To designate the United States courthouse located at 555 Independence Street in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the "Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. United States Courthouse".

Mr. President, I rise today to support H.R. 584, a bill to name the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC, as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Federal Building. I am the Senate sponsor of the bill, and Senator Cornyn is the cosponsor.

Lyndon Johnson was the first President to be elected from the State of Texas, and a man, who throughout his over three decades in public life, contributed immensely to improving and enhancing education for all Americans.

President Johnson was born in Stonewall, TX on August 27, 1908. After graduating from high school, and spending a year as an elevator operator, he began his career in the field of education. In 1927, he borrowed $75, and started attending the Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos.

After graduating in 1930, he devoted a year to teaching mostly Mexican children at the Welhausen School in Cotulla, ninety miles south of San Antonio. Decades later, when he was in the White House, President Johnson reminisced: ``I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in that little Welhausen Mexican School, and I remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was closed to practically every one of those children because they were too poor. And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this Nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American.''

Lyndon Baines Johnson never did rest--and after serving as a teacher, a principal, and as head of the Texas National Youth Administration, in 1937, he ran for, and won, a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

He was subsequently re-elected to the U.S. House in every election up until 1948, when he was elected to the United States Senate. Later, in 1961, he resigned from the U.S. Senate to become Vice President; and on November 22, 1963, a date that none of us will ever forget, Lyndon Johnson became the 36th President of the United States.

In 1965, President Johnson signed two landmark education bills: The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (which authorized the first real Federal assistance to grade school education) and The Higher Education Act (which funded scholarships to undergraduate students).

In the same year, President Johnson launched Project Head Start as an eight-week summer program to provide preschool children from low-income families with a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs.

During his six-year presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson signed a combined total of over 60 education bills. In a very real sense, he was America's first ``Education President.''

After leaving office, President Johnson continued his involvement in education by teaching students while he wrote his memoirs.

President Johnson passed away on January 22, 1973, and even though it's been 34 years since his passing, he still doesn't have a Federal building in the District of Columbia named after him.

I believe it is time that President Johnson's distinguished service, and particularly, his outstanding work on behalf of education, be recognized in our Nation's capital.

Naming the Department of Education headquarters in Washington, DC, as the Lyndon Baines Johnson Federal Building is a fitting honor for this smalltown Texas teacher who, after decades of service, went on to become our ``Education President.''

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 342) to designate the United States courthouse located at 555 Independence Street, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the ``Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr., United States Courthouse,'' as amended.

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 material on the bill, H.R. 342.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 342, to designate the U.S. courthouse at 555 Independence Street, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as the Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr., U.S. Courthouse.

Judge Limbaugh was a leading figure in the legal profession, not only in Missouri, not just in the United States, but worldwide. He practiced law for over eight decades. At the age of 104, at the time of his death, he was still practicing law and was in fact the oldest practicing attorney in the United States.

He argued over 60 cases before the Missouri Supreme Court, tried cases before the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Labor Board and the Internal Revenue Appellate Division. He was city attorney for Cape Girardeau from 1917 to 1919. In 1923, he started a law firm that bears his name to this day.

From 1942 through 1946, he was Missouri counsel for the War Emergency Pipelines, which transported gasoline from Texas and Louisiana to the east coast as part of our war effort.

He was president of the Missouri Bar from 1955 through 1956, and served on a committee that drafted the Missouri Probate Court. In the early days of the independence of India, the State Department sent Judge Limbaugh to that country to be an Ambassador for the U.S. legal system.

He was active in civic aspects of life; elected to the Missouri State legislature in 1932 and 1933, where he advocated for the formation of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. He was president of the State Historical Society for Missouri from 1956-1959. He was a Sunday school teacher; active in the Boy Scouts of America, his Centenary United Methodist Church, and the Salvation Army. He died at his home on April 8, 1996.

Judge Limbaugh will be remembered as a brilliant attorney and a great American. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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

I thank the gentleman for his comments; he added several items of which I was not aware about Judge Limbaugh's distinguished career.

