[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9103-9113]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Patrick J. Conroy, offered the following 
prayer:
  Lord God of history and our salvation, when former Members return to 
Congress it must be similar to any American opening the Bible or their 
holy book at random. By doing so, people of the Book read between the 
lines, see the story of America, and rejoice.
  Congress, too, holds old and familiar stories, strong exhortations, 
repeated corrections, and consoling confirmation of hopes that speak 
anew of love, patriotism, and light. Looking at Congress once again, 
these former Members, still Your stewards, hear the praise of the 
Psalms, the lament of Job, and are strengthened by the sentiments of 
Gideon as well as Paul, the commands of Moses, and the prayers of 
Jesus.
  As the Good Book binds people into community, You tie together the 
years of Congress and make them a prophetic voice that reverences the 
past, speaks to the present, and holds promise for the future.
  May all former Members be rewarded for their contributions to this 
Constitutional Republic and continue to work and pray that the goodness 
and justice of this beloved country be proclaimed to all the nations.
  Quicken life, promise and fortitude in all here gathered that we may 
bring joy to the present age and long for eternal happiness, calling 
upon Your Holy Name now and forever.
  Amen.


                          Pledge of Allegiance

  The Hon. Connie Morella led the Pledge of Allegiance as follows:

       I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of 
     America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation 
     under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.


[[Page 9104]]

  Ms. MORELLA. It is now my pleasure and my honor to recognize the 
President of the Association of Former Members of Congress, the Hon. 
Dennis Hertel.
  Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Maryland, Vice 
President of the Association. I want to thank her for all her hard work 
and her dedication. It's made such a great difference in having you be 
the Vice President this last year for the Association.
  And I want to welcome all the membership of our association to the 
House Chamber today. We're so glad that you are all here. I am going to 
ask the Clerk to take the roll, please.
  The Clerk called the roll of the former Members of Congress, and the 
following former Members answered to their names:
  Mr. Alexander of Arkansas
  Mr. Buechner of Missouri
  Mr. Bustamante of Texas
  Ms. Byron of Maryland
  Mr. Clement of Tennessee
  Mr. Glickman of Kansas
  Mr. Hertel of Michigan
  Mr. Hutto of Florida
  Mr. Kanjorski of Pennsylvania
  Ms. Kilpatrick of Michigan
  Mr. Konnyu of California
  Mr. LaFalce of New York
  Mr. Lancaster of North Carolina
  Mr. LaRocco of Idaho
  Mr. Michel of Illinois
  Ms. Morella of Maryland
  Mr. Ruppie of Michigan
  Mr. Slattery of Kansas
  Mr. Symington of Missouri
  Mr. Symms of Idaho
  Mr. Tucker of Arkansas
  Mr. Walsh of New York
  Mr. Warner of Virginia
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair announces that 23 former Members of Congress 
have responded to their names.
  The Chair now recognizes the President of the Association.
  Mr. HERTEL. I thank the Chair.
  It is always a distinct pleasure to be back in this revered Chamber, 
and we appreciate the opportunity to be present today and to give you 
the annual report of the U.S. Association of Former Members of 
Congress. I will be joined by some of our colleagues in reporting on 
the activities and projects of our organization.
  Before we get to this report, however, it is my distinct honor and 
pleasure to present our 2011 Distinguished Service Award to Senator 
John William Warner of the great State of Virginia. Bestowing our 
association's highest award on John Warner was an easy decision. In all 
his endeavors and public service, be it in our Nation's military at 
times of war, be it while serving in the administration, or be it in 
the United States Senate, John Warner has led by example and 
commendable distinction.
  We have asked another of our colleagues, who has lived a life of 
public service guided by the same values and principles as Senator 
Warner, to introduce our 2011 honoree.
  I might just add a personal note. When I came to this Chamber 30 
years ago, there was a titanic battle going on much as we have today 
regarding our economy and the deficit; and the minority leader, Bob 
Michel, was arguing against and solidifying his forces against my 
Speaker, Tip O'Neill. Here I was a freshman, 31 years old, and watching 
all of this and feeling all of this. Even in the emotions of the time 
and the high importance of the debate and the outcome, even being new 
here, I had the greatest respect for Bob Michel as the opposition 
leader.
  There is something about seeing somebody in the opposition and having 
that trust and that respect of that person that's an underlying factor 
that adds to the strength of our democracy and something that's a 
necessary lesson, I think, of history for people to know today that you 
can differ with somebody so completely on the issues and not see them 
as an enemy, but a worthy adversary who themselves love your country 
just as much. That's what Bob Michel, I think, stood for and does today 
to all of us, to the Congress and to the people of the United States.
  It is my great honor to introduce Bob Michel, Leader Bob Michel, to 
go forward with the introduction.
  Mr. MICHEL. Madam Speaker, and my fellow colleagues of yesteryear and 
today, I am delighted to have been asked to introduce John Warner this 
morning. I have known John for many years when we both served in the 
Congress and now we are currently working together down at Hogan 
Lovells.
  Most of you know him as the recent Republican Senator of Virginia and 
the sixth husband of the late Elizabeth Taylor.
  Well, that's all well and good, you know; but for my introduction for 
this occasion, I would also like to fill in some of the gaps to prove 
what a great choice the former Members of Congress organization made in 
singling him out to receive this year's Distinguished Service Award.
  John enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II in January of 1945 
shortly before his 18th birthday. He served until the following year, 
leaving as a petty officer 3rd class. He then went on to college, 
Washington and Lee University.
  He joined the Marine Corps in October of 1950 after the outbreak of 
the Korean War and served in Korea as a ground officer with a 1st 
Marine Aircraft Wing. He continued in the Marine Corps Reserves after 
the war, eventually reaching the rank of captain. He then went on to 
law school at George Washington University here in Washington, D.C.
  In 1969, John was appointed Under Secretary of the Navy during the 
Nixon administration. In 1972, he succeeded John Chafee as Secretary of 
the Navy, and then President Ford subsequently appointed him director 
of the Bicentennial Administration.
  John actively entered the political arena in 1978 when he was chosen 
to replace the Republican candidate for the Senate who died in a plane 
crash 2 months before the election. Some of us older Members remember 
that tragic day very well. He was narrowly elected, but then reelected 
five times to become the longest-serving Republican Senator from 
Virginia.
  During Senator Warner's 30-year tenure in the Senate, he served on 
any number of committees, as you all well know; but I think he will 
always to be remembered for the lengthy service as chairman of the 
Senate Armed Services Committee, where he was viewed as one of the most 
influential Senators on military and foreign policy issues.
  Senator Warner was always elected and reelected as a Republican, but 
he was no ideologue. In fact, he had a very checkered voting record 
over the years, but he was always willing to openly debate the issues, 
priding himself in working hard to reach agreement on the great 
controversial issues of the day.
  In 2008, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence awarded 
John the first-ever National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service 
Medal.
  In 2009, the Secretary of the Navy announced it would name the next 
Virginia Class submarine after John Warner.
  And, finally, in 2009, the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., 
announced that Queen Elizabeth II would name John Warner an honorary 
Knight Commander for his work strengthening the American-British 
military alliance.
  I have just really skimmed the surface of all the awards, citations 
and plaudits that Senator Warner has received during his long and most 
distinguished public record of public service. Suffice it to say, John 
Warner, the individual, is a very humble man and cringes at the thought 
of receiving another honor and award.
  But we fellow members of the Association of Former Members of 
Congress wanted him to know how revered he is among us and hope one 
more burst of applause in his honor will extend his life and talents 
for many years to come.
  Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished former Senator Warner.
  Mr. HERTEL. Well, it's so wonderful. I want to thank the Leader. I 
didn't mention, by the way, the Leader won that titanic battle back 
then 30 years ago as he did many others.
  On behalf of the Association of Former Members of Congress, it is my 
great pleasure and honor for me to

[[Page 9105]]

present our 2011 Distinguished Service Award to Senator John Warner of 
Virginia. The plaque is inscribed as follows:

       The 2011 Distinguished Service Award is presented by the 
     U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress to Senator 
     John William Warner for his lifetime of exceptional public 
     service. While representing the State of Virginia for thirty 
     years, Senator Warner was the Chairman of the Senate Armed 
     Services Committee, Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on 
     Intelligence, and Chairman of the Rules Committee. Outside of 
     Congress, Chairman Warner was a sailor in World War II; a 
     Marine Lieutenant during the Korean War; and served as Under 
     Secretary and Secretary of the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam 
     War. In every endeavor, he has fulfilled his duties with 
     honor, distinction, and true patriotism. His service to our 
     country is exemplary. Senator John Warner is an inspiration 
     to us all and his former colleagues from both sides of the 
     aisle salute him.
       Washington, DC, June 14, 2011.

