[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25171]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        SERVICE WITH DISTINCTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, today was a day that our majority leader, 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), announced that he would not be 
seeking reelection in the 26th district of Texas, his hometown of 
Denton, Texas and the county of Denton.
  Mr. Speaker, Majority Leader Army, upon making this announcement, 
gathered his family together and spoke with his family about his hopes 
and dreams of a new life that he wishes to have outside of the 
Congress. He spent 16 years in this body. This body respects Dick 
Armey. This body loves Dick Armey. This body also understands that Dick 
Armey is a man who brought high energy, ideals, high ideals and ideas 
that have moved this country, that have been a part of the political 
debate of this country.
  I, as one Member, was asked to run for Congress by Dick Armey, and he 
described it to me as a place that would be not only an honorable place 
and a place where ideas would be talked about and discussed, but also a 
body upon which was an institution, the institution of the Congress of 
the United States. Dick Armey is one of the few people who have been to 
the very top who, upon their own choosing, has decided to leave. He 
served this body with honor and distinction, and he looks forward to 
those times that he will spend with his family.
  But today was a special time, for he had his beautiful wife, Susan, 
and his family gather with him in this body as he described not only 
his hopes and dreams of this country that he has served, but also the 
hopes and dreams of this country when he goes into retirement. It is 
Dick Armey who worked to make this a better place. It is Dick Armey who 
chose to bring ideas not only related to solving one of the more 
difficult problems of this country related to how we handle military 
base closings, but it is also Dick Armey who talked about and brought 
from his years as an economics professor, a doctor of economics, the 
understanding that what this Congress does when it taxes people, when 
it takes money from people, what those profound effects are upon not 
only families and businesses, but also on the psychology of the Nation 
that no longer could handle deficit spending.
  Mr. Speaker, it is Dick Armey who understood as a result of traveling 
all across this country the hopes and dreams that people have about 
America's greatest days lie in our future, and that is why Dick Armey 
became the father or the author of the Contract With America. Yes, he 
did work with Newt Gingrich on that, but it is Dick Armey and his staff 
who took it as a challenge, an opportunity, a sharing of ideas, where 
he stated unequivocally that if the Congress of the United States, the 
104th Congress, would focus on those 10 important aspects that were 
embodied within the Contract With America that were, simply put, giving 
power back to people who are back home and taking power away from this 
body, that we could become not only more respectful of the taxpayer, 
but we could focus on the things that would make this country better.
  It is Dick Armey who led the battle. It is Dick Armey who had the 
ideas, who shaped not only the things that made a difference in the 
Contract With America, but it is Dick Armey who made sure that they 
passed on the floor of this House of Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, Dick Armey has served with honor and distinction, not 
only the people of the 26th district of Texas, but also the people of 
this country. He was also our elected representative, the majority 
leader of the Republican Party. He will be sorely missed. Dick has been 
a good friend of mine, a mentor, and provided me not only with wise 
counsel, but also talked about how this institution must survive 
because it is in the best interests of this country.
  So on this happy day, there is sadness in my heart, yet I know that 
Dick Armey feels like that he goes out in a way that he chose best, a 
way where he had a chance to leave this body, where he had a chance to 
give his very best, and yet he knows that his greatest days will be 
those times that he will have back in his own backyard with his 
grandchildren enjoying himself with his beautiful wife, Susan, and 
praying for this country. For we, too, will continue without him, but 
we too recognize that the opportunity to take those ideas that Dick 
matured for every one of us, in fact, will make our country better.
  Mr. Speaker, I will miss Dick Armey. We will have one more year to 
work with him. But I want the people of this country to know that the 
time that is spent in Washington, D.C. can be done by honorable and 
great people and Dick Armey is simply one of those gentleman.

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