfast
June 14--Congressional Baseball Game
June 14, 2018--Midterm Election Analysis--Democrats
June 16-June 24, 2018--District Director Trip to Japan
(with JUSFC) Tokyo, Sendai, and Fukushima, Japan
June 19, 2018--Envision: Former Members meet with Middle
School Students visiting D.C. on the House Floor
June 20, 2018--NARA: Citizen Engagement in America's
History
June 21, 2018--Midterm Election Analysis--Republicans 8:00-
9:15 am
June 25, 2018--Envision: Former Members meet with Middle
School Students visiting D.C. on the House Floor
June 25-26, 2018--Annual Meeting and FMC Board Meeting
June 14, 2018--Midterm Election Analysis--Democrats
June 21, 2018--Midterm Election Analysis--Republicans
June 16-June 24, 2018--District Director Trip to Japan
(with JUSFC)
June 25--CSGK: Post US-DPRK Summit: Lessons Learned and
Next Steps discussion with Dr. Victor D. Chao and Amb. Mark
Lippert
June 26, 2018--FMC/Envision: Former Members meet with
Middle School Students visiting D.C. on the House Floor
Mr. FROST. Now, I would like to ask the Clerk to call the roll.
The Clerk called the roll and the following former Members answered
``present'':
Mr. Boustany of Louisiana
Mr. Buechner of Missouri
Mr. Carnahan of Missouri
Mr. Clement of Tennessee
Mr. Davis of Tennessee
Mr. DioGuardi of New York
Mr. Frost of Texas
Mr. Gingrey of Georgia
Mr. Hochbrueckner of New York
Ms. Kennelly of Connecticut
Mr. Konnyu of California
Mr. Kramer of Colorado
Mr. Moran of Virginia
Mr. Murphy of Pennsylvania
Mr. Nethercutt of Washington
Mr. Neugebauer of Texas
=========================== NOTE ===========================
June 26, 2018, on page H5658, the following appeared: Mr. Murphy
of Pennsylvania Mr. Neugebauer of Texas
The online version has been corrected to read: Mr. Murphy of
Pennsylvania Mr. Nethercutt of Washington Mr. Neugebauer of Texas
========================= END NOTE =========================
Mr. Payne of Virginia
Mr. Rahall of West Virginia
Mr. Stearns of Florida
Mr. Walsh of New York
Mr. Weller of Illinois
Mr. FROST. The Chair announces that 21 former Members of Congress
have responded to their names.
Mr. STEARNS. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks again to all of you
for joining us this wonderful morning.
As I prepared for today's report, it has brought back many happy
memories, as I am sure it does for you, too. I served in Congress 24
years.
One image I keep honing in on is the image you currently have as you
are looking at me: the quote by Daniel Webster inscribed directly
behind the Speaker's chair: ``Let us develop the resources of our land,
call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its
greatest interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation,
may not perform something worthy to be remembered.''
For all of us, service in this remarkable building was the pinnacle
of our
[[Page H5659]]
professional lives, and I know that for each and every one of us, there
is a memory of something ``worthy to be remembered.'' Whether it was a
groundbreaking piece of legislation or simply a constituent and how we
changed their life by helping them, by serving in Congress, we were
given the opportunity to serve our country and its citizens.
I am very proud that, through the former Members of Congress, we can
continue, in a small but yet larger measure, the public service that
brought us to Congress in the first place. It is, therefore, a great
honor in my capacity as president to report on the former Members of
Congress' activities for 2017 and 2018.
We are a very small group of nonprofits that have a congressional
charter, and as such, we are required to report to Congress every year
on our past activities. I will give a broad review of our past work and
will submit for the Record a more detailed written report.
Our association was founded in 1970 and chartered by Congress 13
years later, in 1983. We are completely bipartisan and see our mission
as informing about Congress and bridging the political divide. That
mission has translated into programs that bring former Members together
with student audiences across this country, focussing on civics and
public service. We also further our mission by creating programs and
study missions involving current Members of Congress on a bipartisan
basis.
This work over the years has been extended to now also include
congressional staff, both from the D.C. offices as well as the district
directors across the Nation. We are successful because Republicans and
Democrats, whether former Members or current Members, come together in
a bipartisan way with a willingness to work together for the common
good.
We are proud to have been chartered by Congress, and we are equally
proud that absolutely no taxpayer dollar is earmarked or expended to
make our programs possible. Everything FMC does is financed through
grants and sponsorship, our membership dues, and, of course, our annual
fundraising gala, the Statesmanship Awards Dinner.
Our colleague Martin Frost, sitting behind me in the Speaker's chair,
led our fundraising efforts for the most recent gala dinner at the
Mellon Auditorium, and I am extremely pleased to report that, thanks to
Martin's leadership and the incredible efforts of a great many former
Members, we had our most successful fundraising dinner by far last
March. We surpassed our previous year's record by $200,000.
So, thank you, Martin, for being the captain of our fundraising
effort.
My colleagues, thanks to his success as well as our 4-year
fundraising efforts, I can report to Congress and the FMC membership
that our finances are very sound, our projects are fully funded, and
our most recent annual audit by our outside accountant confirmed we are
running FMC in a fiscally sound, responsible, and transparent manner.
And let me stress again that no taxpayer dollars are earmarked for
our work, and everything that we do is self-funded.
Let me stress, also, that none of our programs involve any kind of
honorarium or fee paid to former Members for their participation. We
are successful because former Representatives and Senators come
together, across party lines, for the good of our organization, and
they do so in a pro bono basis. They believe in our mission, and they
continue to have the public servant's heart.
Former Members of Congress, in 2017, donated to FMC over 7,000 hours
of energy, wisdom, mentoring, and expertise without receiving any
compensation for it. Their only remuneration is the knowledge that they
are giving back, that serving in Congress was a unique privilege, and
that it comes with the mandate to encourage and empower the next
generation.
So on behalf of FMC, I want to thank all of our colleagues who have
contributed their time and expertise to make FMC such a great success.
