Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Captain Dale Harris, JAGC, USN (ret), who recently retired after 23 years of combined active duty and reserve service to our nation with the United States Navy.

Captain Harris was born in Two Harbors, Minnesota and raised in nearby Duluth. After graduating first in his class at East High School in 1985, he received a Bachelor's of Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota in 1990. He subsequently earned his J.D. from Hamline University School of Law, cum laude, in 1993 and began his Navy career.

Captain Harris served on active duty in the Navy JAG Corps from 1993- 2000. He was an honors graduate of the Naval Justice School and winner of the school's trial advocacy competition. He spent three years assigned to Everett and Bremerton, Washington, serving stints both as a defense attorney and as a prosecutor, where he handled more than fifty courts-martial and forty administrative discharge boards, quickly gaining notoriety as one of the Navy's best young litigators. Captain Harris then worked as appellate defense counsel at the Navy-Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity in Washington, D.C. In that role, he filed briefs in over one hundred cases, and argued twenty-five cases before military appellate courts. Following his release from active duty in 2000, Captain Harris continued his military service in the Navy Reserve, including distinguished tours as a judge on the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals and as the Commanding Officer of the Navy and Marine Corps Appellate Review Activity support unit. Over the past 23 years, he earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the preeminent uniformed lawyers of his generation in the area of appellate litigation. For his outstanding service to our Nation, Captain Harris earned numerous personal awards, including four Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and three Navy- Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

Captain Harris returned home to Northeastern Minnesota in 2000 and served the citizens of Minnesota's Eighth District as an attorney in private practice and later as an Assistant St. Louis County Attorney, where he handled state and federal civil litigation, and provided counsel for the sheriff and Arrowhead Regional Corrections. He continued his appellate work by arguing cases at the Minnesota Court of Appeals, Minnesota Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Since 2010, Captain Harris has served his community as a state District Court Judge chambered in Duluth, establishing himself as a fair-minded and extremely capable jurist. The integrity, work ethic and leadership skills that were the hallmark of his military career will continue to define his ongoing public service as a judge.

I commend Captain Harris for his commitment to our country and the sacrifices he and his family made on its behalf. On the occasion

of his retirement from the United States Navy, I thank him, his wife, and their four children for their honorable service to our nation and wish them fair winds and following seas as Captain Harris concludes this portion of his distinguished legal career.

Amendment VII:

``In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.''

Well, thank you.

The House historian tells me that my 32-year hiatus is the longest in the history of the House of Representatives.

Very much so.

I also built an export trading company and did a little business all over the globe. People asked me what I sold. I like to tell them I sold, well, just about everything except guns and drugs, which is where all the real money was.

It was really quite an eye-opening experience to see how the rest of the world does business, to get a better feel and understanding for the importance of agriculture and a better feel and understanding of agriculture as it relates to feeding a hungry world, but infrastructure and its importance to building the middle class here in the country, to laying the foundation for job growth and economic growth. And to come back here again after those years in business and in community service, I have got to be frank with you; I feel

much better prepared today than I ever was to serve my district and to serve my Nation, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to be here.

I want to particularly thank you for calling this to the attention of the American public, the importance of infrastructure, the importance of infrastructure to the middle class in this country, and the importance that it brings to the fulfillment of the American Dream.

The American Dream is not everybody becoming a billionaire or a Pulitzer Prize winner. It is about contributing. It is about having a good job. It is about having a living wage. It is about having some money left over at the end of the week to take your family or your best friend and go out and have dinner or maybe wet a line and go fishing. And, quite frankly, that is what is getting away from us.

I want to thank you for bringing to the attention of people how transportation and infrastructure and its degradation that is taking place is related to, quite frankly, the demise and the decline of the middle class in this country.

The simple truth is the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, the middle class is getting crushed, and, simultaneously, our infrastructure is falling apart.

The gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi), you, too, have a background in business and public service and community service that gives you a good grasp and an understanding for the importance of all this.

I am. My nearest neighbor is a couple of miles away.

We have bear. We have duck. We have grouse. We have good hunting and darn good fishing, too.

