[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 24363-24370]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



         TRIBUTE TO CONGRESSMAN RON PACKARD UPON HIS RETIREMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 1999, the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, the leader of our California delegation, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), has given me the honor of 
putting together a night to honor the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Packard), one of our colleagues who is leaving the House, retiring at 
the end of this session.
  We wanted to take a little time to talk a little bit of his 
accomplishments while here in the Congress. First of all, we will hear 
from our leader, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis). I yield to 
him such time as he desires.
  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate my 
colleague yielding. And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to join my 
colleagues this evening in paying tribute to our friend from the 
Committee on Appropriations, Ron Packard. Ron is retiring from the 
House after 18 years of service to his constituents. He has had the 
privilege of representing one of the most beautiful parts of our State 
in south Orange County and north San Diego County, a small piece of 
Riverside County as well, as he would remind us.
  It is understandable why Ron would want to spend more time at home. 
He has just completed the building of a new home with his wife, Jean, 
seven children and too many grandchildren to count. He has got plenty 
to look forward to as he goes back home to his district.
  Ron came to the Congress after serving in the U.S. Navy and later as 
a member of the school board, active in the chamber of commerce. He 
served on the city council and was mayor of Carlsbad. Ron was elected 
to Congress as a result of his success as a write-in candidate in 1982, 
one of the very few occasions in which a write-in candidate has been 
successful.
  I have worked most closely with Ron in the appropriations process 
where over the years he has been the chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Legislative Appropriations, the chairman of the Subcommittee on 
Military Construction Appropriations, and is just completing a tour 
representing our State very well on the subcommittee that deals with 
energy and water appropriations, a most important appropriations bill.

[[Page 24364]]

  Mr. Speaker, we are going to miss Ron greatly as a member of our 
committee. He has been of great service to Southern California.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Long 
Beach, California (Mr. Horn).
  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, Ron Packard is truly a man of the House of 
Representatives. He is a gentleman. He is civility. He is a good 
listener, and he has got a ready smile. He won friends all over this 
Chamber on both sides of the aisle; and, of course, that is what 
effective legislators do.
  Of course, when we all learned that he had a total of 44 children and 
grandchildren, 7 children, 34 grandchildren, and three great 
grandchildren, we were envious. And I always wondered how he remembered 
their names. I suspect Jean, his charming wife, maybe put a sort of 
easel up and when they were coming, said here are the names.
  Ron, in whatever he did as a legislator here, first on public works, 
now known as the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, but 
now on the Committee on Appropriations, he was very fair when he 
listened to all of us, Democrats, Republicans, Easterners, Westerners, 
Northerners, Southerners. On appropriations, he brought basic common 
sense to the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, one of the 
most difficult committees in this Chamber, because it involves floods, 
it involves ecology, it involves environment. Ron could deal with all 
of those pressures.
  He cared about our troops abroad, in particular. In the period when 
he was chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Construction, our 
troops abroad in Korea were in Second World War barracks going to 
pieces, and Ron knew that should not be. If we have families, as we do 
now in all the services, we need good facilities and we need a place 
where they can call home when it is abroad.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Ron for all he has done in this Chamber, 
and all he will do when he goes back to, as the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lewis) said, that beautiful part of the California 
coast.
  So, Jean and Ron, you are a great couple to have as a mentor and have 
as a model, and we thank you for what you have done in your 2 decades 
here, and we wish you well in the years ahead.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Frelinghuysen), a colleague of Ron Packard's on the Committee on 
Appropriations.

