[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15816-15817]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      THADDEUS STEVENS POST OFFICE

  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(S. 885) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service 
located at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont, as the ``Thaddeus 
Stevens Post Office''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 885

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. THADDEUS STEVENS POST OFFICE.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont, shall 
     be known and designated as the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post 
     Office''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Issa) and the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I am going to defer my comments since the sole 
House Member from Vermont is available to make his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WELCH. I thank the gentleman. He is up to his usual courteous 
efforts, and I really do appreciate it. I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we are pretty proud in Vermont of Thaddeus Stevens, and 
we are here today in support of the naming of the post office at 35 
Park Street in Danville, Vermont, a tiny community, a proud community, 
in what is called the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, to name the post 
office there the Thaddeus Stevens Post Office.
  Thaddeus Stevens was born in Danville, Vermont, in 1792. He attended 
Peacham Academy. It is still there. He went on to the University of 
Vermont and then graduated from Dartmouth College. That was in 1814.

                              {time}  1500

  He then made a big decision and moved to Pennsylvania to study law, 
but he never left his Vermont values behind. He was elected to the 
Pennsylvania State House of Representatives. He served 4 years as a 
member of the Anti-Masonic Party. In 1849, he was elected to the 34th 
Congress of the United States, serving as a Whig until 1853--and Mr. 
Issa, you'll be happy to know--as a Republican from 1859 until his 
death in 1868.
  As a member of the House of Representatives, he was a very strong 
voice of opposition to slavery, advocating against the fugitive slave 
provision in the Compromise of 1850 and actively helping runaway slaves 
to escape to Canada using the Underground Railroad. We are all proud of 
that, but in Vermont we are particularly proud that Thaddeus Stevens 
did this. Our State, Mr. Speaker, was the first State in its 
Constitution--and we were the 14th State in the Union--to ban slavery. 
And Thaddeus Stevens took that Vermont point of view and advocated it 
in the United States House of Representatives.
  By 1866, Stevens had helped the Republicans gain control of Congress 
and set the stage for post-Civil War reconstruction in the South. In 
his role on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Thaddeus Stevens 
helped draft the Reconstruction Act of 1867 as well as the 14th 
Amendment, prohibiting States from denying citizens of life, liberty, 
or property without the due process of law, a constitutional amendment 
that has done so much to extend the dream in this country of equal 
opportunity to all of our citizens.
  Since Vermont, as I mentioned, was the first State to ban slavery, 
doing so in its Constitution, I would like to think that Thaddeus 
Stevens' Vermont beginnings did inform his actions later in life. Today 
his legacy for promoting and defending equality lives on in Vermont and 
across the country. I am proud that we are honoring his life's work 
through the passage of this postal naming bill.
  As we prepare to send S. 885 to the President's desk, I would like to 
thank Senator Sanders for his leadership in working with the Danville 
community to draft this bill. Senator Sanders, when he first came to 
Vermont so many years ago, lived up in the Northeast Kingdom. I also 
want to thank Senator Leahy for his very important support. And I want 
to thank, of course, Chairman Issa and Ranking Member Cummings for 
helping to shepherd this piece of legislation through before the end of 
this Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill to acknowledge Thaddeus 
Stevens' public service and steadfast dedication to the equality of all 
citizens regardless of race.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  When all speakers have said all that needs to be said and there is 
only one speaker left, he can't say anything original, so I will simply 
thank the Congressmen and the Senators for recognizing one of the first 
Republicans and one of the first Republican principles, one that is no 
longer owned by any party but in fact owned by all Americans. I move 
for passage.
  I urge support of S. 885, introduced by Senator Sanders of Vermont 
which would designate the postal facility located at 35 Park Street in 
Danville, Vermont, as the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post Office''.
  Thaddeus Stevens was born in Danville, Vermont on April 4, 1792. He 
attended nearby Peacham Academy and went on to study at the University 
of Vermont and Dartmouth College. After graduating from Dartmouth, 
Stevens moved to Pennsylvania to study law. He practiced law in 
Gettysburg, and spent four years as a member of the Pennsylvania State 
Legislature.
  Thaddeus Stevens served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 
1849 to 1853 and from 1859 until his death in 1868. He is best 
remembered for being a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination 
against African-Americans. He was instrumental in the passage of the 
14th Amendment to the Constitution and fought for African-American 
rights during Reconstruction.
  I ask my colleagues to honor the courageous actions and momentous 
contributions of this great American by voting in favor of S. 885.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page 15817]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, S. 885.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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