You mentioned the fact that I had served many years ago, quite frankly, back in the seventies. I like to tell people I was only 10 years old at the time.

When I first got back here, I said to a number of people: Perhaps you knew my father when he had served here back in the seventies. And there were always a couple of old-timers in the back that would laugh. And everyone would say: Well, what is so funny about that? And they would say: Well, it wasn't his father; it was him.

But I have got to tell you, it was quite different. It was quite different than it is today. I had my staff do a little survey. We found that in the terms I served before, there was an average of about 8,000 subcommittee, full committee, and conference committee meetings here in the Congress. What that meant was that we got together 5 days a week in our committees. And all the diverse elements that make up America were all represented in those meetings, and that is how we found common ground; that is how we came together; that is how we fixed things; that is how we got things done.

And people have to be reminded, I think, that process is important to good government. Because now we are faced with this gridlock; we are faced with this terrible partisanship, the seeming inability to be productive and to get things done. I think experts that study governance here in America are saying now that this immediate last Congress was the most unproductive in the history of the country.

Well, guess what. When we had 8,000 committee meetings in the past, yes, maybe around 1,000 of them were just formal hearings or, you know, you have got to give Jack Nicklaus a gold medal and do a reauthorization of Peanut Butter and Jelly Week. Well, guess what. This last session of Congress, we had about 1,000 of those meetings, and most of them were quite informal.

As you recall, Mr. Garamendi, when we started the hearings about a year ago in the Transportation Committee because we knew that the transportation legislation needed to be reauthorized, we had everybody come in before that committee; and, boy, we were laying the foundation for a good reauthorization of a transportation and infrastructure bill. You were there every day.

By the way, I want to commend you for the leadership that you have shown on that committee in so many areas, in so many ways.

But we had everybody, as you recall, from the head of the national Chamber of Commerce to the heads of all the labor unions, the truckers, retail. Everybody came before that committee.

I don't know if you recall. But I asked every one of them, I said: I have three questions. And I remember the committee groaning, saying: Gee, Nolan, you have only got 5 minutes. How are you going to do that?

I said: Question number one, is there anyone here on this committee who disagrees with the notion that our infrastructure is badly in need of repair and is falling down and dilapidated?

Nobody disagreed.

Second question, is there anybody here--of all that group that was testifying--that disagrees with the notion that our ability to grow an economy and create good jobs is dependent upon a good, strong infrastructure?

Nobody disagreed, as you would recall.

And then lastly, I said: Is there anybody on this committee who doubts that we need to find some new revenue to rebuild our infrastructure?

And nobody disagreed.

And I said: Make a note of it, Mr. Chairman, because we have got to write a bill here. And that is what we were there for.

You know as well as everybody else that the authorization for the Transportation Committee to write a bill was pulled away from the committee. Presumably, in the Speaker's office or someplace else, it was decided that we should do a temporary reauthorization for 8 months; and, as you recall, we borrowed money from people's private pension funds.

We are getting near that 8-month deadline again.

May 15. So now working people's pension funds are short a little money potentially, and we still haven't fixed the transportation problem. So one of the things I want to do here tonight, and I know you do as well, is to call upon the Speaker to let the committee do its work. We have got a good committee. You know it as well as I do and everybody else. There is a lot of goodwill in this Chamber among Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, and liberals, and if we are allowed to sit down in that committee and advance our ideas and argue the merits of them, we will find that common ground. We will find a way to get this country back on track with rebuilding our infrastructure.

That is what democracy is all about. Someone said to me the other day here, and it almost broke my heart, when I was explaining this and they said: Well, isn't it more efficient here by not using the committees? I said: Yeah, of course, it is. The Nazis and the Communists would love it. Democracy is a lot of hard work. There is so much goodwill in this Chamber, and there are so many good men and women. We get along fine.

Mr. Speaker, let the process work. Let the committee do its job, and we will get a good transportation bill, and we will rebuild this middle class and rebuild our economy in a way that is fair to everyone.

