[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16162-16165]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     CARL ELLIOTT FEDERAL BUILDING

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4806) to designate the Federal building located at 1710 
Alabama Avenue in Jasper, Alabama, as the ``Carl Elliott Federal 
Building''.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4806

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

     SECTION 1. DESIGNATION.

       The Federal building located at 1710 Alabama Avenue in 
     Jasper, Alabama, shall be known and designated as the ``Carl 
     Elliott Federal Building''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

       Any reference in a law, map, regulation, document, paper, 
     or other record of the United States to the Federal building 
     referred to in section 1 shall be deemed to be

[[Page 16163]]

     a reference to the ``Carl Elliott Federal Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4806 designates the Federal building located at 
1710 Alabama Avenue in Jasper, Alabama, as the Carl Elliott Federal 
building. This legislation was favorably reported out of the 
Subcommittee on Economic Development, American Public Buildings, 
Hazardous Materials and Pipeline Transportation this morning.
  Carl Elliott was born in Vina, Franklin County, Alabama, in 1913. He 
graduated from the University of Alabama Law School, and he was 
admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1936.
  Later that same year, Congressman Elliott established a law practice 
in Russellville, Alabama, before relocating it to the city of Jasper. 
Congressman Elliott bravely served the United States of America during 
the course of World War II. After returning from the war, he was 
elected to the 81st Congress. During Congressman Elliott's 8 terms in 
office, he championed educational issues, including providing 
educational opportunities in rural communities.
  While serving on the Committee on Rules, Congressman Elliott 
supported moderate social issues to provide opportunities for all 
Americans. After leaving office, Congressman Elliott served on 
President Lyndon Johnson's Library Commission in 1967 and in 1968. He 
also served under President Johnson and President Nixon's Public 
Evaluation Committee, Office of State Technical Services, and as a 
member of the Technical Advisory Board in the Department of Commerce.
  Congressman Elliott passed away January 9 of last year. This is 
fitting tribute to a former Member. I support the bill and encourage my 
colleagues to join in support.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation will designate the Federal building in 
Jasper, Alabama, as the Carl Elliott Federal building. The Member whom 
we honor represented the 7th district of Alabama for 16 years. He was 
born in 1913 to a family of very modest means in Franklin County, 
Alabama.
  He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1933 and from its law 
school in 1936. He practiced law in Russellville, and later moved to 
Jasper. He was a World War II veteran. He came back to Jasper and got 
involved in civic activities and was elected to Congress 2 years after 
my predecessor, John Blatnik, with whom he was a very close friend. 
John Blatnik, Bob Jones, and Carl Elliott, a Northern Minnesota, but 
Northern Minnesotan and these two Alabamians, were very, very close 
friends.
  I served as administrative assistant for John Blatnik for 12 years 
and got to know Carl Elliott and Bob Jones very well. Congressman 
Elliott lost his seat in the House for an act of courage. He wrote a 
book entitled ``The Cost of Courage, the Journey of an American 
Congressman.''
  The forward to that book says: ``I am not a man who shows much 
emotion. I can't remember crying too many times in my life. I cried 
when my son died. I cried when my wife died, but I don't show a lot of 
personal feelings. So all of those folks up in Boston probably didn't 
know how I felt when they brought me out in front of that crowd on a 
rainy Tuesday morning in the spring of 1990 to give me the first John 
F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award.''

