[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6272-6279]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RECEPTION OF FORMER MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

  The Speaker pro tempore presided.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. On behalf of the House, I consider it a 
great honor on behalf of Speaker Pelosi, Leader Boehner and myself to 
welcome not only former colleagues but very good friends. I am 
particularly pleased to recognize the former Speaker of the House, Bob 
Michel. I know that's technically not accurate. I tried to get him the 
votes to get that office, but another person intervened. But we are 
certainly pleased to recognize and welcome back the distinguished 
minority leader to the House, a good friend. I, of course, somewhat 
parochial, particularly want to recognize my good friend, Senator Joe 
Tydings. When I first ran for the Maryland State Senate, I had a little 
tiny brochure. On the front page of that brochure were two people--
Senator Tydings, who had been elected in 1964 and myself in 1966--both 
former Presidents of the Young Democrats of Maryland, walking down the 
street. So to that extent, if you're really upset with my being here, 
Senator Tydings has some responsibility for that. You can talk to him.
  Also, the first Young Democrats convention I attended, the President 
of the Young Democrats of Maryland was a gentleman named Goodloe Byron. 
Goodloe E. Byron. He served with me in the State Senate. He came to 
Congress before me, tragically passed away at an extraordinarily young 
age, and his wife, as all of you know, succeeded him. A friend of mine 
for 40 years--she was 7 at the time when we first met--Beverly Byron. 
It's particularly good to recognize you and to welcome all of you back 
to the House.
  The Chair will now recognize the Honorable Dennis Hertel. It's a 
particular pleasure for me to recognize Dennis Hertel because, as some 
of you know, he came to the Congress the same year I came to the 
Congress. He left the Congress not at the request of the citizens of 
Michigan but at the request of the citizens who served in the State 
legislature. They divided his district up not in three ways but in four 
ways, all that had Democratic incumbents. He chose not to take any of 
them on. They were all relieved by that. You have done well in choosing 
him as your leader for this year.
  The chair is yours.
  Mr. HERTEL (presiding). I want to thank Leader Hoyer, not only for 
his very kind remarks today and for taking the time to be with us but 
the fact that he has always come to help us with our one day of session 
here as former Members of Congress. It's very, very much appreciated 
that Leader Hoyer with his busy schedule always has time to come 
forward for us.
  Mr. Jim Slattery from Kansas, the President of our Association, 
cannot be with us today because he has left our position as President 
of the Former Members Association to become a candidate for the United 
States Senate in Kansas for the Democratic nomination. And so because 
he is pursuing that worthy goal, we have Jay Rhodes, who has been our 
Vice President from Arizona and done such an excellent job. Jay will 
step up to become President of the Association and take on those duties 
today.
  The Chair recognizes Jay Rhodes of Arizona, the acting President of 
the Association of Former Members of Congress.
  Mr. RHODES. I apologize for a little delay in getting things going. 
There's been some confusion about the access to the floor of our 
international guests who have always been welcomed to the floor during 
this ceremony but for some reason that has not occurred, so they will 
be in the galleries. I'm sorry about that. That's not the way we wanted 
things to happen.
  Mr. Hoyer, thank you very much. And thank you for giving us access to

[[Page 6273]]