I sure do, Mr. Garamendi. I think the fact that our bridges are falling down could not be more evidenced than in Minnesota, where we had the catastrophic collapse of the I-35 bridge, which killed a number of people and did obviously irreparable damage to their lives and many others.

Yes. Very tragic. I have got several thousand bridges in my district alone, and several hundred of them have been certified as obsolete and in disrepair, in need of repair, and, of course, there are thousands and thousands of those bridges across the country. I held three transportation hearings back in Minnesota here recently, and the unanimity of agreement on what needs to be done is really quite unique. I mean, generally, if you get 50 people in a room in Minnesota you will have at least 40, 45 opinions.

Well, everybody agreed, as you pointed out, we need a long-term plan so that you can plan accordingly, and then do it responsibly in the most efficient and economical way. Everyone came up and said that we need it for our economic growth and our business, and they understand that, as you were pointing out earlier, good infrastructure is the foundation, it is the foundation for every single successful economy in this world. I have said to people on occasion: If you don't want to pay any taxes, you can move to Zaire. I think they have about 2 miles of roads and no taxes, but you had better bring a little army with you to protect you.

So the other thing, of course--it has become real apparent--is the congestion. You must see that. We are seeing it in Minnesota. People are spending endless hours sitting in their cars trying to get to and from work, time that they could have used to sleep in an extra hour, get home in time for dinner with their family.

Of course, you mentioned the collapse of the bridge. The other thing they want to see is some bipartisanship. I would like to remind our colleagues, as well as the folks back home, because you and I were there, and we were part of a couple of the few instances where, in the last session of Congress, the process was allowed to work. It was cumbersome, and it was contentious, but at the end of the day, we came together, and we passed a good, bipartisan farm bill. You and I were part of that.

As well as our colleagues here on both sides of the aisle, and then we were allowed on the water resources bill, and we were able to put together a good bill. Not everybody got everything they wanted, but everybody was a part of it. They had a chance to advance their ideas. We had open rules. If you want to have an amendment or a good idea, you got a chance to advance it and get a vote on it. People want to see more of that as well.

Then there is one thing that doesn't get mentioned very often, and I don't

mind bringing it up, and a number of my folks back home brought it up. And that is--you mentioned the cost of not doing anything. Well, that would be devastating for America. It would be just devastating for our economy. I pray to God that would never happen. But our hope is, of course, it will be done in a responsible way that solves the problems and fixes these things. But there is a little factor. I have about a 5- mile dirt road to my farm, and I went through two front ends on my new pickup truck until it became part of a local effort to pave the roads. My road got paved. That was 10 years ago. I am still driving the same pickup truck, and I haven't lost any front ends.

You know the old saying, you pay me now or you pay me later. Boy, I tell you, these potholes and these washboard roads and bridges falling down, there is a heavy price to be paid for not fixing, maintaining, and upkeeping our roads and our bridges.

No, no. It was not my personal road. No, no, no. It was a combination county and township. But it helped to have been on the township planning committee.

Well, indeed, it is. I represent Minnesota's Iron Range, the largest iron mines anywhere in the United States. We are dependent upon a good, strong market for U.S. steel and for Minnesota-made taconite and processed iron ore.

I was so delighted to join you and others recently in petitioning the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to curtail the importation of cheap Korean steel.

The market for steel in America is very, very good. The problem is that American steel is only providing about 70 to 75 percent of it. Close to over 30 percent of it is being foreign steel that is brought in. Foreign steel that, by the way, is subsidized by the foreign governments.

Our steelworkers, iron mineworkers, can compete with anybody in the world, anybody in America, quite frankly, we can compete with anybody, but it has got to be fair trade. If they have government-subsidized, below market cheap steel coming in here, that is unfair trade.

Guess what, there is about a dozen steel mills left here in America, and there is about 50,000 workers here. If we don't find a way to curtail the importation of this cheap, subsidized steel, we are going to put all 12 of those steel companies out of business, we are going to put 50,000 steelworkers out of business and countless thousands of mining processors and workers in this country.

