[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 4275-4277]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ROAD TRIP CAMARADERIE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Arrington). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
O'Rourke) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, it is great to be here tonight. I just 
traveled with my good friend, close colleague, and fellow Texan--and 
your fellow Texan--Will Hurd, who started with me in San Antonio, 
Texas, yesterday at 7 a.m., San Antonio time, where we, because of the 
inclement weather on the East Coast and because of his canceled flight 
and the possibility that mine might also be canceled, decided to rent a 
car in San Antonio and drive it here to Washington, D.C., in time for 
votes this evening that started at 6:30 eastern standard time.
  That road trip in a Chevy Impala, rented in San Antonio, took us from 
San Antonio to Austin, to San Marcos, to Dallas, to Waco, to Texarkana, 
and then into Little Rock in Arkansas, over into Tennessee--cities 
including Memphis, Nashville, and Johnson City--and then through 
Virginia, 36 hours total, 31 of them either driving or at a pit stop 
fueling up on gas or grabbing a sandwich.
  Mr. Speaker, there were really two reasons to do this. One was to 
make sure that we could get to work and not allow the weather delays or 
flight cancellations to stop us from doing the jobs that we were 
elected to do on behalf of the people that we represent, but the other 
reason was for a Democrat and a Republican to get together, get to know 
each other, understand the issues before this Congress from each 
other's perspective, and see if we couldn't find some common ground.
  In addition, because each of us so deeply believes in transparency 
and accountability, we allowed the people that we represent to join us 
on that trip. We live-streamed the entire journey on Facebook Live, 
with thousands of people from all over this country submitting their 
questions, their comments, their suggestions, their advice, their 
guidance, including where to get the best doughnut at midnight in 
Memphis, Tennessee--which turns out to be Gibson's Donuts--where Mr. 
Hurd from Texas and I had a chance to meet some of the folks who make 
those doughnuts and some of the folks who eat them. It was one of the 
best parts of the trip.
  Mr. Speaker, I am just so grateful that there is an opportunity, 
despite the deep divisions between our two parties at times and despite 
the imperative to raise money, to campaign, to spend time away from 
each other, understandably, with our families or listening to our 
constituents back in our home districts. Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful 
that we had a chance to spend some time together getting to know each 
other, getting to talk about the issues that are important to the 
people we represent and to this country at large.
  Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield to my friend from Texas (Mr. 
Hurd), the gentleman who represents the 23rd Congressional District.
  Mr. HURD. I would like to thank the Speaker, and I thank the 
gentleman from Texas for yielding.
  One of my favorite quotes is from Teddy Roosevelt. He says: ``Far 
better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even 
though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits 
who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray 
twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.''
  The gentleman from Texas and I had a great 31 hours--I guess, 36 
hours, 31 of it being in a vehicle. It was fun, and it was like going 
on a road trip with my buddy having a good time, but it was more 
impactful for that.
  Actually, I think I am going through separation anxiety. I want to 
know what Sarah is doing right now, or Carol. They were with us late 
last night in those last 3 hours of our trip when we were tired and 
hungry and ready to go to sleep. But these are folks that we didn't 
know--and I didn't even know what part of the country they were in--
that kept us going, and it was because of their excitement about what 
we were doing that kept us going.

                              {time}  2100

  We talked many times about how this was an opportunity. In the press, 
in the media, we focus on the things that divide us, not the things 
that unite us; and it was a great opportunity to show that there is a 
lot between Republicans and Democrats that brings us together. It was 
great. We didn't always agree, and we show that we could disagree 
without being disagreeable.
  My heart was warmed. At the beginning of the trip, some of the 
responses to our trip were mean-spirited. By the end of it, I think 
people understood and recognized what we were trying to do, and they 
valued that.
  I hope that this trip--and the response that the American people 
across these great States--showed, as an example to our colleagues, 
that bipartisanship is a real thing; that people care and want to see 
folks working together and to stop retreating to their tired corners 
and instead try to talk about what we need to do to do the work of the 
American people.
  I got to learn a lot about the gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke), a 
person I would like to be able to call my friend, a battle buddy now, 
having spent so much time in a Chevy Impala with him. I still question 
why he positions himself so close to the steering wheel when he drives, 
but I think that is one of the things that another trip may have to 
help figure out.
  Really, to all of those who watched, listened, shared, enjoyed, and 
made comments, thank you. Thank you because this was a truly wonderful 
experience and it made the entire trip worth it.
  We made it on time. We actually got here early, which we weren't 
expecting, and that is because of my good friend from the great State 
of Texas' (Mr. O'Rourke) discipline and tenacity going from point A to 
point B. We were able to do our job today, and we just want to say 
thank you to those who helped us do that.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, our journey began after picking up the car 
at the rental lot at 5:00 a.m. with a breakfast at Mi Tierra cafe in 
San Antonio where we were presented by the staff there with this 
pinata, which became our mascot along the way. So, Mr. Speaker, I want 
to make sure that you and our colleagues tonight have a chance to see 
this.
  Perhaps, on the more whimsical side, there was some discussion 
amongst my friend from Texas (Mr. Hurd) and those who joined us on the 
journey virtually through the Livestream about trying to encourage more 
Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle in a way that would 
allow them to take time with each other, to get to know each other, to 
listen to each other and, yes, to talk about serious policy issues, but 
also to find out a little bit about who they are, where they came from, 
what excites them about their service, their families, the communities 
that they represent. And that allows for

