[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10250-10251]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 DEL LATTA, A DEDICATED PUBLIC SERVANT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) is recognized 
until 10 p.m. as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous materials on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening in honor of Delbert 
Latta, who served in this body for 30 years and who sadly passed away 
in Bowling Green, Ohio, on May 12.
  Del lived a full and productive 96 years, and he used that time very 
wisely. While I never had the privilege of serving with him here in 
this House, I think we all have felt the impact of the time that he 
spent here in Congress.
  Del Latta was a lot of things. He was an attorney, teacher, a leader, 
a competitive boxer in his youth, and a loving husband, father, 
grandfather, and great-grandfather. Perhaps most of all, though, he was 
dedicated to serving the people of the Fifth District of Ohio, and he 
kept in touch with them on a very regular basis. He drove home every 
week. He was with his family. He was very much a family man.
  Congressman Latta, also known as Del, attended Findlay College before 
graduating from Ohio Northern University in 1943. While in school, he 
served in the Ohio National Guard, the United States Army, and in the 
U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. Del was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1944, 
and began practicing law as well as teaching at his alma mater, Ohio 
Northern University.
  After several years in private practice, Congressman Latta was called 
to service again when he was elected to the Ohio senate in 1952. He 
would serve in the senate until 1958, when he was elected to the United 
States Congress.
  He did many things here. Probably the most significant thing was when 
he was ranking member of the Budget Committee, he accomplished, really, 
his crowning achievement at that time, which was the enactment of 
President Ronald Reagan's economic recovery plan.
  As those around in the late 1970s and early 1980s will recall, the 
Nation was mired in an economic morass when Ronald Reagan was elected. 
Stagflation, a combination of high employment and high inflation, had 
crippled our economy. President Reagan knew that the only way to escape 
this situation was to stimulate, through the private sector, economic 
growth.
  To achieve this, he proposed a combination of tax cuts and spending 
reductions, which would come to be known as supply-side economics. At 
first, many in Congress were skeptical of the plan, but Congressman Del 
Latta saw the promise that the idea held. So he began working with his 
colleagues from both sides of the aisle to draft legislation to build 
support for the plan.
  In addition to Del Latta, the other central player in the effort was 
Congressman Phil Gramm, then a Democratic Representative from Texas. 
Together, they would introduce two pieces of legislation to enact 
Ronald Reagan's economic plan: the 1981 Gramm-Latta budget and the 
Gramm-Latta Omnibus Reconciliation Act. A great deal of credit for that 
bipartisan support is due to the efforts of Congressman Del Latta.
  Del had great respect for his colleagues in the House and got along 
with people of every political persuasion. As a result, he was liked 
and respected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, making 
Latta the ideal person to build a consensus for President Reagan's 
economic package, which turned this economy around and this country 
around for the better. Latta and Gramm worked hard to build that 
consensus, and President Reagan's economic plan may not have been 
enacted if not for their efforts.
  They sometimes say ``the apple doesn't fall far from the tree,'' and 
I think that is the case with the next speaker here this evening, and 
that is his son, Congressman Bob Latta, who also goes home every week, 
works his district extremely hard, stays very much in touch, and I 
think also very important, he is respected by the people in this 
institution, again, on both sides of the aisle. He truly is one that 
people take him at his word.
  Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) has 
2\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Congressman Latta.
  Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and also 
for having this Special Order tonight.
  We heard Dad's time down here as 30 years, and I must have to also 
mention that was 30 years in the minority. He never served 1 day in the 
majority the whole time he was here.
  When he was elected in 1958, he served on the Ag Committee, and then 
went to the Rules Committee. In 1974, Gerald Ford put him on the 
Judiciary Committee during Watergate, a committee he did not want to 
serve on, but then he went on to serve as the ranking member on the 
Budget Committee until his retirement along with being on the Rules 
Committee.
  If I could just in the remaining time talk a little about Dad because 
a lot of people know about his work here, but also I think it is 
important to know that he was one of those they call the greatest 
generation.
  His younger brother, Lester Latta, was asked by his son what it was 
like

