Congratulating Continental Airlines on its 75th Anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 631) congratulating Continental Airlines on its 75th Anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 631, which congratulates Continental Airlines for their 75th anniversary.

Once known as the ``proud bird with the golden tail,'' Continental Airlines was founded 75 years ago this July by Walter T. Varney and his partner, Louis Mueller, as Varney Speed Lines in West Texas. While Varney Speed Lines was primarily a mail service, their first flight on July 15, 1934, was a 530-mile route from Pueblo, Colorado, to El Paso, Texas, with stops in Las Vegas, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In 1937, the company's name changed to Continental Airlines, and they moved their headquarters to Denver, Colorado, where, just a few years later, during World War II, they built the Denver Modification Center where they modified B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-29 Super Fortresses for the U.S. war effort. Continental also assisted our military during the Vietnam War by transporting American troops across the Pacific Ocean.

The company's dedication to our country was again illustrated when, following the terrorist attacks on September 11, Continental offered special compassion fares to and from the New York area to assist family members of the 9/11 victims, relief organizations and volunteers.

Throughout all of this, Continental Airlines experienced tremendous success, and it has emerged from extreme difficulties during its 75- year history to become the fifth-largest carrier in the United States and the 11th-largest in the world. With more than 43,000 employees, Continental has hubs in New York, Houston, Cleveland, and Guam. Together with its regional partners, it carries approximately 67 million passengers each year.

Flying the newest, most fuel-efficient jet fleet of all the major U.S. network carriers, Continental Airlines received an award in April 2008 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Design For the Environment program in recognition of the airline's pioneering and environmentally friendly aircraft equipment. But this is just one of several accolades that has been bestowed upon Continental during its 75 years.

Other awards include being rated the top airline for 6 consecutive years in Fortune magazine's annual airline industry list of the World's Most Admired Companies, outranking for 10 consecutive years all of the U.S. competitors in international business class and domestic first- class service, according to the results of a survey of Conde Nast Traveler readers. And for six times since 1996, it has ranked the highest in customer satisfaction among the traditional network carriers in North America, according to J.D. Power and Associates. These are just a few of the awards out of several.

The resolution recognizes the 75th anniversary of Continental Airlines, and it congratulates its employees for the numerous awards and accolades they've earned over the years. I am honored to represent many Continental employees in Houston, their home office, and I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to reserve.

Mr. Speaker, I will be brief, and I want to thank my colleagues on the Republican side for coming to speak for the resolution.

Continental is like all of our airlines. It has problems, but they survived and they're going to grow, and we want to make sure they continue to do it, and that's why we recognize 75 years of success. And like my colleague said, the ranking member of Energy and Commerce, another 75 would be 150. It will be someone else here recognizing them for 150 years. I want to thank the employees of Continental for making it a great airline.

I yield back my time.

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

(Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 631, which congratulates Continental Airlines on its 75th anniversary.

I want to commend Congressman Green for introducing the resolution. I am proud to be a Republican supporter of that. As one of three Texas- based airlines, with Continental in Houston, Texas, with Southwest in Dallas, Texas, and with American Airlines in Fort Worth, Texas, we're very proud of the airline industry in our State. We're very proud that Continental is celebrating its 75th anniversary. It is the embodiment of the American Dream.

As Congressman Green pointed out, it was established back in 1934 in West Texas, in El Paso. Over the last 75 years, it has evolved into one of the largest commercial airlines in the world. It serves 260 destinations with more than 2,700 flights on 5 continents. It has been named the best airline in North America. They employ over 43,000 men and women, some of whom work and live in my congressional district. I would like to recognize them for their accomplishment. I look forward to Continental's celebrating their 100th, their 125th and maybe even their 150th anniversary in the years ahead.

Again, I want to thank Mr. Green for bringing this resolution forward, and I would ask all of the Republicans on this side of the aisle to join me in supporting the resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Houston, Texas (Mr. Culberson).

May I inquire as to how much time I have remaining, Mr. Speaker? How much time do I have left?

Whoa, a lot of time. Okay.

I want to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Woodland, Texas (Mr. Brady).

I yield 3 minutes to another gentleman from Houston, Texas (Mr. Poe).