  Senator Warner.
  Mr. WARNER. Madam Speaker, colleagues, friends and others, I remember 
one time attending a graduation as a speaker; and as we walked down the 
aisle, ``Pomp and Circumstance'' was playing, and the heart was infused 
with enthusiasm. I had a sheaf of papers under my arm; and a young 
student jumped up, one of the graduates, and pressed into my hand a 
little piece of paper and said, ``Please read this.''
  So in the course of the invocation I read it, and it was some of the 
most prosaic and valuable bits of wisdom I ever received. It simply 
said, ``Blessed are ye that are brief, for ye shall be reinvited.''
  Whether I am invited or not, to have this moment to stand on this 
floor and, mind you, I believe, I am almost positive in the 30-plus 
years that I was here I never did it before. It seems to add to me and 
my family and all others a very significant chapter in my humble 
opportunity to serve this Nation in many ways.
  Madam Speaker, if I may be personal in addressing the presiding 
officer, it would not have happened without your tenacity and drive and 
skill in ramming this nomination through. I thank you.
  I should recount the many things that the presiding officer and I 
did. For my colleague, Steve Symms, we represent the Senate, the two of 
us, we were together many years in that institution.
  But dear friends, at moments like these you are struck with humility, 
but you reflect back on all those who served with you, and you also 
reflect upon those serving today and tomorrow; and I hope that the 
individual and collective accomplishments of each of us shall always 
serve as a guide for those to follow.
  Because this country, in my 84 years of life, has never faced a more 
complex situation, be it with regard to our own internal and external 
security, as well as our domestic economy, and we need the finest of 
minds to sit in this Chamber and the other body to try and reach 
solutions for this Nation because we are becoming more and more the 
object of derision and less envy than the years in which we were so 
proud to serve in this institution and America was all powerful.
  But we also must be mindful that each of us got here by a certain 
amount of initiative and drive, but we got here because a lot of others 
helped us along the way.
  Fellow colleagues in Congress and those when I was in the Department 
of Defense, I learned, I listened and learned and followed their 
guidance to perform the duties that I was undertaking in those chapters 
of public service. My years in the Pentagon were during some of the 
most stressful years in Vietnam; and how well I remember, as Secretary, 
the evenings when I returned home to sit down and write the notes to 
the families that had lost a loved one in those battles.
  So here we are today, having plucked from the many, another, to stand 
in that long line of distinguished individuals who so proudly and so 
humbly have accepted this award. So, once again, let us hope that our 
contribution has laid a foundation for those who now occupy these seats 
and those that will follow to guide this great Nation.
  I thank you again. I thank you very much. I thank the dear Lord for 
the guidance that he has given me through these many years.
  As I said, blessed are ye that are brief, for ye shall return.
  Ms. MORELLA. You are most deserving, Senator Warner. You honor us.
  The President resumes.
  Mr. HERTEL. I am certainly so happy to hear Senator Warner's remarks, 
and we also included a scrapbook there of his colleagues' 
congratulatory statements, and I want to thank again Leader Michel for 
his wonderful introduction and the honor he does all of us by helping 
us and giving us advice.
  I see that some Members have joined us since our proceedings started, 
so I welcome you. At the conclusion of our report, you will have the 
opportunity to give your name to the House Clerk for the roll call.
  As President of the organization, it is now my duty to report to the 
Congress about the activities of the U.S. Association of Former Members 
of Congress since our last annual meeting in June of 2010.
  Our association is bipartisan. It was chartered by Congress in 1983. 
The purpose of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress is to 
promote public service and strengthen democracy abroad and in the 
United States. About 600 former Members, Senators and Representatives, 
belong to the association.
  Republicans, Democrats and independents are united in this 
organization in their desire to teach about Congress and the importance 
of representative democracy. We receive no funding from the Congress. 
All the activities which we are about to describe are financed via 
membership dues, program-specific grants and sponsors, or via our fund-
raising dinner. Our finances are sound, our projects fully funded, and 
our 2010 audit by an outside accountant came back with a clean bill of 
financial health.
  We again have had a very successful and rewarding year. We have 
continued our work serving as a liaison between the current Congress 
and legislatures overseas. We have created partnerships with highly 
respected institutions in the area of democracy-building and election-
monitoring. We have developed new projects and are expanding others, 
and we again sent dozens of bipartisan teams of former Members of 
Congress to teach about public service and representative democracy at 
universities and high schools both in the United States and abroad.
  Our Congress to Campus program, our Civics Connection, our People to 
People programs are the things that we are going to be talking about 
now when this organization was created over 40 years ago. The former 
Members who founded our association envisioned this organization to 
take the lead in teaching about Congress and encouraging public 
service. They were hoping that former Members could inspire the next 
generation of America's leaders.
  Over the years we have created a number of programs, most importantly 
the Congress to Campus program, to do just that. The Congress to Campus 
program was established 35 years ago as a way to reach college 
students. It has since grown into a civic education effort that also 
brings former Members into the high school civic education classroom, 
as well as connects former Members with students as young as middle 
school age.
  When I was in college quite a long time ago, we had Senator Ribicoff 
come to Eastern Michigan University. The Senator spent an entire 
evening with us, and he answered all our questions and talked about 
public service. After, I asked him, I said, Senator, why are you here? 
What are you running for? Are you running for President? Why are you 
here?
  He said, I'm here to get you people involved in public service. He 
said, Don't you remember what John Kennedy said?
  It just struck me. It struck me that that is the kind of program and 
the kind of moments that we have with students all across this country 
all of these 30 years that we have had this program in effect. We 
continue to work with our great partner, the Stennis Center for Public 
Service; and we

[[Page 9106]]

