To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3210 East 10th Street in Bloomington, Indiana, as the "Francis X. McCloskey Post Office Building".

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once remarked, ``An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.''

Today as we note the untimely passing on Sunday afternoon of our friend and former colleague, Indiana Congressman Frank McCloskey, who lost a year-long battle with cancer, let it long be remembered that this Hoosier embraced not only the important concerns of his constituents in southwest Indiana, but also the broader concerns of all humanity.

In the early 1990s, I worked very closely with Congressman McCloskey and others to call attention to the atrocities and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Slobodan Milosevic and his henchmen in Bosnia. Many in the international community, indeed many in this country, looked away. Frank McCloskey did not.

A fact-finding trip to Bosnia in 1991 stirred and galvanized Frank's passion. As a member of the Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congressman McCloskey was among the first in Congress to call for air strikes against Serbian positions in Bosnia- Herzegovina from which Bosnians were being shelled and murdered. Frank urged that Slobodan Milosevic be tried as a war criminal, which now is happening. He and I worked to lift the arms embargo against Bosnia, and he was not shy in criticizing the Clinton administration when he disagreed with its handling of that conflict.

Mr. Speaker, political expediency practically demanded that Frank McCloskey focus on shoring up his position in the 8th Congressional District. As is well known, he won his first election to this body in 1984 by four votes. But in spite of the fact that he won six congressional races in one of the most competitive districts in America, political calculation did not crowd out the humanity in Frank McCloskey's heart. He was commanded by conscience to do what he believed was right.

Frank McCloskey lived a full life serving in the Air Force, working as a newspaper reporter, and serving as Bloomington's mayor for 10 years before he was elected to this Congress.

Let me close, Mr. Speaker, by quoting John Kennedy who inspired Frank and inspired many of us in this body. Kennedy said: ``I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas.''

Mr. Speaker, those were words that Frank McCloskey lived by. We mourn his loss and offer our condolences to Roberta, his wife of 30 years, and his two children, Helen and Mark, as well as his family and many friends. Frank McCloskey made this a better body. He made this country better. We mourn his loss.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once remarked that: ``An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.''

Today, as we note the untimely passing on Sunday afternoon of our friend and former colleague, Indiana Congressman Frank McCloskey--who lost a year-long battle with cancer--let it long be remembered that this Hoosier embraced not only the important concerns of his constituents in southwest Indiana but also the broader concerns of all humanity.

In the early 1990s, I worked very closely with Congressman McCloskey and others to call attention to the atrocities and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Slobodan Milosevic and his henchmen in Bosnia.

Recall that as the former Yugoslavia disintegrated and Milosevic trained his fury on Bosnia, millions were displaced, hundreds of thousands were killed, and tens of thousands were raped and tortured.

Many in the international community--indeed many in this country-- looked away. Frank McCloskey did not.

A fact-finding trip to Bosnia in 1991 stirred and galvanized Frank's passion, which, as the Indianapolis Star said on Monday, dominated both the twilight of his life and his political career. At the time of his death, he was the Director of Kosovo Programs for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, where he taught leaders how to govern democratically.

Back in the 1990s, as a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, Congressman McCloskey was among the first in Congress to call for air strikes against Serbian positions in Bosnia- Herzegovina. He believed such strikes were needed to prevent hostilities from spilling over to Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and other provinces.

Frank urged that Milosevic be tried as a war criminal, which now in fact is happening. He and I worked to lift the arms embargo against Bosnia. And he was not shy about criticizing the Clinton administration when he disagreed with its handling of the conflict.

Mr. Speaker, political expediency practically demanded that Frank McCloskey focus on shoring up his position in the Eighth Congressional District. As is well know, he won his first attempt at re-election to this body in 1984 by four--yes, four--votes.

But in spite of the fact that he won six congressional races in one of the most competitive districts in America, political calculation did not crowd out the humanity in Frank McCloskey's heart. He was commanded by conscience to do what he believed was right--for his constituents, for his nation, and for humanity, too.

Mr. Speaker, Frank McCloskey crowded an enormous amount of living into his 64 years. He served our Nation for 4 years in the Air Force; graduated from Indiana University with bachelor's and law degrees; worked as a newspaper reporter in Chicago, Bloomington and Indianapolis; and served as Bloomington's mayor for 10 years before being elected to Congress.

