[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 25644-25645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  SAYING FAREWELL TO MUFTIAH McCARTIN

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the many years of 
service of House Parliamentarian Muftiah McCartin, who completes her 
excellent work in this body later this week. Ms. McCartin joined the 
Parliamentarian's Office in 1976, and has served during the tenure of 
six Speakers and six Presidents. In 1991, she became the first woman to 
be appointed a Parliamentarian.
  The minority leader, Ms. Pelosi, is someone who understands the 
importance of breaking glass ceilings. She had hoped to be here 
personally to congratulate Muftiah on her outstanding work and her 
dedication over the many years.
  She goes on to say Muftiah always had such a wonderful smile and warm 
demeanor on the House floor, which I might comment often lacks smiles 
and warm demeanors. Well, it is warm; sometimes heated. As we know, it 
can get heated in debate and very partisan, but she has always been a 
calm and rational presence to Members on both sides of the aisle and 
their staff who seek parliamentary advice. She brought a keen mind and 
a clear understanding of House rules that have served this institution 
very well.
  In addition to the long, grueling hours she has spent on the House 
floor, she has managed to raise four wonderful children: Marissa, 
Elaine, Sandra, and Luke, one of whom has the great, good sense to have 
moved to my congressional district. That is my district,

[[Page 25645]]

not Ms. Pelosi's. I am sure she will welcome spending the extra time 
with her family and her husband, Terry.
  Muftiah, today we thank you for your service to this great 
institution and wish you the very best. You have been a tremendous 
asset to the work we do every day, and we will miss you. Thank you 
again for your many years of commitment toward making the House of 
Representatives a better place.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DeFAZIO. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I find it a great irony and some goodness 
that I can get some time from my friend.
  I was sitting in my office and I did not know, frankly, that Muftiah 
was old enough to retire, take on another job, or leave the nest here, 
or whatever she is doing, but as somebody who has personally benefited 
from her expertise and wisdom, as I have had the honor to sit in the 
Chair, I can say we could not have laymen go up there and hold the 
gavel without somebody like Muftiah at our right arm telling us 
sometimes what to say and what not to say. I am sure she never would 
sit down when I had the gavel because she was nervous something would 
go awry.
  The other thing that is important, when school kids and visitors come 
to the House Chamber, I often point to the picture of George Washington 
and the fact that you can still see the sword painted out of his hand. 
I explain to school kids the reason the sword was painted out of his 
hand in his portrait in the House Chamber is that we philosophically 
believe that our debate here, our spirited debate, sometimes our 
acrimonious debate, sometimes our bitter debate, is still better than 
the alternative, and that alternative is civil war or civil disruption, 
as we see around the world.

                              {time}  1845

  I believe that all of our Parliamentarians aid that in that sometimes 
we get out of line, Democrats or Republicans, in the spirit of the 
moment, in the emotion of the moment, and we say something that we 
regret saying; and it is at that time when all eyes turn to a 
nonpartisan, objective third party who can say everybody sit down, a 
little calmness here, let us get through this maze of parliamentary 
mystery and then get back on the course of civil discussion.
  I want to say, Muftiah, thank you for being part of that team and 
thank you for everything that you are doing. Your job is a profound 
one, and it is one that should be studied in every civics class in 
every school at every level of education in America.
  And I want to say to my friend from the west coast who does not 
always vote green when I vote red and vice versa, we always agree that 
this is the place where we can come and have good, open debate thanks 
to people like Muftiah and the Parliamentarians.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, that is correct. I only 
regret that she trained him too well.

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