thank them for their invaluable assistance in administering this 
program.
  I now yield to the former President of our association, Jack Buechner 
of Missouri, along with Matt McHugh of New York, the co-chairs of this 
great program.
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr. BUECHNER. Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank the gentleman 
from Michigan.
  When this organization was created, I am sure that the idea was that 
there is all these old codgers out there that had some free time, they 
ought to throw it in and improve the overall attitude of the country 
through the young people towards Congress.
  The truth of the matter is that the program is as enlightening for 
the Members who go to the campuses, one Republican, one Democrat. We 
usually spend 2\1/2\ days. At that time, you meet with political 
science classes, student governments. You meet with the campus 
television or various media sources there. You meet with some faculty 
members, YRs, YDs. Occasionally a town-and-gown meeting where you will 
go and help conduct political science fora for faculty, students, and 
the general public. They are just great opportunities.
  The Stennis Center is our partner. It is down at Mississippi State. 
It has helped coordinate, helped raise money. We have to pay our base 
administrative costs, and we ask the various colleges and universities 
to pay a small amount of money, a very nominal speaker's fee. It does 
not go to you. If you show up, you don't get anything, but the 
Association does. And then the school provides lodging. It will range 
from a Tom Bodett, keeping the light on, to staying sometimes in a 
pretty nice alumni center. They don't change the sheets for you, 
though, so you just have to spend 2 days and get out.
  The participating students, what do they get out of it? They get a 
chance to meet real people who have been there. As was discussed 
before, the idea about public service, Senator Warner talked about it, 
Dennis Hertel talked about it, the idea of talking to these young 
people about the idea and the practice of being involved, involved to 
the point where it is attractive to them so when they go and sit around 
and have a beer and some pretzels and a pizza--they want to talk about 
the people who are in elected office--they don't start off with: Well, 
those bastards. They start off with something like: You know, I met 
this woman who served in Congress. She told me how she got involved in 
politics.
  I always tell people that I was president of the Young Republicans 
when I was in college. Of course, I was at a Catholic men's college 
during the Kennedy campaign. I might as well have been the head of the 
young Satanists. But you know what, it was a learning experience.
  The students who come to these meetings are not just those majoring 
in political science. When I was at Northeastern University, one of the 
interesting things was their drama department wanted to talk about aid 
to the arts. We had all of these people, and I have to tell you, it was 
an enlightening experience to listen to people who thought there ought 
to be some sort of a salary paid to artists and actors and everything. 
I said: Well, you know, if I can tell you anything, don't expect it 
from the government; but there should be a cooperation between the 
government and the arts, and your job will be to be advocates for that.
  I don't know whether they believed me or not.
  But the hard work that is put in by the Members over that 2\1/2\ days 
is pretty substantial.
  I have to give some special note because this program would not work 
without Bryan Corder. Bryan, stand up and let everyone see you.
  He is obviously young and energetic, and his job is to coordinate 
with Brother Rogers at the Stennis Center to help coordinate these 
visits.
  In fact, one of the shortages we have is getting Members to sign up. 
And, I mean, it is a commitment. You don't get paid. It is 2\1/2\ days. 
And some of the sites that we go to are not--it is not New York City 
and it is not Annapolis and it is not Miami. Sometimes it is out where 
you can honestly say the profit-loss is slipper, and it is not always 
easy to get in. It is not always easy to get out. But I will say this, 
it is always an intriguing and educational experience for the Members 
to go there.
  We had 20 different programs last year. In 2011 to 2012, this 
academic year, the project has continued to reach out, not just to 
colleges and universities, but community colleges and high schools. 
They can play an important supplemental role in teaching about 
representative democracy through the high school level. We have 
continued our working relationship 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.
  This year we expect the lineup of new schools to be, hopefully, at a 
record high. I want to be an advocate that after this presentation 
today, that you might meet with Bryan and sign up, sign up to be a 
volunteer. You don't have to pick a particular date right away. And 
very importantly is the fact that if you are an alum and you want your 
school to be visited, give us the name. Give us a contact person. 
Perhaps you have been an administrator yourself or are currently a 
lecturer at a university or college, or you've got one in your old 
congressional district. We need the contacts so we can contact these 
schools and take care of it.
  The involvement in this program allows our Members living in the 
Washington area to speak to younger students through the People to 
People program because they are bringing them in, but then we want 
Members who live outside to be able to go perhaps 100, 200--although it 
is not first class travel, I want to advise you, but we will get you 
there and you will be better for the visit.
  Finally, I want to say that there are some people who have been 
extraordinary in working with us. I just want to name Tom Davis and 
Martin Frost. They have been participants in this program truly year 
after year, especially even with the high school students.
  So this has been a success for its 35 years. It is getting bigger, 
and I think it is getting better. I would just want to exhort you all 
to sign up. And also, we need a word of thanks for Matt McHugh, my co-
chair on this, because he has been tireless in his efforts to recruit.
  Mr. HERTEL. I thank the gentleman from Missouri for his report and 
all of his hard work with Matt McHugh, and I want to talk for a moment 
about a new program that Dan Glickman and I have been developing with 
the Bipartisan Policy Center, and we will have Jim Walsh of New York 
give a report on Common Ground.
  Mr. WALSH. Thank you, Mr. President. Madam Speaker, colleagues, good 
morning. It's great to be with you.
  As you may recall from our last report to Congress, the Association 
has put some energy and focus into the question of bipartisanship. 
Everything we do at the Former Members Association is done in a 
bipartisan manner. Our leadership is comprised equally of Republicans 
and Democrats. Our delegations are led by bipartisan teams of former 
Members of Congress, and our projects involve both Republicans and 
Democrats equally. We truly are a bipartisan organization where Members 
from across the political aisle come together for common purpose.
  We have found that, for a number of reasons, this type of bipartisan 
interaction has become more and more difficult for current Members. 
This development has many causes, many of which are beyond the control 
of today's Members.
  Our association, therefore, has created a new undertaking, the Common 
Ground Project, with the purpose of finding ways in which Democrats and 
Republicans can work together for the good of this country. The origin 
of the Common Ground Project can be found in our Conference on 
Bipartisanship which we hosted last year at the National Archives in 
partnership with the

[[Page 9107]]

Bipartisan Policy Center. Three panels examined our current political 
discourse, how bipartisanship--or the lack thereof--has influenced our 
political decisionmaking process, and the way the media influences this 
Nation's political climate. The concluding panel looked at concrete 
steps we might take to foster a more civil relationship across the 
aisle.
  Following the conference, we invited our membership to cosign a 
letter to all candidates for congressional office in the 2010 midterm 
elections. In the letter, we asked for a focus on issue rather than 
divisive demagogy, and I am happy to report that over 150 former 
Members immediately signed the document.
  Next, we decided to put some thought and effort into a structured 
program that could serve to foster a more civil and productive 
political discourse in this country.
  Our idea is to create an outreach modeled on our very successful 
Congress to Campus program. Via a Congress to the Community Project, we 
hope to reconnect America's voters with their political process and 
encourage a respectful and productive debate on the many issues that we 
face.
  For example, a bipartisan team of former Members will have town-hall-
like discussions focused on the budgetary process and deficit 
reduction. We will go into the community and bring different political 
points of view to the electorate, invite the voters to participate in 
this debate, and find some common ground. We will also find ways of 
bringing current Members into the conversation, and we will create 
opportunities for current Members to get to know their colleagues from 
across the aisle a little bit better. It is my hope that when we return 
to the House Chamber for our report next year, we will be able to 
describe the first successes of this new undertaking.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair thanks the gentleman from New York.
  At this time it is a great honor to recognize the distinguished 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Boehner).
  Mr. BOEHNER. Let me say good morning to all of you and welcome back. 
I see a lot of familiar faces here.
  Let me also congratulate John Warner on receiving the Distinguished 
Service Award. John and I obviously worked together over the years, 
about 16 of them or so, and he is truly deserving of this honor.
  You have probably recognized over the course of this first 6 months 
in the new Congress that we are trying to run the House a little 
differently--a novel concept of allowing the House to work its will, 
more open debate, more amendments, and respecting the work of the 
committees. And I have to tell you, so far it has gone very well. I 
think Members on both sides of the aisle are appreciative of how the 
process is working. As someone who came up through the committee ranks, 
who was a committee chair, I feel pretty strongly that the House works 
best when the House is allowed to work its will. I know a lot of people 
don't really believe that, but I'm going to tell you, just continue to 
watch because I just think everybody ought to have a chance to 
participate. Every one of us represents 650,000-700,000 constituents, 
and I think every Member should have the ability to play a part in this 
process. So, so far so good. We have a ways to go, but I am proud of 
the start that we have made.
  In addition to that, I think all of you know that our economy is not 
doing well. The American people are continuing to ask the question: 
Where are the jobs?
  At least in my opinion, we don't have many options available to us. 
We all know that we have big mandatory spending programs that aren't 
sustainable in their current form. Something has to be done. We all 
know what the problems are. Why don't we just go fix them?
  I have had this same conversation with the President over the course 
of the last 5 months, and I really do think that this is the moment, 
this is the time for us to deal with these problems like adults: look 
at the problem and go solve it. You know, the problem around here, as 
you are all aware, is that the next election always kind of gets in the 
way of having the courage to do the right thing. So I have encouraged 
the President: forget about the next election. We know what the 
problems are; let's just go address them.
  So it is going to be something, I think, a little different than 
anybody has ever seen when this agreement comes together. It is hard to 
tell you at this point what it is going to look like; but I am going to 
tell you this, this is the moment. This is the opportunity to address 
these big, looming problems; and I don't want to allow this opportunity 
to pass by.
  So let me say, welcome back. I would hope that you would also work on 
getting more of our former colleagues back here. This is a big day for 
all of you, and I am proud of you, proud of the service you gave this 
institution, and I am proud of the opportunity I had to work with many 
of you over the years. Welcome.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
  Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank the Speaker for taking the time for being 
our keynote speaker at our dinner this last year and for always helping 
us with our golf tournament. We know he couldn't make it yesterday. 
Some of the people are sunburned here today because of that tournament. 
And, of course, the Democrats won. I think if the Speaker were there, 
it would have strengthened the Republican side far more.
  Mr. BOEHNER. There is always tomorrow.
  Mr. HERTEL. We want to wish the Speaker well in his match with 
President Obama coming up this weekend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  The Speaker has been great in taking time out of his busy schedule to 
come here, but also to be so very supportive of our association, and we 
appreciate that very, very much.
  Let me talk about that charitable golf tournament yesterday. A great 
example of how powerful and productive bipartisanship can be is our 
Annual Congressional Golf Tournament. Four years ago, we took a 35-year 
tradition of the annual golf tournament between Members and former 
Members which pits Republicans against Democrats for a trophy, and we 
turned it into a greater mission. We converted it into a charitable 
golf tournament to aid severely wounded vets returning from the 
battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Our beneficiary, the Wounded Warrior Project of Disabled Sports USA, 
is as impressive and remarkable an organization as you are likely to 
find anywhere in this country. They use sports to help our wounded 
veterans readjust to life after a severe injury. They involve the 
entire family in the sport, and they take care of providing all of the 
equipment and training.
  We held the fourth golf tournament yesterday; and between the four 
tournaments, we have raised almost a quarter of a million dollars for 
this outstanding organization. At yesterday's tournament, we had almost 
50 current and former Members from both sides of the aisle come 
together to support this great charity. We met with over a dozen of the 
wounded warriors. In addition, we were greatly honored by a visit from 
three members of the famous Easy Company, the World War II outfit made 
famous by Steve Ambrose's book ``Band of Brothers'' on which the highly 
successful HBO miniseries was based.
  Yesterday was a very rewarding and memorable day, to say the least. 
To have these guys there, they are 88 years old from the Band of 
Brothers. And right now this morning, they are over at the World War II 
Memorial for the first time in their lives. But to see them there with 
us yesterday and to be able to thank them for what they have done for 
our country was a great experience for all of us.
  And to be able to play golf with the wounded warriors yesterday and 
see how much better they are than any of us, to have that kind of 
fellowship with them and to see what this program can do was really 
satisfying.