                              {time}  1930

  Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to wish our colleague Ron Packard well in 
his retirement from the House of Representatives at the end of this 
106th Congress.
  Tonight a number of us have gathered in this Chamber during this 
special time to pay tribute to our colleague and our friend who has 
served with distinction in this people's House for 18 years. All of us 
know this very good-natured gentleman from California is one of only 
four Members of Congress to have ever won their first election to the 
Congress as a write-in candidate, a tremendous feat in and of itself. 
Little did we know that Ron would go from that point in 1982 to become 
chairman of three very important House appropriations subcommittees.
  As other Members have mentioned, many of us here tonight know Ron for 
his years of service on the House Committee on Appropriations. I myself 
have had the honor of serving with him on that committee, and most 
recently I have had the pleasure of serving under his chairmanship on 
the appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water.
  For the past 2 years, Ron has been steadfast in reversing the 
President's decision to underfund our Nation's infrastructure needs. 
Due to his leadership, the Congress has maintained a strong commitment 
to partnerships with our local communities and States by providing 
these needed funds for flood control, shore protection and dredging our 
harbors and the like.
  As a former businessman, school board member, city councilman, and 
mayor, Ron has always believed that the Federal Government should 
provide a helpful hand but the true power and decisions should be 
returned to State and local government officials who know the best 
needs of their constituents.
  On a personal note, in July of 1999, I traveled with Ron and his 
wife, Jean, and other Members to Russia as part of our committee 
assignment on Energy and Water. Ron and our colleagues toured the 
Russian ``closed cities'' or the former nuclear sites and met with 
numerous Russian officials. It was a trip to remember, in large part 
due to Ron's leadership, his insistence that we see where U.S. dollars 
were being spent to dispose of or contain nuclear waste.
  Throughout our trip within Russia, Ron showed his dedication to our 
purpose for being there and to the American people by insisting on 
receiving a complete understanding of the current status of all of 
these nuclear sites. Additionally during this trip, I had the 
opportunity to get to know Ron and Jean; and I can tell you, judging 
from our discussions about our families, that Ron and Jean will 
definitely continue to be busy grandparents, taking a very active role 
in all of their 34 grandchildren's lives. The Congress' loss will be 
his family's gain.
  I wish you well in retirement, Ron. You have set a high standard for 
all of us to follow that remain. We will miss you. Good luck and 
Godspeed.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Riverside, 
California (Mr. Calvert), another of Ron's good friends and neighbors.
  Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Valencia, 
California, for putting together this special order for our good 
friend, Ron Packard; and I say that very sincerely.
  I do not know if the gentleman remembers, but in 1982 we both ran for 
Congress in Republican primaries, and, something we have in common, we 
both lost. I lost my Republican primary, but Ron went on to win a very 
substantial victory in a write-in campaign.
  That has only happened four times in the history of the United States 
House of Representatives, which shows how popular and well loved he is 
in his district. I know that for a fact, because our districts adjoin 
each other in the Temecula-Marrietta areas of our district. And every 
year we would get together for the last 8 years I have been in the 
House, and we would meet and have what they call the Ron and Ken show 
up there. And we would talk about issues that affect the Temecula-
Marrietta Valley. I will miss that very much; and you need to come out, 
Ron, to celebrate those times.
  On issues out in those areas, Pierce's Disease, which is devastating 
the vintners out there in that area, and avocados, that we just 
successfully concluded here shortly, those I am sure are issues you are 
very proud of in the local sense. But, obviously, on a national sense, 
the service that you have done for the Committee on Appropriations in 
all the various subcommittees, legislative branch, certainly military 
construction, where you have helped a lot of young families get better 
housing and a better place to live, to help retention in our military 
forces, something I am sure you are very proud of. And certainly the 
energy and water account in which you have done many things throughout 
the country, and happily in our own area, the Temecula-Marrietta area 
that has devastating floods, that we can finally move toward flood 
protection for the many people that live in that area and the property 
we would like to protect.
  So Ron, it has been a privilege serving with you. I know that another 
thing that I do not know if a lot of people know, he is probably the 
finest golfer in the House. No doubt about it. He will be giving me at 
least a stroke a hole from now on. I really appreciate that.
  I thank the gentleman for his service and look forward to many years 
to come of friendship.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Baca), another golfer, a Member from the other side of the aisle, 
and also a neighbor and friend of Ron's.

[[Page 24365]]