the Chamber. We have a very special event, if you will, which is to 
honor a very distinguished statesman, the former majority leader of the 
United States Senate, Senator George Mitchell of Maine. As far as I am 
concerned, that's the highest rank that you have achieved. You have 
achieved others, but being the majority leader of the Senate is 
something to behold and something to beholden to. We are proud that you 
are a member of our Association, the Former Members of Congress, and we 
are proud to recognize your service to our country as majority leader. 
As a peacekeeper. I think you had more success in making peace in 
Ireland than you have in baseball. But certainly your work in trying to 
uncover and rectify the use and misuse of performance-enhancing drugs, 
especially in professional baseball, is something that I know you're 
proud of and we're proud of. We believe that your work will have taken 
our national pastime and restored its luster. We are very pleased and 
happy that you have assisted the country again in a very important 
effort.
  It's a great pleasure for me as the President of this Association to 
welcome you and to present to you our Distinguished Service Award and 
to ask you if you would say a few words to our group.
  Mr. MITCHELL. Thank you very much, Congressman Rhodes. Thanks to 
Congressman Hoyer and to all of our colleagues here. Let me say that I 
am grateful to you for the kind words, Congressman Rhodes, and grateful 
to all of the Members Association for the honor that you have bestowed 
upon me. I think it's fitting that this ceremony of former Members be 
held in the House Chamber.
  I recall very clearly when I was elected majority leader of the 
Senate and I attended the first official function with the Speaker. 
Prior to the function, we met and I said, well, we have to decide who 
goes first. He said, yes. We can discuss that, he said, but I'd just 
like to call to your attention that the position of Speaker is 
mentioned in the Constitution and in the laws of the United States, but 
nowhere in either the Constitution or any law is there any reference to 
a majority leader of the United States Senate. He said, but I'm 
perfectly prepared to discuss who should go first.
  I said, well, I think you've made it rather clear. Ever since then, I 
have deferred to every Speaker and, in fact, every Member of the House 
I ever met because it made such a powerful impression on me, about the 
primacy of the House of Representatives in our system of government.
  Service in the Congress or in comparable bodies around the world like 
the Dail in Ireland, where I know there are many here today, and from 
Canada and other countries is, of course, a high honor and a great 
privilege. My service in the United States Senate, including my 6 years 
as Senate majority leader, was one of the highest honors of my life. I 
was fortunate thereafter to engage in other public service activities, 
including 5 years in Northern Ireland where I served as chairman of the 
peace negotiations and of other activities in bringing to a close the 
conflict in Northern Ireland. But nothing will ever for me exceed the 
honor of having been a Member of the United States Congress. I know 
that every former Member here, indeed all former Members, has shared 
that view. It was not very long ago, of course, that I served. Then as 
now, there were challenges facing our Nation. Then as now, there were 
differences between the parties. But I hope that now as then the 
current Members will rise to the challenge and be able to meet the very 
important problems and address the issues facing our great country and 
the world.
  In conclusion, I thank everyone here very much. You know, for most 
human beings, life is in essence a never-ending search for respect. 
First and most important, self-respect and then the respect of others. 
There is no one certain route to gaining respect, but I have always 
felt that the best way was through service to others. And so I think 
that Members of Congress, despite the fact that in ours, as in every 
democratic society, there is a lot of criticism, a lot of complaint, 
nonetheless, I think every Member of Congress has earned and deserves 
the respect of the people for their dedication and their service to 
others.
  Thank you all very much for this great honor.
  Mr. RHODES. Senator, thank you very much for your comments. I think 
the significance of your comments is the fact that you and Members of 
the other body do recognize that it is one Congress composed of two 
separate and equal bodies. We appreciate that portion of your comments 
as much as anything else.
  We do have a scrapbook with remembrances from your former colleagues, 
both in the House and the Senate, appreciating your service. And, of 
course, the plaque. Now I will read the plaque since I've got my 
glasses on. Actually I don't have my glasses on.
  Senator, you've got a lot of these. It just says that we recognize 
your lifetime of service to this body, this body being the Congress, 
not the Senate, and to our country. And we appreciate it very, very 
much and we appreciate your being with us this morning.
  And so I present to you, A, the scrapbook; and, B, the plaque--I hope 
that your wall space has room for it--again from a grateful Nation.
  Thank you very, very much.
  Mr. MITCHELL. I guarantee you my wall space will have room for this, 
a very prominent place on my wall. Thank you very much, Jay.
  Mr. RHODES. Thank you, sir.
  Mr. HERTEL. The Chair recognizes the distinguished majority leader, 
the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
  Mr. RHODES. Do you want to recognize Mr. Hoyer or do you want me to 
recognize Mr. Hoyer?
  Mr. HERTEL. We can both recognize Mr. Hoyer.
  Mr. RHODES. Mr. Hoyer, you're recognized.
  Mr. HOYER. May I use this podium?
  Mr. RHODES. You may do whatever you wish, Mr. Majority Leader.
  Mr. HOYER. Let me come over here.
  I tell a story when I greet, as so many of you have, constituents to 
the floor of the House. I tell them the story that few Members of the 
House did I come with a more negative perception of than John 
Rousselot, as you can imagine. John Rousselot had quite a reputation 
around the country. And I say that to them for the purpose of saying 
that I ended up thinking John Rousselot was one of the really 
delightful human beings with whom I served, notwithstanding our deep 
disagreements. Some of you who served during his term will recall, as 
we know, John had a problem with his leg, but he used to delight, as 
you recall, going over to that rostrum and talking to you us. You 
remember that, Bob, I am sure, very well. He did it, however, not in a 
confrontational way but with a twinkle in his eye, as if to say, I'm 
coming over here and I'm going to tell you guys what you really ought 
to be doing. And I really always enjoyed it.
  When Jay said, well, I'm not going to speak from that rostrum, I'm 
going to come over here, it reminded me of that.
  Unfortunately, as all of you know through the years now, the aisle 
has become more a wall than an aisle. A division has grown. I lament, I 
really do, Bob Michel's loss from the House and from the country's 
service in this body--he still serves our country as all of you do as 
well--because he was, with Tip O'Neill, two unifying leaders who tried 
to bring us together, not agreeing necessarily but disagree in a sense 
of trying to get together to solve problems with our different 
perspectives being involved. As all of you know, I have a deep 
affection for Bob Michel for that reason. But I always come here--
before I was majority leader I came here--because I want to thank all 
of you for the service you have given to our country, the friendship 
you have given to me and so many others in this body.
  Some of you I see on a regular basis. The Historical Society 
obviously making such a continued contribution. I saw Ben Gilman 2 days 
ago at a breakfast at which I spoke. But I really wanted to reiterate 
the welcome of Speaker Pelosi to all of you back to the House.
  I also want to recognize our friends, and I'm not sure which one of 
you are

[[Page 6274]]

here, from Great Britain, from Ireland. As a matter of fact, I think 
there are 19 Irish Parliamentarians here. There are a couple from 
Greece and New Zealand; Great Britain, as I said; and Canada. So we 
have five nations represented who with the United States have something 
in common with one of them, Great Britain. And we have much in common 
with all of us. We welcome you to the House. You are friends and great 
allies at a time of challenge for the global community, both in terms 
of economics, in terms of terrorism, in terms of moving our 
international community towards a more peaceful resolution of its 
problems.
  Senator Mitchell. Did he leave? I'm sorry. I should have said that at 
the beginning. I was going to invite Senator Mitchell, based upon his 
experience in Northern Ireland, if he might visit us here and see if he 
can resolve the differences between the Senate and the House. I thought 
that might be a very useful contribution to the country. We're having 
some problems. You may have noticed. The Senate is a strange body, 
Senator Tydings. We're trying to work with them, but it is very 
difficult.
  In any event, I want to welcome all of you back and thank you for 
what you have done for our country on both sides of the aisle, as 
Americans, not as Republicans or as Democrats but as Americans, and say 
how honored I am to have the opportunity to join with you on this day 
when you return, to remember what you have done here, but to also 
remember the friendships that we have made here.
  Good luck to you. Thank you very much.
  Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank the majority leader. Let me say that it's 
very appropriate that my Republican friend Mr. Rhodes and I both 
introduced the majority leader because if there was an award for 
statesmanship for an incumbent, I think our majority leader would 
certainly achieve that.
  It's something to always follow the model that Tip O'Neill set for 
us, of being bipartisan in the ways that affect our country. I remember 
the great affection that Tip O'Neill had for Bob Michel and how they 
worked together, even though they fought on issues on a daily and 
weekly basis of importance to our country. I remember Tip O'Neill 
telling me about the love he had for one of his very best friends, 
Jerry Ford, the President from Michigan, a Republican, who was as 
partisan as Tip when he was the minority leader here in the House. What 
I have seen in the distinguished majority leader is taking from the 
Speakers that I was honored to serve under, taking the intellectual 
abilities of Mr. Foley and the partisan aggressiveness of Mr. Wright 
and the wisdom and the common touch of Tip O'Neill, and that is 
embodied in our distinguished majority leader. He then carries forth 
the fact that you can be an active partisan on behalf of your party in 
your beliefs and at the same time reach over and work with the minority 
and understand their viewpoint even as you are strong and aggressive on 
the principles that you believe in. So we thank the distinguished 
majority leader again for taking the time to be with us and for his 
leadership on behalf of our country.
  The Chair would like to also thank Mr. McNulty from New York. 
Chairman McNulty has always been very generous with his time, also, 
with the former Members and we appreciate his time today with such a 
busy schedule.
  The Clerk will take the roll.
  The Clerk called the roll of the former Members of Congress, and the 
following former Members answered to their names:


Former Members of Congress Participating in 38th Annual Spring Meeting 
                        Thursday, April 17, 2008

  Mr. Broyhill of North Carolina
  Mr. Buechner of Missouri
  Mrs. Byron of Maryland
  Mr. DeNardis of Connecticut
  Mr. DioGuardi of New York
  Mr. Frey of Florida
  Mr. Garcia of New York
  Mr. Gilman of New York
  Mr. Goodling of Pennsylvania
  Mr. Hertel of Michigan
  Mr. Hockbrueckner of New York
  Mr. Hughes of New Jersey
  Mrs. Kennelly of Connecticut
  Mr. Konnyu of California
  Mr. Kramer of Colorado
  Mr. Kyros of Maine
  Mrs. Long of Louisiana
  Mr. McHugh of New York
  Mr. Michel of Illinois
  Mr. Nichols of Kansas
  Mr. Parris of Virginia
  Mr. Rhodes of Arizona
  Mr. Sarasin of Connecticut
  Mr. Shaw of Florida
  Mr. Thomas of Georgia
  Mr. Zeliff of New Hampshire
  Mr. HERTEL. The Chair announces that 26 former Members of Congress 
have responded to their names.
  The Chair recognizes the President of the Association, Mr. Rhodes, 
the distinguished gentleman from Arizona.
  Mr. RHODES. Thank you, Mr. Hertel. For those of you who don't quite 
understand what the cast of characters is here, you would have expected 
that our friend Jim Slattery from Kansas would be standing here as 
President of the Association. Jim made a decision to return to Kansas 
and to run for the Senate. He also made the decision that that 
commitment of time and effort would not allow him to devote the time 
and effort that he had remaining on his term of office as President of 
the Association, so he did resign. The by-laws really don't say a lot 
about when an officer resigns to run for office again, but they do say 
when the President is not here, the Vice President shall act as 
President. And so I am technically the Vice President and I am here 
acting as the President. If anybody wants to challenge me, do so now or 
forever hold your peace. Within the ordinary course of events within 
the next few days or so, I will be elected to be President, and then 
you will have no challenge whatsoever. But I am here for Jim and I want 
to acknowledge Jim's service to the Association, to the Congress and to 
the country. He has served this Association extremely well. We have 
made great progress, building on progress that began about 6 years ago, 
or more, with Matt McHugh and then with Larry LaRocco and then with 
Jack Buechner. Your association has grown in stature and in numbers and 
in activities. We're going to outline a lot of that activity here for 
you today.
  It is also a great pleasure for me to welcome to our meeting former 
Parliamentarians from Canada, from the United Kingdom, from Ireland, 
from Greece, and from Turkey. We are very, very honored to have you 
with us. We are very honored to have the kind of association that we 
have with your respective associations. We hope to continue to have 
those grow as well. And we will continue to carry out the activities 
that have made us, I think, a more vibrant and, I think, a more 
productive portion, quasi-governmental portion of the Government of the 
United States. We have accomplished a lot and we have a lot more to do.
  I look forward very much to a 2-year term as President. I am going to 
be assisted very ably by Congressman Hertel, who will be the Vice 
President, and by Congressman Buechner, who has graciously agreed to 
continue in the post of Past President. I don't think Jack has a vote, 
but he does have a role to play because he has been extremely active in 
the growth of the organization and we need his experience and we need 
his advice and we appreciate the fact that he is going to continue in 
that role. That's the last nice thing I'm going to say about you.
  But I'm going to introduce you, because I want you to tell the 
Association what you and we have been doing in the area of democracy 
building.
  Jack, welcome back. It is good to see you.
  Mr. BUECHNER. If the gentleman will yield, I am glad to be back. I 
want to thank everyone for participating in the programs that we've put 
together on the international end of it. In particular, something new 
for the association is its participation in the International Election 
Monitors Institute, the IEMI. It's a joint project of our association 
with our sister organizations in Ottawa and Brussels. I am pleased that 
some of our Canadian and European delegates, our colleagues active in 
the IEMI, have made the trip to D.C. to be with us today. Of course, 
joining the Prime Minister of Great Britain and

[[Page 6275]]