Thank you very much.
We are extremely proud of our nearly 50-year history creating lasting
and impactful programs that teach about Congress and representative
government at home and abroad.
Let me now give you a brief overview of 2017 and also a vision of
2018 and beyond.
In 2017 and 2018, FMC staff has conceived, organized, advertised, and
implemented an astonishing 85 events to move our mission forward. These
ranged from meeting with middle school students right here in the House
Chamber to talk to them about the many responsibilities of Members of
Congress, to week-long study missions where current Member delegations,
split evenly between the parties, traveled to countries including
Germany, Japan, and Korea, to study issues on trade and security.
Our programming has included hundreds of current Members, former
Members, senior congressional staff, and district directors. They work
with us because they know we are completely bipartisan, 100 percent
nonadvocacy, and we seek to tell the positive story of our
extraordinary representative democracy. Allow me to share with you some
highlights of our work.
You will hear more details about our congressional study groups in a
second, but for 2017, we are proudest of the creation of our newest
study group: the Congressional Study Group on Korea. It shows how
timely and right-from-the-headlines our work is.
The Korea program was conceived in 2017 and supported by a number of
Capitol Hill events to gauge its relevancy. Then, in February of this
year, we felt the time was right to officially launch this newest study
group. We have already sent to Korea a codel under the study group's
umbrella.
The Korea program now joins our other longstanding international
projects: the Congressional Study Group on Germany, the Congressional
Study Group on Japan, and the Congressional Study Group on Europe.
In addition to numerous Capitol Hill events, over the past 12 months,
we have sent seven congressional delegations overseas, some for current
Members, others for chiefs of staff, and a number for just the district
directors--and, of course, all bipartisan.
The purpose of these trips is to educate our participants on specific
issues affecting U.S. international relations, mostly trade and
security questions. An important side effect is the possibility of
building across-the-aisle relationships to create a network of peers
that transcends party labels and partisanship. All of these trips, of
course, go through the rigorous process of the ethics review, and we
ensure 100 percent compliance with all regulations governing travel by
Members or staff.
These international projects are just one component of our work to
create bipartisan relationships and to strengthen our representative
democracy. Domestically, the main focus of our work is connecting
citizens with their government, highlighting the responsibilities of
citizenship, and dispelling many of the myths that are out there when
it comes to the United States Congress.
First and foremost, we are incredibly proud of our Congress to Campus
Program. Now, for over 30 years, we have sent a bipartisan team of
former Members to meet with university students across this country.
These are not simple meet-and-greet events where the Members drop in
for a quick speech with some questions and answers. Instead, these
visits are a 3-day commitment by our former Members team so that the
university can make the best possible use of FMC as a resource. We now
average about 30 visits during the academic year, which is incredible,
given that as recently as 15 years ago, we averaged only 5.
As I have said during previous meetings, the Congress to Campus
Program was near extinct until our colleague David Skaggs gave it some
much, much-needed leadership.
We work hand in glove with each university so that each visit is
tailored specifically to the school's needs and curriculum. Our
colleagues walk into different classroom settings throughout the day,
sometimes engaging in discussions about U.S. foreign policy, at other
times focussing on questions such as money in politics.
The outcome of each Congress to Campus visit is twofold: one, to
showcase a partisan, yet respectful debate on the issues of day; and to
encourage the next generation a respect for public service that may
translate into future work on Capitol Hill.
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We have reached thousands upon thousands of students through our own
polling, and our own polling can demonstrate that we are making a
positive difference when it comes to attitudes about Congress and our
elected officials. You will hear more about this and our other civic
education activities and initiatives when I yield to our colleague
George Nethercutt in just a short while.
Our work to reconnect citizens with their government takes many
different forms. For example, we have a longstanding partnership with
the National Archives, bringing former Members of Congress and other
issue experts together with the public for a conversation about issues
that affect all of us.
For example, just last week, we hosted a conversation about citizen
engagement, where a panel included Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton
speaking about her engagement in the civil rights movement, as well as
Sarah Lerner and Rain Valladares from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida. Former Members Jane Harman and Tim Petri
were joined by Congressman Ted Deutch to give their insights how
grassroots movements affect those serving all of us in Congress.
What I have described so far is just a small part of the work we have
done on our membership's behalf. And while programs such as Congress to
Campus or the Congressional Study Group on Germany are longstanding
undertakings that we have offered to the public for decades, they,
along with our other existing projects, all were infused with a new
energy, a new vision and enthusiasm, thanks to the extensive strategic
planning process I briefed you on last year.
Let me thank Mark Sobol, a highly respected expert in the field of
strategic planning and organization management, who donated to us
completely free of charge his tremendous expertise to help us achieve
the next level in professionalism and impact. He helped us craft an
extremely thoughtful and visionary strategic plan, which the FMC board
approved a little over a year ago. Since then, the effect of this
incredibly important exercise can be felt in all aspects of our
organization today.
We, our board of directors, and the exceptional FMC staff have made
great strides in implementing this plan, for example, when it comes to
branding FMC as a unique authority on Congress, unparalleled in our
experience and expertise. We now have a much more focused media
strategy. We have unified our current Member programming with our
former Member programming under one logo and one recognizable brand and
are much better at pushing out our message of bipartisanship using
social media, for example.
I am also more than pleased to report to you that a brand new website
showcasing our new logo and new look will go live on July Fourth. This
has been a major focus of mine during my 2 years as FMC's president,
and I am simply gratified and thrilled that through a lot of hard work
it is coming to fruition with the new website, which will reflect much
more accurately the vibrant and impactful organization that we have
become.
I am very excited about the future of this organization, obviously.
My 2 years as president have been incredibly rewarding, and I look
forward to supporting my good friend Martin Frost as his term of
presidency begins.
Our bylaws add the immediate past president to the executive
committee, so that there is a continuity from one president to the
next. So it will be great fun to transition into that role, plus it
will free up my calendar a little bit. As Martin will soon discover,
being FMC President is akin to a second full-time job.
