To designate the Federal building located at Fifth and Richardson Avenues in Roswell, New Mexico, as the "Joe Skeen Federal Building".

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3734 would designate the Federal building located at Fifth and Richardson Avenues in Roswell, New Mexico, as the Joe Skeen Federal Building.

On December 7, 2003, the Nation lost a leader, but New Mexico lost a friend. As others have said, Joe Skeen was born in Roswell, New Mexico. He was an Aggie, and he stayed an Aggie for his whole life.

He joined the Navy and he served there. Again, that has been mentioned, but I do not think that other people realize just how much he saw the light when he left the United States Navy and scooted over to the U.S. Air Force, but as a former Air Force pilot, I recognized what was going on in his life.

He continued to see the real light when he saw Mary Helen Jones and married her in 1945. I will tell my colleagues that Mary and Joe continued to be favorites throughout their entire careers in New Mexico. Even today people say, ``Tell Mary that we are thinking about her.''

One of the most important things that people remember about Joe was his sense of humor, and I hear about that constantly. When I go to town hall meetings, they listen to me for 2 hours, and then the first thing they say is, ``Joe Skeen was funny.'' I have enjoyed the comparisons. They also tell me that ``Joe Skeen left big shoes to fill; make sure you fill them, son.''

Joe was just a lifelong servant to the Nation and to the State. He has been recognized throughout New Mexico, though. They have begun to name different buildings after him already. He helped at New Mexico State University, New Mexico Tech, Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands, and those institutions have begun to name buildings after him. New Mexico Tech named their library after Joe Skeen. New Mexico State University named their new agricultural research building after Joe and Mary Skeen. Chaves County named their new administrative building after Joe Skeen, and New Mexico has named Highway 70, the Joe Skeen Highway.

Today, I am pleased the U.S. House of Representatives will act so that the Federal Government will name a Federal building after Joe Skeen, who left after 22 years of service in this House of Representatives.

Mr. Skeen was a strong supporter of rural New Mexico and all that it requires. He supported roads, schools, medical care, electricity and water and sewage treatment plants. He was impartial when it came to serving the people of New Mexico.

Joe was tremendously respected. He was quiet, yet he had a demeanor that created respect. And his sense of humor disarmed people with grudges and helped all citizens realize that by working together we can solve the people's problems. Joe used to say, let us talk about what we can agree on, and we will work from there.

The people of New Mexico will never forget Mr. Skeen. He was a man of the people. People in the second district have expressed their love for him as I travel through the district. As I took my place in this national Congress and heard from his many friends, I realized he was just as respected nationally as he was in the state.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3734.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3734) to designate the Federal building located at Fifth and Richardson Avenues in Roswell, New Mexico, as the ``Joe Skeen Federal Building.''

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 3734, introduced by my colleague, the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson), designates the Federal building located at Fifth and Richardson Avenues in Roswell, New Mexico, as the Joe Skeen Federal Building.

Congressman Skeen was born and raised on his family's farm outside of Roswell, New Mexico. In 1948, Congressman Skeen enlisted in the United States Navy and served for 1 year before transferring to the United States Air Force Reserves, where he served from 1949 until 1952.

Following his military service, Congressman Skeen attended and graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural engineering.

After graduation, Congressman Skeen worked as a soil and water engineer for the Zuni and Ramah Navajo Indians. He later purchased and ran his family's sheep ranch.

Congressman Skeen was long dedicated to public service. He was first elected to public office in 1960 where he won a seat in the New Mexico State senate. He served until 1970. For the last 6 years of his time in the State senate, he served as the minority leader.

In 1980, Congressman Skeen ran as a write-in candidate and was elected to serve in New Mexico's 2nd District in the United States House of Representatives. Congressman Skeen served in this body for 11 terms.

Congressman Skeen was known for his commitment to property rights, balancing the Federal budget and increased tax relief. He may have been most influential as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, enhancing the agricultural viability in both New Mexico and throughout the United States. He was also chairman of the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, dealing with natural resources and public land use.

I support this legislation and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to my colleague, the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the gentlewoman from Texas and the speakers here today as they honor Joe Skeen. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 3734 in naming the Federal Building in Roswell, New Mexico, for our former colleague.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

H.R. 3734 is a bill to designate the Federal building in Roswell, New Mexico, as the Joe Skeen Federal Building, in honor of a former Member here, Congressman Joe Skeen.

Congressman Skeen was born in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1927, and as a young man, he served a 1-year enlistment in the Navy and served in the Air Force Reserves from 1949 to 1952. In 1950, he got his Texas marks by graduating from Texas A&M University.

He was elected to Congress in 1980 as a write-in candidate in the general election. He was only the third person in the Nation's history to win a U.S. House seat through this type of effort. For more than 2 decades, he served the people of the 2nd district in New Mexico with distinction and devotion, and I had the pleasure of serving with him.

