To name the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Bay Pines, Florida, as the "C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center".

Mr. Speaker, I rise in proud support, and as an original co-sponsor of H.R. 3302, which the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bay Pines, Florida, as the ``C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.''

I thank the Chair and Ranking Member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, Mr. Miller of Florida and Mr. Michaud of Maine, for working together to expedite the consideration of this fitting tribute to one of the most beloved members to serve in this body.

Mr. Speaker, this is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest champions of the men and women who don the uniform in defense of our nation, the late C.W. Bill Young of Florida, who died last Friday, October 18, 2013, at the age of 82.

Mr. Speaker, Bill Young was more than a great legislator. He was a good man. Virtually every member who served with Bill has a story about how the gentleman from Florida lent his ear or helping hand to help advance a critical project or further a legislative priority. I am no exception.

Earlier this year, Chairman Young worked with me to win inclusion in H.R. 1960, the National Defense Authorization Act, of my amendment providing increased funding and support for medical research related to Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Chairman Young also helped me to $10 million in increased funding to support work to assist service members suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). This act of kindness on the part of Bill Young is changing lives in my congressional district, which is home to one of the nation's largest concentrations of veterans suffering from PTSD. Bill's compassion for our veterans and his colleagues knew no limits.

Bill Young was born December 16, 1930 in Harmarville, Pennsylvania. A flood washed away his home at age 6 where he lived with his single mother. An uncle had a hunting camp in Florida, so the family moved there when he was 16. Young dropped out of St. Petersburg High School to support his ill mother, Wilma M. (Hulings). He joined the Army National Guard and served from 1948 to 1957.

In 1960 Young was elected to the Florida Senate, where he served from 1961 to 1970, and was minority leader in that chamber from 1966 to 1970. Until 1963, Young was the only Republican Senator in Florida.

From 1999-2005, Congressman Young served as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, overseeing the entire federal discretionary budget. In fact, the last time the United States had a balanced federal budget was under his Chairmanship.

Throughout his service on the Appropriations Committee, Young has been dedicated to improving the quality of life of the men and women who serve and who have served in the military. He regularly met with enlisted personnel and officers to assess their needs, and as a result, Congress has invested in improved base housing, better medical care, increased pay, and more modern equipment for the military.

Young has also been a leading advocate for increased biomedical research. During his Chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee, he successfully led the effort in Congress to double federal medical research funding over five years. He has likewise led the fight for federal funding for a variety of medical issues, including an increased immunization rate for preschoolers, improved public health programs nationwide, and cures for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Diseases.

Throughout his career of public service, Young has been a strong advocate for the needs of Pinellas County. Among other issues, he has worked to ease congestion along U.S. Highway 19; attract high-tech jobs to St. Petersburg; improve health care for low-income children and families; protect the neighboring MacDill Air Force Base; build a state of the art medical center for veterans at Bay Pines; ensure a steady supply of water for the Tampa Bay area; and offset the effects of erosion on the area's beaches.

For nearly two weeks Young had been hospitalized with back problems that stemmed from a 1970 small plane crash. Despite the circumstances, Congressman Young vowed to beat his illness and battled valiantly until the very last day, when he finished his journey on earth and ascended to the heavens.

Congressman Young was the longest serving Republican member of the House and respected by all who knew him. He served over 50 years in public office and worked with 8 presidents of the United States. His presence will be forever missed and we all mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

But Bill Young's good work lives on. And in renaming the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Bay Pines as the C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, we consecrate a monument to a remarkable public servant that exists to carry on the work to which Bill Young dedicated his life: serving those who risked their lives to keep us free.

Mr. Speaker, none of us who knew and admired Bill Young will ever forget him or the way he brightened the lives of all the people he served. He was one in a million and he will be deeply missed. He will never be replaced. He was an American original. He was my friend.

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

One of my favorite songs is ``May the Work I've Done Speak for Me.''

I rise today to pay tribute to Chairman Bill Young, whose passing we mourn and whose dedication to American servicemembers is well known to his fellow Floridians, as well as to all who serve in this House.

Taking care of our Nation's men and women in uniform was his passion. He often called them ``kids'' because he cared for them as deeply as if they were his family.

Chairman Young was an officer and a gentleman. He served for 9 years in the American National Guard. During his decades in Congress, he and his wife, Beverly, regularly visited the hospitalized combat troops in Florida and here at Bethesda. They helped arrange travel for military family members, or those who were having trouble paying the bills. Here in the House, at the Appropriations Committee, and in any other ways he could find, he was tireless in his work on behalf of servicemembers, veterans, and their families.

I worked with him when we were trying to finish the new courthouse in Orlando. This was just after the Oklahoma City bombing and all the new security requirements that were added to protect the buildings and the people in them.

The project was $19 million over budget, but the chairman came to what must have been the longest town hall meeting held here in the Capitol. Everyone had to say the chairman was a gentleman as always and wanted what was best for the people of Florida, regardless of party.