[[Page 9108]]

  We want to thank Zach Wamp and Chet Edwards for their help in 
chairing this before when they were Members. They have joined us now as 
formers, and we gave an award to them yesterday. We are so happy to 
have our new chairmen, Joe Baca and Ander Crenshaw, do such a great job 
of recruiting more active Members to that tournament yesterday.
  I want to thank all four of these fine men, as well as my former co-
chair of this undertaking, Ken Kramer from Colorado, who has done such 
a fantastic job. It has really made a difference. I think all of us 
have much more satisfaction now in the tournament that we used to enjoy 
for fellowship, now for having a cause, the Wounded Warriors Sports 
Program, and it is really an honor to help our Nation's heroes in this 
small manner.
  Now I want to call on Bob Clement from Tennessee. A year ago, we had 
this first trip to China. We led eight Members over there; and since 
then, we have had a delegation of former Senators go over. And now Bob 
Clement is just back from the latest mission of House Members that have 
been over to China on behalf of the Association of Former Members of 
Congress.
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.
  Mr. CLEMENT. Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Speaker.
  It was a great honor and privilege for me to be with six former 
Members of the House of Representatives on the Democrat and Republican 
sides to go to China. The last time I was in China was 1995. I might 
say much has changed, and I sure miss those bicycles. I think they've 
listened too much to the Western World. The bicycles are gone, 
particularly in the coastal areas, and the automobiles/motor scooters 
have truly taken over. China, as you all know, has still got a major 
challenge in being a developing nation. The coastal areas are most 
prosperous, but in the rural areas, where 700 million people live--half 
the population--they still live in abject poverty.
  I will say, with the Chinese--and I can speak for the entire 
delegation who were part of this experience sponsored by the Former 
Members of Congress Association--I was most impressed with their 
openness. We had the chance to meet with some of the top officials in 
government, business leaders, even including one billionaire China 
businessman, as well as the academic community--Chung Hua University, 
which is looked upon as the number one university in China. All of 
those experiences were very open.
  What I've noticed and observed is the fact that the Chinese 
Communists still control and dominate in China, but even kids in 
kindergarten are learning English, all the way from kindergarten up. 
The Communist Party is still in control, but China is not as isolated 
as it once was. Also, the Chinese know English, and every place we 
went, the vendors and the young people knew how to speak English 
because they realize English is the universal language.
  No doubt China is going to be a superpower even though it's a 
developing nation. We had the opportunity to travel on trains 225 miles 
an hour, and their airports and rail terminals are phenomenal. I 
couldn't believe that train. I mean, you could hardly feel any motion 
at all since it was such a smooth ride. Now they've got a new train 
that's getting ready to go into operation between Shanghai and Beijing, 
and that will be launched very soon now.
  So what I'm saying to you is that being involved with the Association 
and what we experienced was an eye-opener. I went on a lot of CODELs 
just like the rest of you did, but even as a former Member 
participating through the Association, all of us can make a major 
difference, and I encourage you to be involved and engaged as much as 
you possibly can.
  Another example of the unique role our association can play in 
international affairs is the Middle East Fellows Project, which we 
administer in partnership with Legacy International, a Virginia 
foundation. We hosted last year almost 20 young professionals from the 
Middle East here in D.C. Their stay in D.C. was made possible by way of 
a grant from the U.S. Department of State. The group, which spent about 
1 month in Washington, included lawyers, journalists and government 
employees from Kuwait and Oman. In addition to the time spent with the 
former Members, our guests spent several weeks on Capitol Hill as 
visiting fellows in a number of congressional offices, and there were 
several return trips which enabled former Members to travel to Kuwait 
and Oman for factfinding visits. Our bipartisan co-chairs for this 
program were Larry LaRocco and Scott Klug.
  I now yield the floor to the gentleman from Idaho so he can give us 
more detail and more subject matter on this undertaking. Thank you.
  Mr. LaROCCO. Thank you, Bob, Madam Speaker.
  It was an amazing experience to be involved in this project that Bob 
just described to you all. We had a great team of young women and men 
from Oman and Kuwait. They were truly outstanding individuals in this 
group who were clearly destined to be leaders in their respective 
countries in the future. I am pleased and proud that our association 
could establish a dialogue and a learning experience of this type. I 
use the word ``dialogue'' on purpose because we learned as much from 
our guests as they did from us. Countries obviously need to build 
bridges connecting people and decisionmakers. Countries need to find 
ways to communicate and dispel some myths that may exist, and countries 
need to lay the foundation so the next generation of leaders has the 
appreciation for the world beyond their borders. I strongly believe 
that our great association, via the Middle East Fellows Program, did 
exactly that. Our former Members have such a unique insight and 
appreciation of what it means to represent a constituency and how to 
make the legislative process work. It is therefore altogether fitting 
that we play this type of role and have this type of outreach.
  I want to focus for a minute on the role that the former Members 
played as mentors to these young men and women who came to our country. 
It was truly a great effort by our association. Let me focus for just a 
minute on the outbound part of the program, specifically the delegation 
I had the pleasure of leading to Kuwait and Oman with Scott Klug.
  In both countries, we met with our U.S. ambassadors, who were 100 
percent committed to this specific public diplomacy initiative. We had 
ample time to visit with them and their staffs about regional and 
global issues. Our busy schedules were designed to put us in touch with 
many public and private sector entities in order to get a balanced view 
of the relationships on many levels with the U.S. We were struck by the 
progress, for example, for women's rights in both Kuwait and Oman. It 
is clear that they've made a commitment in this area.
  Clearly, both countries are building capacity to take their 
democratic institutions to the next level based on strong commitments 
to education and transparency. While both countries have economies 
based on oil, there is also an attempt to diversify their economic 
bases. These two countries, Oman and Kuwait, remain strong allies of 
the U.S. in the Gulf, and since our visit, we have not seen the 
upheaval in these countries as in other countries in the region.
  I was very impressed with the dialogue that we had with the students 
in both countries. Of particular interest was meeting the young 
professionals we had seen in the U.S. in their native countries and 
hearing from them the value of their time that they spent with us in 
our program here in the United States and at the Nation's capital.
  In addition to this delegation, another former Member delegation 
visited the region. My colleagues Martin Lancaster, David Minge and 
Jack Buechner all had the same experience I had: that the people of 
Kuwait and Oman are extremely hospitable, eager to meet Americans, and 
very appreciative of anyone interested in learning more about their 
great cultures and countries. There are many misconceptions when it 
comes to the Middle East and America's role vis-a-vis the Middle

[[Page 9109]]