Still, though his contributions were many, one cannot help but think that they would have been even greater had he been given the gift of more time in his life.

Let me close by quoting John F. Kennedy, who inspired Frank McCloskey, as well as myself: ``I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose,'' said President Kennedy, ``Human liberty as the source of national action, the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas.''

Mr. Speaker, those were words that Frank McCloskey lived by.

We are all the beneficiaries of his tireless efforts on behalf of human rights and basic dignity.

As we mourn his loss and honor him by naming this post office in his honor, I want to express my sincere condolences to his wife of 30 years, Roberta, and his two children, Helen and Mark, as well as his family and many friends.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) for making this resolution possible this afternoon.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great personal sadness that I rise to pay tribute to Frank McCloskey, who passed away on Sunday surrounded by family and friends, and that is exactly how he lived, surrounded by family and friends. Frank was a respected colleague in this body, a dear friend and a faithful public servant. He was the mayor of Bloomington for 10 years. He was just out of law school when he was elected mayor of Bloomington, and he was always in touch with his district. He was so proud to represent Indiana in the Congress, and those of us who served with him learned from him every single day about the wonders of Indiana and about the prospects for our great country.

Frank was a fighter, a gentleman, a diplomat, a lovely and gracious man, but a fighter. He believed in causes greater than himself, and he worked tirelessly to achieve them. Anyone who served in Congress with Frank knew once he grabbed hold of an idea, he did not let go. In his work on the Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Foreign Affairs, he knew that our highest priority as Members of Congress was to provide for the common defense. He honored that commitment and became an expert on national defense policy. He was passionate and eloquent in his support for the people of Bosnia and a leader in stopping the genocide there. What a source of pride that must have been for him. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) is nodding his head and acknowledging that Mr. McCloskey was such a champion for human rights and respecting the dignity and worth of every person. He cared deeply for the people of Bosnia and refused to believe that the United States could not stop the atrocities occurring there. On that issue, Frank was ahead of his time, as he was on so many issues.

I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) for his work to designate the Francis X. McCloskey Post Office Building. Frank served on the post office and civil service subcommittee, and I know it would be a source of great pride to have a post office named in his honor.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Roberta and their two children. I had

the pleasure of being in their company on a number of occasions and spoke to Frank as recently as last week. He was still a fighter and was fighting to get through this rough patch. But he knew that he had wonderful things in store, but they might not be with us here on Earth. We hope it is a comfort to Roberta and Frank's children that so many people share their loss. We miss Frank not only as a colleague, but as a precious and dear friend. He was a leader. People who never met him benefited from his great service in this Congress of the United States. Again our sympathies go out to his family, to his constituents whom he cared so much about, and I thank again the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) for making this tribute to Frank possible.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to an old friend and dear colleague. Frank McCloskey and I came to Congress together in 1983, and for all the time that he served here, we sat beside each other on the Committee on Armed Services. I enjoyed him as a person. He became a good friend. I admired him as a colleague. I learned a lot from him.

Frank was plain and unpretentious, but beneath a serious and even studious sort of demeanor, he was passionate about the things that he believed in and dogged in their pursuit. He stayed on top of the issues. We get confronted continually with issue of all sorts.

I will never forget the morning after Reagan made his SDI speech, March 1983. Frank was the one member of the committee then who was probing the Defense Department witnesses about strategic defense. He was skeptical but he was always, always informed and diligent and fair- minded as a critic. Long before Srebrenica, he was troubled, deeply, personally conflicted about the war and current issues in the Balkans, and he was an early advocate and lone supporter of our intervention there. There were those who said it was not feasible, it was not possible or it was not desirable, but in the long run Frank McCloskey's position was vindicated.

Frank McCloskey was not glib. He was not flashy. He was not smooth. He was not, in Sam Rayburn's famous analogy, a show horse, but he was a workhorse. He took his job seriously and never himself. He was never one to preen or pontificate. There was no conceit about him. He was a plain spoken Hoosier who worked hard in the House, worked hard for his constituents, and every election ran hard to hold on to his seat.

Frank was gone from the House before we really knew it, and now he is gone altogether. Naming this post office after him is completely appropriate, though it seems a small gesture. This does give us, however, at least the chance to say to an old colleague whom we greatly respected, well done. Well done for all the years you served here. Well done in all your friendships you have given to us, and also to say to Frank and his family, we have never forgotten you, and this bill proves it.

