[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 29315]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                TRIBUTE TO THE LATE GEORGE E. BROWN, JR.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan) for delaying his special order to give us the 
opportunity to pay tribute to someone who in my short time here in the 
United States Congress was a mentor and a tutor.
  George Brown made the Committee on Science fun. And I guess that is 
something that I should be admonished not to say, because in this House 
we are about the people's business and we are serious in doing that 
business. But what I found in George Brown is that he loved science, 
but he had a holistic approach to science. Even though his expertise or 
his advocacy or his interests might have fallen in one area of science 
versus another, he was open enough to be able to take those groups of 
us on the Committee on Science that had our own interests in perhaps 
ensuring that there was more unmanned space flight than manned space 
flight, because I come from the manned space flight advocacy group with 
the Johnson Space Center and the shuttles that have been going back and 
forth, but he could explain to each of us the fact that there was value 
in whatever that we advocated; that science was holistic; that we all 
should be participating in it.
  He could advocate for the space center and he could advocate for the 
real sciences, the earth sciences, which he was a strong proponent of. 
He was a person who was able to balance the interests of the members of 
the Committee on Science in explaining that we had a responsibility to 
promote this Nation as a world leader in all of the sciences. So this 
was not just a race to space, of which he had much more history than I 
would have had, but this was to be able to fulfill our promise and our 
responsibility in man's creativity with research and experimentation 
and outreach in the areas of science and physics and other areas that 
the Committee on Science covered.
  I found that he had a wry sense of humor, he had a good sense of 
humor, he had an enormous sense of humor. And we could always rely upon 
ranking member Brown, for I did not have the privilege of serving with 
him as chairman, although that never got the best of him, but he would 
always, in a moment when it got too serious in our committee, there was 
ranking member Brown with the appropriate sense of humor to bring us 
all back to the reality that we are simply mere mortals and this too 
will pass.
  To his family, to his dear family and his dear wife, we thank them in 
particular for sharing him for all these many years. I thank him 
particularly for his openness to then freshmen members in the class of 
1995, the 104th Congress, the Congress that Democrats were not in 
control. There was a small class of 13 of us that came in as Democrats, 
and I was fortunate enough to secure a place on the Committee on 
Science. Mr. Brown served, even in my lowest ranking position, as a 
welcoming mentor and a person who was encouraging of the work that we 
had to do together on the Committee on Science.
  I am grateful for his leadership and I was even more grateful to 
listen to the many colleagues who were able to share some of the wider 
ranges of George Brown, both his civility, his kindness, his concern 
about world peace, which I think is most insightful of the kind of man 
he was, and then to hear in the memorial service his commitment to 
politics, as Senator Boxer related how he provided her support in a 
very competitive race.
  He was a man of his word. He was a man who showed great love for his 
Nation and great love for his avocation, which was a love of science 
and research.

                              {time}  2145

  I close simply to say that something very special comes to mind of 
Mr. Brown, and that is that he was a person that I thought exhibited 
the concept that all of us aspire to, that we are one human race. 
Before it became in vogue to talk about one race, maybe to talk about 
diversity, maybe to talk about openness and equality and opportunity, I 
could sense that, even though just knowing Mr. Brown starting in my 
first term of Congress, that he lived his life as being part of one 
human race. For he lived it on the floor of the House. He lived it in 
the Committee on Science. And, as I have heard from my colleagues, he 
has obviously lived it all of his political life.
  I am thankful for that. And, for that reason, I owe a debt of 
gratitude for the fact that he served us and that he served this 
Nation. We will be forever grateful. Thank you, ranking member Brown, 
Chairman Brown, for your leadership.

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