If we are talking about the middle class, we better start insisting on fair trade in this country, insisting--as you have so eloquently pointed out here--the significance and the importance of making it in America with U.S. steel when we are talking roads, bridges, railroads, pipelines, and all the rest.

Oh, it did, no doubt.

And do you know what, John, I found in international trade, when it comes to quality, American steel is considered to be the best quality.

Now, what is the importance of that? Well, it might be the difference between a bridge falling down or standing; it might mean the difference between a pipeline breaking and polluting a wetland versus not doing that.

There is an economic reason here, there is a reason for the middle class, there is a reason for our economy, there is a reason for safety, there is a reason for health, there is a reason for environment, there are so many good reasons to make it in America, John.

Well, I am going to depart, but I really want to thank you for this session here and bringing it to the attention of our colleagues and people all across this country that care about America, care about good-paying middle class jobs, and want to see us do what we have got to do here to come together, fix this thing, and continue the great progress that America has enjoyed.

A big part of being an American is paying it forward, and now, it is time for us to step up and do what we have to do for the next generation.

Well, I am honored and thrilled and glad to be here.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize four people from the Cromwell/McGregor area of Minnesota who just celebrated turning 100- years-old or more. In some parts of the country, this would be in passing--but for Cromwell (population 231) and McGregor (population 376) it is big news that this many legacy members of their communities have reached this significant milestone. It must be our good Minnesota water.

When you stop to think about it, to be born 100 years ago, there were no tractors to plow the fields and automobiles were just starting to be built. Before that, people walked to town or took a horse-and- buggy. Most schoolrooms were in one-room buildings with an outhouse ``out back.'' Radio communication was just beginning and television had not yet been invented. Penicillin had not been discovered. There were not vaccinations for polio or other deadly childhood diseases. The idea of an airplane was but a dream and the thought of man landing on the moon was unfathomable.

How exciting it must have been for them witnessing that first countdown as John Glenn was the first American about to orbit the earth.

These citizens lived through two World Wars, the Korean Conflict, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

They were just coming of age when the Depression hit this country and struggled like countless others to have part of the American dream.

They persevered.

Each of them--Mary Dahlberg, Hjalmer Hutar, Ailie Costello and Viola Johnson took different paths in their lives. I congratulate each of them for the contributions they brought to their families and communities. They have been lives well lived.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize LaVonne Feichtinger Ostergaard of Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. She was one of the thousands of women throughout America who served as a ``Rosie the Riveter'' during World War II when she went to work for 50 cents an hour at the Char- Gale plant in St. Cloud. She operated as a riveter building planes. Her job was riveting the fuselage and wings on the outside of the aircraft for planes designed to carry cargo, personnel, patients and mechanized equipment and to drop cargo and troops by parachute. It was by no means a clean or quiet working environment. Mrs. Ostergaard never won any medals for her service, but I call upon all Members to remember how so many women--from small towns and big cities alike--stepped forward when they heard the call for workers to serve as riveters, buckers, sanders, welders, crane operators, bus drivers, uniform makers, bullet makers, parachute folders, clerical workers, shipyard workers, assembly line workers, Red Cross workers and more.

These women probably never imagined they would answer the call to do this kind of work, but it was a time in our nation's history when everyone needed to pull together with their motto of ``We pull better if we pull together.'' Those who served on the home front are often unrecognized, as after the war, they quietly returned to the routine of raising children, helping on the home farm or the family business.

According to the American Rosie the Riveter Association, of which Mrs. Ostergaard is a member, they came together for one purpose--to help win the war. They built 80,000 landing craft, 100,000 tanks, 300,000 aircraft, 15,000 guns and 41,000,000,000 rounds of ammunition. It was a massive accomplishment and our nation owes these outstanding women our deepest gratitude.

Mr. Speaker, since the Congress has reconvened, none of the important legislation that we have considered here has gone through the regular committee process. Yet, with each election, we send people to the Congress of the United States with a wide range of perspectives, with lots of goodwill, with lots of good intentions--Democrats and Republicans alike. The simple truth, however, is that the House leadership has prevented these voices from being heard in the regular committee process. In fact, Congress has, sadly, become one of the most undemocratic institutions in America.