                              {time}  1845

  And he thinks back through time, saying, ``It has been a long time 
since those farmers and miners sent me to Congress in 1948, where I 
spent 16 years doing all I could for them, getting dams put up, 
libraries built, roads cut, mail delivered, doing as much as I could 
for the Nation; working 10 years to build and finally give birth to the 
National Defense Education Act,'' and he was the author of that 
education legislation, ``which opened college doors to millions of 
students who, without it, never could have afforded the education that 
change their lives. A long time since I rode the crest of a progressive 
liberal wave in Congress, spearheaded by my contemporaries from 
Alabama, Senators Lister Hill, John Sparkman, Congressman Bob Jones, 
Albert Raines, Ken Roberts and others, to a spot on the Rules 
Committee, working arm-in-arm with Sam Rayburn and the new President, 
John F. Kennedy. The world was in our hands. So much of it seemed to be 
changing for the better. And all of a sudden it came apart. George 
Wallace was elected Governor of Alabama in '62, Kennedy shot in '63, 
the tide of segregation and racism cresting, swamping the South in 
hatred and driving me out of Congress in 1964. It was a long time since 
I gathered to make a stand against that tide, to face the forces of 
Wallace, to fight the Klan and the Birchers, the gunfire and smears and 
hysteria that all became a part of the Alabama governor's race of 1966, 
a campaign the likes of which my State and this Nation had never seen 
before, and I pray will never see again.
  ``That race was 25 years ago, the last time a man seriously stood up 
to George Wallace in this State, and I paid for it. I paid in dollars, 
cashing in my pension fund to help finance that campaign, and watching 
debt follow debt in years to come. I paid in dignity, going to colleges 
I helped build asking to be hired to teach politics or history. I paid 
in friendship, seeing many who stood by my side suddenly turn away as 
they were swept up by the same forces that left me behind. I paid in 
reputation, still hearing people tell me today that I purely and simply 
had been a fool, that everything would be fine if I had just played the 
game, not to commit political and financial suicide for a cause that 
was hopeless.
  ``They were higher prices, these were, than I ever imagined. I am 77 
now, and I am still paying those prices, but we have all paid the price 
when the walls of segregation began crumbling across America. The 
torment, the pain, the push and the passion on both sides of the civil 
rights movement nearly tore the country apart. America, especially the 
South, paid a high price then, and is still paying today. The force I 
faced 25 years ago, a pointed power of racial hatred and sullen 
resistance, is far from dead in this Nation. To fail to see this, to 
neglect to continue to do all that we can to resist and rise above it, 
is to pay a higher price than any of us can afford.''
  In his speech at the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, he 
said, ``There were those who said I was ahead of my time. But they were 
wrong. I believe that I was always behind the times that ought to be. 
The thing that I cherish more than any award or honor is the National 
Defense Education Act. It is still putting equipment into schools, 
training teachers, giving good students an opportunity to go to 
college. More than 20 million students have taken that opportunity. I 
consider them my family. When everything is said and done, when all the 
shouting and the hullabaloo are over, and there are no postscripts left 
to write, all you have got is yourself and the way you lived your life, 
the things you stood for, or didn't stand for. If you can live with 
that, you are all right, and, me, I can live with that.''
  I think we can all live with the Carl Elliott Federal Building.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I always learn a great deal when I listen to the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) talk, it does not matter what 
the subject. The gentleman has more knowledge, institutional and 
otherwise, than any Member of the House.
  I did not know that Mr. Elliott was the author of the NDEA. And if it 
had not been for the NDEA, I would not have had the opportunity to 
afford to go to college. So I am doubly pleased to be bringing the bill 
to the floor today.

[[Page 16164]]