East specifically. It therefore was incredibly educational for all of 
us to participate in this experience, and I urge my colleagues to 
become involved in the Middle East Fellows Program when the State 
Department contract gets renewed, hopefully, in the very near future.
  I also want to extend a special thanks to the wonderful staff of 
Legacy International, without whom none of the trips or the great D.C. 
program would have been possible. I hope we will have a long and 
productive partnership with this fine organization.
  Thank you very much for allowing me to give this report to the 
Association today.
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair thanks the gentleman from Idaho.
  The President continues to have control of the time.
  Mr. HERTEL. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
  Thank you, Larry, very, very much for your report, and Bob Clement.
  There are a number of other international projects involving our 
Former Members of Congress Association. Several years ago, we created 
the International Election Monitors Institute under the leadership of 
then-President Jack Buechner. It is a joint project of the U.S. 
Association of Former Members of Congress with the Former Members of 
the European Parliament and the Canadian Association of Former 
Parliamentarians, a couple of whom are here today whom we'll get to 
later.
  In addition to conducting multiple workshops for former legislators 
to train them for election monitoring missions, IEMI has sent 
delegations to monitor elections in places such as Morocco, Ukraine, 
and--our most ambitious undertaking--Iraq. All IEMI activities have 
been made possible via a grant from CIDA, the Canadian International 
Development Agency. We thank them for their support. The original 
intent of the International Election Monitors Institute was to train 
former legislators and prepare them for the task of observing an 
election. We have since had some very productive discussions with our 
partners in Canada and Europe, and have arrived at the conclusion that 
this original vision, while still valid, needs to be broadened and 
expanded. Former legislators from all political walks of life can be a 
tremendous asset to those organizations that seek to strengthen 
democracy across the globe. We can help newly elected legislators as 
they find their footing in the responsibilities that come with 
representing a constituency at the federal, state or local level. We 
can help an emerging democracy as it seeks to implement an election 
result and facilitate a peaceful transition of power. We can help a 
legislative branch as it tries to assert its oversight power over the 
executive branch. All our delegations are comprised of legislators from 
the United States, Canada, and Europe. We are a truly international 
undertaking, and we do not play any role in implementing the foreign 
policy of either the United States, Canada or the EU. We simply wish to 
help those countries that yearn for a transparent and accountable form 
of government. In addition to changing this focus of the International 
Election Monitors Institute, we are in talks with our colleagues from 
Australia and New Zealand to see whether a more global outreach and 
partnership might be possible. I hope to be able to report to you next 
year that a truly world-wide effort has been created.
  In addition to the great work of the IEMI, our Members play a role in 
the efforts of the House Democracy Partnership and the U.S. Department 
of State. The HDP is a current-Member undertaking that brings democracy 
building and legislative strengthening projects to a select number of 
countries across the globe. It is chaired by David Dreier of California 
and David Price of North Carolina, and we thank them both for giving us 
the opportunity to participate. We provide expert opinion to Members 
and staff of parliaments in emerging democracies, and we conduct 
workshops and presentations at the direction of HDP staff. Just last 
month, one of our Members, Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, traveled to 
Kosovo to provide some training and advice. Previous missions, all 
funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, have taken our 
delegations to Kenya, Georgia, Poland, and Haiti. The missions are 
issue-specific, have an intense and active program, and give former 
Members the opportunity to share some of their experiences with current 
legislators in parliaments overseas. The House Democracy Partnership is 
an extension of the great work begun by Martin Frost and Gerry Solomon 
as part of the Frost-Solomon Task Force. Clearly, former Members can 
play an important and productive role in this type of program, and we 
are thrilled to be included in the crucial and impressive work of HDP.
  As I mentioned earlier, we also have begun working with the U.S. 
Department of State. This partnership comes in several variations. We 
have connected bipartisan teams of former Members of Congress with U.S. 
embassies overseas via webcasts. Our former Members sit in a studio in 
Foggy Bottom while the U.S. embassy abroad assembles an audience either 
at the embassy or at a university for a dialogue with our Members. Most 
recently, we communicated with audiences in Austria and Belgium, first 
giving an overview of current U.S. politics and then engaging in a 
lengthy Q&A. Another State Department-sponsored program brings former 
Members directly to the embassies and consulates overseas. Sometimes 
former Members travel specifically as part of the State Department's 
program. Sometimes the State Department will piggyback on a former 
Member who is visiting a country for business or pleasure. We think 
this is a great way to communicate with foreign audiences about the 
United States, about our foreign policy, and about our political 
process.
  In addition to the international work which I just highlighted, our 
association also focuses on creating a dialogue involving current 
Members of Congress and their colleagues in legislatures overseas. 
Mainly, we achieve this objective via the Congressional Study Groups on 
Germany, Turkey, and Japan.
  At this time, I would like to call on the Honorable Jim Slattery from 
Kansas, the former President of our association, for his report on 
international programs in Germany, Turkey, and Japan.
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kansas.
  Mr. SLATTERY. It is a pleasure to report on the work of the 
Congressional Study Groups on Germany, Turkey and Japan. These 
bipartisan programs for current Members of Congress serve as invaluable 
tools for dialogue between lawmakers, and act as educational forums to 
create understanding between the United States and three of its most 
strategic partners.
  The Congressional Study Group on Germany is the Association's 
flagship international program, and is one of the largest and most 
active parliamentary exchange programs between the U.S. Congress and 
the legislative branch of another country. Celebrating almost 30 years 
of active programming, the study group offers German and American 
lawmakers the unique opportunity to candidly discuss issues pertinent 
to both nations, including pressing international challenges.
  Following the Association bipartisan mandate, the Study Group on 
Germany is also overseen by a bipartisan team of current Members of 
Congress. The 2011 Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Congressional 
Study Group on Germany in the House of Representatives are 
Representative Russ Carnahan, a Democrat from Missouri, and 
Representative Phil Gingrey, a Republican from Georgia. In the Senate, 
Senator Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Alabama, serves as co-chair, 
and the study group is in the process of finding a new Democratic co-
chair since Senator Evan Bayh has retired.
  The study group's programming consists of periodic roundtable 
discussions on Capitol Hill for Members of Congress, featuring visiting 
dignitaries from Germany or U.S. Government officials, annual seminars 
abroad or at home, and study tours and events geared toward senior 
congressional staff. Current Members of Congress chair the CSGC in a 
bipartisan manner. A few highlights for the Study Group on Germany's 
events on Capitol Hill during this year's programming included: a 
luncheon discussion with Dr. Norbert Lammert, President of the German 
Bundestag; a panel featuring Under Secretary Robert Hormats; and a 
roundtable with the German Bundestag's Defense Committee members.
  The Congressional Study Group on Germany's main pillar of programming 
is the Annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar that takes place in the U.S. 
every election year and in Germany every nonelection year. These 5-day-
long conferences present Members of Congress and their counterparts at 
the German Bundestag the opportunity to

[[Page 9110]]