  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to be up here to say a 
few words about an individual. I am the new kid on the block. I just 
got elected not too long ago. I said, who is Ron Packard? But, you know 
what, since I have gotten to know Ron Packard, basically he reached out 
and touched the lives of many of us.
  You may think the type of relationship he built here on a bipartisan 
is very important. I know we are going to miss you. I know I am going 
to miss you, since I am relatively new here. I know, not only because 
you are on the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure, the Subcommittee on Energy and 
Water, but what you have done throughout the area is you really have 
left a legacy for many other individuals in the community, because 
truly your legislation and your policies have been bipartisan, in the 
interests of California, in the interests of the Nation.
  That is important for people to remember when they look at a 
legislator that is serving us. That is why not only is he well liked 
and loved in his district, but throughout the Nation and by many of us. 
You truly are a leader, a visionary, an individual who cares about not 
only our communities as a whole, and in your district, but you are an 
individual that is willing to listen on a bipartisan basis and say what 
is important for our Nation, what is important for California, and take 
action, which is very important on a bipartisan basis.
  As the new kid on the block, I find that very energizing, I find that 
very enthusiastic, and I find that very motivating, because it is 
important to get motivated. Everybody told me, when you come up here, 
Joe, it is going to be so partisan. I found out that not everything is 
so partisan. Sometimes, yes, but there are individuals that are not, 
and you truly have developed a kind of friendship and you have opened 
the doors to many individuals to say what is it that you have to say 
that is good for California, what is it that is good for all of us. If 
it is good, I am willing to listen. That kind of relationship and kind 
of friendship, there is no dollar value that you can put on it.
  It truly has been an honor to be your friend and know you this short 
period of time. I wish you were here longer. But I know that you left a 
legacy, not only the legacy in policy, but the legacy in golf. You 
truly are one individual that has been an outstanding golfer. A lot us 
are going to try to follow in the same footsteps, and hopefully we can. 
Thank you very much for serving the State of California and our Nation.
  Mr. McKEON. I yield to the gentleman from San Diego, California (Mr. 
Cunningham).
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Joe Baca, a Member 
from the other side of the aisle, for giving tribute to someone that we 
cherish very, very much.
  You know, Ron Packard was a write-in, and what a rich legacy he gave 
the constituents of North County. Much of the district I now represent 
was Ron's former district, and his legacy was hard to keep up with. As 
a matter of fact, when I go up there, they used to tell me, well, ``Ron 
didn't do it that way, Duke.'' But Ron gave me a lot of guidance.
   Ron Packard, Duncan Hunter, myself and Brian Bilbray represent North 
County, San Diego and San Diego City, both on authorization and 
appropriations, and I want to thank you for your leadership and what 
you were able to help us with. Not only from the appropriations, but 
Ron also knows how to breach partisanship and work with Members on the 
other side, as you just witnessed with Joe Baca.
  But he is no nonsense, and his style is that of a grandfather to a 
child. If you were bad on this House floor, or very partisan, Ron, 
through his leadership, was not above going after somebody that was 
partisan. He was also not afraid to call for removal of the President 
or a cabinet member when he thought it was within his value system, and 
he had the strength of a leader to carry that through.
  Ron loved public service. He loved his wife, Jean, and his family, 
but his family might be described as a covey, a herd, a flock, or just 
maybe a large group. Ron has seven children, 34 grandchildren and three 
great-grandchildren, the last we heard; and I am sure that that number 
is going to go up.
  But I think it also shows the competitiveness of Ron Packard. I would 
like to give a story off the Hill. Ron does love golf, with a passion, 
and if he loses a dime, I mean, he frets for a week if he loses a dime. 
He is a fierce competitor. As a matter of fact, right there where he is 
sitting at this moment he was sitting with Duncan Hunter one night.
  Now, Ron is a very good golfer, in the 70s or 90s. Duncan Hunter is 
of equal caliber, in the 70s or 80s. I am lucky to break 100, so I am 
always asking for strokes on the golf course on the weekends from these 
two rascals, but they will not give it. Sometimes they cave in.
  They were discussing something, and I was sitting behind them waiting 
for them to finish. Come to find out, they were plotting on Saturday 
when we went to the Old Soldiers Home golf course, both of them were 
going to show up with their arms in slings so they would not have to 
give me a stroke a hole that game.
  Well, they did not see me slip out behind, they did not know the 
stealthiness of one Member; and, when we showed up, I had my arms in 
two slings, so they had to give me a stroke a hole.
  But I thought I would share this letter. I thought enough of this, I 
got this just a couple of years ago from Ron, to show you what a 
competitor he is. I would like to read it. He says, ``Dear Duke, you 
can have my wife, you can have my children, my grandchildren, my house, 
my car, my good name, but never, never, never, ever a stroke a hole. 
Signed, Ron Packard.''
  God bless you, Ron. We love you.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Rohrabacher).
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to be here tonight to 
honor Ron Packard. It is not a happy occasion, however. It is not 
happy, and it does not make me happy and does not make us happy that we 
will not have Ron Packard with us to help us and to guide us and direct 
us and to cheer us in the years ahead in this body.
  We will remain friends, we will remain people who respect Ron Packard 
forever, but we will sorely miss you. This is something that I say from 
the heart.
  Ron has been a father figure, especially for those of us in the 
Republican Party and the Republican delegation from Orange County. He 
has been truly a father figure, a kind father. He has been a hard-
working father, he has been a caring father, and he has been a wise 
father, and all of the things you think of when you think about a good 
man and a person of integrity, of strength, that is what you think of, 
that is what we think of, the people who have worked with him so many 
years and relied upon his strength of character and his cheerfulness, 
that is what we think of when we think of Ron Packard.
  Ron started his career as a dentist. I always find it is fascinating 
to talk to people, as I have spoken to Ron for many hours, about what 
they did in the previous career before actually coming here to 
Washington, D.C. Actually I know it is hard to say you were thrilled to 
hear stories of his dentistry, but it made him a real human being to 
me, and realizing you could actually go into a dentist's office and 
have Ron Packard there, you know, him leaning over you and saying this 
is going to hurt me as much as it is you, and you realize that is 
really true; that Ron is such a sympathetic person and empathetic with 
people, that he was as a dentist and a human being was very successful 
outside of the political arena.
  Also we know that Ron Packard served in the Armed Forces. I know he 
has several stories which he will not tell in public about the Armed 
Forces. He served his country and he had a good time doing it, but he 
also was very dedicated to his country. Ron is the true image of a 
Patriot, of an

[[Page 24366]]

American Patriot. American patriots, some of us in the conservative 
movement think patriots are the solemn guys and just repeating slogans 
about the country. Ron is an honest, honest patriotic person. He is an 
American, a true American, and you can sense that in his heart.

