[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 21874-21875]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO RAY LaHOOD AND JERRY WELLER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Madam Speaker, tonight we recognize the retirement of 
two great Members of Congress from the State of Illinois, Jerry Weller 
and Ray LaHood. Both of these gentlemen came with the great Republican 
class of 1994. It's indicative because these are two guys that are 
rebels with a cause, always believed in a continuous fight, never would 
miss a fight that would take place on the floor of the House.
  And in particular, Ray LaHood, who represents Abraham Lincoln's old 
district in Illinois, probably one of the greatest institutionalists. A 
person who has been with this Chamber for a considerable period of time 
serving as chief of staff to minority leader Bob Michel. And what's 
interesting that he puts in his own biography is the fact that he says, 
``Leading the efforts to establish a higher level of civility, decorum, 
and bipartisanship in the House of Representatives.''
  I don't know how you can pay a higher tribute to somebody than that. 
Recognizes that he had the--call it the honor, whatever it is, of being 
the person to hold on to the gavel during the impeachment hearings or 
impeachment proceedings taking place in this body of President Clinton. 
And the reason he was chosen is because of somebody who loves this 
institution, understands the meaning of order, and wanted to bring the 
highest level of civility to a place that has been torn up by things 
other than civility, especially during that period of time involving 
the impeachment.
  And Jerry Weller. Yes, Jerry. What an interesting person he has 
always been. What a great American. What an interesting start to 
politics. When he ran for the general assembly and then he lost, but he 
thought that he had won in a very interesting election that was taken 
away from him just before he was sworn in to be a member of the general 
assembly.
  But Jerry came back with a great class, and every married couple in 
this country has Jerry Weller to thank for the fact that he's the one 
who's the leading champion of the 2001 marriage tax penalty. Every 
couple in the country has him to thank for saving at least $1,700 on 
their joint tax return.
  Always an interesting individual. I was in Chicago with him one time 
attending a hearing, and we went to a restaurant on the north side. I 
lived way out in the country, and actually Jerry's background is a hog 
farmer. And we went to this restaurant, presumed that nobody knew who 
we were, and somebody came over and said, ``Aren't you Congressman 
Jerry Weller?'' And I turned to him and I said, ``I bet you paid that 
person to say that, to come over here and recognize you in Chicago way 
out of your territory.''
  But I have known him as a confidante, as a friend. I had the 
opportunity when I chaired the Small Business Committee to travel with 
him around his district. And a small town mayor came up to me and said, 
``You know, Congressman, I have been mayor here for a long time, but 
when Jerry got elected, he called me. And no one has ever called me and 
taken an interest in the small town that I represent. And it wasn't for 
the purpose of trying to get projects, because we know that those are 
very difficult when you have a lot of cities. But Jerry Weller cares 
about the little people in this country so much so that he contacted 
all of the small town mayors and all the mayors just to say that he's 
our new Congressman and he's there to help us.''
  I can't find a better tribute to an individual who does stuff like 
that, anybody who takes the time to travel the area and get to know the 
people.
  I also noticed that when I was with him, people would call me 
``Congressman Manzullo'' but they would call him ``Jerry.'' I said, You 
know what?

[[Page 21875]]

What a title of honor to feel comfortable enough around this man, and 
even with the dignified title of ``Congressman,'' they called him 
``Jerry.'' And why? Because Jerry has always been Jerry. Just your 
average young man working on a hog farm with a desirous heart to serve 
America elected to the United States House of Representatives.
  And Jerry, we're going to miss you. We're going to miss your humor, 
your unfunny jokes. We laughed at them just to be polite.
  And, Ray, we're going to miss you also because of the dignity that 
you always would bring to the House of Representatives. You had the 
heaviest mallet in the House. When you hit that mallet, people would 
sort of stand to attention.

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