This was the case also when it came to funding for research. Chairman Young knew how important cutting-edge research is and made it a priority to find the funding to help future generations of Americans.

Every year, Bill Young was a keynote speaker at the Memorial Day program in Bay Pines. He initially worked with President Gerald Ford and the Appropriations Committee in 1976 to replace the original hospital building. At one point, he went so far as to personally show the President where the building was and how badly it was leaking. He was very proud of the new hospital, which opened in 1983. He was thrilled when they named the road encircling it Bill Young Road.

The VA Medical Center at Bay Pines has many services to completely serve today's veterans. There are all the health services that any hospital would provide; but, in addition, there are services for caregivers, dental services, extended care and services for seniors, along with programs that help homeless veterans.

In addition, the women veterans healthcare program at Bay Pines focuses on wellness education, preventive health care, disease management, and care for the emotional well-being of women veterans.

Today, we will go one step further in honoring the man who made the VA Medical Center at Bay Pines a reality. Today, we take the step of naming the whole facility after Bill Young. It is a most appropriate tribute--to name the center whose mission it is to coordinate the care for wounded men and women who serve in their life and that was their mission.

Mr. Speaker, as we say good-bye to our friend and colleague Chairman Bill Young, with this bill we can honor his service in the way I know he would appreciate most deeply--having his name associated daily and directly with the highest level of care for our military veterans.

I want to thank Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Miller for bringing it before us today, and I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the minority whip.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), whose district butts up to Congressman Bill Young's district.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, could you please tell me how much time remains on each side.

I thank the Speaker.

At this time, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey).

Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank Chairman Miller for organizing this tribute to Chairman Young.

In closing, I often say when you are born, you get a birth certificate; and when you die, you are going to get a death certificate; and that little dash in between is what you have done to make this a better place.

I don't know anyone who has done more than Chairman Bill Young. It has just been my honor having had the opportunity to serve with him. His leadership for the Florida delegation--I mean, we have gone through some tough times. But I can tell you, he has always been a gentleman.

When I first began, I said that one of my favorite sayings is to let the work I have done speak for me. Clearly he has done his work, and as Paul said, he has fought a good fight, and he has kept the faith. He has done his job. It has been left up to us to continue his great work.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3302) to name the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Bay Pines, Florida, as the ``C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material they may have on H.R. 3302.

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

Today is bittersweet as we mark both the passing of a congressional stalwart,

Chairman C.W. Bill Young, and pay a fitting tribute by naming the Bay Pines Veterans Medical Center in his honor.

Mr. Speaker, while the raw numbers themselves may speak volumes for his dedication to America, it is his personal qualities that I admire the most. When I came to Congress in 2001, Bill Young was one of the first Members that welcomed me here. It was on this floor, in this Chamber, that Bill Young introduced me to the Members of this House the night I was sworn in. Since then, I came to regard him not only as a mentor or a colleague but, more importantly, a personal friend.

Chairman Young served the 13th District of Florida and the people of the United States for over 42 years. He was the senior member of the Florida congressional delegation and was the senior Republican in both the House and in the Senate. Counting his years in the Florida Legislature, Bill Young served over 50 years in public service and worked with eight Presidents.

Bill will be most remembered for his devotion to America's defense and especially to the men and the women in the Armed Forces. Having served in uniform for 15 years as a member of the National Guard and Reserves, Bill was the go-to guy on defense issues here in the House. He dedicated his legislative and personal energies to improve the quality of life for the men and the women who serve; and, as a result, those who wear the uniform and face our foes have improved base housing, better medical care, increased pay, and the best equipment.

Members know Bill best for his work as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee from 1999 to 2005, and he continued to serve as chairman of the Subcommittee on Defense until the time of his passing. But Bill Young was much more than a defense expert. He had also been a leading advocate for increased medical research.

Bill worked to double Federal medical research funding and funding to increase immunization rates for preschoolers, to improve public health programs, and to find cures for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Just one example, the C.W. Bill Young Marrow Donor Recruitment and Research program registry lists more than 9 million volunteer donors for patients with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases. That simple list has provided the gift of life to more than 50,000 individuals.

To completely describe the contributions of a man who served in this body for over 42 years would take hours. So with that, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the entire Florida delegation and all those who knew and served with him in this House and in the other body, I offer our most sincere condolences to his wife, Beverly, and his sons Rob, Billy, and Patrick. He was your husband and father. To us, Bill was a friend we will miss dearly.

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

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), the dean of our delegation.

I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica).

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia alluded to over 200 cosponsors. I would announce to the House tonight that we had 379 original cosponsors of this piece of legislation.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the vice chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, whose district abutted Mr. Young.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart).

Mr. Speaker, I now yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Womack).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time and am prepared to close.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I want to thank all the Members on both sides of the aisle for their kind words they have said of our friend from Florida, Bill Young. I sincerely hope that the words give Beverly, Rob, Billy, and Patrick some measure of consolation.