As Congressman, he focused his energy and interests on agriculture, national defense, and public land management. In 1985, he became a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, and in 1995, he became Chair of the Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies. At the beginning of the 107th Congress, he was named the Chair of the Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies.

One of Congressman Skeen's major legislative accomplishments was to ensure the opening of the waste isolation pilot plant, the Nation's first repository for defense-related waste. Concerned about the public's health and safety and the environment, Congressman Joe Skeen worked tirelessly to advance storage of Federal waste.

He supported legislation to maintain the viability of the agricultural industry. He also has been a leader in supporting legislative initiatives on a balanced budget, crime education and military spending. He is an unapologetic advocate of local control, insisting that citizens make their own determination and not let the legislature do it for them.

Congressman Skeen was well respected on both sides of the aisle. He was an earnest and capable legislator, a worthy adviser and a true gentleman devoted to his family and dedicated to his constituents. His goodwill and humor are missed by all of us.

It is fitting and proper to honor Joe Skeen's life and public service with the designation of the Federal building in Roswell, New Mexico, as the Joe Skeen Federal Building.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3734 and to honor Mr. Joe Skeen of New Mexico. Joe served New Mexico with distinction and dedication. During the 4 years we served together in the Congress, I found Joe to be a true gentleman and a statesman.

Today, I am pleased that we will be passing this legislation to name the Federal building in Roswell, New Mexico, after Joe. It is an excellent tribute to honor a great man.

One of the things I respected about him the most was his bipartisanship, and I think every Member of Congress, Democrat and Republican, every Member of this House, loved him for that. He loved this institution. He had a great sense of humor. He did not take this place, where we do this the serious business of the country, too seriously, and he would always have a good story or a quip.

It is difficult to capture with words the impact and the significance that Joe has meant not only to New Mexicans, but to the citizens of the United States and the institution of the Congress as well.

During his tenure as New Mexico's longest-serving U.S. House Member, he built a dedicated and talented staff on Capitol Hill. He was renowned for his tireless work on behalf of agrarian interests. Although he did not get the credit he deserved, he also helped steer millions of Federal dollars to our State.

I was proud to work with Joe on legislation that helped return mineral rights to the Acoma Pueblo. That bill, now Federal law, was easily steered through Congress by Joe's knowledge of the legislative process. While we were ultimately not as successful as we would have liked, we also fought together to change the dairy sections of the 2002 farm bill that were unfair to our State's strong milk and cheese industry. Through it all, I enjoyed working with him every step of the way.

Throughout his years of service, he was a model of integrity and truth. The way he approached his job is the way every elected official should, as a highly principled individual who stuck to his beliefs. He walked his talk. While we did not agree on everything, he always did what he believed in his heart to be true, and he always worked in a bipartisan way to accomplish important work.

Again, this is a deserved honor for a great public servant.

Mr. Speaker, when Joe Skeen was elected to the Congress, one of the first acts that he introduced in 1981 was legislation to name the Federal building in Las Cruces, New Mexico, after the man he replaced, the late-Congressman Harold Runnels, and I believe it is appropriate 23 years later to return the favor.

Joe Skeen won his election with a successful write-in campaign. It was only the third such victory in the history of the United States Congress, and during his nearly 22 years in the House of Representatives, he was a defender, a staunch defender, of New Mexico's rural lifestyle and its farming and ranching interests.

Even as Parkinson's began to claim his speech in his later years, Joe's sense of humor remained intact, and it is one of the things that all of us here treasure about him. Just about everybody in this body has a Joe Skeen story, something that makes us smile. One always knew if they had to go to talk to Joe about something, they might as well start smiling because before it was over he was going to make them laugh.

After 11 terms in the United States Congress, Joe decided to return to his ranch, a place that he described as being ``at the center of my upbringing and which shaped my character and principles in life.''

Joe's ranch in Picacho is 17 miles from pavement, and Joe was never a gentleman farmer. He was a farmer, a rancher and a gentleman. He could be

fixing fences and working with his one hired hand, and hop in the truck and drive to Roswell, fly out, take a shower at his apartment in Washington and come to the floor of the House.

Throughout his service in the Congress, he kept a foot in both worlds, and the country and New Mexico benefited from it. He leaves behind a proud tradition of public service in which he has been a positive influence on many people's lives, including my own.

Joe died peacefully in his sleep of Parkinson's disease and its complications in Roswell, New Mexico, on December 7, 2003. His wonderful wife Mary was with him.

Joe was truly a great New Mexican. He will be deeply missed, and now, near his hometown in Roswell, New Mexico, there will be a building with his name on it. Every time people in Roswell walk by that building, they will look up and smile.