                              {time}  1945

  How one can tell that this is so evident, not only to us, but to his 
constituents, as has been mentioned here several times, Ron did not win 
his first race right off the bat. Ron won a write-in race. Now, with a 
name like Rohrabacher, I can tell my colleagues that that would have 
been absolutely impossible, but even with a name like Packard, which 
anybody can spell, it has only happened 4 times in the entire history 
of the United States Congress.
  Why did this happen? What was the issue which made people in his 
district take the time to fill out that name? What was it that 
motivated them? What was the crying need that said, we need Ron Packard 
in that first election? It was one word, and the word is integrity. The 
people in his district knew that they needed integrity and they called 
out for it and they knew that Ron Packard was the candidate, even 
though they had to go out of the way and do more work to get him in by 
writing his name in, to get him in this position. Of course, since then 
he has been winning every election by huge majorities.
  As a Member of Congress and the dean of the Orange County delegation, 
he has given all of us direction. We have looked at his hard work, we 
have looked at his fairness and his willingness always to lend a 
helping hand to others on both sides of the aisle, and yes, to give 
advice. We look at those things as a role model for the rest of us. I 
came in in 1988 and Ron was already a veteran. I will have to say that 
what he has offered us and offered me personally has been very, very 
advantageous. He has given me a lot of professional guidance on how I 
should be operating here as a Member of Congress, but he has also 
served as a role model and given professional advice, or I should say 
personal advice.
  Ron is a model for us, both professionally and personally. Ron, I 
might add, in the last election showed his values and showed how 
important values are to him by taking a lead in California in trying to 
pass the Save the Family or Protect the Family Act, which is basically 
designed to protect the institution of the family in California. Also, 
the efforts he has made to make sure that the Boy Scouts are not forced 
into lowering their moral standards or giving up the word ``God'' in 
their scout oath.
  Mr. Speaker, I was just married 3 years ago, and I will close with 
this. I hope that I have as much happiness in my life and that it shows 
on my face and in my life as much as Ron's family life and the 
happiness and joy that he has had has had on his life, because he has 
been a shining example to all of us of what marriage and what love 
between people is all about. We will miss you, Ron. Your presence will 
not be forgotten; it will shine on as long as the rest of us are here. 
Thank you very much for all you have done for us and for what you have 
done for the United States of America.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Dreier), the chairman of the Committee on Rules.
  Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I feel compelled to be very kind to Ron, 
because as I have been listening to some of my other colleagues who are 
going to follow me, I think that this will end up as something other 
than a love fest. I have just heard a story that has not been shared 
with me that in fact our colleagues will get to hear from my dear 
friend and classmate, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) in a 
few minutes about Ron's earlier life.
  So let me take a couple of minutes and be very kind. I know that many 
people focus on the divisiveness that exists here in the Congress and 
the partisan antipathy that regularly goes on, but there is, in fact, a 
camaraderie. Then, when we look at the California congressional 
delegation, the California delegation is known for being 
extraordinarily divisive: Californians all hate each other; the 
Democrats and Republicans do not get along; the Republicans are all 
divided; the Democrats are all divided. If the truth were to be known, 
we rally, and Ron Packard was key to putting together the kind of 
solidarity which we frankly do enjoy today.
  I will always remember many late-night meetings which members of the 
California congressional delegation held, and Ron Packard was always 
there. He had as a top priority bringing our delegation together, and 
he was key to that effort.
  Mr. Speaker, I have heard about his wife, Jean, and this huge family, 
and he is the only guy I know who will actually look you in the eye and 
say that he does not know the names of some of his relatives. Somebody 
talked about the fact that he has a number of grandchildren and 7 
children, and that when they have family reunions, the Packards have 
hundreds, I think it may be even thousands, who gather together for 
family reunions. It is a very, very impressive family that he has. I 
hope one day he gets to meet all of them.
  I will say that when we look at the work that he has done on the 
Subcommittee on Energy and Water, most recently, I have to say that 
this very soft-spoken dentist, the former mayor of Carlsbad, has stood 
up in meetings, and now that he is getting ready to leave, I think I 
can share this, that he has made it very clear that if Members of 
Congress have been fortunate enough to have their issues that are 
priorities for them included in legislation, they had better vote for 
the legislation. Ron very calmly, very firmly makes that statement, and 
he does it with a kind of confidence that only a powerful cardinal can 
exercise around here.
  So we are going to miss Ron. The gentleman from California (Mr. 
Hunter) and I were just talking about the fact that Ron is our junior 
colleague. We had the privilege of coming here with Ronald Reagan back 
in 1980 and then, as many have said, Ron shocked the world of being the 
person, I guess the fourth, to win that famous write-in election, and 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) has all kinds of stories 
about that write-in election that he will probably share with us.
  So let me just say to Ron and Jean, his wonderful wife who has stood 
by him, and I have had the privilege of traveling with them and 
spending time with other members of their family, they will be sorely 
missed. The California delegation has come together in large part due 
to the commitment that Ron Packard made to that goal, and I shall 
always be grateful to him for that.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to another strong member of our 
delegation, the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose).
  Mr. OSE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my thanks also to Mr. 
Packard who has done so much during his 18 years here in this body for 
the State of California and everybody not only who lives in his 
district, but in mine and in Mr. McKeon's, Mr. Hunter's, Mr. Dreier's, 
and others. I know the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) has some 
great stories that are coming. We have heard them in our luncheons and 
been regaled with them. They are good. I hope that they are presented 
and taken in the spirit of camaraderie that we have.
  Ron has a quiet leadership style that, as the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Dreier) said, members of both sides of the aisle 
appreciate and, frankly, rally around. He has been very fair to all 
members, regardless of party affiliation. Frankly, I have only been 
here for just about 2 years now, but in my short time, I have tried to 
emulate his qualities: humility, fairness, honesty, accountability, and 
frankly, the integrity that just comes. If one gets the chance to work 
with Ron, it just comes out. It is just so clear. His qualities have 
won him many friends and admirers here in Washington and in California, 
as we can see from him being returned 8 times from his initial 
election.