[[Page 10251]]

when they were growing up, and my uncle had said that they didn't have 
much, but there were a lot of other people they knew that didn't have 
as much as they did.
  He grew up in a small town in McComb, Ohio, which had 1,600 people, 
which it is today. My grandfather was a barber, sold insurance, and was 
an auctioneer. He did anything he could to keep six kids going during 
the Depression. My grandmother wallpapered and did everything else and 
raised a family. Dad was the first to graduate from high school in his 
family, the first to even go to college. The thought of going to 
college back then was something that most people never thought about.
  Growing up, he knew the value of hard work. He would mow yards for 15 
cents, caddied 18 holes for 25 cents, shoveled snow off the township 
roads with his brothers and his father, unloaded coal cars with a 
shovel, hauled corncobs, worked on construction crews building one of 
the high schools in Findlay, blocked beets, cut down trees with a 
crosscut saw for Rural Electric, sold shoes on commission for 5 
percent, and he was also a prizefighter when he was younger.
  But Dad always knew what the value of an education was. He also knew 
what hard work was. One of Dad's crowning achievements, and he was 
always very proud of it, at Bowling Green State University there was a 
scholarship that is still there, and 174 students have received this 
scholarship. One of the things my dad always told my sister and me was 
to always remember that you never want to think that you shouldn't have 
much education, because one thing in life they can't take away from you 
is your education, so get as much as you want.
  One of the things I always mention about here, and I would like to 
close on this, Dad always told me that this is not a profession my dad 
told me to get into, but I learned from him. Two of the sayings were 
that you want to remember when you go into public service, you go in 
with nothing and you should come out with nothing. He also said: Always 
remember in life it is not the big things you do for people, it is 
little things, because people expect the big things, not the little 
things.
  So I think that that is the memory that Dad had not only here, but 
also in the district. After Dad's passing I had people coming up to me 
telling what my dad did for them over 50 years ago for some problem 
that they were having. But Dad always said to always remember that 
there is a big difference between a politician and a public servant. A 
politician sees how much they can take from the people they represent, 
while a public servant sees how much they can give back.
  I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) very much for having 
this Special Order.
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, today I join my colleagues to pay tribute 
to former Ohio Congressman Delbert Latta.
  While I did not have the opportunity to serve with ``Del''--as he was 
known--I am pleased to serve in the Ohio Delegation with his son, 
Congressman Bob Latta, who represents his father's former District--
Ohio's Fifth District.
  And I know that Del would be proud of his son's record here in the 
House of Representatives.
  While many Members here tonight have or will mention Del's 
achievements, given his tenure in the House, his accomplishments are 
certainly worth repeating.
  Del served our nation proudly as a member of the Ohio National Guard 
and the U.S. Army from 1938 to 1941 and in the Marine Corps Reserve 
from 1942 to 1943.
  However, his service to the great state of Ohio and our nation did 
not end with his military career.
  After serving in the Army and Marine Corps Reserve, Del received his 
undergraduate and law degrees from Ohio Northern University, and was 
elected to the Ohio Senate in 1952.
  Six years later, in 1958, he was elected to the House of 
Representatives and served in the people's House for 15 terms before 
retiring in 1988.
  During his tenure in the House, he served as the dean of the Ohio 
Congressional delegation as well as the top Republican on the House 
Budget Committee.
  During the Watergate hearings, he was appointed to the House 
Judiciary Committee.
  Outside of the Halls in Congress, Del was a devoted father and 
husband, and he is survived by his wife, Rose Mary, his two children, 
five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
  From his record, surely he will be missed by many at home, in Ohio, 
and in Washington.
  Mr. TURNER. Mr. Speaker, this evening I would like to honor a great 
Ohioan, former Congressman Del Latta. Mr. Latta served northwest Ohio 
from 1959 to 1989. During his thirty-year career he found himself at 
the center of history as he sat on the Judiciary Committee in 1974 
during the Watergate scandal.
  He also helped President Ronald Reagan cut the federal budget and 
fought for a robust defense budget. Mr. Latta bravely served in the 
Army and Marine Corps Reserves before serving in Congress. He will be 
remembered for his unwavering service to his country and the great 
state of Ohio. Mr. Latta is a true statesman and his legacy will be 
remembered for years to come. I continue to send my condolences to 
Congressman Bob Latta and his family.
  Mr. WENSTRUP. Mr. Speaker, I recently came across a short poem called 
``The Dash,'' and I'd like to submit the first few lines:

     I read of a man who stood to speak
     at the funeral of a friend.
     He referred to the dates on the tombstone
     from the beginning . . . to the end.

     He noted that first came the date of birth
      and spoke the following date with tears,
     but he said what mattered most of all
     was the dash between those years.

     For that dash represents all the time
     that they spent alive on earth.
     And now only those who loved them
     know what that little line is worth.

     For it matters not, how much we own,
     the cars . . . the house . . . the cash.
     What matters is how we live and love
     and how we spend our dash.

  Del Latta's dash represents a life dedicated to his fellow Ohioans 
and his fellow Americans.
  First as a state senator, and then later as a U.S. Congressman, Mr. 
Latta was a true public servant, a trait he passed on to his son, and 
my friend, Bob.
  I offer my prayers and condolences to Bob, and to his family, and I 
thank his father for spending his dash in service to our state and our 
country.

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