[[Page 4276]]

what I hope will be a more close, productive, and effective working 
relationship on behalf of the people we serve.
  Despite the obvious talent, Mr. Speaker, in this Chamber, Members 
that I have had the pleasure to get to know over the last 4 years that 
I have been here who hail from all parts of the country, from all 
backgrounds, who are among the best and brightest in their communities, 
who are here to do the right thing, to deliver for their constituents 
and to put this country first. It is interesting that, despite that, we 
haven't been able to get many of the big things accomplished for this 
country. We can think about things like comprehensive immigration 
reform or comprehensive tax reform, for that matter, or educational and 
healthcare reforms that are going to impact every single family and 
every single one of the communities that we represent.
  I think part of the reason is that we need to reform the institution 
itself. And those reforms could take the form of comprehensive campaign 
finance reform or ending gerrymandering of districts and having a 
national congressional redistricting committee that is nonpartisan that 
draws those lines on rational, logical bases. Or we could have term 
limits for Members of Congress so that you can't serve in what turns 
out to be perpetuity for the political life of a community and have 
some faith in the talent and the leadership that is produced in that 
community that we all represent.
  Those are things that are going to be tough to do, let's admit it. 
Some of them require amendments to our Constitution.
  Where we could start, Mr. Speaker, is just spending some time with 
each other, taking a road trip, playing a game of basketball, going out 
on a run, having a cup of coffee, having lunch together. As my friend 
from Texas (Mr. Hurd) says that too often we are in our own corners. 
And on our side, maybe that is in meetings about how to message those 
good things that we want to do for the American public or outside of 
this Chamber and away from our official responsibilities raising the 
resources in order to get reelected or to get our colleagues from the 
same party reelected.
  Those are understandable and, yes, I think, necessary things to do, 
but sometimes we do them to the exclusion of what is even more 
important and necessary and, that is, getting to know each other, being 
able to work with each other, and solving the problems and capitalizing 
on the opportunities that face this country.
  For whatever it is worth, 36 hours later, I feel like I have the 
opportunity to do that with my friend from Texas. What I would like him 
to do, if he would, is to share with us and with you, Mr. Speaker, some 
of those issues that we talked about and some of the takeaways or the 
conclusions or the things that we shared and learned.
  I am going to tell you, at the outset, to set your expectations, we 
didn't solve all of these problems. And we didn't even come necessarily 
to common agreement on all of the big issues, but we definitely heard 
each other's perspective. In some cases, we definitely moved a little 
bit in the positions that we started with. And I will say that I 
learned a lot.
  I learned a lot about Mr. Hurd, his background, his perspective, 
getting to talk to his dad, his sister, and his brother who all called 
in while we were traveling across the country. But I learned about 
those things that shape his views on the issues that he and I both care 
about and why, in some cases, he sees a different means to getting to 
the same goal that I want to get to and that the people I represent 
want to get to.
  There were a number of issues that we tackled and discussed.
  I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd) to share some of those 
issues we discussed with you, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. HURD. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke) and I 
have spent the last 2 years working on a number of projects together. 
We have worked on the bilateral relationship between the United States 
and Mexico. We have worked on border security together. We have worked 
on trade. We have worked on support to veterans and those in our 
military. In the last 36 hours, I learned that there is a broader set 
of issues that we can work together.
  He got me to a point where I recognize that something like a hiring 
freeze may not be the most efficient way. I think one of the folks that 
were watching the live feeds over the last 36 hours said: Let's use a 
scalpel rather than a sledgehammer. I think that is pretty good advice.
  He recognized that having the ability to get someone out of the 
government who is not performing to the level that we need them to 
perform needs to be done in an efficient and quick manner. This is one 
example of how, in our positions, we realized we agreed on more than we 
probably thought from the outset.
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke) prides himself and has been 
really a champion of veterans in the great State of Texas as well as 
the rest of the country. The only time I saw him get a more passionate 
look or a bigger smile on his face was when he was talking about 
doughnuts or his wife, actually. Seeing him talk to his lovely wife and 
his children and see his face light up was really amazing and 
heartwarming.
  So I hope that our colleagues learn that what we found out in the 
last 36 hours is that working together is not a dirty phrase. 
Bipartisanship is not a dirty word; that people are going to actually 
reward you for thinking and reaching beyond your perceived limits. That 
is one of my takeaways from the last 36 hours.
  So if you all live in the State of New York, instead of taking a 
plane back, rent a car--Dollar Rent A Car has some pretty good Chevy 
Impalas--and drive back to New York City together and talk about these 
conversations. If you take a train, sit next to each other and have 
that conversation. Include the folks that are sitting in the chairs 
around you, if you feel so inclined. These are the first steps we can 
do in order to take on these big issues and these big challenges.
  When the 435 people in the House of Representatives raised their hand 
and got sworn in and the 100 Members of the Senate raised their hands 
and got sworn in, they took on this task of coming to this august body 
in order to do big things to help this country. I don't doubt that the 
535 people who make up this Congress believe that this is truly the 
greatest Nation in the world, and they want to do everything they can 
to advance its cause.
  So we have to, if we are going to solve these big problems, we have 
to do it together, plain and simple. The American people want us to do 
it together. And I think we got a taste of that over the last 36 hours, 
and it is something that will stick with me, and it is something that I 
am looking forward to working with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
O'Rourke) from the great city of El Paso in the next days and weeks.
  One of the things that I learned from the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
O'Rourke) was he is very good at thanking people. He is very good at 
thanking his team. He is very good at thanking people that have helped 
us, and I want to thank our teams.
  The folks that make up the gentleman's staff and my team, they stayed 
up longer than we did. They had to deal probably with more pressures 
than we did. Rachel Holland in my office, Nancy Pack, Stoney Burke, 
Matthew Haskins, these are some members of my team. Callie Strock, I 
know, in her new position, worked really hard to get things done. Chris 
Malen is one of the new members of my team. Austin Agrella did so much. 
They were excited to be a part of this. Eliezer Flores is someone who 
was so excited, and I think the first person who we saw when we got 
back. These were the people who enabled us to take away these lessons 
over the last 36 hours.
  To those who watched, shared, asked a question, who responded or 
answered a question for us because the feed was going too fast, thank 
you. Thank you for an amazing experience. I am looking forward to the 
next trip. Hopefully