As I look at FMC's future, some very exciting initiatives stand out.
We have begun finding ways to take FMC out of the D.C. bubble in an
effort to serve a larger constituency and also to have more impact with
parts of the country that may feel disconnected from this
representative government.
In the future, we will increase this effort by working much more
closely with former Members all over the country. This will involve
regional meetings such as the ones we hosted last year in Boston and
Chicago, and this year in Orlando and New York.
In addition, we include in these regional activities the greater
congressional family, which means that when we gather former Members in
one part of the country, we will strive to include the district
directors of the local Representatives or Senators, as well as local
NGO's focused on our government, and local civic organizations.
We expand our regional footprint by translating Congress to Campus to
other audiences, including high school and middle school kids, as well
as corporate headquarters or international organizations.
For 2018 and beyond, we will build up our newest domestic program,
the American Democracy in Civics Initiative. We are deeply concerned
about the state of civic education in this country, and we strongly
believe that FMC needs to take a leadership role in bringing civic
education to the next generation of America's leaders.
This initiative will serve as the umbrella under which existing
programs, such as Congress to Campus or our National Archives panels,
will be joined by new projects, for example, The Legacy Program, which
will interview retiring Members of Congress to create an oral history
of all those who have served in the House and the Senate.
Just adding up the years of experience of these current Members who
have announced their retirement or have lost their primaries leading up
to the 2018 midterms, we are faced with over 1,000 years of combined
institutional knowledge walking out the door. FMC sees it as a major
responsibility to future generations that this knowledge is recorded
and properly archived.
We will also increase our use of modern technology to better
communicate our message and to find ways to engage the next generation
that clearly has a very different understanding of where they get their
information and how they communicate with each other. To do so, we will
initiate a podcast series in 2019 where former Members can speak on a
specific issue of the day, but also share some of their very unique
insights when it comes to just simply serving in Congress.
In addition, through webcasting, we will reach out to the vast
audience of college students we have engaged via our Congress to Campus
Program so that a visit by our bipartisan team has continued effect.
So as you can see, my colleagues, the future for FMC is incredibly
bright. We are energized, and we are having tremendous success for
three reasons. One I have already mentioned, which is the outstanding
work our board and staff has done with Mark Sobol to solidify our
mission, spell out our achievable goals, and strategize on how to best
move FMC forward.
The second reason is our amazing group of partners. These are the
corporations that donate to us, especially via the Statesmanship Awards
Dinner, because they believe in our purpose and recognize the positive
impact we are having. These partners also include outstanding grant-
giving entities: the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, the German Marshall
Fund, the Hewlett Foundation's Madison Initiative, the Democracy Fund,
the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, the Korea Foundation, and the
Korea Society, just to name a few. They believe in our capabilities and
are giving us the opportunity to grow and long-lasting programming.
Obviously, we appreciate their support very much.
The third and most important reason is you, my fellow Members,
Members of Congress, former Members, who donated to us your time, your
expertise, your wisdom, and your leadership, and as I mentioned
earlier, over 7,000 hours of combined former Members' time donated pro
bono by our membership. I thank all of you for that.
I have to warn you, our demand on your time and good will is only
increasing. As we all know, there are many challenges our Nation faces,
and FMC can play a pivotal role in bringing folks together for these
challenges. This Nation's strength has always been found in its ability
to unite and move the country forward for the greater good.
FMC, like no other organization, can build a bridge between Democrats
and Republicans, build bridges between those being represented and
those doing the representing, and build bridges between one generation
of public servants and the next. To do so will require more and more of
your commitment to our work, and I am sure
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former Members of Congress will rise to the challenge.
In addition, in anticipation of your support, I thank you from the
bottom of my heart as I pass the mantle to our new president, Martin
Frost.
Before getting to the business of electing our new officers and board
Members, I do want to recognize two of my colleagues to give you just a
little bit more detail about our domestic and international programs.
I first invite George Nethercutt of Washington to focus on FMC's
civic education work. He will be followed by Charles Boustany of
Louisiana to speak about our international programs.
Mr. NETHERCUTT. Mr. Speaker, former colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
I want to thank you, Cliff, for the opportunity to make some remarks on
a topic that is incredibly important and is near and dear to my heart:
our Nation's woeful attitude toward civic education.
FMC, its board, and its staff are as concerned as I am when it comes
to the civic knowledge--or, more specifically, the lack of civic
knowledge--that is exhibited by many of our fellow citizens,
particularly the young. We as an organization have made restoring civic
education one of the cornerstones of our mission and strategic plan. I
am, therefore, honored to be back in this Chamber representing FMC in
describing our new initiative to restore and renew the essential civic
mission of our Nation's schools.
Civic education, simply defined, is the act of providing the
essential civic knowledge of how our system of government operates at
all levels and the critical role all citizens play in our
representative democracy.
Civic education provides our youth with the civic skills they need to
effectively engage in civic affairs and civic education to help youth
develop a disposition to participate in the civic life of our
communities, their State, and our Nation. This is the historic civic
mission of our Nation's schools, a mission nearly as old as our
Republic.
How well are we as a nation meeting this critical mission? By any
objective measure, not well. If I were to grade us as a nation in
meeting this important task, I would have to give us a C-minus or a D.
On the only reliable national measure of student attainment of civic
knowledge, the National Assessments of Educational Progress in civics,
NAEP, scores have been flat for 20 years, with barely a quarter of
students able to show a proficient knowledge in this area so critical
to our Nation's future.
An overemphasis on the STEM subjects over the past two decades has
significantly reduced the instructional time for civics in almost every
school. Where most States used to require two to three distinct civics
courses, today, most only mandate one, and nine States don't have any
requirements that students take a civics course to graduate from high
school.
In the elementary grades, instruction in the entirety of the social
studies has been reduced to a paltry 18 minutes, a week on average.
That is not enough.