come together for a series of in-depth discussions focusing on issues 
affecting transatlantic relations. The seminars also give lawmakers the 
chance to observe the domestic atmosphere of both nations as they 
evaluate the effects of their foreign policy decisions.
  The 27th Annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar took place the second week 
of May last year in Washington, D.C., and in St. Louis, Missouri. This 
year, the annual seminar is scheduled to take place in Berlin, Potsdam, 
and Wittenberg, Germany, at the end of June. Topics for discussion 
during the 28th Annual Congress-Bundestag Seminar will include: 
sustaining economic growth, relations between the European Union and 
the United States, and energy security. During this programming year, 
the study group also took a delegation of eight chiefs of staff to 
Berlin and Frankfurt, Germany, on a Senior Congressional Staff Study 
Tour.
  Since its establishment, the Congressional Study Group on Germany has 
been receiving generous support from the German Marshall Fund of the 
United States, and the Association would like to thank Craig Kennedy, 
the President of GMF, for his trust in our programming. To assist with 
administrative expenses, the Association also receives additional 
funding from a group of organizations making up the study group's 
Business Advisory Council, headed by former Member Tom Coleman of 
Missouri.
  Using the Study Group on Germany as a model in 2005, a Congressional 
Study Group on Turkey was established. In only 6 years, the Study Group 
on Turkey has become another major program of the Association and one 
of the most active parliamentary exchange programs between the U.S. 
Congress and the legislative branch of Turkey. Given Turkey's strategic 
role in its region and position as a gateway between East and West, the 
Study Group on Turkey is essential in forging communication networks 
between current Members of Congress and Turkish Government officials to 
discuss issues such as the Middle East peace process, energy security, 
and avenues of cooperation in the region.
  The Study Group on Turkey is active only in the House of 
Representatives, and is again led by a bipartisan group of current 
Members of Congress. Representative Virginia Foxx, a Republican from 
North Carolina, and Representative Steve Cohen, a Democrat from 
Tennessee, are the co-chairs of this group. Representative Ed 
Whitfield, a Republican from Kentucky, remains active as the study 
group's immediate past co-chair.
  Similar to the Congressional Study Group on Germany, the Study Group 
on Turkey hosts events for Members of Congress on Capitol Hill which 
are dedicated to U.S.-Turkey relations, an annual seminar at home or 
abroad, and events and study groups geared toward senior congressional 
staff. The study group held its second Senior Congressional Staff Study 
Tour to Turkey during the Easter recess this year, bringing together 
eight chiefs of staff to learn about Turkish domestic politics on the 
eve of national elections and U.S.-Turkey bilateral relations.
  The Congressional Study Group on Turkey regularly features members of 
the Turkish Grand National Assembly and ministers of the Turkish 
Government as well as U.S. Government officials in its events geared 
toward current Members of Congress. During the 2010/2011 programming 
year, the study group has hosted high-level guests such as the 
Honorable Egemen Bagis, Turkish Minister for EU Affairs and Chief 
Negotiator of Turkey in accession talks with the European Union; and 
Ambassador Dan Benjamin, Coordinator for Counterterrorism at the U.S. 
State Department.
  The Annual U.S.-Turkey Seminar is a significant aspect of study group 
programming for each year. The seminar brings U.S. and Turkey 
legislators together with policymakers and business representatives to 
examine important bilateral topics and transnational issues such as 
terrorism and energy security. The seminar aims to inform Members of 
Congress about the concerns of one of the United States' most important 
allies. Moreover, the seminar is an invaluable tool for creating and 
reinforcing personal relationships between Members of Congress and 
members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
  The sixth Annual U.S.-Turkey Seminar took place in Washington, D.C., 
in September 2010, and this year, the study group will take a 
delegation of current Members of Congress to Ankara and Istanbul, 
Turkey, for its seventh annual seminar. Topics of discussion for this 
year's seminar will focus on Middle East stability, prospects for the 
global economy, and growing U.S.-Turkey relations.
  The Association also organizes and administers the Congressional 
Study Group on Japan. Founded in 1993 in cooperation with East-West 
Center in Hawaii, the Congressional Study Group on Japan brings 
together Members of the U.S. Congress and Members of the Japanese Diet 
for a series of discussions covering issues of mutual concern. A group 
of current Members of Congress chair the Study Group in a bipartisan 
manner. In the House of Representatives, Congressman Jim McDermott of 
Washington and Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia 
serve as co-chairs. In the Senate, Senators Jim Webb of Virginia and 
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska take an active role in Study Group 
programming. The Congressional Study Group on Japan has been funded 
since its inception by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, and the 
Association would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Eric Gangloff 
for his continued commitment to the success of the Study Group as 
Executive Director of the Commission and wish him well in retirement.
  The Association is proud of the work that we do in administering and 
encouraging these study groups, and we are, of course, looking forward 
to many more years of activity in this area.
  It's good to see you all today.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Thank you, Mr. Slattery.
  Now the Chair has the distinct privilege of recognizing the very 
important and distinguished minority leader, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi).
  Ms. PELOSI. Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Madam Chair, Madam 
Ambassador, Congresswoman, many titles, great leader.
  Thank you all very much for being at the Capitol today and thank you 
for your ongoing work on behalf of our country. I am honored to be here 
as the minority leader in the presence of a great minority leader, Bob 
Michel. He knows this job with a President of your party and without a 
President of your party. Again he is, as you know, an icon in this 
House, and anytime he visits it's a cause for celebration for us. And 
to be able to do so, to honor Senator John Warner, welcome to the House 
side, Senator Warner. The respect that we have had for you over the 
years is only heightened by your ongoing leadership now that you are a 
former Senator, but the fact is your imprint on this Congress has been 
a great one, not only substantively but officially in a bipartisan way. 
You're a great leader. It's an honor to welcome you and to join our 
Speaker in welcoming you to the House side. Good morning, Senator. 
Please give my love to Jeanne.
  And to Dennis Hertel and Connie Morella, thank you for your 
leadership. Listening to Congressman Slattery talk about the working 
groups and the rest, I am so impressed, because that you continue to do 
this work is very, very important. I just had the Ambassador from Japan 
in my office, and I could just substitute that name for almost any 
country, but Japan in particular right now at a time of duress for that 
country, the appeal was to heighten our interparliamentary 
relationships, whether with former Members, with staff, or with current 
Members as well.
  Jim, thank you for the work that you're all doing with those working 
groups to encourage them. Former Members are a fount of so much wisdom 
for us, Senator and Mr. Leader, Madam Chair, Dennis, you understand the 
institution, you have time to reflect, I hope--I hope you have time to 
reflect--on some of the issues while

[[Page 9111]]

