[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 183 (Tuesday, November 29, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H8638-H8640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1700
                        BOB KRUEGER POST OFFICE

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend 
the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8203) to designate the facility of 
the United States Postal Service located at 651 Business Interstate 
Highway 35 North Suite 420 in New Braunfels, Texas, as the ``Bob 
Krueger Post Office''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 8203

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

     SECTION 1. BOB KRUEGER POST OFFICE.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 651 Business Interstate Highway 35 North 
     Suite 420 in New Braunfels, Texas, shall be known and 
     designated as the ``Bob Krueger 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 ``Bob Krueger Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from

[[Page H8639]]

New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Fallon) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this matter.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 
such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 8203 to designate the 
facility of the United States Postal Service located at 651 Business 
Interstate Highway 35 North Suite 420 in New Braunfels, Texas, as the 
Bob Krueger Post Office.
  Mr. Robert Charles Krueger was born on September 19, 1935, in New 
Braunfels, Texas. He received a bachelor's degree from Southern 
Methodist University in 1957, a master's from Duke University in 1958, 
and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Oxford in 1964.
  From 1975 to 1979, Mr. Krueger served two terms in the House of 
Representatives for the 21st Congressional District of Texas. Following 
his loss in a bid for the Senate, he served in President Jimmy Carter's 
administration as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Mexican 
Affairs in the State Department.
  In 1993, he was selected by Governor Ann Richards to fill Lloyd 
Bentsen's vacated Senate seat. He served only 5 months after losing a 
special election to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
  Mr. Krueger was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as 
Ambassador to Burundi, and after 2 years, he became Ambassador to 
Botswana, serving until 1999.
  Madam Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join me in honoring Mr. 
Krueger's life of public service by naming a post office in New 
Braunfels, Texas, after him, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALLON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I am opposed to this bill for procedural reasons. The 
House Oversight and Reform Committee's agreed-upon procedures for 
considering postal naming bills clearly dictate several requirements 
for such measures to advance through the House. Among those is the 
requirement that postal naming bills be cosponsored by the entire State 
delegation before it will be considered in the Oversight Committee, and 
then they proceed to the floor.
  There are very good reasons for these requirements. This is to ensure 
that the State's collective representation agrees that such a local 
hero deserves this high honor and the attention of the full Congress.
  Unfortunately, this bill is only cosponsored by 34 of the 36 Members 
of the Texas delegation, which means it is not ready for consideration 
here today.
  Furthermore, this bill has not even been marked up by the committee 
of jurisdiction in the House Oversight Committee, which means it is 
bypassing regular order to come straight to the House floor. This is a 
departure from past precedent and procedure.
  Following regular order and past practice on these measures prevents 
wasting valuable time and resources here on the House floor. There are 
dozens of other bills that have earned the support of their entire 
State delegations and have also been unanimously approved by the House 
Oversight Committee. We should be spending the valuable time on this 
floor that we have remaining in this Congress considering these other 
bills that are higher in the queue, some of which were introduced in 
the first half of last year.
  For these reasons, I cannot support H.R. 8203, which breaks with our 
agreed-upon process.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes 
to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett), the chairman of the House 
Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor a true Texas statesman, 
Bob Krueger. Decades ago, Bob and I were fierce political adversaries, 
but since then we have joined on behalf of our State and our Nation in 
common cause. Now I join so many of his former colleagues and many 
Texans in recognizing his remarkable contributions.
  He is a proud native of New Braunfels, which remained his home in 
recent decades. He once served here in this House in a district that 
many parts of had more cattle than constituents that stretched from San 
Antonio to San Angelo and almost to El Paso.
  After studying at Duke and Oxford, Bob served Duke as vice provost 
and dean before returning to Texas to win a rather improbable election 
and reelection as a Congressman. He was voted the most effective Member 
of his freshman class by colleagues here in the House.
  He voted to prolong the life of the Voting Rights Act and extend its 
application to Texas, he supported the admission of women to the 
service academies, and supported an increase in the minimum wage, among 
other matters.
  In those elections and a subsequent race for the U.S. Senate, he 
attracted talent like Land Commissioner Gary Mauro, media legend Roy 
Spence, and future Deputy Energy Secretary and Mayor of Houston, Bill 
White, among many others.