[[Page 24367]]

  Mr. Speaker, on the Subcommittee on Energy and Water, Mr. Packard has 
provided critical assistance for the safety of Americans across the 
Nation and particularly for Californians and specifically for people 
who live in the Sacramento area. He understands our challenges along 
the Sacramento River and the American River, and his work has led to a 
significant increase in the level of flood protection for the people 
that live in my area, and for this I am grateful. It makes a 
difference.
  Mr. Speaker, Ron Packard, as others have said, is very devoted to his 
family, which is and always has been his most important priority in 
life. As he takes his bride, Jean, and returns to California and leaves 
this august body, I know that he will enjoy spending time again with 
them in the manner in which perhaps every one of us should, and 
devoting more time to those that he loves as family members. I say to 
the gentleman, I appreciate your leadership and guidance, and you will 
be missed. Godspeed.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Knollenberg), a colleague of Mr. Packard's on the Committee on 
Appropriations.
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I too rise this evening to pay tribute to Ron Packard, 
who I consider to be a distinguished statesman from the State of 
California, and on this occasion of his retirement at the end of the 
106th Congress, I wish him well.
  I have known Ron and I have known his wife, Jean. I have not known 
the 7 children and, I believe, 34 grandchildren and the great 
grandchildren, but that will come. I have had the pleasure to travel 
with he and Jean on some CODELs, I would not say around the world, but 
certainly to various parts of the world, and we have had I think some 
very interesting experiences on those trips and I have gotten to know 
he and Jean. We find that his dedication to his family and to his 
church is very, very strong. It is unwavering. The fact that he is a 
dentist and that he moved from being a dentist into Congress is a 
little bit of a change, I guess, but others do the same from the field 
of medicine, so that is not so unusual. But he has made the change and 
he has done it, as somebody has already said, several members have 
mentioned the fact that he was only the fourth member, only the fourth 
in history to actually come to the House via the write-in process. I 
never believed anybody could get here by the write-in process, but Ron 
did. The residents of his district in southern California have seen fit 
to send him back to Washington, and by overwhelming majorities, every 
election since, back to 1982. I think well they should, because Ron 
Packard has been a respected and dedicated member of this House ever 
since.
  He has served his California constituents well. Not only that, he has 
served the Nation well, and that includes his service in the Navy and 
his time as the mayor of Carlsbad, California and, of course, the 18 
years here in the House.
  As we know, Ron Packard is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on 
Energy and Water, and it has been my privilege to serve with him on 
that committee as well as on the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations for 
the past few years. He has also served, as we know, on the Subcommittee 
on Military Construction and the Subcommittee on Legislative 
Appropriations, as well as his efforts on the Subcommittee on 
Transportation.
  I can assure my colleagues that the Energy and Water bill is no easy 
task, and let me say a little bit about why. It was only through Ron's 
tireless dedication and self sacrifice that made difficult matters 
appear mundane. Energy and Water runs the gamut of issues, hitting upon 
matters of national and energy security. That bill provides vital 
important funding for such items as the Nation's stockpile stewardship, 
Cold War weapons plant cleanup and energy supply, only to name a few. 
But here is the part that gets tough. It not only funds hundreds, even 
thousands, of local water priorities performed by the Corps of 
Engineers and conducted in just about every Member's district, and the 
member from California has brought balance, he has brought common sense 
in approaching the Energy and Water bill discussions during his tenure. 
In fact, this year, Ron Packard had to deal with some 3,000 requests. 
Now, those were not all Member requests, but a good many were and the 
rest came from a variety of sources. All of these have to come before 
the committee, all have to be dealt with. His hard work and dedication 
resulted in a timely and reasonable piece of legislation that covered 
all of those bases, and it took patience and it took thoughtfulness and 
it took courtesy, and he had all of those qualities to meet and deal 
with people and with their requests.
  Ron Packard's retirement will leave a set of shoes that will be 
difficult, if not impossible, to fill. Mr. Speaker, I think I echo the 
sentiments of all of the Members who have spoken here this evening in 
saying that this gentleman will certainly be missed.
  I am certain that Ron will make good use of his time in the coming 
months. I can only guess that golf courses around the country will be 
richer, will be the richer for it. Ron, congratulations to you and to 
Jean. Enjoy your retirement, and thank you very much.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to another good friend of Ron's 
and a member of the California delegation (Mr. Doolittle).

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McKeon) for organizing this special order.
  Ron is obviously someone who is looked upon very favorably here in 
the House and who is a friend to all. And in the frenetic pace that we 
have, we do not take time to stop and pause upon the contributions of 
any given individual until the time of his or her retirement.
  It is unfortunate that it is that way, but at least we do have this 
occasion to pause for that moment, and many things have been said. Ron 
has a very interesting life and a number of significant 
accomplishments.
  I just want to provide just two or three brief snapshots of my 
encounters with Ron. When I was a brand-new Member here, 10 years ago, 
I would take the Metro in; and so if we stayed late at night, although 
I could have taken the Metro back out, Ron lived out near us, and he 
was kind enough to give me a ride.
  So he introduced me to an interesting way of getting home. But the 
best way, and I always take it whenever I am driving, and that is you 
go down 395 South. You get off at Maine Avenue. You go past the 
Jefferson and Vietnam Veterans and Lincoln Memorials right along the 
Potomac River.
  There are quite a few little turns you have to know how to make, but 
you end up going up over the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge looking past the 
Kennedy Center, and you are on 66 West. And, Ron, every time I go that 
way I have you to thank for that. I think of you. I think of you every 
single time. I do think of you teaching me how to get home that way.
  We have another thing that is somewhat unusual. When we were not back 
in our districts and happened to be here for the weekend, Ron and I 
were members of the same congregation, the Oakton Ward of The Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And Ron served for many days for the 
instructor of priesthood group.
  I might add Orrin and Elaine Hatch are members of that ward. And 
Jean, of course. Ron and Jean's daughter Lisa. We miss them, I must 
say, as they have been wrapping up their affairs and making the 
transition completely back to California.
  They have moved back with their family, and we do not see Ron so much 
in that capacity, but we did see him there this last Sunday.
  Anyway, I treasure those memories.
  Lastly, but not least and most directly related to our legislative 
life, I had the privilege of working with Ron on a very important issue 
to California, the subject of water and specifically, the subject of 
cow fed. Ron is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water 
Development, and as we all know, there is an appropriations 
subcommittee that handles the money to be spent for each of the 
different policy committees.