also the Pope. What a great time to be in Washington, D.C., for the 
springtime.
  The first goal of our institute is to take former legislators, and I 
am going to use the term ``legislators'' rather than Parliamentarians 
or Members of Congress. I happened to see something the other day that 
``parliament'' comes from the French word which is basically parle, to 
talk. Congress comes from the Roman word which is a gathering of 
enemies. And I thought, I wonder if the Founding Fathers were playing a 
little joke when they called it a Congress. These legislators we have 
taken from the EU, from the United States and Canada and we have 
training sessions in proper election monitoring.
  It's easy to think that because you've run for office and held office 
that you know something about elections. Well, you may know something 
about a ridings in Calgary or about a congressional district in South 
Carolina, but that doesn't mean you know what you're doing in Chad, and 
we're not talking about Florida chads, we're talking about the country 
of Chad or someplace that is having an ongoing uprising by a minority 
party or a different tribal distincts. The Orange Revolution taught us 
a whole lot about what election observations were all about. Sometimes 
it was just sitting and making sure that the guys in charge--sometimes 
gals in charge--were not manipulating the vote. So we have been able to 
put together these training sessions and we've hosted other meetings. 
We have gotten a 3-year grant from the Canadian International 
Development Agency. We've sent dozens of U.S., Canadian and European 
former legislators who have gone through this training and are now 
well-versed in an actual set of responsibilities and challenges that 
come with election observation. A part that's very significant is a 
code of conduct, to make sure that when our representatives are in 
these different election areas, that they know what they are supposed 
to be doing and what they are not supposed to be doing. This is an 
interesting thing, especially for United States politicians going 
someplace where the microscope is always on whatever it is we do. A 
mere stumble can sometimes, and I don't mean physically, but a turn of 
phrase.
  One of the things that happens, you should know, is that sometimes 
the electoral mechanism, somebody in a country will look at one of our 
representatives and say, well, what do you think we should do? The 
inclination is, well, I'd throw that ballot out. Or I'd accept that 
ballot. One of the things we train our representatives to do is to be 
cool and to step back and to say, it's your election, not our election, 
and we're just here to make sure that the world knows what goes on 
here. Now you decide what to do with that ballot. It's a very, very 
powerful thing.
  We have had an international delegation that went to the Morocco 
elections. We had 52 observers from 19 countries. We deployed to 12 
regions in Morocco and visited 375 polling stations. In addition, 
observers participated in briefings and meetings before election day to 
ascertain the political and legal climate in which the Moroccan 
electorate could cast their votes. We saw a well-organized and 
transparent election on September 7. Moroccan authorities had trained 
polling officials well and ensured that voters were given the 
opportunity to cast a secret ballot without undue influence. There were 
reported irregularities, but the overall impression gathered by IEMI 
monitors was that the Government of Morocco should be congratulated on 
a free, fair, and transparent election process.
  But one of the problems was participation. An awful lot of people 
said, you know, even though I've got the first opportunity to vote, I 
think that the King's going to influence it or the Islamic parties are 
going to be overrepresented, that they had the same kind of skepticism 
that we in the West frequently have to encounter, that low turnout of 
37 percent, but a high number of protest votes. One vote we saw at the 
polling station said, I can't vote for any of these idiots, which is 
sort of the ``none of the above'' with a little more emphasis. But it 
showed there was an evidence for further political reform necessary in 
Morocco. Former Parliamentarians can play a crucial role in encouraging 
widespread engagement in the process. It is IEMI's hope that over the 
next few years leading up to Morocco's 2012 elections, former 
legislators will be invited to assist in developing reforms such as 
civic education or effective political leadership.
  In addition to participating in those missions and conducting several 
training sessions, the IEMI has created a strategic plan which 
envisions its expansion over the next 5 years. Part of that vision is 
to become active not just in election observation missions but in 
democracy building work, now being carried out worldwide by U.S., 
Canadian and European NGOs. For example, former legislators could play 
a crucial role in aiding a peaceful transition of government following 
an election. We could work with newly elected legislators as they begin 
their work in a representative democracy. We could share our experience 
when it comes to the nuts and bolts--we all know about the nuts in the 
legislative branch--but, for example, the work of committees or relying 
on a professional staff. In many countries, there are no professional 
personnel to work with the legislators. I recall one of the first 
things that happened when I was a new member of the Association is we 
actually helped the Ukrainian Parliament train what were basically law 
students and political science students, train somebody to work with 
the Parliament because there was no one there. And in the Russian Duma 
in the early stages, if you wanted to introduce a bill, you had to 
actually bring enough paper to print copies for every member of the 
Duma. That was just one of those little things that starts a democracy 
rolling, but you have to deal with it. We believe that via the 
Institute, we are positioning ourselves to play an integral part in 
democracy building.
  Before I yield back the floor, let me recognize Doug Rowland, if you 
would stand up. Doug is the President of our Canadian counterpart, our 
neighbor to the north, but is also the President currently of the IEMI. 
He deserves a round of recognition. Doug, thank you for your efforts 
and for all the members of the board.
  With that, Mr. President, I thank you for giving me the opportunity 
to report on the IEMI.
  Mr. RHODES. Jack, thank you very much.
  Jack mentioned that the root meaning of the word ``parliament'' is 
talk. Jack demonstrates the fact that he really is a parliamentarian, 
because there's nothing about which he cannot talk at length. I wonder, 
though, if you know what the root meaning of the word Congress is. If 
you look up Congress in a dictionary, the first definition is sexual 
intercourse. Then it gets into what you said it was, which is 
conversation amongst others. Fortunately, I think that we mostly do the 
latter, I hope.
  Another of our international programs is something that I would like 
to have our friend Beverly Byron from Maryland report on. We have done 
quite a number of external programs that Beverly is an expert on and 
will share her expertise with us, hopefully as a Congressman and not as 
a Parliamentarian.
  Mr. HERTEL. The Chair recognizes the distinguished Congresswoman from 
Maryland, Beverly Byron.
  Mrs. BYRON. I'm afraid to touch that podium after his remarks.
  Mr. RHODES. I don't blame you.
  Mrs. BYRON. Let me first of all thank our acting temporary 
President--until this afternoon.
  Mr. RHODES. Are you going to challenge me?
  Mrs. BYRON. Oh, I don't know. It's early in the day. I've got 
probably a couple of hours. You can never tell.
  Let me say that I have been tasked to talk about a program that I 
think is one that the acting Members and the former Members have put 
together and have worked very hard--the Study Groups on Germany, 
Turkey, Japan and Mexico. I originally thought I was just going to be 
talking about the German Study Group which I have been interested in 
and have no problem with

[[Page 6276]]