The results of this neglect of civic education are stark:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans cannot name all three branches of
government, yet three in four people can name the names of all Three
Stooges.
Only about 29 percent of eligible Americans participated in the 2016
primary elections.
Americans distrust the government at record levels, and they also
distrust their fellow citizens to participate in governance. According
to The Pew Research Center: ``Just 34 percent say they have `very
great' or a `good deal' of trust and confidence in the political wisdom
of the American people. Fully, 63 percent have `not very much'
confidence or `no confidence at all.' '' That is also a bad statistic.
And most alarming, in a 2016 survey, nearly a quarter of young
Americans said they think that a democratic form of government is bad
or very bad. That is also a terrible statistic.
These are among the many reasons FMC has partnered with the Lou Frey
Institute of Politics and Government at the University of Central
Florida--and Doug Dobson is here--and the Campaign for the Civic
Mission of Schools--Ted McConnell is here, and they both head up these
efforts--to strengthen and improve civic education for all students in
every school in the Nation.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel focused on civics
during the FMC's annual meeting. Many of you were in attendance, and I
thank you for participating in this incredibly important dialogue. We
brought together some of the leaders in this space, all of whom
represent outstanding organizations with which FMC seeks to partner as
we engage former Members for our civics cause.
One of the things we certainly learned during the panel discussion is
that today's definition of civic education is no longer the one our
grandparents or our parents used. We need to think about civics in
broader terms and include in civics education ways to find fact-based
information, ways to discern fact from fiction, fake news from real
news, and also ways to have productive and respectful debates on the
issues that concern all of us--civility, if you will.
I want to thank our outstanding panelists for their insight and
thought-provoking analysis. The panel included Beth Caron of the
National Governors Association; Louise Dube, who is the executive
director of iCivics, Justice O'Connor's organization, former Supreme
Court Justice O'Connor; from the Library of Congress, we had Colleen
Shogan, who is doing fascinating research on Congress and social media;
and my old friend, my dear friend, Ted McConnell, who has spent much of
his professional life fighting the good fight when it comes to
restoring civic education across the Nation. Thanks, Ted.
As I said earlier, FMC seeks to play a crucial leadership role when
it comes to strengthening civic education in the United States. We
already have a long and proud track record of connecting the next
generation with their representative democracy through our wonderful
Congress to Campus program. It is a great program. Our bipartisan teams
reach thousands of students throughout the year, and students is the
place where civic education can best be found and emphasized.
But this work has proven to be not enough. FMC needs to double, if
not triple, its efforts on this issue, and we need former Members in
all parts of the Nation representing all different political
persuasions to step up to the plate and lend us their time, their
expertise, and their leadership.
FMC has commenced the American Democracy and Civics Initiative, which
will continue to build upon the success of Congress to Campus and
expand that model to other audiences, both student and adult. In
addition, through this program, we will host Capitol Hill events to
engage current Members on this issue and also to send to different
parts of the country bipartisan congressional delegations which will
meet with a wide variety of voter groups. This will be a combined
former Member and current Member effort, and I thank Representatives
Joe Kennedy from Massachusetts and Rodney Davis from Illinois for
agreeing to co-chair this project here in the House.
Our vision also includes creating an ongoing program that will bring
civics teachers from across the country to Washington, D.C., for a
total immersion experience to learn about Congress and its role vis-a-
vis the judiciary and the executive branches. And most importantly, we
are actively recruiting former Members from both parties to take a
leadership role in their communities and States, to work with local
NGOs that need their help, and to be a resource to State legislatures
as they seek to strengthen their civic education requirements. It is
incredibly important. That is why we had the National Governors
Association there yesterday to talk about this effort.
Former Members of Congress can play a significant role in restoring
the essential civic mission of our schools. Former Congressman Lou Frey
and former Senator Bob Graham teamed up to pass legislation in Florida
that is revolutionizing middle school civics and serves as a model for
all the States thanks to Doug Dobson. These are strong campaigns for
more and better civics in a number of States. Former Members can and
are engaging in these efforts, lending their expertise, contacts that
they have, and time.
In States where there is currently no active effort to improve civic
education, former Members can start one--
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that is up to you all--working with civic education and civic
engagement organizations. Former Members can and should visit schools
to offer real-life civics lessons to students. These students rely on
former Members. They have a great reputation, and the former Members
can provide assistance to these students.
Former Members can help teachers better understand the legislative
process, too, so they can teach about the legislative branch with more
confidence. Former Members can use their ``bully pulpit'' to issue
public calls for more and better civic learning through op-eds and
interviews. I have done it. It is easy to do. Papers will accept your
submissions.
Following this presentation, we will be having a reception where
leaders from the Lou Frey Institute and the Campaign for the Civic
Mission of Schools, Doug Dobson and Ted McConnell, will be on hand to
provide more information on how former Members can get engaged in their
States.
I hope that all of you will join us for this reception, learn more
about the productive role that former Members can play, and sign up for
the cause.
We all remember Benjamin Franklin's charge to each generation at the
close of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He said to a woman who
asked him: Mr. Franklin, what have you created?
He said: A democracy, Madam, if you can keep it.
And it is up to all of us to keep this Republic. Providing effective
civic education to each generation is an essential part of keeping Dr.
Franklin's charge. We have to provide that. And so it is up to each of
us to keep and renew and pass along this greatest experience in self-
governance in the history of mankind. Please join us within this
crusade.
Cliff has asked me to yield some of my time to Charles Boustany from
Louisiana to share with the membership an update on our international
work, which I will gladly do.
I thank you very much for your time and your attention, and I now
yield the floor to Charles Boustany.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Ladies and gentlemen, more than 40 years ago, our
colleagues, led by Lee Hamilton, realized that our organization offered
a very unique resource to those who still serve our country in this
Capitol, on this floor, and in the United States Senate. We could bring
the institutional memory and the understanding of a Member of Congress
regarding this country's foreign policy decisions that would not be
limited or beholden to the idea of focussing on the next election. That
is the focus of our congressional study groups.
