A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont, as the "Thaddeus Stevens Post Office".

I thank the gentleman. He is up to his usual courteous efforts, and I really do appreciate it. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we are pretty proud in Vermont of Thaddeus Stevens, and we are here today in support of the naming of the post office at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont, a tiny community, a proud community, in what is called the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, to name the post office there the Thaddeus Stevens Post Office.

Thaddeus Stevens was born in Danville, Vermont, in 1792. He attended Peacham Academy. It is still there. He went on to the University of Vermont and then graduated from Dartmouth College. That was is in 1814.

He then made a big decision and moved to Pennsylvania to study law, but he never left his Vermont values behind. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives. He served 4 years as a member of the Anti-Masonic Party. In 1849, he was elected to the 34th Congress of the United States, serving as a Whig until 1853--and Mr. Issa, you'll be happy to know--as a Republican from 1859 until his death in 1868.

As a member of the House of Representatives, he was a very strong voice of opposition to slavery, advocating against the fugitive slave provision in the Compromise of 1850 and actively helping runaway slaves to escape to Canada using the Underground Railroad. We are all proud of that, but in Vermont we are particularly proud that Thaddeus Stevens did this. Our State, Mr. Speaker, was the first State in its Constitution--and we were the 14th State in the Union--to ban slavery. And Thaddeus Stevens took that Vermont point of view and advocated it in the United States House of Representatives.

By 1866, Stevens had helped the Republicans gain control of Congress and set the stage for post-Civil War reconstruction in the South. In his role on the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, Thaddeus Stevens helped draft the Reconstruction Act of 1867 as well as the 14th Amendment, prohibiting States from denying citizens of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law, a constitutional amendment that has done so much to extend the dream in this country of equal opportunity to all of our citizens.

Since Vermont, as I mentioned, was the first State to ban slavery, doing so in its Constitution, I would like to think that Thaddeus Stevens' Vermont beginnings did inform his actions later in life. Today his legacy for promoting and defending equality lives on in Vermont and across the country. I am proud that we are honoring his life's work through the passage of this postal naming bill.

As we prepare to send S. 885 to the President's desk, I would like to thank Senator Sanders for his leadership in working with the Danville community to draft this bill. Senator Sanders, when he first came to Vermont so many years ago, lived up to the Northeast Kingdom. I also want to thank Senator Leahy for his very important support. And I want to thank, of course, Chairman Issa and Ranking Member Cummings for helping to shepherd this piece of legislation through before the end of this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill to acknowledge Thaddeus Stevens' public service and steadfast dedication to the equality of all citizens regardless of race.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 885) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont, as the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post Office''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to defer my comments since the sole House Member from Vermont is available to make his comments.

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

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

When all speakers have said all that needs to be said and there is only one speaker left, he can't say anything original, so I will simply thank the Congressmen and the Senators for recognizing one of the first Republicans and one of the first Republican principles, one that is no longer owned by any party but in fact owned by all Americans. I move for passage.

I urge support of S. 885, introduced by Senator Sanders of Vermont which would designate the postal facility located at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont, as the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post Office''.

Thaddeus Stevens was born in Danville, Vermont on April 4, 1792. He attended nearby Peacham Academy and went on to study at the University of Vermont and Dartmouth College. After graduating from Dartmouth, Stevens moved to Pennsylvania to study law. He practiced law in Gettysburg, and spent four years as a member of the Pennsylvania State Legislature.

Thaddeus Stevens served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1849 to 1853 and from 1859 until his death in 1868. He is best remembered for being a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans. He was instrumental in the passage of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and fought for African-American rights during Reconstruction.

I ask my colleagues to honor the courageous actions and momentous contributions of this great American by voting in favor of S. 885.

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