the pronunciation on the German names, but I have Turkey, Japan and 
Mexico. And so bear with me as we go along.
  The Association serves as the secretariat for the Congressional Study 
Groups. Germany is the largest and most active exchange program. It is 
U.S. Members of Congress and Parliamentarians of Germany. It is a 
bipartisan organization, much as this one is, and they alternate the 
Chairs, Democrats and Republicans, on the U.S. side. The German group 
is celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year. The primary goal of 
the Study Group is to establish a dialogue between Members of Congress 
and their counterparts in the Bundestag. The group has a Distinguished 
Visitors Program where they bring high-ranking German elected officials 
to the Capitol. Last year, the Study Group on Germany organized events 
featuring political leaders such as Chancellor Angela Merkel; Dr. 
Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag; and Minister Sigmar 
Gabriel, Federal Minister for the Environment. Every year, the Study 
Group brings approximately eight Members of Congress together with 
sometimes an equal number, sometimes more, of the German legislators 
for several days, focusing on discussions with a predetermined agenda. 
The Parliamentarians usually are joined by several former Members of 
Congress and former Members of the Bundestag. They also have officials 
of the two federal governments attending, think-tank and foundation 
representatives, and members of the German-American corporate 
community. In 2007, the annual Congress-Bundestag seminar took place in 
Hamburg, Germany. This year the Study Group is going to be in Utah for 
its 25th annual seminar and it will be taking place in the current U.S. 
president of that organization, Rob Bishop's, district. The upcoming 
program is going to discuss topics such as NATO, relations with China, 
and renewable energy. Our program this morning is on the energy issue. 
I think it's one that we all are very much interested in.
  We need to thank the Study Group's supporters because it could not 
operate without financial support. Here comes the advertisement: Craig 
Kennedy and the German Marshall Fund are extremely active. The Marshall 
Fund has funded this program for many years. The Business Advisory 
Council also donates support on the administrative side of the Study 
Group and current companies such as Airbus, Allianz, BASF, Daimler, 
Deutsche Telekom, DHL Americas, EDS, Eli Lilly, Fresenius, Lufthansa, 
RGIT, SAP, Siemens, and Volkswagen, to name but a few.
  Modeled after the Congressional Study Group on Germany, the 
Association has established other Study Groups. The Turkish group in 
2005. Turkey as we all know is important for so many reasons: Peace in 
the greater Middle East, the expansion of the European Union, the 
transformation of NATO. The Study Group on Turkey brings current 
Members of Congress together with their legislative peers, government 
officials and business representatives in Turkey and serves currently 
as a platform for participants to learn about U.S.-Turkish relations 
firsthand. Thanks to funding from the Turkish Coalition of America, the 
Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey and TOBB, the German 
Marshall Fund also funds some of the work with the Turkish group, and a 
group of corporate sponsors, the Study Group on Turkey has brought 
important guests to Capitol Hill. That includes then Turkish Foreign 
Minister Abdullah Gul, who is now President of Turkey; Assistant 
Secretary of State Daniel Fried; and many delegations of Turkish 
Parliamentarians.
  The Congressional Study Group on Turkey also conducts an annual U.S.-
Turkey seminar. In 2007, that conference took place in Ankara and 
Istanbul. A congressional delegation met as we did when we were Members 
with high-level representatives, including Speaker of the Grand 
National Assembly of Turkey Arinc, as well as Turkish Prime Minister 
Erdogan. Discussions included Iraq and Turkey's bid to join the EU. 
This year's seminar will take place in May in Memphis in the district 
of Representative Steve Cohen. Members of Congress and their 
counterparts in the Turkish Grand National Assembly will discuss issues 
such as, once again, energy security, civil society, and the Middle 
East.
  The Association also serves as the secretariat for the Congressional 
Study Group on Japan. This was founded in 1993 in cooperation with the 
East-West Center in Hawaii. The Congressional Study Group on Japan is a 
bipartisan group of 89 Members of the House and Senate. The Japanese 
Group arranges opportunities for Members of Congress to meet their 
counterparts in the Japanese Diet in addition to presentations by 
American and Japanese experts about various aspects of U.S.-Japanese 
relations. Recently featured guests have included Japanese Ambassador 
to the United States Ryozo Kato; then Foreign Minister Taro Aso; and 
Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Six-Party Talks, Ambassador Chris 
Hill. The Congressional Study Group on Japan is funded by the Japan-
U.S. Friendship Commission.
  Last but not least we have the Congressional Study Group on Mexico. 
It is a unique organization in that it serves as a bipartisan forum of 
legislators and congressional staffers to engage in issue-specific 
dialogue with Mexican elected officials and government representatives. 
By being involved in the group, the two countries' political decision-
makers receive a comprehensive picture of the issues revolving around 
U.S.-Mexico relations. We are working closely with the Woodrow Wilson 
Center on the Mexico project.
  These Study Groups are examples of how the Former Members Association 
can provide an educational service to current Members and working 
together furthering issues for our Nation. I look forward to being a 
part of the Study Groups. I think those of you that are not involved in 
it would get a great deal of satisfaction in having an opportunity to 
see that we are still continuing as former Members in many of the areas 
and issues that we have been involved in.
  I thank you, the new acting-temporary-prospective President, for the 
time this morning.
  Mr. RHODES. Thank you, Congresswoman Byron, very much not only for 
your remarks but for your participation. It's very valuable to all of 
us. As Beverly has said, the value of these Study Groups is bilateral. 
I think that we and our sitting Members whom we involve in these 
exchanges learn a lot and I think that the counterparts in the other 
countries also learn from us, and we learn basically that many of our 
problems are very, very similar. It's fascinating and it's a great 
experience.
  I next want to have Matt McHugh come forward and report to you on our 
various student-based exchange programs which we loosely call Congress 
to Campus. Matt has been intimately involved in the expansion and 
growth of the Congress to Campus Program which has been dramatic and a 
very great reward to an awful lot of former Members of Congress and 
hopefully to some students out there in the world. But from time to 
time, Matt, I think we learn more than they do. Matt is a longtime, 
very, very valuable member of the Association and we appreciate very 
much everything that you do for us.
  Mr. McHUGH. Thanks very much, Jay.
  As he indicated, my role this morning is to present our report on the 
Congress to Campus Program which as many of you know is now run 
exclusively by our Association in cooperation with the Stennis Center. 
David Skaggs, who did such a great job for us for some years, is now 
the Secretary of Education in Colorado. But the transition from his 
organization, the Council on Excellence in Government, has been very 
smooth and successful. As most of you know, the Congress to Campus 
Program is the Association's flagship program for our members. It sends 
bipartisan teams of former Members to colleges, universities and high 
schools across the country to educate the next generation of leaders on 
the importance of civic engagement. The participating students benefit 
from the interaction with our Association members