  When the Senate race was unsuccessful, Bob was named by President 
Carter as Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Mexican Affairs. In 
1990, he won a statewide election to serve in the important position on 
the Texas Railroad Commission. A few years later, Governor Ann Richards 
appointed him to fill a Senate vacancy, but within a few months he was 
defeated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. Yet, Bob never let these setbacks get 
in the way of lifelong civic engagement and public service.
  After Senator Hutchison's victory, President Clinton appointed him as 
Ambassador to Burundi, which he described as the most fulfilling period 
of his life. There he met with Rwandan refugees fleeing massacres, 
which he documented, putting him at personal risk, as one of the first 
Western voices to report the genocide.
  He discovered villages where children were massacred and livestock 
was left alive. Even after the front pages of two local newspapers 
there in Burundi called for his death, he continued this mission: 
Sounding the alarm, documenting the genocide and the atrocities. He 
survived an assassination attempt, and only after it became too unsafe 
for his family to remain there, he was evacuated and then appointed as 
Ambassador to Botswana.
  He cut a singular figure: a Shakespeare-quoting, former East Coast 
professor who connected with Texas ranchers, a busy public servant, who 
nevertheless valued a few days of daily meditation.
  Throughout all his types of service, whether he was driving a pickup 
truck around West Texas or in an armored vehicle in Burundi, he always 
was driven by the same values, the same faith, and the same guiding 
light: his family.
  His partner for almost four decades, Kathleen Tobin Krueger, meant 
the world to him, they traveled it together. Recently, she has been 
involved in continuing their work in advocating for their close friend 
and San Antonian, Paul Rusesabagina.
  Paul, who inspired ``Hotel Rwanda,'' and who received the 
Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work in saving people in Rwanda, 
remains wrongly imprisoned in Rwanda today.
  Bob's wonderful daughter, Mariana, an accomplished photographer, who 
shares his love of Duke as both an undergrad and graduate of Duke, and 
now lives in Austin, continues his legacy.
  His daughter, Sarah, a double Duke alumna, works as a senior reporter 
for WRAL in Durham, living there with her husband Will and their son 
Brooks.
  His son, Christian, who worked here in the House recently as a 
legislative assistant for Congressman Joaquin Castro, lives in Texas 
with his wife Marion.
  At the memorial service this spring after Bob passed away at 86 years 
of life well-lived, former Ambassador Scott DeLisi, who worked with Bob 
in Botswana, said Krueger had ``the most finely tuned moral compass of 
any man

[[Page H8640]]

that I worked with in over four decades of public service.''
  A true gentleman and a scholar, it is a mark of Bob's character that 
after completing such important public service, it was Bob, as a 
visiting professor at Texas State in San Marcos back in 2004, who, 
despite our previous personal differences, graciously presented me a 
public service award rather than the other way around.
  Today, by authoring this bill, I recognize his truly award-worthy 
service.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I yield an 
additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Madam Speaker, this legislation provides a modest way 
for us to honor one who did so much in so many ways to benefit so many 
people. So let's name the post office in the heart of the community 
that he called home, just a block away from a twist and turn of the 
great Guadalupe River, in honor of the great, late Bob Krueger, 
honoring his memory and make his rich legacy--his values, his grace, 
his kindness, his commitment to service--a part of our future.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for her leadership and for our 
Republican colleague, as well.
  Madam Speaker, I would just address for the Record the comment that 
was made about the sponsorship. There were 34 of the 36 Members of the 
Texas delegation who have indeed cosponsored this bill. The other two 
Members who chose not to cosponsor have indicated they have no 
objection to the bill.
  We are, by presenting this bill, applying the same standard that will 
apply to the next bill up honoring properly our former colleague, Mr. 
Wright, in legislation sponsored by Mr. Cornyn and by House Members 
here, treating them the same way. I think both are well-justified 
pieces of legislation, and I look forward to their approval.
  Mr. FALLON. Madam Speaker, again, for procedural reasons, I encourage 
my colleagues to vote against this bill so we may return to regular 
order in consideration of postal naming in the naming measures going 
forward this year and into the 118th Congress.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I urge passage of 
H.R. 8203, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 8203.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. FALLON. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

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