[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 30646-30647]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               OPENING REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE JOE BACA

  (Mr. BACA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I ask permission to address the House for 1 
minute. I wanted to make sure that I followed the rules and procedures 
that are here.
  Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) 
lowering this podium. I used to be 6 foot 5 as a paratrooper, but I 
made a lot of jumps; that is why I am only 5 foot 6.
  It is really an honor to be here. I would like to thank the 
leadership for their support, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. 
Gephardt), all of the Members, the DCCC individuals who are very 
helpful.
  I want to thank God because God gave me the courage to run and to 
serve. Too many times we forget that it is the strength that we have, 
and God provided that strength to give us that courage. So I want to 
thank God.
  I want to thank my family. I wish my mom and dad were here to see 
this. They are both deceased, but I know it is a proud moment in their 
lives. I know that somewhere up above they are seeing this even though 
they cannot be here right now. But I know very well that they are proud 
of their son, because I am one of 15. I am the 15th child.
  Like a lot of us, I come from a poor family, an individual, the only 
one that graduated from high school and college. My other brothers and 
sisters graduated, but I was able to pursue that. I know that they are 
very proud.
  I wish my wife were here right now. She is watching this right now. 
She is Barbara Dominguez Baca, with whom I will be celebrating 31 years 
of marriage next week. On November 23, it will be our anniversary, so 
it will be 31 years of marriage to one wife, not two wives or three 
wives, but one wife.
  I would like to also thank my children, because my children were 
supporters. I believe in strong family values, because family values 
are the core of what makes America great. It is what makes our country. 
I would like to thank my family, because they have been very 
supportive.
  I would like to thank Joe, Jr. That is my first son. He is now 30. 
Then Jeremy Baca; that is my second son. Then my daughter, first 
daughter, and that is Natalie. Then, of course, my daughter that is 13 
years of age. She is the reason my wife cannot be here because we 
believe it is important to have our children in school and to obtain 
that, and we did not want to take her out of school during that time. 
It was important for her to be there. My wife realizes that, because 
she is also a great student, a 4.0 student, doing well in school, so we 
want to make sure she continues to receive those grades. Of course, Mom 
is always there to help her.
  So I love my family very much. I want to thank them.
  But I also want to thank the voters, the voters of my district who 
made it possible for me to be here. Without the voters' support, I 
would not be here today.
  I look forward to working in this House. It is going to be an honor 
for me to work on a bipartisan basis. I look forward to working with my 
colleague directly associated with me, and that is the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lewis). I look forward to working with him on issues 
that are important to all of us, the issues that are important to the 
State of California, because all of us care about the economy. All of 
us care about education, public safety, protecting Social Security, 
Medicare, drug prescriptions, areas that are important to a lot of us, 
health reform.
  But most of all, we want to make sure that, as I look at the 52 
Members of California, that we work together on a bipartisan basis to 
make California, like everybody else wants to make their State, a lot 
better. But I also look forward to working with the 52 delegates from 
California in assuring that we get our fair share of revenue coming 
back to California. No offense to the rest of the Members. But I 
believe, in reference to California, it is pretty big in population. We 
have over 34 million people in California. But it is important that we 
address those issues.
  I want to work with them and also work with you on a bipartisan basis 
on other issues that are important with us as well that impact all of 
us.
  What we all want is to improve the quality of life. We cannot do it 
by ourselves. We have to come together collectively. It has to come 
from a compromise, individuals willing to come together and do what is 
necessary to make our State and our Nation a lot better. It is not 
going to happen if we have political wedges that divide us. There are 
times that we have to come together to address those areas. We need to 
address those areas.
  I want to thank you. I want to thank my family. I want to thank the 
leadership. I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt) very 
much for coming and getting all of the colleagues, the whips, you know, 
that raised all of the funds that were necessary.
  I look forward to additional help from the other side in giving me 
additional monies. So it is very important for your support as well as 
we begin to work on a bipartisan effort.
  Again, I thank the Speaker and my colleagues very much.
  The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca) yield back 
the remainder of his time?

[[Page 30647]]



                          ____________________