[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3107]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                FAREWELL TO THE HONORABLE BOB LIVINGSTON

  (Mr. OBEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I think it is ironic that on a day when we are 
swearing in a new colleague, the House is losing one of its best 
Members.
  I have known the gentleman from Louisiana a long time. He came here a 
little over 20 years ago. He served as my ranking member on the Foreign 
Operations appropriations subcommittee. We had many differences. But I 
have to say that never for one moment did I doubt that he felt that he 
was putting the national interest above every other consideration in 
dealing with American foreign policy.
  I have to say that I think the chances of the peace process moving 
forward in the Middle East would have been much less without his 
steadfast commitment to sometimes taking the tough actions on this 
floor that were necessary to help promote that process. I also have to 
say that I think that we would not see countries such as Poland and 
some of the other former East European captives of the Soviet Union, we 
would not see those countries in nearly the good shape they are in 
today if it were not for the very active efforts made on a bipartisan 
basis by the gentleman from Louisiana and his predecessor in that same 
committee slot, Mickey Edwards.
  He served honorably and fairly when he served as my ranking member on 
the committee. He then succeeded me as chairman of the full committee 
and again we had very large differences, but we never surprised each 
other and we learned to trust each other implicitly.
  We all have conflicting responsibilities and conflicting loyalties in 
this place. We have responsibilities to our party, to our country and 
to our institution. The gentleman from Louisiana in every case that I 
know of always put those priorities in the right order. He put country 
first, he put this institution second and he put his party third, and 
sometimes his own self-interest fourth.
  He and his wife Bonnie Livingston have graced this institution with 
their presence. They are both wonderful people. I will miss them both.
  I respect Bob. Sometimes I think he has been off the wall. I am sure 
he feels the same about me. And sometimes we probably both were. But I 
also love him. And I especially want to honor him because I think he 
has demonstrated that the word politician is not a bad name. As John 
Hume, that great leader for peace in Northern Ireland, said, politics 
is the alternative that democracies have to war in sorting out and 
settling our major differences. I think the gentleman from Louisiana 
has always recognized that. The House has been better for his being 
here. The House will certainly be lesser for his leaving. I know that 
Bob and I are living examples of what Will Rogers meant when he said 
that if two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary, but 
nonetheless we have been good friends. I think we can all agree that as 
Bob leaves this place, we can say that he has indeed been a good and 
faithful servant.

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