Mr. Speaker, stop denying the Members of Congress the opportunity and the public the opportunity to find common ground. The failure of the process is at the heart of gridlock. It is at the heart of congressional failure. Allow bills once again to come up through the regular committee process, where amendments are heard, considered, and voted upon.

Mr. Speaker, give Congress the opportunity to work together once again in the spirit of bipartisanship that the American people are so desperately hungry for.

Mr. Speaker, on January 6th, 2015, I was unavoidably detained due to ongoing issues surrounding the health of my youngest daughter in Minnesota.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #2, I would have expressed my support for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi of California to be Speaker of the House.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #3, I would have voted Nay.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #4, I would have voted Nay.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #5, I would have voted Yay.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #6 (On Agreeing to the Resolution), I would have voted Nay. I have strong objections to the Rules adopted by the House for the 114th Congress.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #7, I would have voted Yay.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #8, I would have voted Yay.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #9, I would have voted Yay.

Had I been present and voting on Roll Call #10, I would have voted Yay.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5656, the Global Food Security Act of 2014, which is a recognition here by the House of Representatives of the important lead role that the United States of America can and must play in fighting poverty and hunger throughout the world.

The simple truth is that a hunger epidemic of crisis proportion is spreading across the developing world leading to mass unrest, armed conflict, needless suffering, and death.

Every day, more than 21,000 people die of hunger or hunger-related causes. The United Nations reports that in developing countries, 842 million people are chronically hungry, one out of every three children who die before the age of 5 die of hunger, and one out of four children suffer mental or physical impairments due to malnutrition.

Mr. Speaker, this Congress has been more than willing to spend trillions on warfare. Today, I call upon the Congress of the United States to declare war on hunger and give people in need a good reason to be grateful to America.

Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, my district includes Duluth, Minnesota, the headwaters of the Great Lakes, and, of course, the magnificent North Shore. I encourage you all to come and visit the first chance you get.

I, too, rise in strong support of this important bipartisan Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and I, too, would be remiss if I didn't compliment our chairman, Mr. Gibbs, and our ranking

member, Mr. Bishop, for bringing this legislation forward, and, of course, our chief sponsor of the legislation, David Joyce, our good Republican friend. Thank you for your leadership in convincing the Office of the President and our budget operatives around here that in this particular case we need a little bit more than what they wanted or recommended.

I would also remind my colleagues that this is not just about preservation; this is about taking responsibility for some of the neglect out of past. As I can tell you, back in Duluth, there was a time when we had to haul drinking water in for the citizens of Duluth because the water out of Lake Superior wasn't drinkable. I remember a time when the Great Lakes were so polluted they were catching on fire in some places because of neglect. So in many respects we are stepping up and we are assuming responsibility for neglect in the past.

I don't mind telling you how important it has been to us up in the Lake Superior area. We have had over 100 projects funded over the years accomplishing so many things: combating invasive species, mitigating pollution of the past, identifying toxins that represent a threat to the basin and our public health and our public safety, protecting wild rice--I am an old wild rice picker; you can't have enough good native wild rice--and protecting wildlife in general. What a difference these projects have made.

Last, but not least, I would be remiss if I didn't thank our Appropriations Committee members--Marcy Kaptur and Betty McCollum, in particular--for your stepping up in your leadership in this.

But there is still so much more to be done. That is why I stand here today and strongly urge my colleagues to give their full support to this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker and Members of the House, I want to join my colleagues in paying tribute to a great Member of Congress serving with us today but who is planning to retire, the Honorable John Dingell. I would like to do so by telling a little story.

Some 40 years ago, I was elected to the Congress of the United States for the first time. Before I had even been sworn in, I faced my first big challenge. The Congressman that I preceded had passed some legislation called the Big Stone Wildlife Management Area. The editor of our biggest newspaper had applauded him for that. I supported it in my campaign. I said: ``I'll do everything I can do see that it's fully implemented and fully funded.''