[[Page 24368]]

  The policy subcommittee that I chair is the Subcommittee on Water and 
Power. And so we worked rather closely together on this very 
contentious issue of water, and that is really not resolved as of this 
moment and will be taken up in the next Congress.
  But I do want to say this, rather than simply doing whatever he liked 
as the appropriations chairman, because frankly, if that power is used 
in that fashion, legislating on appropriations bills can occur and can 
occur contrary to whatever the policy committee would like to have 
happen. I do not think that that is appropriate, but it occasionally 
happens around here.
  It did not happen with Ron and his subcommittee, and I really value, 
Ron, how closely you worked with us and the authorizers to try to reach 
an accommodation on that. You and I and our committees were together, 
but not all the parties in this process were, and so it has not worked 
out yet; but you certainly gave it the maximum effort. I am convinced 
the foundation that we laid will eventually be built upon to resolve 
this problem.
  Lastly, the last personal snapshot, as you heard what a great golfer 
Ron is, and I think he is one of the best in the House. But he and his 
wife also love games, board games, and we had a couple of delightful 
evenings over the years enjoying those experiences together as couples.
  So I want to say thank you. We will miss you, and Godspeed in your 
new endeavors.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from San Diego, 
California (Mr. Hunter), another good friend.
  Mr. HUNTER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McKeon) for putting this special order together, and we 
talked about the serious side of Ron I think a little too much tonight. 
I need to tell you a couple of stories about this guy.
  The first story is, a number of people have talked about his 
patriotic service to the Nation as a Naval officer, indeed, a dentist; 
and there is one story that is floating around Southern California 
about a certain dentist who was seeing a large number of recruits. They 
were running them through pretty rapidly, filling teeth, pulling a few 
here and there and getting them in shape to go overseas.
  Ron and his cohort there, the other dentist who worked in the office, 
decided they would have a little fun. It involved a new technique, the 
technique of utilizing dynamite to remove bad teeth. So they had a 
rather large, naive young man who was in the chair, a little bit 
apprehensive about this dental work that was to begin.
  Ron very ceremoniously opened up a large volume, a big book; and he 
said we are going to try the new blasting technique on your teeth. I 
hope you like it. It is experimental, and Ron proceeded to take a 
piece, a little roll of gauze that he dipped in iodine that looked like 
a miniature dynamite stick.
  And as this horrified recruit, who had been promised good dental care 
in the U.S. Navy, lay back in that chair with just a look of horror on 
his face, Ron inserted this small stick of dynamite under one of the 
molars or on top of one of his molars, he looked back at the book and 
he said it now says we have to attach the fuse, and he pulled out a 
piece of dental floss, which if you light it will in fact fizzle and 
sputter and acted something like a fuse, then he plugged the fuse into 
the small stick of dynamite that was laying on top of a now horrified 
recruit's back molar.
  Ron then, a very, very solemn man. We all know Ron can be a solemn 
person. When Ron is solemn we all get solemn, and he very solemnly 
skipped a few lines in the book, and he says to his friend, his fellow 
dentist, that we have to take cover. So they led the fuse over behind 
the desk and got down behind the desk; and Ron then lit the fuse, and 
as this fuse sputtered and fizzled and the flame, the spark got closer 
and closer to this young recruit, the recruit got more and more 
agitated, as you may imagine, and finally leaped up with a squeak and 
raced out of the office.
  Ron was required shortly thereafter to visit the commanding officer. 
And this is pure Ron Packard. He has gotten away with stuff all of his 
life. He very solemnly went in and began to explain what had happened 
very truthfully, and his commanding officer wanted to be very severe, 
but after Ron had gone about halfway through the story, his commanding 
officer could not help himself, and he burst out laughing.
  He finally just admonished Ron and his colleague to get out of there, 
so they left. They promised not to harass any more recruits, and that 
is one of my favorite Navy stories.
  But that epitomizes the sense of humor that Ron has and Ron has 
carried that sense of humor over to today. In fact, he has a great 
sense of humor. He actually told the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Cunningham) and I we had good golf swings before he proceeded to take 
us for a small wager, of course not illegal; but we have had a lot of 
fun out there playing golf.
  Ron is a fairly tight-fisted guy. I had an opportunity to actually 
make a hole-in-one in a golf tournament that my colleagues played in, 
and I thought I would get a car. But I was informed that since Ron was 
running the tournament, I would not get any car. And I think I got just 
a couple of dollars for making this fabulous hole-in-one, even though 
another member of the conference then got a very nice car after he made 
a hole-in-one a couple of tournaments later.
  Ron wanted to present me with my car this year, which I understand 
was a small model about 5 inches long; so, Ron, I want to get that as 
soon as possible.
  My other favorite story about Ron Packard involves his family, and it 
involves where he comes from in that great area of the Snake River 
Plains in Idaho, where people work from dawn to dark and have a 
tremendous work ethic and where everybody looks the other guy right 
straight in the eye and where literally a big piece of American 
wilderness was carved into a very productive land, and that is where 
Ron and his 16 brothers and sisters, 14 boys and 3 girls, grew up near 
Meridian, Idaho, and the Snake River Plains there.
  His father was working for Morrison, Knudson just prior to the 
Japanese bombing in Pearl Harbor in World War II, and he was on Wake 
Island. He was working as a civilian worker. When Wake Island was taken 
shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor he was captured by the 
Japanese. His father became a POW.
  I think what his father did in that POW camp represents the character 
that Ron took on, and that has followed him all of his life, and that 
is that Ron's dad who became a POW was taken on one of the so-called 
hell ships to Japan and treated very brutally, helped to take care of 
the other POWs.
  He became the historian of the POW camp, and he wrote down the 
history of all of the members of that POW camp, and he kept a log on 
what happened to them. As you know, 30 percent of our POWs were killed 
in World War II that were incarcerated in Japan.
  He hid that little history, as I recall, in a piece of bamboo. And 
when he came back to the States, he made sure that he contacted every 
family that had a loved one in that POW camp and gave them the history 
of their loved one, who in most cases did not make it back or in many 
cases did not make it back before he went back to his own family, and 
then like Ron Packard, he told them, all the kids, what had happened, 
and then he talked very little about it. And that is Ron.
  He is the kind of guy who has got great character, a great caring and 
does not dwell on himself a lot. We have had little cabals, as the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) said in the California 
delegation. I like a good cabal myself, and a good secret meeting; Ron 
Packard is a guy that likes to bring people together and likes to put 
oil in the water and bring out the best in everyone.
  He really epitomizes what is best about this Congress. He has got a 
good heart. He looks you in the eye. He helps you whenever he can, and 
he is a great citizen. And I cannot help but think that it was that 
upbringing that the 17 boys and girls, 14 boys and 3 girls, on the 
Snake River Plains of

