[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2770]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING ALAN M. HANTMAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased tonight to come to the floor for 
a special order presentation. Let me start out by reading some names. 
Dr. William Thornton, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Charles Bulfinch, Thomas 
U. Walter, Edward Clark, Elliott Woods, David Lynn, J. George Stewart, 
George M. White, and Alan M. Hantman.
  My colleagues, I read these names. They are the names of the 10 
architects of the United States Capitol.
  This week will mark the last days in service to the United States 
Congress, and this historic structure, of the Architect of the United 
States Capitol, Alan M. Hantman. And I am pleased to rise this evening 
to recognize his service.
  Of course, we have had many presidents, we have had many Speakers of 
the House. We have only had 10 architects who have been in charge of 
this incredible structure that we call our United States Capitol.
  Alan Hantman will leave his service, leaving a legacy untold by 
almost any of his predecessors. And it has been my honor and pleasure 
to work with him on a project that will dramatically change the nature 
of the United States Capitol, that is, the United States Capitol 
Visitors Center.
  Let me reminisce for just a minute, as I thank him for his 10 years 
of dedicated and sometimes difficult and trying service to Congress. 
But let me reminisce, if I may, about Alan Hantman coming to serve as 
our United States Capitol architect.
  I have been involved in the Capitol Visitors Center for some 14 
years, since I came to Congress, committed that the people who visit 
this institution should have the opportunity to have an enjoyable, 
informative and memorable visit to the United States Capitol. Instead, 
in the past, they have stood in the rain, snow, sleet, cold, ice, 
without even common comforts or courtesy in front of our most historic 
structure, and sometimes denied access to the structure or again common 
conveniences.
  I was a little bit afraid because I know the way this place runs, 
when they were selecting an architect, some 10 years ago, that they 
might find someone in this process that would deep six the project, so 
I spent a particular amount of time as author of two authorization 
measures for the project, talking to Alan Hantman, and I was convinced 
he was the right person at the right time in the history of the United 
States Capitol.
  He undertook that expansion of the United States Capitol Building, 
the largest in history. It will increase the volume, the sheer volume 
of the Capitol by some 70 percent. And he has done an incredible job.
  At the same time, he has had to make this Capitol run. I often joked 
when I first came here that the U.S. Capitol was run like a southern 
plantation with bad management.
  Alan Hantman changed that. He brought professionalism to his position 
and to service and to, again, to the most monumental project, not on 
behalf of those who serve here. The Capitol Visitor Center, in fact, is 
the first structure and expansion to the Capitol in the history of the 
Capitol for the public, for those who own the place and to make, again, 
their visit an enjoyable, informative and educational experience.
  Alan brought with him great experience from the private sector with 
more than 10 years heading up the Rockefeller Center Management 
Corporation in New York City, overseeing that great project, and then 
coming here.
  Now, I know he has had 535 bosses, a smaller group of Capitol 
preservation on which I serve, and then the leaders of the House and 
Senate and some of the appropriators and other authorizers. I call him 
working for 19 prima donnas. But he has completed the structure, 
planning, and under the most difficult circumstances you can imagine.
  When people see the Visitor Center, the name of Alan Hantman will 
live forever in the history of the United States Congress and our 
country.

                          ____________________