Well, I had just been elected, and the President of the United States announced that the project was not going to go forward, it was not going to be implemented, and it was not going to be funded. Here I am, I have just been elected, at least it appears as though I am already doing harm and damage to the district, and I haven't even been sworn in yet.

We came out here for a little orientation session, and I decided I would check with the chairman of the Interior Subcommittee that is responsible for this kind of legislation, to see if he had any advice for me on how I could effectively deal with this.

He said: ``Come see me tomorrow.'' So I went to see him the next day and he said: ``Put out a press release. The project is going to be fully staffed, it's going to be fully funded, it's going to be fully implemented.''

I said to him, questioningly: ``Gee, Mr. Chairman, the President of the United States of America says it's not going to be fully funded, it's not going to be fully implemented.''

He put his arm around me and he said: ``Son, let me tell you something. Presidents come and go around this town with quite regularity. Old dogs like me have been here forever, and I'm going to be here forever. The bureaucracy will listen to an old dog like me before they'll listen to some darn fool President of the United States.''

Well, needless to say, apprehensively, I put out the press release saying the project was going to be fully funded, fully implemented, and indeed, it was. In the process, I learned an incredibly valuable lesson from Mr. Dingell, and that is there are many ways to effect public policy beyond the legislative actions--which of course are perhaps most important--that we make here in this Chamber.

By getting a hold of these bureaucracies and talking to them and telling them what you would like to see happen and, when appropriate, being supportive of their mission and their goals, they are inclined to be supportive of you as well.

That little story happened 40 years ago. Well, then I went on a 32- year hiatus. I spent the next 32 years of my life in the private sector, in business, community service, and raising my family.

I came back here 40 years later and who is still here proving his point but John Dingell.

As I said, 11 Presidents have come and gone, but he is still here. I believe he has served longer than any other Member of the Congress in the history of the country; perhaps, most importantly, he is maybe the greatest Member to ever serve in the Congress.

There are so many good things that have happened in this country over the better part of a half a century that we can attribute to the good work of the honorable Representative, the great Representative John Dingell.

John, we are all so grateful for your incredible service. I am thrilled and honored to be able to be here to join my many other colleagues in saluting you for your great service to the people that you have represented so ably from your own district, but your larger vision as well of what has been so important for the progress of the people here in America.

Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for sharing that with so many of us who benefited from having sought your wisdom. Thank you for your effectiveness and all the great things you have done for this country. We salute you, Mr. Dingell.

We love you, and we will miss you, but we will be forever grateful. This country will always be a better place for you having served in this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by yielding such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).

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

I too rise in support of H.R. 579, to designate the United States courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi, as the R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse.

R. Jess Brown was a towering figure in the history of the civil rights movement in the South and especially in the State of Mississippi. He was a native son of Kansas, born in Coffeyville, Kansas, and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He attended law school at Texas Southern University and practiced law in Mississippi, starting in 1953 and continuing throughout the latter civil rights era.

As associate counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP, Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Mr. Brown filed the first civil rights suit in Mississippi in the 1950s. The suit, filed in Jefferson Davis County, sought the enforcement of the right of Black citizens to become registered voters.

In 1961, Brown represented James Meredith in his suit to be allowed to enter the University of Mississippi. His victory in this case opened the doors of that university to all of Mississippi's citizens. While working with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Brown played a major role in fighting discrimination in the areas of transportation and other public accommodations.

During his lifetime, he received numerous awards and honors, including the NAACP's Lawyer of the Year Award; the National Bar Association C. Francis Stradford Award, which is the Bar Association's highest award; and the Mississippi Teachers Association's award for extraordinary service to education in Mississippi.

R. Jess Brown will be remembered as more than a brilliant attorney and civil rights leader; he will also be remembered as a great American. As such, it is fitting that the United States courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi, be designated the R. Jess Brown United States Courthouse.

I support this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 579.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking the gentleman from Wisconsin for his kind words on behalf of not just the Oberstar family, but all the citizens of Minnesota--very kind, very appropriate, and greatly appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, I yield, to begin with, to the gentleman from Minnesota, Representative Collin Peterson, a senior member of the Minnesota congressional delegation and our distinguished colleague.