  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Alabama (Mr. Aderholt), the author of the legislation before us.
  Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Speaker, it has already been stated tonight and it 
has been stated very eloquently some things about Congressman Carl 
Elliott, who served as an outstanding representative for Alabama and 
our Nation throughout his life.
  He was born to Will and Nora Massey Elliott of Vina, in Franklin 
County, Alabama, in 1913, and he tirelessly devoted himself to serving 
others. He was a 1936 graduate of the University of Alabama Law School 
and he was admitted to the practice in Alabama under the Alabama State 
Bar the same year. He also set up his law practice in Russellville, 
Alabama, in 1936 and later moved that practice to Jasper, Alabama, 
where he later served as judge of the Recorders Court.
  In June of 1940, Carl Elliott married Jane Hamilton, who remained his 
wife until her death in 1985. Through their years together, the couple 
raised four children, Carl, Jr., Martha, John and Lenora.
  Following military service in the Second World War, Carl Elliott rose 
quickly in public life and was elected to the 81st and seven succeeding 
Congresses beginning in 1948.
  From the first day he came to Washington, Carl Elliott began working 
on a bill for Federal aid for education. In every Congressional session 
from 1949 to 1958, Carl Elliott introduced some form of a student aid 
act, knowing that under the seniority system, his legislation might 
take years to get a hearing. Despite these challenges, Carl Elliott was 
undeterred in his strong desire to improve the quality of our Nation's 
education system, from the elementary and secondary level through 
higher education in our Nation's colleges and universities. This 
persistence paid off when he was appointed to the House Committee on 
Education and Labor in October of 1951, the committee on which Elliott 
is known for having done his greatest work in the House.
  But Carl Elliott knew it was not always politically popular for a 
Congressman to be a champion of our Nation's educational system. In his 
autobiography, The Cost of Courage, the Journey of an American 
Congressman, Elliott wrote that ``By stepping into the arena of the 
fight for Federal aid to education, I was entering a battleground 
littered with nearly two centuries of corpses. Only twice in America's 
history had the Federal Government been able to pass laws that 
significantly and directly provided aid to the Nation's schools. The 
first was the passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, which set 
aside public lands for elementary and secondary schools. The second 
came in 1962, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act, which 
provided land grants for state universities.''
  As chairman of the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Special 
Education, Carl Elliott saw that wherever he went, he was told the same 
thing that he had already known for quite some time, that something 
needed to be done to strengthen our educational system, particularly in 
the fields of science and technology. This need became dramatically 
clear in our Nation when Sputnik I was launched by the Soviet Union in 
October of 1957. With its strange beeping sound heard by millions of 
Americans as it orbited the Earth that month, Americans realized that 
there was a tremendous need to increase our scientific and technical 
knowledge base to win the space race and eventually win the Cold War.
  When the House convened in 1958, Carl Elliott's number one priority 
was passage of his bill, the National Defense Education Act. This 
historic legislation established loans to students at our Nation's 
colleges and universities, and provided financial assistance for 
strengthening education by authorizing Federal grants to States to 
purchase equipment for science and mathematics instruction.
  The National Defense Education Act helped to strengthen math and 
science instruction at a critical time in our Nation's race to the Moon 
and our eventual victory in the Cold War under Presidents Reagan and 
Bush.
  Carl Elliott was also responsible for the Library Services Act, which 
brought libraries to rural communities, and even now provides millions 
of dollars in Federal assistance for low-income elementary, secondary 
and college level students.
  As a member of the House Committee on Rules, Elliott worked for 
progressive social legislation and took a stand on racial issues during 
a time in the South when such a stand was anything but popular.
  Despite his Congressional defeat in 1964, Carl Elliott continued his 
career in public life, serving as a member of President Johnson's 
Library Commission in 1967 and 1968. He also served under Presidents 
Johnson and Nixon as Chairman of the Public Evaluation Committee, 
Office of Technical Services, and a member of the Technical Advisory 
Board within the Department of Commerce.
  Although elected and appointed to high office throughout his career, 
Elliott never forgot his roots, resuming his law practice in Jasper 
until his death on January 9 of last year. Two of Elliott's children, 
Martha Elliott Russell and Lenora Russell Cannon, who currently live in 
Jasper, are still living today, and also I just found out today that 
his grandson, William Russell, is working now on Capitol Hill.
  In 1990, Carl Elliott was given what is perhaps the greatest honor of 
his career when he was named the first recipient of the John F. Kennedy 
Profile in Courage Award. Created by the John F. Kennedy Library 
Foundation to encourage elected officials to show courage in their 
political leadership, more than 5,000 people were nominated, but only 
one person was chosen, and that was Carl Elliott.
  In his autobiography, Carl Elliott himself best summed it up, and, as 
the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) eloquently put it tonight 
and it is the way he said it best in his book in the Profile in Courage 
speech, ``There were those who said that I was ahead of my time. But 
they were wrong. I believe that I always was behind the times that 
ought to be.''
  To honor Carl Elliott's long and distinguished career, I am proud to 
introduce H.R. 4806 to designate the Federal building located at 1710 
Alabama Avenue in Jasper, Alabama, as the Carl Elliott Federal 
Building. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this 
legislation. I believe it will serve as a fitting tribute to a great 
leader who truly made a difference in making the lives of Americans in 
his era and in our own better than they would have been without his 
leadership.
  I had an opportunity to personally know Carl Elliott. As a college 
student I was working on a term paper and I went to see the former 
Congressman to discuss the topic that I was working on, the history of 
Winston County. He sat down with me, he was helpful, he was sincere, 
and he took time to help a student who needed his help.
  It is only fitting and proper that we honor Carl Elliott through this 
legislation.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, while Mr. Aderholt was speaking, I was talking to the 
excellent staff director of our subcommittee, Rick Barnett, and he 
informed me he also was the recipient of an NDEA loan.
  While I am on that subject, the members of the subcommittee today as 
we marked up this piece of legislation were stunned to find out that 
our staff director, Mr. Barnett, is leaving us and going into private 
service, and I would be happy to yield some time to the ranking member 
of the full committee when I finish these remarks.
  I have been lucky enough to be on this subcommittee for the last 6 
years since I came to the Congress in 1995. It is one of the best kept 
secrets in the United States Congress, this particular subcommittee. It 
goes through a lot of permutations. But the one constant during my 
tenure on the subcommittee has been the staff director, Rick Barnett.
  Anyone who is here for any period of time at all, Mr. Speaker, 
recognizes