Many of us have often heard the expression, and I think it is
attributed to Arthur Vandenberg, that ``politics stops at the water's
edge.'' Unfortunately, for too many who serve in Congress, interest and
curiosity about our national policies and priorities also ends as the
waters lap our shores.
We have long felt protected by the oceans that define our hemisphere.
For some Members, that has created the luxury of a focus solely on
domestic policies. Information, real information, about our neighbors,
our allies, and the billions who live outside our Nation comes from gut
instinct or old beliefs.
FMC decided, those many decades ago now, that this is not acceptable.
We created the Congressional Study Group on Germany, which was followed
by a group focused on Japan, then one on Europe, and finally, this past
year, the Congressional Study Group on Korea, which was received with
great fanfare.
We sought to leverage the experience and networks created by former
Members to provide a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy resource for active
Members and staff in Congress. Small, informal programs on Capitol Hill
and travel opportunities bring the realities of these countries, and
our relationships with them as Americans, into relief. We also
introduce Members and staff to their peers overseas.
FMC understands that, more than anything, meeting face-to-face with
our partners overseas to face global problems and having a person-to-
person, legislator-to-legislator discussion can result in a solution to
more of the challenges we face than any other factor. The bottom line
is it always comes down to personal relationships.
I would like to share a little bit about what each of our
congressional study groups have done this year and what we will do in
coming months both to advance this mutual understanding and to advance
the strategic goals of FMC.
The Congressional Study Group on Germany is, of course, our oldest
study group. This year, elections were held at a time when Germany
became even more critical to a rapidly changing Europe, and we heard a
little bit about this yesterday.
It was into this dynamic atmosphere that FMC sent several delegations
in the past year. This year, travel focused on much of the northern and
eastern portions of Germany. In October of 2017, bipartisan chiefs of
staff from offices of the House traveled to Berlin and Frankfurt.
Meeting with government officials, journalists, civil society, and
students, they learned about the challenges facing modern Germany and
the mutual challenges faced by the United States and Germany.
In April of this year, the Congressional Study Group on Germany
continued outreach to a previously underutilized part of the
congressional family: district directors. A bipartisan group of
district directors traveled with FMC to Berlin and Leipzig, learning
about lessons about workforce development revolutions sweeping through
Germany that could have immediate impacts here in the United States.
The past year, of course, was full of turmoil in the Pacific as well,
resulting in substantial Capitol Hill programming conducted by the
Congressional Study Group on Japan. As concerned about China and the
future of American trade in the region continued to mount, FMC hosted
several bipartisan discussions on the TPP-11, tariffs, and other
potential trade issues affecting the region.
Ambassadors from both Canada and Mexico spoke at a dinner for Members
of Congress about trade and the importance of multilateral trade
agreements. It was the first time that those two leaders had appeared
together, speaking to Members, at a single event.
Within the last month, more than a dozen chiefs of staff, district
directors, and State directors from the House and Senate, on a
bipartisan basis, traveled to Japan to meet with government officials,
including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's personal speechwriter.
They had a unique opportunity to visit the Fukushima Nuclear Power
Plant, learning more about the cleanup that is occurring, and the
gratitude felt by the Japanese in the region toward America's response
to this disaster.
FMC continued the cornerstone foreign travel program of the Study
Group on Japan, sending our two co-chairs, Congresswoman Diana DeGette
and Congressman Billy Long, to Japan with a bipartisan delegation that
met with Prime Minister Abe during the Korean Summer Olympics. Members
discussed the Korean Peninsula and the continued focus on trans-Pacific
trade before visiting American servicemen and -women at the Yokosuka
Naval Base.
Our engagement with Europe during that study group has also focused
on some of the tremendous changes occurring on the continent and in the
United Kingdom. As Brexit comes closer to reality and the swing toward
rightwing politics continues its spread throughout both Eastern and
Western Europe, the Study Group on Europe focused on ensuring the
congressional family has a full understanding of the challenges facing
our allies, Russia, and all the countries in the region.
Six Members of Congress visited Switzerland toward the end of last
year, meeting with the President of the Swiss Federation and touring
several facilities in Switzerland that have created incredible job
training programs, including Nestle, whose work with apprenticeships
has become one of the gold standards in the industry.
Our outreach to Europe has also continued through the study groups'
Diplomatic Advisory Council, a group of more than three dozen Embassies
and Ambassadors who have agreed to serve as a sounding board for FMC
events, attend programming, and to open their doors to events hosted
for the congressional family. That council has been expanded in the
past year, and we will continue to work to make certain we
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are engaging with as many nations as possible.
Finally, the Congressional Study Group on Korea was launched this
year, beginning with a very large reception on Capitol Hill attended by
more than 100 staff and Members of Congress. That rollout was followed
by the recruitment of more than two dozen Members of Congress and seven
new members of the Business Advisory Council, whose members are anxious
to support programming focused on the Korean Peninsula and its role in
Asia.
Earlier this year, a five-member team traveled to meet President Moon
and to tour Korea production facilities. The members were the first
American Government officials to travel to the region following the
historic summit at Panmunjom between the leaders of North Korea and
South Korea.
In the coming weeks and months, we will focus on creating programming
that targets not only the ``news of the day'' events, but on creating
an understanding of longer term issues that define the relationship
between the United States and our foreign allies.
Mr. FROST. I would ask that the gentleman suspend for just a moment.
I know he is near the end of his report. We have been joined by the
Speaker of the House.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I don't want to cut him off.
Mr. FROST. He will come back.
We have been joined by the Speaker of the House, Speaker Ryan. I
don't know how busy your schedule is, Mr. Speaker. I know you have a
lot of demands on your time.
I will let Charles finish, and then we will call you up.
Charles, go ahead.
Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, my good friend, welcome. Great to see you.
As we work to highlight and emphasize the FMC brand, a far-reaching
effort on social media will better utilize the relationships we have
developed on Capitol Hill, at Embassies, in the business communities,
and in foreign nations alongside the efforts of our former Members.