[[Page 6277]]

whose knowledge and experience, as we know, are a unique resource. But 
at the same time our members benefit, as Jay has said, through our 
continued involvement in public service and the ability to engage these 
young people on issues of importance to them.
  During each visit, our bipartisan team conducts classes, meets 
individually with students and faculty, speaks to campus media, 
participates in both campus and community forums, and meets with local 
citizens. Institutions are encouraged to market our visits to the 
entire campus community, not just to those students who are majoring in 
political science, history or government. Over the course of 2\1/2\ 
days, hundreds of students are exposed to the former Members' message 
regarding the significance of public service. There is one more visit 
scheduled for this academic year, after which we begin recruiting 
schools for next year. The program has made both domestic and 
international visits this academic year, including a visit to campuses 
in the United Kingdom and Canada and, for the first time, two separate 
visits to campuses in Mexico. By the end of next week, the program will 
have made 26 campus visits in this academic year. More than 30 members 
of our Association have made visits this academic year, and I want to 
take the opportunity to thank all of you who have participated in the 
program and certainly encourage those of you who have not had the 
opportunity as yet to do so, it's a great experience for us.
  I also want to extend our thanks to the campuses, the faculty and 
staff members and students who worked so diligently on each of these 
visits. Without their hard work, these visits would not have been 
possible. We rely heavily on the universities to take the lead in 
coordinating logistics relating to each visit and appreciate the time 
they devote to ensuring their students will receive the benefits of the 
program.
  We have also continued, as I mentioned at the beginning, our 
relationship with the Stennis Center for Public Service in the 
administration of the program. Association and Stennis Center staff 
work very closely together on a day-by-day basis to make the program 
such a great success. We appreciate both the staff support and the 
steady financial contribution we get from the Stennis Center each area. 
We look forward to working with them in the years ahead as well.
  I am also pleased to announce that in the next academic year for the 
first time we will be receiving a financial contribution and some 
support from the Joyce and Donald Rumsfeld Foundation. The Foundation's 
generous grant will enable our Association to reach out to more 
students and more schools, many of whom have not participated in the 
past. And so on behalf of our members, I want to thank Secretary 
Rumsfeld for recognizing the importance of our reaching out to the next 
generation of leaders.
  We have also continued working with the People to People Ambassador 
Program that brings young people to our Nation's capital for a week of 
events centered on the concepts of character and leadership. These 
students are far younger than those who participate in the Congress to 
Campus activities, but they have already demonstrated a commitment to 
the ideals that the Congress to Campus Program seeks to promote. The 
Association's involvement in this program allows our members living in 
the Washington area to speak to these younger students on the 
importance of public service and to answer any questions they might 
have. A number of our members, as you know, are working full time still 
and the People to People engagements allow them to continue their 
public service in this particular way. The events are typically held in 
the early morning at suburban locations. Again, I want to thank all of 
our colleagues who have participated in this program. I want to mention 
in particular our colleague Orval Hansen of Idaho. I don't know if 
Orval is here this morning. If not, he deserves recognition, because he 
has made it to nine of these visits early in the morning to meet with 
these younger students, seven of those visits in the last month alone. 
That is enormous dedication, and we are grateful to him in particular.
  I want to conclude by again expressing appreciation to all of those 
who have made the Congress to Campus Program such a great success and 
by encouraging all of my friends here to participate. As you know, a 
democracy can prosper only if its citizens are engaged, and as former 
legislators we have a particular responsibility, I think, to encourage 
others to do so, particularly our young people.
  Thank you very much.
  Mr. RHODES. Matt, thank you very much. I just want to echo what Matt 
says about the Person to Person program. I've participated in one, 
which started at 6:45 a.m. in far out Bethesda. This is all junior high 
school kids. At 6:45 they are up and dressed and scrubbed and raring to 
go. I'm standing there saying, what am I doing out here at 6:45 in the 
morning? It's worth it.
  I want to emphasize what Matt emphasized, which is that the purpose 
of this kind of activity is not to say to a kid, this is how you 
prepare yourself to run for Congress, or to run for public office. The 
purpose is to say to them, a career in public service is a career worth 
pursuing. Public service encompasses a whole lot of things. Being a 
teacher, being a fireman, being a policeman, a garbage collector or, 
like a garbage collector, a Congressman. But the point is to emphasize 
to the young people that public service is not a career to be shunned, 
it's a career to be sought.
  Matt, your leadership on this is greatly appreciated.
  My next project is to try to introduce a real hero for the 
Association. It's difficult to do because he knows he's a hero and will 
tell you himself if I don't do it. Lou Frey has served as President of 
the Association, and for the last 11 years Lou has chaired our annual 
dinner which, as I think you probably all know, is the lifeblood of the 
Association. When it became clear, Beverly, that I was going to become 
President, I called Lou and I said to him, Lou, you've got to do it 2 
more years. Lou said, I can't. I'm tired. I'm tired of the whole thing. 
I don't want to do it.
  I said, Lou, please?
  And he said, Okay, I'm in for 2 more.
  Lou has not only done the dinner, he has started several other 
projects for us. I would call upon the Honorable Member from the State 
of Florida, Mr. Frey, to enlighten us as to what he has been doing. We 
would all like to know.
  Mr. FREY. Thank you, Jay. Thank you very much, Mr. President.
  I would first like to also acknowledge the tremendous work that your 
predecessor, Jim Slattery, did. He did an incredible job. He worked 
incredibly hard. You two worked together to give us great leadership as 
I'm sure that you and Dennis will do the same. I did start the 
Statesmanship Dinner 11 years ago and it was a good idea. The only bad 
one was not figuring out who was going to be the chairman of it. We 
still haven't done too good a job on that. This was our most successful 
dinner. We honored all the women who have served in the Congress and 
were serving in the Congress. Speaker Pelosi was kind enough to come 
and accept the award. And also Lindy Boggs was the honorary chairman 
whom we all dearly love. She and Cokie were there. It was a really, 
really nice event. Beverly Byron did a great deal of work; Nancy 
Johnson. Incredible group they had to help us raise money. It was the 
biggest crowd we've ever had, thanks to the efforts of many of the 
women who served in the Congress. As you know, that is our big fund-
raising event and we use it for a lot of different activities.
  One of the things that we have found in my State, and I'm sure it 
isn't true in your State, but basically we are civically illiterate. 
Forty percent of the adults in Florida cannot tell you the three 
branches of government. Seventy-three percent of the fourth graders in 
a multiple choice test can't pick out the Constitution as our leading 
document. I'm talking about my State. I happen to have seen the 
statistics, and I would suggest that maybe we're not alone in this 
area. But in Florida we don't teach civics. Many States in our country 
don't teach civics. One of the things that we have been trying to

