Madam Speaker, I congratulate Congressman Terry Everett on his retirement after 16 years of service in the House. Everett has been a reliable supporter of the two sectors that drive the economics of the 2nd Congressional…
Madam Speaker, I congratulate Congressman Terry Everett on his retirement after 16 years of service in the House. Everett has been a reliable supporter of the two sectors that drive the economics of the 2nd Congressional District-agriculture and national security--and his successor will have much to do to match Everett's influence.
What I have always admired about Terry Everett is the fact that he is the rare civic leader who comes to politics as a mid-life career. Everett ran a newspaper in the Wiregrass and learned from that how to run a business and how to measure community sentiment. His path is not the conventional route in an institution full of strivers who fantasized their Congressional career in grade school. But if you know Terry Everett, his path leaves him a happier, more decent man than a sizable chunk of his colleagues who stress about the offices they never held and the publicity they never received.
I remember Everett's election in 1992 well because I lived in his district when I was home from law school. He was not his party's early favorite in the primary. Nor was he given good odds in the general: his opponent was none other than the son of Alabama's political prodigy George Wallace. But odds don't determine elections and Everett managed to beat a lot of money and establishment clout on the other side. To his credit, he never saw another tough race.
I think the way Everett won made him a little freer to be his own man. I never sensed he took a path for the sole reason that his party took it, or because he thought an opinion would elevate him with his party leaders. I sensed that Terry Everett always felt that he knew his district and his people better than Washington could ever know them. He is a tried and true conservative--most of his voters wouldn't have it any other way--but his roots shaped his conservatism in a good way. It is the conservatism of someone who has seen certain values thrive in his own life and believes that they will work for others. I respect that, and agreed with him more times than a few.
I wish we had more citizen politicians like Terry Everett, and I wish him well.
In addition, I congratulate Congressman Bud Cramer on eighteen years of service to the 5th District of Alabama. Mr. Cramer is the latest descendant in a long line of North Alabama Democrats who have served their district's interests well while garnering significant national clout, and Alabama will miss him.
When I think of Bud Cramer, I am reminded of a sage-sounding prediction by a longtime Southern political observer. In the aftermath of Newt Gingrich's ``revolution'' in 1994, this individual was predicting that the John Sparkman/Tom Bevill model was becoming obsolete due to the increased partisanship and ideological polarization in states like Alabama. His premise was that conservative Democrats were imperiled because of their party label: Cramer's exceedingly narrow victory in 1994 was even cited as an example of the uncertain status of ``blue dogs'' like Cramer.
His district should be thankful that Bud Cramer disproved this prophecy by winning again in 1996, and then by becoming unassailable. He has not faced meaningful opposition in the last twelve years, even though every Republican presidential candidate has won the 5th District easily. The ultimate testament to his popularity: in a hotly contested race to succeed him, both the Democratic and Republican nominees are promising to ``be another Bud Cramer.''
Cramer leaves North Alabama's economy stronger than he found it. The missile research program in Huntsville is now one of the largest, most vital components of the US military budget, partly because of Cramer-- his skilled support has helped sustain missile defense against a variety of political foes. He has also nurtured a series of economic development projects in a region that has wide pockets of unemployment; one of the last projects he worked on creates a new opportunity zone in Colbert County, which will lead to at least one major new industry locating there.
In Washington, Cramer's legacy is his thoughtful leadership on national security issues. Cramer's influence actually rose as the Intelligence Committee on which he served grew more partisan--the congressman's refusal to either rubber stamp or reflexively oppose the Administration's agenda underscored the value of more moderate voices.
I wish Bud well. He's earned the right to weeks that don't begin with the 7 a.m., Monday morning direct flight from Huntsville to Washington.
I would also like to submit the following articles from the Huntsville Times for the Record.
[From the Huntsville Times, July 27, 2008]
BRAC Success a Result of Team Approach, Says Cramer
As U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer reflects on retiring after nine
terms in Washington, he says his proudest achievement has
been his team approach to getting the job done.
``Whenever we saw what needed to be accomplished, we
planned and then worked as a team to reach the goal, from
regional economics to the Space Station,'' Cramer says. ``The
team approach applies to each success. I was a team member
and leader in identifying what we needed to do to help
ourselves.''
Cramer's approach was no more apparent than when he worked
on presenting the area for the U.S. Army's plan to
consolidate commands or base realignment, better known as the
Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC). When BRAC
emerged, the congressman says he immediately recognized he
had to be in the forefront of this plan. In 1994-95, he
proactively gained jobs and then prepared for the next BRAC
round for more jobs. He worked in unison with the Alabama
congressional delegation to demonstrate to the Army what
Redstone's capabilities are.
``It meant understanding the issues,'' Cramer says. By
serving on the House Appropriations Committee and teaming
with with Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, Democrat Cramer
says the pair got money to modernize Army facilities in
Huntsville to make them more efficient and appealing as a
workplace. Redstone impressed the Army and the Pentagon, and
won the ``mother of all BRAC rounds'' and thousands of jobs
for Huntsville. It was teamwork, he says, that paid off.
Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer credits Cramer for his
accomplishments with BRAC. ``When the opportunity came again
to win a favorable BRAC ruling, elected officials and
business groups from the Tennessee Valley region formed a
task force for cohesion in pooling resources,'' she says.
``However, as strong as our region's presentation was, we
could not have had the results without the support of Bud and
our congressional delegation.''
Since coming to Congress in 1990, Rep. Cramer has been a
leading advocate for missile defense.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Cramer,
with Shelby and the other members of the Alabama delegation,
secured more than $211 million for the construction of the
Von Braun Complex. Cramer's District 5, which includes
Colbert, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison
counties and portions of Morgan County in North Alabama, also
includes the Army's Redstone Arsenal and NASA's Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
In 2005, Cramer called it a ``good day for North Alabama''
when the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced it would
recommend to the BRAC Commission that 3,000 jobs be relocated
to the Redstone Arsenal. Comprising this relocation were
components of U.S. Army Materiel Commands, the U.S. Army
Space and Missile Defense Command and a significant part of
the Missile Defense Agency.
Soon after, the U.S Army Security Assistance Command and
Aviation Technical Test Center were also relocated to
Redstone. It made North Alabama one of the nation's largest
gainers with BRAC.
``Today marks a proud and historic day for Redstone and for
all of us in North Alabama,'' Cramer said then. ``I am
pleased that the hard work by our community has paid off.
North Alabama presented an excellent proposal highlighting
Redstone's strengths, and the daily contributions people
working there make to our national security.''
Cramer emphasized teamwork involving BRAC committee
chairman Joe Ritch and the entire Tennessee Valley BRAC team,
spanning several years, to help bring the commands to North
Alabama.
In October 2005, Cramer announced that BRAC supporters
defeated a resolution in the House of Representatives that
would have disapproved BRAC recommendations. By law, Congress
had 45 legislative days to reject the BRAC report entirely,
or it became law.
Following the decision, Cramer discussed the move with
senior Army officials to ensure it came about.
Given today's budget environment, I wanted to make
absolutely sure that even if we encounter potential
challenges, North Alabama's gains will be completed,'' said
Cramer after the hearing.
Keith Eastin, assistant secretary of the Army for
installations and environment, confirmed to Cramer that the
DOD was legally obligated to comply with each of the 103 BRAC
recommendations by Sept. 15, 2011.
At the time Cramer said, ``BRAC is a congressionally
authorized process that the Department of Defense has used to
reorganize its base structure to more efficiently support our
forces. BRAC is critical to U.S. national security and cannot
be undermined. It balances national defense priorities,
supports our military modernization objectives and creates
opportunities for private economic development.''