Mr. Speaker, let me simply say that I fly American more than I fly Continental, but I wish I could--having heard the glowing accolades, I do fly Continental some, and I wish they would serve the D/FW area more so I could fly them. I'm very proud of my American Airlines employees and my Southwest employees, but I'm also proud of the Continental employees that we have, and we do sincerely commend Continental and their workers and management for being the great airline that it is, and we wish them 75 years of future success in addition to congratulating them on 75 years of their past success.

With that, I yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, It is with great pleasure that I commend Continental Airlines on its 75th anniversary. I would also like to thank my colleague the Honorable Gene Green for introducing this resolution and I am honored to be a cosponsor. Continental Airlines is an outstanding company that has grown internationally without losing sight of the people they serve.

Since the founding of Continental Airlines, the company has consistently served the community. In July of 1934 the company Varney Speed Lines was created in West Texas by Walter T. Varney and Louis Mueller primarily as a mail service. During World War II, they built the Denver Modification Center in Houston, where workers modified B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-29 Super Fortresses to assist in the war effort. Today, Continental Airlines' main headquarters are in Houston and their main hub is located there as well at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

Continental Airlines has also been a pacesetter in diversity among airlines. The company named Deborah McCoy the first woman in the Nation to head a major commercial airline pilot group in 1999. In 2005, Continental was ranked among HISPANIC Magazine's ``Hispanic Corporate 100: One Hundred Companies Providing the Most Opportunities for Hispanics'' for the eighth year in a row. Continental Airlines has also been named to the Corporate Diversity Honor Roll in Latin Business magazine

Continental has exemplified a dedication to customer service. Following the September 11th attacks, Continental offered special compassion fares to and from the New York area to assist family members of the September 11th victims, relief organizations and volunteers. Continental was the first airline to offer three of the most popular business applications on its fleet of 737, 757, and MD 80 aircraft: two-way e-mail, instant messaging and text messaging. The airline has also been awarded six Customer Satisfaction awards by J.D. Power and Associates since 1996.

Despite its global presence, Continental Airlines has maintained a personal relationship with its customers that is rivaled by many and surpassed by none. I would again like to congratulate Continental Airlines on 75 years of service and wish them many more years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend Mr. Barton and also Mr. Green from Houston. We, all of us, in Texas take great pride in representing Continental Airlines. It's an extraordinary group of people, dynamic individuals who have created one of the best airlines in the Nation.

Even though they have been through bankruptcy twice, Mr. Speaker, they have shown what is one of the greatest attributes of what it means to be an American, which is how you conduct yourself when you pick yourself up, get back on your feet and get back to work. The people at Continental have emerged from bankruptcy as one of, again, the best airlines in the Nation. Their consumer satisfaction rating has always been among the very best in the Nation as well as their on-time status. They have, I think, set a gold standard for the Nation.

It's a source of great pride for me to represent the headquarters of Continental, and all of those fine people deserve the thanks of the Nation. Air travel is such an essential part of our Nation's economic vitality, and Continental Airlines has, time and again, shown that they are among the world's best airlines. Again, as I say, they have set the gold standard for the United States.

So I join with my colleagues. This is another example of how the whole Texas delegation works together, arm in arm. What's good for Texas, of course we understand, is good for America. We are immensely proud to be here to congratulate Continental because they represent all that's great about Texas, which means they represent all that's great about America.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise in support of this resolution. Along with my friends who have already spoken, we fly Continental every week. Sometimes there are up to 10 Members of Congress on the same flight either going back to Texas or coming from Houston to Reagan National. And I represent probably most of the Continental employees in the Houston area, since my district circles the airport; although, it doesn't include the airport. Something about redistricting, I believe, Mr. Green.

But be that as it may, great people, great airline. As my friend, Mr. Brady, has mentioned, the employees are topnotch, from the flight attendants to the pilots, in the way they treat not only people who fly but the way they treat other people. And I commend Continental Airlines for their success over the years. It is the best airline.

Many years ago, they merged with a little bitty airline called Trans- Texas Airways, and I was one of those that wanted them to adopt the name Trans-Texas Airways after Continental merged with Trans-Texas. But they eliminated the ``Trans-Texas'' phrase and adopted the phrase ``Continental,'' which has served them much better because it is an intercontinental flying community and do a super job.

And I, too, commend the good work they've done and the tenacious employees that work, not only in the planes but on the ground, the mechanics, and the ramp crews. And so I congratulate them, and I appreciate my friend from Texas offering this resolution.