[[Page 24369]]

Idaho and all that hard work that they had to endure and keeping that 
family going without a father that made Ron Packard what he is.
  We have been better for his presence. God bless you, Ron.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to another good friend of Mr. 
Packard's, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), who served 
with him on the Committee on Appropriations.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I sat in my office listening to speeches 
being made, and I thought to myself how many times I had shared in 
private conversations with so many people both in this Congress and 
outside, how much admiration and respect I had for Ron Packard. I 
thought to myself, maybe this is a good time to share with the world at 
large exactly what some of my feelings are for him.
  Mr. Speaker, I met Ron first when I showed up to play in one of his 
golf tournaments, and I think when he saw me, he thought maybe I had 
strayed on to the wrong golf course. But we struck up a relationship on 
that day; and some time after that, I was elected by my party to serve 
on the Committee on Appropriations and of course I sought a seat on the 
Committee on Energy and Water Development, and much to my pleasant 
surprise, I found out that Ron Packard was the Chair of that 
subcommittee.
  I cannot think of anybody with whom I have worked since being in this 
body that I felt more fairly treated than the time I spent on that 
subcommittee. And of course, I took leave from the committee and am 
still on leave from that committee and his subcommittee. We still find 
time to interact with each other.
  Quite frankly, I am not too sure he didn't treat me more fairly in my 
absence than he would have if I had been there to argue my case in 
person. But this past Members golf tournament I had the opportunity to 
play in a foursome with Ron Packard, and I always thought of how much I 
admired and respected him, until that day when he politely taught me 
just how much better a golfer he is than I am, but he did it in such a 
way that I really enjoyed that thumping you gave me on that day.