While we will no longer have Bill's personal and wise counsel to go to, that beautiful veterans medical center will bear his name. It will give witness--witness to his many years of service to America and her defenders.

I want to thank my good friend from Florida (Ms. Brown) for her help in bringing this bill to the floor and the over 375 cosponsors that we have brought on this piece of legislation.

I respectfully ask all Members to join us in supporting this piece of legislation, H.R. 3302, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown), and I would like to thank Chairman Miller--we have worked together. I thank the gentleman so very much. I want to acknowledge as well the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Mrs. Lowey. Thank you for allowing me to share with you this evening my comments, appreciation, and respect that I have for Bill Young.

First of all, I would like to say what everyone else has said. What a great American. What a great patriot. What a great public servant.

Bill, may you rest in peace.

Congressman Young, Chairman Young was on the floor of the House just a few weeks before he passed. I think that is important to note, that he was working every single day to make America better. He loved soldiers and veterans. He loved their families. It is highly appropriate for him to have his name so honored as a named veterans hospital.

I want to say that it is particularly important to note that Congressman Young was able to speak to kings and queens and generals and people of high places. But he was best when he was talking to everyday people, to the soldiers that he loved.

He came from humble beginnings. Starting with his mother, a single parent, losing his home early in life, living in a hunting camp. You would think that he would not be the generous-hearted person that he is today. But he was really what America is all about, the American Dream.

I remember his commitment to our soldiers and his easy ability to work across the aisle as someone who advocated for soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. I want to let his family know how dedicated he was to providing extra resources to the thousands upon thousands of soldiers who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan who needed extra help with post-traumatic stress disorder.

He was very kind to those of us who were concerned about breast cancer and women in the United States military who may have experienced breast cancer.

I thank the distinguished gentlelady from Florida.

He has worked with me over the last two sessions, Mr. Speaker, in providing extra funding for post-traumatic stress disorder to a center that is in Houston, Texas, but also dealing with additional research on triple-negative breast cancer that might have an impact not only on the military population of women but also with women around the Nation. Bill was like that, if I might. Congressman Bill Young, Chairman Bill Young was like that, always extending, always sharing.

He has a special place in my heart because my late mother is from St. Petersburg, Florida. But I would say that he should have a special place in the hearts of all Americans because if you ever want to see exemplified a grand and stately gentleman who had nothing in his heart but the love and respect and admiration for this Nation, it was our dear friend, the Honorable Bill Young.

To his family, I say to them, we love him, and we extend our deepest sympathies. Thank you, my dear friend. You have served well. I hope that you will rest well.

May God bless him, and God bless his family.

I thank my colleague from Florida for yielding the time and for her dedication to the Nation's veterans as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of designating the Bay Pines VA Medical Center in Pinellas County, Florida, the Congressman C.W. Bill Young VA Medical Center. I am very proud to cosponsor this bill, and I would like to thank Chairman Miller of Florida, Congresswoman Brown, and all of our colleagues for honoring Bill Young with such a designation.

I have been fortunate to serve alongside Bill Young for the 7 years that I have been here. Seven out of the 43 years that Mr. Young served in the Congress, we represented St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay area together. And I know I speak for my predecessors, Jim Davis and Sam Gibbons, who also passed last year, when I say that Congressman Bill Young was a

gentleman and an outstanding partner for the interests of the Tampa Bay area and the State of Florida.

It is very appropriate that we honor Bill Young by naming the Bay Pines VA Medical Center after him. He was a fixture at the Bay Pines Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies every year. But more importantly, he was a fixture when there was no ceremony, when he would visit wounded soldiers in the hospital or at their homes, when there was no fanfare, and he just determined that it was just his desire to ensure that the servicemembers and their families received the care that they deserved and that they had earned.

Many facilities at the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa are state of the art due to Mr. Young's extra attention. I am very grateful for the help he provided to me when MacDill and the soldiers and civilians who worked there were in need. For example, in the past year, he boosted our efforts in ``MacDill Means Mobility'' when we tried to expand the mission at the base. When I brought to his attention that the Department of Defense was not assisting former servicemembers and their families who qualified for Medicaid health services, he helped cut through the red tape.

Many also will point to his expansive earmarks and great legacy in the Tampa Bay area in a variety of ways: our drinking water reservoir is the Bill Young Reservoir; medical research initiatives at the University of South Florida; programs at St. Petersburg College; programs at Eckerd College. We are so proud that Mr. Young initiated the national bone marrow donor program at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

It was decades ago, through Congressman Young's leadership, that the Bay Pines VA Medical Center in St. Petersburg was created. Bay Pines is now the fourth-largest veterans hospital in the country. It serves veterans all across west central Florida and employs many talented caregivers.

So it is a fitting tribute to this remarkable American to name the Bay Pines VA Medical Center in his honor, and I am proud to cosponsor the resolution. Congressman Young was a model statesman. His kindness, sincerity, and dogged advocacy for our Nation's men and women in uniform and veterans will be missed.