[[Page 16165]]

that while we get to stand in front of the C-SPAN cameras, it is the 
staff that is the oil and grease and everything else that makes this 
place go.
  Rick Barnett has provided professional service to not only the 
members of the subcommittee, but to the members of the full committee, 
and I could not have done my job and I know the chairman of our 
subcommittee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Franks), could not 
have done his job without him. As a matter of fact, during my three 
terms, we have had three chairmen, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Gilchrest), Mr. Kim, and now we have had the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Franks), and Mr. Barnett has been the one constant that has made 
sure all of the ``t's'' were crossed and ``i's'' were dotted.
  Mr. Barnett, I will miss you very much.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota, the 
distinguished ranking member.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and 
especially thank him for taking time to pay tribute to Mr. Barnett. I 
also appreciate the gentleman's kind words about my previous remarks on 
the Elliott bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I am quite surprised that our colleague on the 
subcommittee is leaving. I have memos in my files going back to the 
early 1990s when Mr. Barnett began service on the committee and our 
side had the majority. His memos were a model of rectitude and 
thoroughness then, as they are today. He has provided great service.
  He is a thoroughgoing professional, a gentleman in the fullest sense 
of that term, but especially a bicyclist. It is not well known that he 
is a superb competition-level bicyclist, and the only solace I can take 
in his leaving the committee is that I will now probably be the 
strongest bicyclist on the committee among members or staff, either 
side of the aisle. That is the only consolation we take.

                              {time}  1900

  We regret greatly Mr. Barnett's departure from the committee and wish 
him success in all that he undertakes. Wherever he lands, he will be a 
success because he has demonstrated his professionalism here and his 
objectivity and thorough pursuit of the highest goal of public service. 
My congratulations.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished ranking member of the full 
committee; and I would just mention to him, if I am his only 
competition in cycling, he is going to be way, way ahead of any threat.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Gilchrest), who was the first chairman that I served under on this 
wonderful subcommittee.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
LaTourette) for yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to make a comment about Mr. Barnett's 
service on the committee. It was my first time as chairman of the 
committee and Rick ensured that the stability, the consistency, and the 
professionalism of that committee was carried out in an efficient, 
prompt manner.
  I would also like to say something above Rick Barnett's ability to 
ride a bicycle. He is also a good horseback rider. In fact, on the day 
of the tragedy in Oklahoma, when the Murrah Building was bombed, Rick 
and I were riding horses in Kennedyville, Maryland, on the Eastern 
Shore when we came back to the House and saw that tragedy unfold. From 
that point on, Rick made sure that our committee was fully engaged in 
the healing process and the legislative process to ensure that that 
type of terrorist activity would not happen again.
  So I salute Mr. Barnett in his future career.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I think from comments of the gentleman from Maryland 
(Mr. Gilchrest), we now see Mr. Barnett embodies the intermodalism we 
are so proud of on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. 
I would urge passage of the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4806.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. 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 and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________