[[Page 6278]]

look at as an organization is how do we reach out to the students. How 
do we reach out to the teachers so that they'll have something to turn 
to if they're interested in teaching civics. Of course, one of the 
answers is the Internet. What we did last year is we experimented with 
programs that the former Members would do on key issues and used the 
Internet to get it out to high schools and colleges around the country. 
That worked pretty good. This year we're going to take it to another 
step. We're going to really put together a library, if you will, for 
teachers. We're working with the Presidential Classroom teachers, we're 
going to work with the institute that I have, and the former Members.
  Let's take a subject like electoral college. We will have a 50-minute 
lesson plan for teachers, 30 minutes will be a discussion by the former 
Members on that issue, 20 minutes for the teachers themselves. We'll 
put maybe 50 of these together over the next 3 or 4 years so that the 
teachers all around the country can punch in for free, get that lesson 
plan, and teach civics. How in the world can you have a country that is 
as great as ours and the people don't know what they have? Thomas 
Jefferson said a country that's half ignorant never was and never will 
be free. We've probably lost a couple of generations. I'm not sure how 
we'll ever get those back. But we are not going to lose the younger 
generation. We're going to reach out to them as we're doing in these 
programs, the stuff that Matt is doing. I think we can make an 
incredible difference in terms of our young people, not preaching party 
but preaching what we have and what our country's about. So they'll 
make a decision. Whatever it will be, we may agree or disagree, but at 
least it will be a decision based on some facts and on some knowledge.
  I want to thank many of you for help with the book we're writing, the 
second edition of the Former Members book. As you know, the first 
edition is used in many colleges. The second one, if you haven't sent 
your final ideas in on your rules of politics, please do. It will go to 
the publisher in August. We were honored about a month and a half 
before President Ford died, I had been trying to get him for really a 
couple of years to do it, he sent us five pages on what his political 
rules of life were, which will be really interesting. That book will be 
out certainly in August. We hope that it will add to what teachers can 
use, not necessarily from an academic style but as a supplement to what 
really goes on in this wonderful place.
  I want you to know that, according to the Washington Post, we're back 
for an annual ``schmoozefest'' and it will get ``boozy'' tonight. I 
don't know where the reporter is to listen to all these things that 
this group is doing. I'm very proud to be part of this. I'm proud of 
how we continue to put back. This is not really a social organization 
anymore. It is really an organization of people who have given to the 
country and now can't give 100 percent but try and give as much as they 
can back to this country. It is certainly needed. I don't think there's 
any group of people who have more knowledge, who have more ability and 
don't have any skin in the game in terms of any personal involvement in 
what's going on.
  I thank each and every one of you for what you're doing. I think it's 
great. I think, as the President said, there's a lot more we can do, 
and we will do. Thanks to this organization, a lot of young people and 
people not only here but with our colleagues, a lot of people around 
the world are going to have more idea of what's going on and why 
understanding what we've been given in this great country is really 
worthwhile.
  Thank you very much, Mr. President.
  Mr. RHODES. Lou, thank you.
  I'm going to insert something into the script here that wasn't here, 
but I'm going to ask you to help us as far as the dinner is concerned 
because one of the greatest conundrums that we face is trying to 
identify somebody whom we, A, should honor; B, would like to honor; 
and, C, who will sell tables. If you have any thoughts and suggestions 
along those lines, we would greatly appreciate hearing them. Quickly.
  A couple of other programs that we have going that you should know 
about. One is a golf tournament. We've had the golf tournament for 
quite a few years. It brings together sitting Members and former 
Members. This is generally not bipartisan. We generally pit each other 
against each other on a partisan basis. But it's fun. But this year 
we've changed the format slightly and it is going to be a charitable 
event, and we hope that that will expand it greatly. The charity is a 
fund for disabled veterans, especially veterans from Iraq and 
Afghanistan. The tournament is on July 14 at the Army/Navy Club. I 
encourage you, A, to participate; and, B, to encourage others to 
participate as well. I think it's a cause that we all would agree is 
well worthwhile.
  I should tell you that the Association sponsors, on a sporadic basis 
but generally biennially, a study trip for our members abroad. Last 
fall we took about 40 of our members to Ireland. In retribution, the 
former members of the Irish Parliament have sent 30 of their members 
here this week. I don't know if that's because of the way we behaved or 
misbehaved in Ireland. I did not go. I have talked with many of our 
friends who did go and the one thing that's unanimous is that they had 
a good time. The other thing that's unanimous is they don't know 
exactly what they did that was so much fun, but they had a good time. 
We appreciate you all being here with us very, very much. And we're 
coming back.
  I want to take a minute to thank Jim Slattery for his service as 
President of the Association. Jim and I had known each other pretty 
well when we were both Members, but we got to know each other a lot 
better over the course of the last couple of years. Jim and I did a 
Congress to Campus visit together to Baker University in Baldwin, 
Kansas. It was a very, very rewarding experience. I can't emphasize 
enough what Matt said to you, that if you haven't done a Congress to 
Campus, do it. You will profit from it and you will benefit from it. 
And hopefully somebody else will, too. But you definitely will. You 
will definitely come away with the feeling that the generation that's 
coming up is not all bad. There are some good people and there are some 
very, very enthusiastic and intelligent people who want to contribute. 
It's well worth the time.
  We have a plaque for Jim. It will read just sort of like what I said 
the plaque for Mr. Mitchell read, which is: Thank you very much. We 
appreciate your participation, your association and your friendship, 
and we wish you the best.
  Now this is a bipartisan organization and we don't take sides. I will 
say to you that I wish Jim Slattery physically the best. Not 
necessarily politically but physically. I know that he misses us and we 
miss him, and we're very, very supportive of his desire to return to 
public service.
  I want to thank Dennis Hertel and Mike Parker and Jack Buechner for 
their service to the Association, both current and in the future. And I 
want to recognize our professional staff. As any bureaucracy as we have 
grown more successful, we've grown more staff. We currently have five 
permanent staff, led by Pete Weichlein, whom you all know; but joined 
by Whitney Novak, who is an Executive Assistant; and Tracy Fine, who is 
a Program Officer; and Rebecca Zylberman, who is a Senior Program 
Officer. It must mean she's older than Tracy. I'm not sure what that 
means. And Sudha David-Wilp who is without peer in terms of what she 
does for us in putting together the international programs. She is 
terrific. Once again our great welcome to our visitors from other 
countries, from other former Parliaments.
  Before I do the sad thing, which I really am not enthusiastic about 
doing, I want to recognize one particular member of our Association, 
and that's our former Republican leader, Mr. Michel. We appreciate your 
continued support, your continued activity, your continued love of your 
country and all that you do for all of us. Thank you for being here 
with us this morning, Bob.
  Now I need to read the list. It seems that this list gets longer and 
I'm not