you served here and as you see our service here.
  We consider ourselves all colleagues to each other. Abraham Lincoln 
is our colleague. Anyone who ever served in this House, I believe, is 
our colleague. Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, we're part of a very 
proud tradition in the people's House.
  I just want to tell you this anecdotally. All of the Speakers, former 
and present, have been invited to participate in the 200th anniversary, 
the bicentennial of the election of Henry Clay as Speaker of the House. 
This will take place in Lexington, Kentucky, pretty soon. So, of 
course, we're all reading up on Henry Clay to enhance our knowledge of 
what was going on at the time. It was pretty raucous at the time. He 
was elected the Speaker the first day he arrived, 34 years old, the 
youngest Speaker ever, but he was part a of an insurgent group of many, 
many freshmen who decided that they were going to take over the House, 
and his imprint here was a great one.
  In studying and in looking at his service over the years back and 
forth, Senator Warner, he started in the Senate and he decided that not 
much was getting done over there, so he decided to run for the House. 
And then eventually he went back to the Senate. It's very interesting 
to see, because as people, shall we say, comment on our combativeness 
or our enthusiasm for ideas as we compete in this great marketplace of 
ideas called the House of Representatives what the heritage and what 
the background is of that expression of difference of opinion. The 
gentlemen that we have here, Leader Michel and Senator Warner, are 
examples of the civility we hope will be the hallmark that guides again 
our enthusiasm for the ideas that we bring to the Congress.
  Thank you for your ongoing leadership. Thank you for being an 
intellectual resource to the Congress in a bipartisan way. I think I 
served with almost all of you, maybe not every single one but almost 
all of you, so I have a great appreciation for the contributions that 
you have made. Again, the imprint, the legacy that you have left. I 
know you're very proud. I want you to know that we are as well.
  You have come at a very interesting time. The issues of budget and 
budget priorities and the values debate that goes with that is 
something that is not new to all of you. The challenges that we face in 
the world, our national security is everything. We take that oath to 
protect and defend our national security. I know I don't have to say 
that to Bev Byron, her great leadership on the Armed Services 
Committee. But also at a time where you have real-time communication, 
it's so different. When Henry Clay was the Speaker of the House, a 
message could only travel as fast as a horse could gallop or a ship 
could sail. Imagine. And today in real time. In fact it's even before 
real time. Before you even get out of the room, it's been BlackBerry'd 
outside of the room, so the message is always ahead of you. Imagine the 
difference that that makes, in the participation of the public, in 
their reaction to events without any explanation or context in which 
they have taken place but the fact that they are taking place.
  Again, you've seen this all happen. Some of it happened when many of 
you were here. Every day a new technology enhances our communication. 
We see that as a plus. We see how it promoted democracy in the Middle 
East. We hope for the best coming out of all of that, hopefully that it 
will be democracy, but the change that sprang from it.
  So in terms of how we represent, I say to the Members, you're all 
independent. Your job description and your title are one and the same: 
Representative. Representative. Sometimes it requires leadership to 
give a national perspective to some of the decisions that you have to 
make that might be not clear at home at the time, and again especially 
with real-time communication, you have to be ahead of all of that. 
That's called leadership.
  Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for continuing your work 
together in a bipartisan way. Thank you again for being an intellectual 
resource. Thank you for the work that you do internationally because, 
of course, again, back to national security, our first responsibility, 
to keep the American people safe and have our children grow up in a 
world where they can all reach their potential and their fulfillment 
because the world is at peace.
  I bring greetings from the Democrats in the House, but I hope I could 
say that we all join together, Democrats and Republicans, in saying 
thank you to all of you.
  Mrs. MORELLA. We thank you, Madam Minority Leader.
  Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank the leader so much for taking time today, 
but also for always being so supportive of our association. The woman 
that has achieved the highest office in the history of our country, to 
honor us today to talk about the history of Henry Clay and other former 
Speakers and leaders of their political party is such a great honor.
  I want to report to Leader Pelosi that the Democrats won that golf 
tournament yesterday, and it will have that trophy.
  I want to now call on Beverly Byron.
  In addition to the international and domestic programs we have 
created to either teach about Congress or strengthen democracy abroad, 
we are tasked with highlighting the achievements of former Members and 
providing former Members with opportunities to stay connected with 
their former colleagues. One of the premier events we have is our 
annual statesmanship award dinner. In March of this year we hosted our 
14th dinner, and like the preceding 13 years, we had it chaired by Lou 
Frey, who's done such an outstanding job. He couldn't be with us today, 
but he has asked our colleague, Beverly Byron, to report on this last 
year's dinner. Bev, for all 14 dinners, has been one of our most active 
dinner committee members. I would like to take this time and 
opportunity to introduce her and to thank Beverly Byron for all of her 
tireless work all these years for our association.
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair recognizes the gentlelady from Maryland.
  Ms. BYRON. Thank you, Dennis. Let me also thank Lou for the terrific 
work that he has done over the years to make this statesmanship dinner 
such a success. It is greatly appreciated by the organization because 
it is our major fundraiser.
  The dinner this year was on March 15. The Association was proud to 
host it. As in years past, the event was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel 
on 22nd Street in Washington. We had nearly 400 guests in attendance. 
The evening was dedicated to celebrate the achievements of the 2011 
statesmanship honorees: former Minority Leaders and former Speakers of 
the House who demonstrated exemplary service during their time in 
leadership. Speaker Tom Foley, Leader Dick Gephardt, Speaker Dennis 
Hastert, and Leader Bob Michel accepted the award in person, and 
although Speakers Jim Wright and Newt Gingrich were unable to attend, 
they sent their best wishes.
  The evening began with remarks by former Member Lou Frey who 
recognized the many honored guests in the room, including Speaker John 
Boehner of Ohio and the Ambassadors of France, Germany, Taiwan, and the 
European Union. After thanking the guests for their attendance, we had 
a moment of silence in recognizing the passing of our good friend and 
former President Jay Rhodes of Arizona. Lou then introduced former 
Member Larry LaRocco for what has become a yearly tradition: a live 
auction of congressional memorabilia to support the Association's 
civics programs. After dinner, Speaker John Boehner gave the keynote 
address remarking on the importance of Congress as an institution. We 
then recognized each honoree individually and, at the conclusion of the 
evening, gathered them along with the Speaker on the stage to accept 
their awards. It was truly an historic night and the first time these 
past congressional leaders were assembled on a stage in one group. 
Their acceptance speeches were remarkable, giving the insight about 
Congress, what it meant to serve, and the challenges of their 
leadership. We are especially proud

[[Page 9112]]

that we were able to bring together Congress's past leaders with 
Congress's present leaders. It really was a very moving and memorable 
evening.
  The annual dinner assembles former and current Members of Congress, 
prominent business and community leaders, representatives from the 
diplomatic corps, and many foundations and NGOs with which the 
Association has partnered over the years. Past honorees include our 
former Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, who just addressed us; Dick Cheney; the 
Greatest Generation; Secretary Lynn Martin; and others. The evening is 
our sole fundraiser and it makes possible some of the many programs my 
colleagues have already reported to you today on.
  Let me add to the long list another example of what former Members 
can contribute to today's political education. One of the lessons that 
we have learned from interacting with the American high school and 
college students is that there is a void of real life experience and 
advice when it comes to civic education textbooks. To fill that void, 
our association, in conjunction with Lou Frey Institute at the 
University of Central Florida, has collected the words of wisdom our 
membership has to offer and edited two books which have since become 
published. The first, ``Inside the House--Former Members Reveal How 
Congress Really Works,'' was published several years ago and is being 
used by political science professors across the country. This past 
summer, we published a follow-up volume entitled ``Political Rules of 
the Road.'' This book focuses on some of the rules of the road that we 
have learned during our political careers, and I thank the many former 
Members who took the time and submitted contributions to this 
collection. The book has been featured several times on C-SPAN and also 
was the subject of a 2-hour panel presentation at the National Archives 
last fall. You can find information about both books on our Web site, 
and I hope you all will take time to look at our Web site. I recommend 
them to you and anyone interested in Congress.
  With that, I yield back to our Association's President, Dennis 
Hertel.
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan.
  Mr. HERTEL. I want to thank Congresswoman Byron for all of her great 
help for our association.
  Let me highlight quickly one more event that is a great way for our 
Members to stay connected and also educate themselves about a place 
they may not be completely familiar with. Every year we host a Fall 
Study Tour and invite our Members to participate at their own expense. 
We do the organizing and planning, and our membership can join us, time 
and interest permitting. We have visited some wonderful and interesting 
places over the years, both in the United States and abroad. Last fall 
we put together an exceptional Study Tour which brought us to Puerto 
Rico. Former Member of Congress Carlos Romero Barcelo hosted our group 
and his wonderful wife Kate was instrumental in creating a program for 
us which was second to none. Our sincere thanks to both of them. What 
makes our Study Tours so interesting is that we can combine your usual 
tourist experience with a unique substantive program tailored to our 
membership. In Puerto Rico we had meetings with the Puerto Rican 
Senate, with the Speaker of the Puerto Rican House, with the mayor of 
San Juan, and with the governor of Puerto Rico, the Honorable Luis 
Fortuno, who, incidentally, is also a former Member of Congress. This 
trip was a great learning experience. The people of Puerto Rico are 
rightfully proud of their island and of their many accomplishments. 
Puerto Ricans have fought for our country during all of our wars and 
there are many Puerto Ricans who right now are serving in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. The people of Puerto Rico are hard-working and 
industrious. But what struck us most is the great warmth and 
hospitality that you will find wherever you go on this wonderful 
island. As I said, the annual Study Tour is like no other trip you can 
participate in, and it is the best way I have found to discover a 
country, its people, its culture, and its politics. I highly recommend 
to my colleagues that they consider participating in one of these 
trips. The next Study Tour will visit the Baltic Sea in mid-September 
with highlights that include Helsinki and St. Petersburg. And as I said 
before, all participants pay their own way, no Association funds are 
expended on this type of program.
  Let me at this point take a second to welcome our dear friends from 
abroad. We are extremely honored to have with us several 
representatives of former legislative associations in other countries. 
From the Australian Former Members of Parliament Association, we are 
pleased to have and to welcome Barry Cunningham and his wife. Thank you 
very much for being here. We look forward to working with you 
continuing into the future. From the Canadian Association of Former 
Parliamentarians, it is our honor to be joined by Leo Duguay, Francis 
LeBlanc, and Don Boudria. Leo and Francis have been subjected to 
playing golf with me at our annual tournament, so they can attest to 
how bad I am at golf. We really appreciate them coming for our annual 
meeting and for our fundraiser yesterday for the golf tournament 
charity for the wounded warriors. Also from the Former Members of the 
Ontario Parliament, we thank David Warner for accepting our invitation. 
Our relationship with like-minded organizations across the globe is 
tremendously important to us, and we are very appreciative that all of 
you have come here today to be with us and to spend all this time in 
support of our efforts.
  All the programs we have described, of course, require both 
leadership and staff to implement. Our association is blessed to have 
top people in both categories. I want to take this opportunity to thank 
our board of directors, 30 former Members divided equally between our 
two parties, for their advice and counsel. We really appreciate it. 
Also, I would be remiss if I did not thank the other members of our 
association's Executive Committee: our Vice President, Connie Morella; 
our Treasurer, Barbara Kennelly; our Secretary, Jim Kolbe; and serving 
on the Exec as Past President, Jim Slattery. You have all made this 
association a stronger and better organization than it has ever been, 
and I thank you all for your time and energy. Your counsel has been 
most invaluable to me.
  To administer all these programs takes a staff of dedicated, 
enthusiastic professionals. I'm so sorry we're under the deadline here, 
because I couldn't talk enough about our staff.
  First of all, we have Elizabeth Ardagna, our Member Services Officer, 
and how much work she has done on all fronts. Member Services doesn't 
cover all the different variety of things that she does. The golf 
tournament, she's in charge of that. Without her, it wouldn't have 
happened, and it wouldn't have been so successful. This is a day-in and 
day-out thing. The pressures of trying to work with Members of Congress 
and everybody's schedules and fundraising and all the other endeavors 
that she's done, we just want to thank her so much.
  Esra Alemdar, our International Programs Officer, we've never had 
such success of having such valued speakers but also having such great 
attendance of active and former Senators and Members that have come 
forward to it.
  Bryan Corder, Legislative Programs Manager, who's again a utility 
player. He does everything that we need. Regarding this China 
delegation that Bob was just talking about, all the work that that 
took, all the work that it takes to keep all of our different study 
groups in operation; all the things that our members need along the way 
to help with our fundraising dinner and all the rest. Bryan just does 
such an excellent job.
  I come to Pete Weichlein, who we know is the epitome of our 
organization. It wouldn't exist without Pete, I guess is the simplest 
way to say it. He came up first working with our German study program, 
and then when he took over as Executive Director, we've seen all of the 
difference of an organization that has the breadth to do international 
scale operations, to reach with partners in our own country in a way we 
never had before, with the National Archives, the Bipartisan Policy 
Center, expanding Congress to Campus, so many different programs on the 
horizon. Without Pete's leadership and dedication, it would be 
impossible.
  As some of the people said yesterday at the golf tournament, how do 
you get so much done with such a small staff? That is because of the 
superiority of our staff compared to any other, I think, in Washington 
DC.