I, too, do join in expressing our appreciation in the committee to Representative Jo Ann Emerson for her steadfast advocacy for this naming of the courthouse, and also to Representative Russ Carnahan and Representative Lacy Clay, who also expressed their strong support for the legislation.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the full committee, Mr. Oberstar, for moving this legislation so expeditiously to the floor. H.R. 342 was introduced by our colleague, Representative Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, and it designates the United States courthouse located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri as the Rush H. Limbaugh, Sr., United States Courthouse.

I also want to commend Mrs. Emerson's commitment to this legislation. She recognized Rush Limbaugh, Sr.'s tremendous record of public service and has provided a fitting tribute for one of the most remarkable figures in Missouri history.

This bill honors Rush Limbaugh, Sr., a remarkable lawyer whose awards and accomplishments over a legal career that spanned eight decades are too numerous to count.

Mr. Limbaugh was born in 1891. He attended school at a one-room schoolhouse and excelled academically from the start. He attended the University of Missouri at Columbia and the University of Missouri School of Law, paying his way through school by doing carpentry work, working on a farm, waiting tables and firing furnaces.

After passing the bar in 1916, he was admitted into the practice of law in Missouri and immediately opened a law office in Cape Girardeau.

Limbaugh was known for being extremely hardworking and ethical; he was also known for his fiery advocacy and ability to craft creative solutions.

President Reagan once remarked that Limbaugh, Sr.'s contributions read like a virtual who's who of accomplishment. His resume accurately depicts the image of an extraordinary man, superb lawyer and model citizen.

During his career, he tried more than 60 cases before the Supreme Court of Missouri and acted as city attorney and general counsel of Cape Girardeau. He was also a member of the advisory committee for the drafting of the Probate Code of Missouri, president of the Missouri Bar, and president of the State Historical Society. In his free time, he also taught Sunday school and served as a Boy Scout leader.

Limbaugh, Sr. rose to national prominence when he served as a representative of the United States on a 6-week lecture tour to the newly independent India on constitutional government and the United States judicial system.

Limbaugh, Sr. called Cape Girardeau home. It is only fitting that we name the new United States courthouse in his honor and recognize his accomplishments and dedication to his community.

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

I would indicate to my good friend, the chairman of the full committee, that I have no additional speakers. If he is prepared to yield back, I would yield back my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, later this year, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will open a new United States Federal Courthouse. Over the past many months, I have watched this structure rise, due to the diligent efforts of hundreds of skilled men and women working tirelessly to give justice a new home in our region. I am certainly thankful for their beautiful accomplishment, in the form of our new Courthouse.

At the same time, we should reflect on the people who dedicated their lives to the construction of a strong, vibrant and enduring rule of law in our region and our Nation.

Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. perfectly embodies our respect for the law and love for our communities. His practice of law for more than 80 years, from 1916 to 1996, is the stuff of legends. At the age of his death, the 104-year-old resident of Cape Girardeau was still going in to his office twice a week. He was the Nation's oldest practicing attorney.

The litany of legal accomplishments of Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. cloud our memory of the man. He helped construct the Missouri Probate Code and begin the Missouri Highway Patrol. He was sent to India to help shape the new legal code in that fledgling democracy. He advocated for the reach of the federal judiciary to extend outside American urban centers and into the rural parts of our great Nation.

Yet he was more than an attorney--Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. was also devoted to his family, his faith, and his community. He taught Sunday School. He worked to help Cape Girardeau expand its commerce of goods as well as ideas. He devoted countless hours of his time to the Boy Scouts of America. We remember him as a good citizen as well as a good lawyer.

It is safe to say that, of the many hours of Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr.'s life, none of them were wasted. As we devote one hour of the United States House of Representatives to remember him, we are ensuring that Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr.'s legacy and example endure in the community he loved, on a building that carries on the work to which he was dedicated: the American promises of liberty and law, fundamental principles of fairness, and a system of jurisprudence for all Americans that is the envy of the world.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed en bloc to the consideration of the following two bills which have been received from the House and are at the desk: H.R. 544 and H.R. 584; that the Environment and Public Works Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 342, and that the Senate then proceed to its consideration.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read the third time, passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc; that the consideration of these items appear separately in the Record, and that any statements thereon be printed in the Record as if read.