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

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield to Eleanor Holmes Norton.

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

It is truly a great honor for me to present to the House this bill to name the stretch of Interstate Highway I-35 from Forest Lake, Minnesota, to Duluth, Minnesota, on behalf of the late former chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, James Oberstar.

I do so in the spirit of bipartisanship that Jim epitomized on behalf of the entire Minnesota delegation, all of whom have sponsored this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I will never forget the moment in January 2013 when Jim entered this Chamber for the first time as a former Member of the Congress. He walked quietly through the side door here, and one by one, his colleagues here in this Chamber, Democrats and Republicans alike, noticed him and began to spontaneously applaud Jim Oberstar in welcoming him back to the Congress.

I, quite frankly, have never seen anything quite like it, and this gesture of appreciation for the way Jim Oberstar brought us together through his bipartisan leadership and example was one of the more heartwarming and important experiences that I have seen take place here in this Chamber.

Jim was an idea guy. As Tom mentioned, it didn't matter to him if an idea came from a Republican or a Democrat. The only thing that mattered to him was whether or not it was a good idea. If you had an idea, Jim wanted to hear it, and he was ready to work with you to make it happen if he thought it was a good idea.

And that was particularly true with respect to the building and rebuilding and expanding our interstate highway system that he had worked on, as it was pointed out here, as a staff member to that committee earlier in his life for the sole purpose of connecting every corner of this great Nation together from border to border and from sea to sea.

Through recessions, through budget deficits, through gas shortages and challenges of every kind, Jim Oberstar never wavered in his support for the interstate highway system because he understood how vital it is to our ability to create good jobs, to literally drive our economy forward and create the atmosphere for successful business and job creation.

With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, I ask our colleagues to honor Jim Oberstar by naming the stretch of I-35 that serves as the gateway to the district he so ably represented for 36 years and designate it as the James L. Oberstar Memorial Highway.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Doyle).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and thank Congressman Doyle for that fitting tribute to Judge Weis. Because of Judge Weis' dedicated service to the legal community and his exemplary time as a jurist in Pittsburgh, it is fitting to name the courthouse in his honor.

Mr. Speaker, I support this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 5146.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, I want to bring to everyone's attention a Washington Post story this week pointing out that the Iraqi Army has 50,000 ghost soldiers.

That is right, ghost soldiers, salaries being paid to soldiers that do not exist.

We have spent $20 billion supposedly training and arming this Iraqi Army. Right now there is a request for another $1.2 billion. The time has come to stop supporting this corrupt government. The money for the 50,000 soldiers was going into the pockets of the military and government officials.

Mr. Speaker, my friends, it is time to put an end to this. Give our taxpayers some relief. Use this money to rebuild America and recognize the fact that we have no friends in this conflict. The money, the arms that we send inevitably end up being used against us and contributing to the violence and contributing to the extension and the continuation of this tragic and senseless war and waste of human and financial resources.

It is time to put an end to it.

Thank you, Representative Paulsen, and thank you for helping to organize this tribute to a truly great native son of Minnesota, who made us all so proud in so many ways that, as you said, Eric, it is hard to enumerate all of them.

When it came to public service, when it came to governance, when it came to bipartisanship, when it came to doodling, when it came to baseball--I mean, the list just goes on and on. He truly made us proud in so many ways.

I too want to recognize other friends of the Frenzel family who are here. As you said, Bill and Ruthy were inseparable. They were clearly a team, and that can be so valuable and so important to the success of a legislator, a great public servant, and Bill was so proud of his family and the girls, Debbie and Pam and Mitty. He talked about them often.

I want to thank the family for being there for Bill and for helping to give him the strength to carry on and do all the great things that he did.

As Eric mentioned, we served together in the State House of Representatives. Bill had been there before me. I followed him to the Congress. Again, obviously, he had been there before me, but he was always such a good friend, offering all kinds of guidance and help negotiating the ways of the State House and the State and the ways of the U.S. House and the ways of the government here.