[[Page 9113]]

  And then we talk about Sudha David-Wilp, our International Programs 
Director, who is leaving us to go to the German Marshall Fund in 
Berlin, Germany. There couldn't be a better association that is 
benefiting our organization and the German Marshall Fund, that's to be 
said for sure. She and her husband and her two daughters mean so much 
to all of us because of the difference she has made in all of these 
programs and partnerships internationally. We could have never 
developed that kind of confidence and in-depth discussions and progress 
without all that Sudha has done. We hope to continue that relationship 
with her forever. For all of us, it's to our great benefit to have 
somebody of her superior intellectual ability, but personality, and to 
combine those two things means that it's been to the benefit of our 
organization and the people of the United States and the Congress of 
the United States because of all her hard work and accomplishments. 
Sudha, we thank you so much.
  Finally, in addition to our wonderful staff we benefit greatly from 
our volunteers who lend us their talents and expertise pro bono. None 
deserve more appreciation than Dava Guerin, who has taken on the role 
of our Communications Director. Finally, you might notice we're getting 
some press coverage, and it's favorable, because of the great and 
wonderful work that Dava has done. She is just such a tremendous 
professional. We're just getting started this last month, but looking 
forward very, very much to going forward with her expertise.
  Now I would just take this moment to thank all of you at the 
Association for all of the effort that you've put forth and all the 
dedication that you have. After these many years of public service, we 
have the epitome of Senator Warner and Bob Michel today showing that 
what can be done when we work together for Members of both parties.
  Cokie Roberts, our only honorary member, has said two things about 
former Members: one, they dress much better than they did when they 
were Members; and, two, they haven't lost their partisanship, they keep 
that edge, they keep all those beliefs, but suddenly it's all now for a 
bipartisan effort in public service, and what a difference that makes. 
Cokie is exactly right. That's why I thank all of you and our 
association.
  Now we come to our final bit of business before we must leave the 
Chamber today, in about 4 minutes, and that is the election of new 
board members and officers. Every year at our annual meeting we ask the 
membership to elect new officers and board members. In the past we have 
done so in a separate business meeting of the membership, but it 
occurred to us that there is no better place for holding a vote than 
the Chamber of the House of Representatives, and that's what we're 
going to do today. I therefore now will read to you the names of the 
candidates for officers and board members. They're all running 
unopposed and I therefore ask for a simple ``yes'' or ``no'' as I 
present to you the list of candidates as a slate. So you couldn't have 
an easier election, and if we're going to do it on the floor of the 
House, we want to make sure that it's a sure thing, right?
  For the Association's eight seats on the 2011 class of the Board of 
Directors, the candidates are:
  Jack Buechner of Missouri
  Martin Frost of Texas
  Lee Hamilton of Indiana
  Jim Kolbe of Arizona
  Bob Livingston of Louisiana
  Norm Mineta of California
  Jim Walsh of New York
  All in favor of electing these eight former Members to a 3-year term 
as our board of directors, please say ``aye.'' All opposed, say 
``nay.'' Hearing no opposition, the slate has been elected by the 
membership.
  Next, we will elect our Executive Committee. Connie Morella and I are 
finishing up the first year of our 2-year term. Therefore, the 
candidates for another 1-year term as our Executive Committee are:
  Barbara Kennelly of Connecticut for Treasurer
  Jim Kolbe of Arizona for Secretary
  Jim Slattery of Kansas for Past President Exec Member
  All in favor of electing these three former Members to another 1-year 
term on our Executive Committee, please ``aye.'' All opposed, ``nay.'' 
Hearing no opposition, the slate has been elected by the membership. I 
thank you all very much.
  Now as we come to the conclusion of our program, it is my sad duty to 
inform the Congress of those former and current Members who have passed 
away since our last report. This list contains the names of our 
colleagues and friends, all of whom will be greatly missed. Let me just 
highlight one name, my close personal friend and our former President, 
Jay Rhodes. Just a year ago, Jay stood at this very lectern delivering 
this report to Congress in his capacity as our association's President. 
That I am reading his name today and the list of these Members who have 
passed is so very sad for all of us who have been active with our 
organization and have known Jay so well. Jay was a great leader and 
dear friend, and we miss his guidance, intelligence, and his humor 
very, very much. He was someone who cared about all of us and that we 
all felt close to. It is a lesson for all of us to appreciate life and 
to appreciate the friendships that we have and our family and to hold 
them dear and close to us.
  I ask all of you to rise as I read the names as we pay respect to the 
memory of the people that I am about to list with a moment of silence.
  John Adler of New Jersey
  Robert Byrd of West Virginia
  Emilio Daddario of Connecticut
  Robert Duncan of Oregon
  Marvin Esch of Michigan
  Frank Evans of Colorado
  Robert Ellsworth of Kansas
  Geraldine Ferraro of New York
  Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen, Jr. of New Jersey
  Wayne Grisham of California
  Robert P. Hanrahan of Illinois
  William Harsha of Ohio
  Fred Heineman of North Carolina
  Arthur Link of North Dakota
  Steve Horn of California
  James Mann of South Carolina
  Karen McCarthy of Missouri
  James McClure of Idaho
  Owen Pickett of Virginia
  Howard Pollock of Alaska
  William Ratchford of Connecticut
  John J. Rhodes, III of Arizona
  Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois
  William Bart Saxbe of Ohio
  Stephen Solarz of New York
  Ted Stevens of Alaska
  Tom Vandergriff of Texas
  Harold Volkmer of Missouri
  Stuyvesant Wainwright, II of New York
  William Walsh of New York
  Thank you.
  That concludes the 41st Report to Congress by the U.S. Association of 
Former Members of Congress. We thank the Congress, the Speaker and the 
Minority Leader for giving us the opportunity to return to this revered 
Chamber and to report on our Association's activities. We look forward 
to another active and productive year. We thank all of you, members of 
the Association
  Mrs. MORELLA. The Chair again wishes to thank the former Members of 
the House for their presence here today.
  Before terminating, the Chair would like to invite those former 
Members whose names were not recorded as being present to give their 
names to the Reading Clerk.
  The meeting is now adjourned.
  The meeting adjourned at 9:47 a.m.

                          ____________________