As with the rest of FMC, the future of the congressional study groups
are strong and vibrant. I look forward to watching the incredible
programming and travel opportunities that they provide to continue the
goal set by our Members and Lee Hamilton back in 1970, to truly create
an effective, bipartisan avenue for impactful legislative and knowledge
exchange between the congressional family and our friends and allies
abroad.
I appreciate the opportunity to make these remarks. It is my
understanding that we have some membership business to accomplish, and,
therefore, I will yield back to our president, Mr. Stearns from
Florida.
And again, Mr. Speaker, a real pleasure to see you again.
Mr. FROST. Thank you, Charles.
It is my privilege, at this point, to recognize the Speaker of the
House, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), who will be joining the
ranks of the former Members at the end of this year.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Why do you think I am
smiling all time?
I just wanted to come and say I am really excited about joining your
freshman class next year with Sam Johnson, Tom Rooney, Jeb Hensarling,
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. There is a number of us who will be joining the
freshman class.
This is my 20th year serving here. I have learned, 20 years with
three teenagers at home, sometimes you have just got to make the right
decision for the right reasons, and I am very comfortable with the
decision I have made because I did it for the right reasons. And so I
look forward to that next chapter. I look forward to reaching out to
some of you, people I have known a long time, about how that next
chapter looks.
I just want to say one thing. You don't take Bears fans; right?
Because I don't want to join any Chicago Bears fans in this thing.
I see Jerry Weller over there. So we have got some pretty big
rivalries that we have had throughout the years.
You turn on the TV and you think it is nothing but a snake pit and it
is nothing but just vitriol. We just passed about 70 opioid bills that
we bundled together, massive bipartisan vote; WRRDA, massive bipartisan
vote; FAA, massive bipartisan vote. So about 80 percent of what we do
through here, we are running, on average, about 350 votes for. So,
believe it or not, there is a lot that is getting done.
We have passed about 800 bills, this session, of the House. It is a
pretty big pace. That place over there has got about 550 of those bills
stacked on top of them. Two hundred bills have received around 400
votes in the House.
So we are pleased that they are staying in August to kind of work on
this list, but there are a great deal of things that we have been able
to get out of here on big issues, whether it is defense, national
security, veterans, basic health research, opioid epidemics, that
really are bipartisan. And then we do have the partisan issues, whether
it is tax policy or welfare reform on the farm bill. Those things are,
more or less, partisan, but the place is working.
That is the point I want to leave you with. The place is working,
does work, and this new social media, cable TV ratings chase age we are
in, it is a different system. We are going to have to figure out how to
navigate this system. We are going to have to figure out how to make
sure the body politic in our Republic and our sense of civility still
lasts and persists in this system. We are in this strange, unchartered
territory right now. So I look forward, frankly, to thinking about
those issues and how to overcome those when I have a little time to
think when I am out of here.
But the one thing I do think former Members could be really helpful
in is trying to figure out how do we still keep that sense of unity and
civility with big differences of philosophical and idealogical opinions
while moving the country forward. That is something we are all going to
have to think about in this new sort of digital 21st century age we
find ourselves in. That is one thing I actually look forward to
thinking about when I am done with this.
So I just wanted to come and say welcome. I am happy to answer a few
questions. I have got to open Conference at 9, so I have got a few
minutes.
Mr. FROST. Does anyone have any questions for the Speaker?
Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I just commend you for this. What you are
indicating is this place is working, and I think the problem is out
there in America, at least through mainstream media.
It does appear to be working, and I think it is because of your
leadership. And so we welcome you as a former Member, eventually, to be
part of our process, which our mission is to create civility and, at
the same time, to show how important it is that Congress work together.
So we thank you very much for all you have done, and we look forward
to working with you when you leave Congress.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Thank you, Cliff.
Mr. FROST. Any other questions?
Mr. WALSH. Can I just offer, a great Democrat Hubert Humphrey said a
long time ago that he who throws mud loses ground, and if we could
somehow get Members of Congress to think about that in relation to this
institution. I don't know how you do it. Maybe it is something you
think about when you have more time. But instead of running against the
institution, which drags everybody down, including the country, build
it up, focus on the positive things, as you have, but don't tear the
institution down, because we are all less for it.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Yes. I have thought about this a bit. I think
results will ultimately matter, not the acrimony in between, but
actually achieving results.
And I think the kind of anxiety we have in the country, which is
exploited by both fringes from both sides, can be reduced a bit if we
have reduced economic anxiety in the country. We are beginning to
reduce economic anxiety in the country. Getting the military rebuilt
and veterans fixed will help us reduce national security anxiety.
But reducing anxiety means we sort of take away the oxygen that gives
a lot of breathing room and life to preying on that anxiety, and it
happens on all sides this day.
Tim.
Mr. MURPHY. Paul, I thank the House and your leadership for moving so
many bills dealing with the opioid
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problem that are both life changing and life saving.
It is rare that so much is done in this Chamber, that to think about
the 60-plus thousand, maybe 100,000 lives lost every year by this, it
is clearly something that is going to save massive numbers of people.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. I think, because we did CARA, which was 2015,
we put dollars and resources out in the communities at the county
level, for the most part. Then we got a lot of feedback and learned a
lot of lessons, and then your committee did a lot of research on pharma
and pharmaceuticals and all of that, and prescriptions, which gave us
the result of, I think it is, 48 bills. I am going off the top of my
head.
Because of the way the Senate works, we realized we are just going to
have to package all of this stuff, put it in one big bill, H.R. 6, send
it over there so they can just take it in a slug, because there is no
way they could process all that legislation. So it was a really big
effort, and I believe they are going to get that through.
I think they will get through a couple of our infrastructure bills.
What is really interesting--and I am going off your topic--is this
appropriations process is broken. Some of you are former appropriators.
I don't think there will ever be a day where the Senate can process 12
appropriation bills. I just don't think they will never do it.