[[Page 4277]]

there is one before the Congress Cannonball Run of 2018.
  I think that it is incumbent upon the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
O'Rourke) and I to be a team again and see if there are others who can 
beat us in a race from San Antonio, Texas, to Washington, D.C.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to hold this Special 
Order session. This is my first time participating in a Special Order 
session, but I think it was justified for such a special occasion that 
means so much to me.
  I would like to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke) for his 
firm grasp on the steering wheel, his willingness to go and do things 
that hadn't been done before, and for his friendship.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I will conclude by joining the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Hurd) in thanking the teams that made this possible in 
our office, led by David Wysong, my chief of staff; John Meza, who 
manned the communications; Samantha Stiles, chief of logistics, also 
known as our scheduler; Cynthia Cano, our district director back in El 
Paso; and everyone who works with them.
  As my friend says, I also want to thank the tens of thousands of 
people who participated in this over the course of the last 36 hours. 
Some folks tuned in and they had to tune out because they had to go to 
work, take care of a kid, get some sleep, or they were just bored by 
what we were doing. But they understood the premise was that we were 
not able or, in the gentleman from Texas' (Mr. Hurd) case, his flight 
was canceled into Washington, D.C., because of the weather--I feared 
that mine might as well be--and that we rented a car and that we had to 
be in Washington, D.C., after leaving San Antonio at 7:00 a.m., by 6:30 
p.m. on Wednesday in order to be there and vote and represent the 
interest of our constituency. If we are to be honest with each other, 
it was touch and go for a little while. We ran into a two-hour pileup 
just south of Waco when we were still in Texas.
  My friend from Texas (Mr. Hurd) has a penchant for getting to know a 
town and wanting to spend some time in a coffee shop talking to the 
owner about the art of making coffee and the philosophy that 
accompanies that. It is a fascinating conversation to be sure, but it 
added precious minutes that I and many of our viewers felt we could not 
spare.

