[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 204 (Thursday, December 3, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H6053-H6054]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING CHAIRMAN BOB SMITH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Walden) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate and honor the 
life and legacy of former Congressman Bob Smith. An Oregon native--born 
in Portland and raised in Burns--he had a deep understanding of what it 
meant to be an Oregonian and he knew the needs of the surrounding 
communities, especially the rural part of our State.
  He went to Willamette University in Salem and received a degree in 
agriculture. He would go on to put that degree to work on his own 
ranch.
  In 1960, Bob's career as a public servant began when he was elected 
to the Oregon House of Representatives. He served in the State house 
until 1972. He was speaker of the Oregon House during the 1969 and 1971 
sessions.
  I remember as a 13-year-old youngster going with my father, whom they 
were recruiting to run for the legislature, down to Salem to see Bob 
Smith and the speaker of the house. I was about this tall. I looked up, 
and here was this giant of a man. He was a giant of a man in Oregon 
politics, but a very kind soul.
  He then served in the State senate from 1973 to 1982. When Oregon got 
its fifth congressional seat, he ran for that and was elected. He 
actually ran 31 different times for election and never lost a single 
one.
  In the State house, Bob passed a number of pieces of legislation. He 
always stood up for farmers and ranchers in eastern Oregon and for 
lower taxes. He led the effort in the Congress to pass a balanced 
budget amendment. In the State senate, he actually helped pass the 
kicker law, which said when Oregon collects more tax revenue than 
anticipated, that goes back to the taxpayer. That went into the 
constitution eventually.
  Bob went on to serve here, as I said, for 14 years, from 1983 to 
1995, and then came back to chair the Agriculture Committee when he 
returned from 1997 to 1999.
  I am joined here on the floor today by a colleague from Oklahoma (Mr. 
Lucas), who served with Chairman Smith on the Agriculture Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Lucas).
  Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. It is an 
honor to be here. Discussing my Agriculture Committee chairman and my 
colleague for 2\1/2\ years, Bob Smith, is truly an honor.
  When I was sworn in, in a special election and I first surveyed this 
body, one of the faces I recognized was this huge figure of a man 
standing at the back brass rail. I can still almost see

[[Page H6054]]

Bob right over there surveying the House floor and watching the 
process.
  Bob was one of those folks who had a quiet, calm demeanor. He was a 
wonderful mentor to me in that first 6 months, then he went home to the 
ranch for 2 years, and then we begged him to come back and lead the 
Agriculture Committee for the next 2 years.
  Bob was a wonderful mentor to me. He was a wonderful mentor to the 
underclassmen. The first times that I went with the committee on trips 
to understand agriculture around the world was with Bob, and he had a 
diplomat's style and skill. He was firm. As Congressman Walden 
remembered, he wouldn't take anything from anyone. He had a way about 
him. He gained your trust and he gained your confidence.
  It is hard to believe that he is not with us anymore. But Bob was one 
of those folks whose personality, his heart, and his intellect were 
just as big and broad as those shoulders were. I consider myself 
fortunate for having served with him. I know the family will miss him 
with intensity forever. But, Mr. Speaker, 89 years is a good, long 
life. I can promise you in the time I served with him here, he lived it 
to the fullest.

                              {time}  1045

  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma.
  Mr. Speaker, Bob did live life to the fullest in every measure. And 
when he and Kaye and Matt and Tiffany and Chris all lived back here, 
they had a farm outside in Virginia, and then he would commute to 
Oregon. But on weekends when he was here, he and then-Commerce 
Secretary Mac Baldrige would rodeo. They would go out and rope and 
participate in rodeos around, and here you had a sitting Member of 
Congress and the Secretary of Commerce out in the rodeo grounds.
  Mr. Speaker, Bob lived a life big and bold. And ``free man,'' like 
his middle name, he believed in freedom. He believed in freedom in 
America. He stood up for eastern Oregon and for our farmers and 
ranchers and our communities.
  Those of us who fly in and out of central Oregon owe a big thank-you 
to him as well since he used his ability in this body to get us a tower 
there so we could have real flights in and out of central Oregon, and 
improved, certainly, the interchange of I-5 and Highway 62.
  Mr. Speaker, Bob did so much for our State. He stood strong for our 
country. He believed in freedom. He was a dear friend.
  And to Kaye and to Matt and Chris and Tiffany and the whole Smith 
family, we extend our deepest condolences. What a life well-lived, a 
public service career that will be tough for anybody to ever top.

                          ____________________