So we had the Joint Select Committee redesign the budget process. It
is bicameral and bipartisan. I am very hopeful that they can produce a
new process. I think biennial is probably a pretty smart way to go,
maybe split the appropriations in half, six this year, six the next
year, due in 2 years, something like that, because we are just doing
CRs and omnis, and that is not good.
But this year, I think we might get three to six appropriation bills
in law before the fiscal year, knock on wood. So we haven't done that
since we have been in the majority. We passed, like, two 3 years ago.
Yes, Phil.
Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, Paul, I would just like to say that I think
a great part of the legacy of your Speakership has been showing
civility and character, and I truly mean that. I think everybody in
this Chamber would agree with that. We applaud you for that.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you.
Mr. FROST. The gentleman from Tennessee has a brief comment, because
the Speaker has to go.
Mr. CLEMENT. I am Bob Clement.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Oh, yes, I remember you, Bob. You got new
glasses. I didn't recognize you at first. Good to see you.
Mr. CLEMENT. I think you have done a great job, too, and I know you
have got a tough job, but I did want to ask you about the committee
process.
Are we, more and more, going around the committee process to make
decisions?
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Not really. The authorizing committee process
works pretty well. We do suspensions fairly often. The minority gets
one, we get two, you know, out of the deal, and those are only signed
off by committees of jurisdiction. It is the appropriation committee's
work that has basically been circumvented because we have omnibuses and
CRs.
The authorizing committees do work. The Energy and Commerce
Committee, they are the ones in charge, with Ways and Means, of all
these opioid bills. Ways and Means did the tax bill. Every big bill,
FAA, WRRDA, Transportation marked it up, brought it to the floor. So
that committee process is working. The authorizing committee process
totally, absolutely, fundamentally does work.
Appropriations is broken, and it is not because of the Appropriations
Committee. It is, honestly, when it takes 60 votes to do anything over
there, you don't do anything.
Last year, we passed all 12 bills before the fiscal year, but they
just piled up, and I just don't think we are ever going to do 12 bills,
12 conference reports, all of that done before the fiscal year. In this
day and age, we spend all our time doing that and then do it all over
again next year.
So I think we need a new appropriating system, and that is,
hopefully, what this committee we created in the omni will come up
with. It is a bicameral and bipartisan joint select committee, and we
want them to bring the results after the election so it is not
politicized.
Mr. FROST. Mr. Speaker, thank you for your time and for your service.
We need to let you get on to your meeting of your Conference. Thank you
very much for being with us.
Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Keep me on the schedule. Good to see you, guys
and gals. Thank you.
Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for your time.
Mr. Stearns.
Mr. STEARNS. I want to thank George and Charles for their report and
for their outstanding leadership for these very important former
Members of the Congress programs, and we appreciate very much what you
do.
Normally, at this juncture in our report, I highlight each of the
former Members' staff members, briefly describe their areas of
responsibility and perhaps add a personal note, but since I worked so
closely with each of them over the past couple of years, I cannot do
that this year simply because our team has grown so much larger. There
is just not enough time anymore to do that.
In our written report, which will be submitted into the Record, you
will find their names and the tremendous contribution each and every
one of them has made. However, I do want to highlight two names.
First, our CEO, Pete Weichlein, as you may know, he has been with the
former Members of Congress in various positions since 1999, which means
in just a couple of months, he will celebrate his 20-year anniversary
with us.
When he became CEO in 2003, the staff consisted of him and an unpaid
intern--incredible. There was enough money in the bank for a couple of
Capitol Hill programs and 3 or 4 months of rent and payroll. An active
year with FMC consisted of five Congress to Campus visits plus some
lunches focusing on Germany.
We now have a team of 12 professionals conducting over almost 90
events over the past year involving huge constituencies, and we enjoy a
huge amount of financial security that could see us through some rainy
days if need be. He has turned this organization around, and we are
very, very lucky to have Pete.
The other staff member I want to a salute is our chief operating
officer, Sabine Schleidt. She joined FMC over 7 years ago and has been
the driving force behind so much of our tremendous growth and success,
particularly with the Statesmanship dinner. Originally, her focus was
on the congressional study groups, where she translated the success of
the Germany model to new study groups, for example, the Korea program
you have heard about several times. She is a tremendous fundraiser. She
has mentored our staff of young professionals. And in her new role as
chief operating officer, she will take a much more active part in
implementing FMC's vision and mission beyond the international work.
FMC is in very good hands, and thanks to her and Pete for their
outstanding work. So Sabine, thank you.
My colleagues, at this point, let me also recognize two guests from
overseas who have joined our annual meeting. As you well know, one of
the closest relationships FMC enjoys is with our sister organization in
Brussels, the Association of Former Members of the European Parliament.
They have sent their newly elected vice president, Jan Willem Bertens,
to join us, and we are so honored by his presence.
Jan, welcome.
In addition, all the way from Nepal and the former Members
Association of that country is Alok Dahal. While he, himself, is not a
former parliamentarian, his father is, and therefore, we are thrilled
to have him here in D.C. with us representing his country and his
country's former Members group.
Thank you both for joining us today.
Every year at our annual meeting, we ask the membership to elect new
officers and board members. I, therefore, will now read to you the
names of the candidates for board members and officers. They are
running unopposed; and I therefore will ask for a simple ``yea'' or
``nay'' as I present to you the list of candidates as a slate.
For the Association's Board of Directors Class of 2018, the
candidates are:
[[Page H5665]]
Mary Bono of California
Charles Boustany of Louisiana
Tom Davis of Virginia
Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania
Vic Fazio of California
Martin Frost of Texas
Bart Gordon of Tennessee
David Skaggs of Colorado
Cliff Stearns of Florida
and Albert Wynn of Maryland.
All in favor of electing these 10 former Members to our board of
directors, please say ``yea.''
Any opposed?
Mr. FROST. Hearing no opposition, the slate has been elected by the
membership.
Mr. STEARNS. Next, we will elect our Executive Committee. I
automatically join the Executive Committee in my capacity as past
president.