[[Page 6279]]

sure what that means about all of us, but this is the list of those of 
our Members who have passed in the course of the past year since our 
last annual meeting. They are:
  Robin Beard of Tennessee
  Daniel Baugh Brewster of Maryland
  Frank Welsh Burke of Kentucky
  Julia Carson of Indiana
  Donald Clancy of Ohio
  Jo Ann Davis of Virginia
  Mendel Davis of South Carolina
  Bill Dickinson of Alabama
  Jennifer Dunn of Washington
  John Flynt of Georgia
  Paul Gillmor of Ohio
  Gilbert Gude of Maryland
  Augustus Hawkins of California
  Peter Hoagland of Nebraska
  William Hungate of Missouri
  Henry Hyde of Illinois
  Tom Lantos of California
  John Mackie of Michigan
  Wiley Mayne of Iowa
  Thomas Meskill of Connecticut
  Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio
  Joseph G. Minish of New Jersey
  Parren J. Mitchell of Maryland
  George Sangmeister of Illinois
  Robert Sweeney of Ohio
  Craig Thomas of Wyoming
  Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan
  Charles Vanik of Ohio
  Joseph Waggonner of Louisiana
  Robert Young of Missouri.
  I would like for you to stand up and let's have just a moment of 
silence for our fallen comrades.
  Thank you.
  Mr. Hoyer mentioned that things aren't as friendly and as engaging as 
they were when we were here. That's all true. I have thought many times 
sitting out there where you are about the words that we see in front of 
us, Justice, Tolerance and Liberty. To the extent that we have liberty, 
and I believe that we do, and to the extent that we have justice and I 
believe that we do, we're lacking in tolerance. I would say to all of 
us that we might take it upon ourselves to talk to our sitting 
colleagues from time to time and say to them, we wish you guys would 
get along a little better and work harder on the business of the 
country rather than on your own reelections and your own egos. I think 
that probably is almost a duty for us, to remind them that this body 
doesn't exist for single individuals, it exists for the body and it 
exists for the institution and it exists to forward the business of the 
country.
  I don't think that that's outside the purview of the charter of the 
former Members of Congress. That's not lobbying an issue. It's lobbying 
attitude and it's lobbying getting things done. There's only one way to 
get into this organization, and that's to get elected. There are only 
three ways to leave. Two of them are not pleasant. There's nobody 
sitting here now who took the way out with your boots on, but several 
of us who left because we were defeated in elections and several of us 
chose to resign, or retire, but we are former Members of this 
institution and I think that we ought to assert ourselves with our 
sitting colleagues when we feel that they are not forwarding the 
interests of the country as much as we would like for them to do and 
the country would like for them to do.
  Mr. Speaker, that concludes the annual report of the Former Members 
of Congress. And we did it 5 minutes early.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank the President for his presentation and 
his leadership today and commend him, because this is a record time for 
our association. I think it's because our association has gone from 
having some retired people that were a bit long-winded to having more 
and more active people and go right to the point about, as we have seen 
this morning, reporting on the activities of the Association, how we 
have reached out to the Nation and the world as far as leadership for 
democracy and public service.
  I want to take a moment just to thank Ken Kramer, a board member, for 
all his leadership, Ken from Colorado; and Barbara Kennelly for her 
leadership on the board and with our association across the board; Mr. 
Zeliff from New Hampshire for all he's done in support of our 
association. And to go through the list of the people that made the 
presentations today: Mr. Buechner, who's just done such an excellent 
job all these years of giving advice and counsel and leading our 
association. Mr. Matt McHugh from New York who was past President, also 
who continues to demonstrate and lead in the area of public service, 
especially for our young people now today. Lou Frey, who has been with 
us all these years as past President but chairman of our Dinner 
Committee and without his leadership we would not have the opportunity 
to do the things we are doing in our country and around the world with 
the finances that he has helped raise, especially for our Congress to 
Campus Program where we now reach over 60 campuses per year.
  And, finally, to thank Doug Rowland from Canada, the past President 
there of their parliamentary association that we helped with in their 
infancy but now he has shown great leadership of the highest order in 
the IEMI and helping us with training election monitors not only for 
ourselves but for other former parliamentarians in an international 
organization with the European Union and the association of former 
Canadian parliamentarians.
  Let me close by just summarizing what Jay, our President, said about 
our staff. We simply have the best staff in Washington, D.C. I think we 
can say that in one sentence.
  The Chair again wishes to thank all the former Members of the House 
for their presence here today. Before terminating these proceedings, 
the Chair would like to invite those former Members who did not respond 
when the roll was taken to give their names to the Reading Clerks for 
inclusion in the roll. The Chair wishes to thank the other former 
Members of the House for their presence here today. Good luck to you 
all.
  The Chair would advise that the House will reconvene at approximately 
10:30 a.m. this morning.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, before we adjourn, could we identify and ask 
our distinguished visiting Parliamentarians to rise and make them a 
part of our Congressional Record today.
  Mr. HERTEL. They are in the gallery. We recognize them now, Mr. 
Gilman, and we thank them all for coming.
  Our proceedings are adjourned. Thank you.
  Accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 58 minutes a.m.), the House continued 
in recess.

                          ____________________