                              {time}  2015

  Yet, working together, balancing my friend's natural curiosity and 
interests in the communities in which we were traveling, and my 
desperation to get to Washington, D.C., in time to cast our votes, we 
were able to arrive in 36 hours. Thirty-six hours total travel time we 
were able to arrive with almost 30 minutes to spare, which if you 
consider the context, the amount of hours, the 1,600-plus miles 
traveled, that is a remarkable feat.
  Look, I don't want to take too much from this, but I think we might 
be able to find some encouragement that two Members working their way 
across the largest State in the lower 48, and then through Arkansas, 
Tennessee, and Virginia, were able together to make decisions necessary 
to ensure that we were able to get to our destination in time, get our 
job done, and represent those people that we serve.
  That, for some reason, Mr. Speaker, was interesting to people. We had 
thousands watching us, newspapers following, broadcast stations 
carrying the feed from our car.
  Why?
  Because--and it shouldn't be this way--this is such an unusual event 
for a Republican and Democrat, not to file a bill together--that 
happens fairly often and I am grateful for that--but to sit down and 
enjoy each other's company, learn from each other, and take on the 
challenge of driving these 1,600 miles together.
  I did not know my friend from Texas as well as I do now, 36 hours 
later, and I didn't know how this was going to turn out.
  Were we going to be able to stand each other's company? Were we going 
to be able to take each other's driving? Were we going to be able to 
make the compromises necessary to decide where to eat, when to stop, 
when to sleep, and how to get there?
  Imperfectly, yet satisfactorily, we were able to do that, ultimately 
get here on time.
  We both thought as we finished votes this evening--because we got 
here in time to cast those votes and went back to our office to thank 
our staffs. As we were doing that, we thought that we owe it to each 
other, to our colleagues with whom we work, all 435 of us, to say that 
both of us want to do everything we can to build on this experience, to 
share it with you, to thank those from the constituencies that we 
represent and from across the United States who shared that journey 
with us, who ensured that we had our seatbelts on, that my eyes were on 
the road, that we were able to get some sleep in Nashville.
  I want to thank everyone who had a part in this, and I just want to 
thank this Chamber and those who sent me here for this very high honor 
of being able to serve. It was really an amazing experience, and I am 
going to use it to the best of my ability to serve my constituents to 
the best of my ability, and make common cause with as many of my 
colleagues that are here in this Chamber.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield again to my friend from Texas.
  Mr. HURD. Mr. Speaker, I want to just thank a couple more people. I 
would like to thank my girlfriend, Lynlie Wallace, for being supportive 
of many of my shenanigans. She supports me in these efforts, and I am 
grateful for that.
  I would like to thank Tyler Lowe, Jon Arnold, and my district staff. 
If it wasn't for them, we never would have kicked off at 0700 from Mi 
Tierra Restaurant. They got us on the right path. So it truly has been 
a good time.
  I think the gentleman from Texas and I are ready for some shuteye. I 
do not know how many times a Special Order has been done between a 
Republican and a Democrat. We will have to ask the Parliamentarian 
after this, but hopefully this is the first of many.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank my friend from Texas 
for joining me tonight on the floor of the House for his words, and for 
taking the chance in driving across much of the country with me to get 
here and making sure that we could fulfill our responsibilities; and 
not just the immediate responsibility of getting here in time to vote, 
which we were able to do, but our responsibility to find a way to work 
with each other across party lines and address the important issues 
before this country that are going to be critical for this country's 
future success and the well-being of those that we represent.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't think it is any accident that the Speaker pro 
tempore tonight is also from Texas. I think this is a good moment for 
our State. I think this is a good moment for this Congress. I think 
this is a chance to strengthen the institution, and I am grateful for 
the opportunity to serve here.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________