I hope this post office will also give his constituents, whom he served so well, cause to remember him and all that he did for them. Our hearts go out to his family. We understand their grief. We share their loss, but we hope that they will take solace in hearing his old colleagues here in the House say that the years he spent here were years well spent in service to his country.

While he left here more than 8 years ago, I believe his example still shines among us, as the passage of this resolution will demonstrate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to mourn with those who mourn, and grieve with those who grieve, with gratitude for my colleague the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) for his swift and decisive leadership in moving this important legislation honoring a great public servant, Frank McCloskey, to the floor of the Congress of the United States.

When Frank McCloskey breathed his last this Sunday, Indiana lost a leader, but as we have heard again and again from colleagues who served with him and those who simply admired his work from afar, the world community most certainly lost a champion of justice. Congressman Frank McCloskey was a man of courage, courage he demonstrated very recently in his struggle with cancer, staying positive and optimistic even to the very end in all of his public statements to family and friends and neighbors.

But he was also, as we have heard today, a man of genuine courage in public service. In addition to his tenacity in representing the people of southwestern Indiana during six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Frank McCloskey will long be remembered for his courage in challenging the United States to confront the genocidal aims of President Slobodan Milosevic in the Balkans.

As a member of the House Committee on International Relations, I had the occasion to speak to former Congressman Frank McCloskey on several occasions about his efforts to confront the evils of ethnic cleansing and what was without exaggeration, Mr. Speaker, his foresight and his vision. Long before the world community and long before the United States, certainly, came to recognize the threat to peace and the deep injustice that was taking place in the Balkans, Indiana's Frank McCloskey came to this floor and spoke with passion.

It is accurate to say as we remember him here and we commemorate him in a building in his beloved home State, that also the name of Frank McCloskey will be remembered by generations of Bosnians. In fact, there are thoroughfares in that nascent nation this day that bear his name. Generations of Bosnians will remember the name of Frank McCloskey of Indiana on a short list of leaders who, across the globe, had the vision to confront the evil aims of the Serbian dictator who beset them.

It has been said long ago that a man who has done nothing for mankind should fear to die. I speak with confidence and humility when I say I am sure Frank McCloskey did not fear to die given his extraordinary contributions to life and liberty in the Balkans. We mourn his loss with his friends, his colleagues, most especially his wife, his family and his children. We strongly support this resolution and this measure to recognize this true Indiana leader.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of my former colleague and fellow Hoosier, Congressman Frank X. McCloskey, upon his untimely death after a year-long battle with bladder cancer. I strongly support the ``Francis X. McCloskey Post Office Building Designation Act'' (H.R. 3379), renaming the United states Post Office located in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, after former Congressman McCloskey.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1939, McCloskey attended high school in Norristown, PA, and entered the Air Force immediately after graduation. After honorably serving his country, McCloskey attended Indiana University, where the received both his undergraduate degree and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence. He then settled down in Bloomington and began his service to both the state of Indiana and our Nation in a most distinguished manner, beginning with his ten-year term as mayor of the city of Bloomington. McCloskey had the highest of aspirations, and was eventually elected to the U.S.House of Representatives in 1982, serving a 6-term career as U.S. Representative from the 8th Congressional District of Indiana.

During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Frank McCloskey became highly involved in the Balkan crisis, introducing several pieces of legislation seeking to avert a humanitarian disaster in the former Yugoslav republics. In the years following his Congressional service, Frank drew upon those experiences in foreign relations and human rights by pursuing formal training in Balkan studies and serving as a mediator in negotiations over territorial disputes in Bosnia. As a result of his dedication and tireless efforts, McCloskey was awarded by being named Director of Kosovo Programs for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

Mr. Speaker and my esteemed colleagues, please join me in honoring and recognizing the service and commitment that Congressman Frank McCloskey gave to his fellow Hoosiers, the American people, and the international community. It is only fitting that we dedicate a last memorial by renaming the Post Office in downtown Bloomington, Indiana, after a man who helped change the course of history and served the public with distinction.

Please join me in supporting the ``Francis X. McCloskey Post Office Building Designation Act.''