                              {time}  2015

  But all of that aside, as I said earlier, in this body, I think, as 
some things get contentious, we often plead our partisan cases in such 
a way that even we are often not proud of how we have done it. But I 
have never seen an instance when my interaction with Ron Packard was 
not of the highest regards for each other.
  I wanted to come to the floor tonight and say how much I appreciate 
serving with him, how much I appreciate my friendship with him, and to 
wish him Godspeed in all that is before him in life and let him know 
that, if ever he comes to South Carolina, I want to repay that thumping 
on the golf course that he gave me not too long ago. I thank him and 
Godspeed.
  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the gentleman from Orange 
County, California (Mr. Cox), one of the leaders of our California 
delegation.
  Mr. COX. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California very much 
for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to join with this distinguished group of Members 
on both sides of the aisle in paying tribute to my friend and our 
colleague, this great national leader from Southern California, Ron 
Packard.
  I, too, have enjoyed listening to the stories tonight on the floor, 
and I hope the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) has, too. There 
are many to tell about a man whose time here in Congress has done so 
much to improve our national life and to improve this institution.
  Ron and Jean and their seven children and their 34 grandchildren are 
a family that the Packards have made us all feel a part of. I have met 
some, but not all of the Packard family. Perhaps someday I will be able 
to do that. But the family members that I have been introduced to and I 
have met are fine men and women that say a lot about Ron and Jean.
  I have my own much younger family. It seems to me, given the natural 
limits to mortal life, I can never catch up. But I know from the task 
of being a father what a measure of our own worth that is. That is one 
and only one, a big one, area of Ron's life in which he has set an 
example for the rest of us.
  When I first came to Congress, I had the opportunity to serve on the 
Public Works and Transportation Committee with my neighbor in Orange 
County to the south, Ron Packard. Ron was and is an expert in aviation, 
served on that as well as other subcommittees in the Congress, and 
continued to have even greater influence in that area on the Committee 
on Appropriations where, as has been remarked upon several times 
tonight, he is a cardinal, a term of reverence, well deserved in his 
case for someone who wields extraordinary power of the purse in our 
constitutional system.
  I have had the opportunity even to have some vacation dinners with 
Ron and Jean. Rebecca and I have shared a nice meal at some romantic 
spots in Hawaii together and gotten to know Ron in that way personally, 
and it has been a lot of fun. I hope we have the opportunity to 
continue to do that even after he retires, because we are Southern 
California neighbors.
  It has been mentioned because it is such an extraordinary fact of 
Ron's career here how he got here in the first place, one of only four 
Americans in our national history to come to this people's House as a 
write-in candidate.
  It is extraordinary in a time in election season right now when we 
are all talking about campaign finance reform and the nefarious 
influence of special interests to think about what this means in Ron's 
case. Ron got here in exactly the opposite way, not because of special 
interests, not because he was even the nominee of a major party. He was 
not. He had to run against the Democratic nominee, run against the 
Republican nominee as an individual. He was Ron Packard first and 
became the party's standard bearer thereafter because the people wrote 
him in.
  Ron Packard and I share another distinction that I am very proud of. 
Possibly this means more to a Republican than a Democrat. But Ron and I 
are the only Members to have our legislation become law, 
notwithstanding the veto of President Clinton, in two full terms of the 
Clinton administration: in my case, the Securities Litigation Reform 
Act; in his case something even more important, I have to say, and that 
is rebuilding our Nation's military.
  Because as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Construction 
of our Committee on Appropriations, he put before this House what was 
necessary to rebuild our military, to provide the resources that armed 
services needed. He convinced our colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle. They voted to support his legislation. The same was true down 
the corridor in the other body, the United States Senate.
  We sent that legislation to the President. When the President made 
the rare decision to cast a veto that he should not have, the Congress 
reacted quickly and supported Ron Packard, even against the wishes of 
the President of the United States, because they knew he was supporting 
the United States military and that he was right.
  Now, it should be said about a Republican who serves on the Committee 
on Appropriations that there are temptations. The whole term limits 
movement has a reason in America because of those temptations, because 
people who serve too long in Washington find it too easy to spend other 
people's money on pork barrel projects, on wasteful Washington ways. 
Sometimes they forget about the people back home. It is sad to say that 
temptation is strongest when one is closest to the money on the 
committee charged with spending it, the Committee on Appropriations in 
the House and in the Senate.
  So how honored have we been as American citizens to be served by a 
chairman on the Committee on Appropriations who took his trust so 
seriously that, in discharging it, he actually reduced spending.
  When Ron Packard first became a chairman on the Committee on 
Appropriations in 1995, he quickly sent a bill

[[Page 24370]]

to the floor of the House of Representatives that did not just cut 
spending for the benefit of taxpayers, it cut spending at home where, 
presumably, it would hurt Members of Congress themselves most, in our 
own legislative budget. He cut spending by Congress on itself by fully 
one-third, an extraordinary achievement when we had a new majority, a 
new Congress, under the leadership of Ron Packard.
  In fact, throughout his career in the majority as a cardinal, as a 
chairman on the Committee on Appropriations, Ron Packard has been 
garnering awards, not for bringing home the bacon, but from such groups 
as Americans for Tax Reform, which rated him a taxpayer's hero, and the 
National Taxpayers Union, which rated Ron Packard an appropriator and a 
chairman and a cardinal in the top 5 percent of people in this entire 
Congress interested in cutting spending.
  This is an extraordinary accomplishment and something, Mr. Speaker, 
that the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) can not only be proud 
of, but that all of his colleagues here are proud of. He has made us 
all proud. Everything that he has done in his career, even before he 
came to Congress, as a local leader, as a mayor, as a member of the 
city council, as a dentist with his own practice has distinguished him.
  But in this Congress for 18 years, everyone on both sides of the 
aisle, as the gentleman is hearing tonight from his friends, has found 
him to be scrupulously honest in his dealings, to be always fair, and, 
just as importantly, to be hard working and is represented by the fact 
that he got here as a write-in candidate, a citizen legislator. The 
gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) is, in short, everything that a 
Member of Congress should be, everything a national leader should be.
  It is well said that ours is a government of, by and for the people. 
The for and by parts are very important. But remember that it is also a 
government of the people, and that this Congress, which manufacturers 
nothing, is simply the sum of the people who populate it, the people 
who were chosen by the voters to come back here.
  Therefore, by being who he has been, the fine gentleman that he has 
been and is, the leader that he has been, the exemplar that he has been 
for all of us, he have improved this institution, the people's House. 
The Congress of the United States and thus our country is the better 
for it.
  It has been a privilege to know the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Packard) and to work with him, and I look forward to continuing our 
friendship in the years ahead.

                          ____________________