He was just a wonderfully good friend and a good mentor. I shall always be forever grateful for his mentoring and his guidance, and that was something he did for anyone who had the good judgment to take advantage of it because he was always open. He was always available. He was always there for you, and he was always so incredibly well- prepared.

The thing I liked most about Bill was that he was so respectful of everyone else and their ideas, and you knew if you had an idea--whether it was a good one or a bad one--you were going to get a hearing with Bill Frenzel, and if it was a bad idea, of course, he would be the first to tell you and tell you why.

Quite frankly, more often than not, he was right, and that was just such an important lesson that he gave to all of us and inspired us all. When it came to things like--Eric mentioned the budget. Most Members will maybe read the summary. Bill Frenzel, he read that thing in its entirety.

He knew where every nickel and every dime was going, and he understood the consequences of it. When it came to trade policy, the same thing. He knew of all of its implications. He understood international trade.

In fact, in many ways, he was an inspiration to me outside of politics as well, in no small measure to the benefits that he articulated to trade because when I left this Congress--what, some 34 years ago--I went into export trading because I had heard Bill Frenzel talk about the incredible opportunity that we had with our technology, our ability to produce food, our ability to produce good consumer goods, our ability to produce things that improve the lives of people all over the world and why not get out there and aggressively export those goods and those services, which is what I ended up doing for 32 years before I had the weak moment and came back to this institution-- no, I am just kidding. I am delighted and thrilled to be back here.

For Bill Frenzel, I feel so much better prepared than I was, quite frankly, when I served years ago, thanks in no small part to Bill Frenzel.

When it came to the rules of the House, Bill understood the importance of the integrity of this institution better than anyone, and I suspect Bill would be on the floor here today, from time to time, calling for the reestablishment of regular order because Bill was never afraid of anyone else's ideas. In fact, he welcomed them.

Bill and I and others, we served in a time when, if anyone had a good idea, they could offer it to the rest of the Chamber in the form of an amendment, and we could debate it, and we could argue it, and we did it in committee, in full committee. We did it in conference committee.

Bill Frenzel understood that that was the foundation of bipartisanship, that was the foundation of a Congress that was effectively governing and getting things done, and that was perhaps his greatest contribution to all of us because only through that process do we get to know one another and build respect for one another and learn where those areas for common agreement and fixing things and getting things done comes from, and we have Bill Frenzel to thank for that.

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about his doodling. You know, it was amazing. You would be in a committee or you would be in a hearing, and Bill would be busy doodling away. You would think he wasn't paying any attention at all.

Suddenly, he would rise, and he would have a question, and it was like the best question that anybody asked. He obviously had a two-track brain. One hand was doodling, but, boy, he never missed a thing. He never missed a thing, and that was Bill Frenzel.

Speaking of those doodles--and, boy, they are treasured. To have a Bill Frenzel doodle that has been autographed, I mean, in this town, that is like having a Picasso. These were great doodles, as you have seen, the intricacy and the geometry and the creativity of them. It is just amazing, and how he could do that was amazing as well.

Of course, he was a great Minnesota sports fan, the Vikings, the Twins, the North Stars, you name it. He was one of the stars on the Republican baseball team. He always showed up in those games with his Minnesota Twins jersey on. They used to win a lot of games back in the day.

Then Marty Sabo came along and started managing the Democrats, and things turned on them, but Bill was a great ballplayer. He loved Minnesota. He loved Minnesota sports, and he was just a wonderfully good friend.

As I said in the beginning, whether it was governing, whether it was baseball, whether it was doodling, whether it was family, whether it was bipartisanship, advising Presidents, welcoming new Members, advising and helping others, there was just no greater mentor, no greater public servant that Minnesota ever had in the wonderful Bill Frenzel.

His life will continue to be an inspiration for all of us going forward. Truly, our State, our Nation is a better place for Bill Frenzel.

His inspiration will enable all of us to continue that great tradition forward and continue to make this great Nation of ours a better place to live.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my fellow Members for the opportunity to stand here and pay homage to a great Minnesotan and a great public servant for our State and our Nation.