The secretary and treasurer are each elected to a 1-year term, with
eligibility for another 1-year term.
The candidates for our executive committee are:
Ann Marie Buerkle of New York for treasurer.
L.F. Payne of Virginia for secretary.
All in favor of electing these two former Members to FMC's Executive
Committee, please say ``yea.''
Any opposed?
Mr. FROST. Hearing no opposition, the slate has been elected by the
membership.
Mr. STEARNS. The president and vice president each serve a 2-year
term and are term-limited to a single term. The candidates are:
For vice president, Charles Boustany of Louisiana.
For president, Martin Frost of Texas.
All in favor of electing these two former Members to our Executive
Committee as president and vice president, please say ``yea.''
Any opposition?
Mr. FROST. Hearing no opposition, the slate is elected.
Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Frost and Mr. Boustany have been elected president
and vice president of FMC.
Congratulations to you both.
Martin, at the risk of having the Speaker's chair be vacant for a
minute, I would like for you to join us here at the rostrum to make
some brief comments.
Mr. FROST. I don't know how many of you know the amount of time that
Cliff has devoted to this organization. It is very, very impressive. He
has a full-time job and has been an excellent president, has attended
many, many of our functions, has taken great interest in everything we
do, and from time to time makes comments and suggestions to Pete about
how we can do even better, and his comments are always on point and
usually followed.
So I would like to, at this time, Cliff, present this little token of
our appreciation. Hopefully, it will find a place on your desk in your
office. Thank you for all you have done for us.
Mr. STEARNS. Thank you.
Mr. FROST. Now, those of you who know me know that I don't give long
speeches. I do recall when Newt Gingrich became Speaker and he was
asked to give his acceptance speech, he spoke for an hour. That was
very unusual. Most new Speakers just say: ``Thank you, and I look
forward to working with you.''
You know, there is a time and a place for everything, and in my case,
things have all come together, I believe, at the right time for me
personally and for this organization. I retired from my law firm about
1\1/2\ years ago. While I still have some volunteer activities, I
intend to devote a great deal of my personal time to this organization.
I particularly enjoy working with the staff. And Cliff has already
recognized Pete and Sabine who just do an extraordinary job. Also, many
of the other members of the staff are here today. We have a cross
section of younger people and more mature people who are working with
us, and I could not be happier than the staff that I will have the
opportunity to lead in the next 2 years.
I want to thank you for entrusting this job to me. You will be seeing
me around, and I will play the same role that Cliff did. I will be
making suggestions to Pete and to the staff from time to time. I think
they will listen carefully, and I expect that they will follow my
suggestions from time to time.
Thank you very much for the honor you have given me.
Mr. STEARNS. Martin, I thank you, and congratulations again. I look
forward very much to working with you and have great respect for you.
It is now my duty to inform the Congress of those former and current
Members who have passed away since our last report. As you know, FMC
has commenced a beautiful new tradition, which is to recognize, via a
separate memorial service in Statuary Hall, all those of our colleagues
who have passed away in the previous 12 months. It is a wonderful and
fitting tribute, and I hope you will join all of us on September 5 as
we do it again this year.
We also want to pay tribute to those Members by making sure their
names are read here in the House Chamber and they are included in
today's Congressional Record. I, therefore, will now read their names
and ask all of you, including the visitors in the gallery if there are
any, to rise as I read their names. At the end of the list, we will pay
our respects to their memory with a moment of silence.
Please stand.
We honor these Members for their service to our country. They are:
John Anderson of Illinois
John Hall Buchanan, Jr., of Tennessee
Jim Bunning of Kentucky
Pete Domenici of New Mexico
Jon D. Fox of Pennsylvania
William F. Goodling of Pennsylvania
Orval H. Hansen of Idaho
Maurice Hinchey of New York
Marjorie Holt of Maryland
William H. Hudnut III of Indiana
Joe Knollenberg of Michigan
Tom Luken of Ohio
Marc L. Marks of Pennsylvania
Joseph M. McDade of Pennsylvania
Louise Slaughter of New York
Al Swift of Washington
John V. Tunney of California
Larry Winn of Kansas
We will now have a moment of silence.
Thank you, all of you. That concludes the 48th Report to Congress by
the Former Members of Congress. On behalf of FMC, I wish to thank the
Speaker and minority leader for giving us, simply, this opportunity to
return to this very special place and report on FMC's activities.
I also wish to share with you how incredibly honored I have been to
serve as president of this outstanding organization. I hope I was able
to repay the trust of our membership, and I cannot thank you enough for
having given me this great opportunity. I look forward to staying
actively involved, and I wish our new president and our new executive
committee the best of luck moving forward.
Mr. DioGUARDI. Cliff, may I recognize two members of the Albania
Parliament.
Mr. STEARNS. Please.
Mr. DioGUARDI. What we do not only in the Congress, but as former
Members, because Albania is still an emerging democracy, I would like
to recognize Monika Kryemadhi, who is the chairwoman of the party,
Movement for Social Integration, that made the difference so that
Albania can function there, as a coalition government there, and she is
with us today. I would just--and her other colleagues who are also with
us, Mr. Petrit Vasili, chair of the parliamentary group, and Mr. Eriol
Braimllari, head of foreign relations.
And I would like to, before we conclude, recognize that they are
looking to America to make Albania stronger. These were two countries
that were created by the United States. Woodrow Wilson recognized
Albania in 1919. It almost didn't exist as a country and was about to
be put into Yugoslavia. And 10 years ago, George W. Bush recognized her
also, and this is the 10th anniversary.
Thank you very much.
Mr. STEARNS. Thank you very much. They will now be part of the
Record.
Mr. FROST. The Chair again wishes to thank the former Members of the
House and Senate for their presence here today.
Before terminating these proceedings, the Chair would like to invite
those former Members who did not respond when the roll was called to
give their names to the Reading Clerk for inclusion in the roll.
The meeting stands adjourned.
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