Roy Blunt

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. Well, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate her efforts and appreciate the great job she did as a classroom teacher and her inspiration to me.

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I am here today as we set aside this week as Teacher Appreciation Week. If every Member of this House, and if, in fact, the people who are gathered in the gallery today and the people who are watching on television would just take a minute to carefully reflect on the people that have affected their lives, they would determine, as they tried to pick out the three people that had had the most impact on their lives, I think very few Americans, even very few Members of this Congress, would determine that one of those people was the President of the United States or that one of those people was a Governor of a State or that one of those people was even a Member of Congress. I think the overwhelming majority of people in our country, and certainly in this House, would think of, as they thought of people that had affected their lives, they would think of a mother and a father, they would think of grandparents, a Sunday school teacher. Almost everybody, if asked to name three people, would name a teacher, would name a member of that profession whose job it is to really expand human potential. There is no greater calling. And as we recognize the teachers this week and as we appreciate teachers, I want to take a minute to reflect on one of my teachers. As I thought about the teachers I had had throughout school, I had a long, long list of great teachers, but one of my teachers, my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Norma Knight, who is still living in Springfield, MO, really had an impact on me. I have a picture of her here today, in fact. I have not had a picture that large of Mrs. Knight in my office for my entire career, but perhaps I should have, because she was the first person that really convinced me that it was OK to read. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to be given 1 additional minute.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to voice my support along with the Missouri State Senate and the Missouri House of Representatives for home education. The Missouri General Assembly has designated the second week of May as Home Education Week. Missouri has been recognized as a leader nationwide in the home education movement. Home Education Week is a good way to acknowledge those parents in Missouri who have helped to establish a strong foundation for quality home education. Home education has always been unique because it provides the opportunity for children to be taught by their parents or someone the parents trust. Home educators are able to meet the individual needs of their children by designing educational lessons for each child. They also provide children in home education numerous opportunities to learn through hands-on activities, where they are able to apply what they are learning in real-life settings. The one-on-one interpersonal ties that are developed in home education between a parent and their children establish solid mentoring relationships. I know of many families in the Seventh District of Missouri that I represent who educate their children through more than just their textbooks. They regularly take field trips and conduct science experiments so that they can apply what they are learning. I know one family who has entered award-winning projects in the Ozark Empire Fair in science and drawing competitions as well as winning awards regionally and statewide in speech contests. The Will Purvis family is one of many southwest Missouri families who are making a visible difference in the education their children through home education. I want to thank each parent who has made the decision to educate their children at home. This decision requires a great amount of dedication. This dedication requires planning and preparation that involves many extra hours and late nights of preparation. Their dedication results pay off in home-educated students that do well when they compete with their peers nationwide in private and public schools and in higher education. We should continue to support their dedication as they continue to make a visible difference.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend John Q. Hammons, who is well known in the Ozarks and beyond for accomplishments that have affected the lives of many in countless ways. Mr. Hammons has deep roots in southwest Missouri. He was born in Newton County and after finishing high school Mr. Hammons attended Monett Junior College and Southwest Missouri State University where he completed his bachelor's degree. HIs adult road to success began at Cassville High as a teacher and coach, and then as a cost engineer for the Alaska Highway. He served his country in World War II as a lieutenant (jg) on Navy troop transports in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Living in southwest Missouri it is difficult to not be aware of the many real estate developments his vision has produced. Some outstanding projects include the Glen Isle Center, Southern Hills, Village Garden Apartments, Kimberling City, University Plaza Hotel, the Springfield Trade and Convention Center, Highland Springs Country Club, and the Hammons Towers. His most recent and highly recognized development is the Chateau on the Lake Hotel and Convention Center near Table Rock Dam, a resort likely to receive national renown. His business ventures have provided a multitude of jobs and opportunities. John Q. demonstrated his commitment to community improvements by donating the land and the supporting architectural services for the recently built headquarters for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. John Q. is well known to many outside the business community through his contributions to education, the arts, athletics, and medicine. In the field of education Mr. Hammons has generously given back to Southwest Missouri State University including the Hammons House dormitory and the Hammons Student Center, where 9,000 watch Bears basketball. At Drury College he helped to initiate the support and the ensuing construction of the Hammons School of Architecture. He was one of the founders of the Springfield Public Schools Foundation Challenge Grants to increase their computer technology and provide for the distribution of the Springfield News Leader and USA Today in the classroom. John and his wife, Juanita, recognized the need to continue the development of the arts and gave major contributions to help build the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts at Southwest Missouri State University. For those individuals who enjoy public television the Hammons provided the founder's gift to establish the Ozarks Public Television station and they have continued their support with Challenge Grants. For the sports enthusiast, he donated the land and five million dollars to build the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame to help recognize those in Missouri who have excelled athletically. Those individuals in need of medical assistance have been especially thankful to Mr. Hammons for his donations to the St. Johns Regional Health Center which have included the Hammons Life Line emergency helicopter, a heart wing and the Hammons Heart Institute. It would be easy to mention many other notable accomplishments but perhaps it is enough to remember that he has reached each of these goals one day at a time with persistence and hard work. We thank John Q. Hammons for his contributions and his examples.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here to support this resolution. I think it is no accident that this resolution is introduced by fellow freshmen, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Pitts; the gentleman from New Hampshire, Mr. Sununu; and the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Granger, who are joining me in this Congress and who come to this Congress from an understanding of how we believe responsibility ought to be taken in the real world and in real world budgeting. Really, responsibility has to begin at the top. And this Congress, the last Congress, has shown the willingness to do that by giving the President for the first time ever the line item veto, saying to the President, we know there are some things that you can do that nobody can do as well. The President really has to lead in this area, and for the President to lead in this area effectively, we all do have to talk about the same numbers. A great Missourian, Mark Twain, said that forecasting is always difficult, particularly when you are talking about the future. And it is difficult when we are talking about the future to predict. Everybody understands that. Everybody understands that we ought to be talking about the same numbers. The President has said over and over again that we ought to be using the same numbers. Over and over again the President has turned to the Congressional Budget Office and verified that their numbers, over the course of time, have been better than other numbers available. As late as January, the President said we will work with the Congress to use numbers that everybody believes, numbers that come from the Congressional Budget Office. This budget is out of balance. It has to be brought back into balance. We need the President to submit that budget. The Federal Government is not doing a lot of terrible things. The tough choices in life are not between bad things and good things. The tough choices in life are determining what kinds of things really have to have priority, and that is what submitting a budget is really all about, submitting a budget with priorities. I was a president before I came here. Was not the President of the United States. I was the president of a private university. We had a $23 million budget. We had 300 employees. They all vigorously advocated what they needed to have happen. We were able to balance that budget over and over again primarily because we made those tough choices. We prioritized. That is what we need the President to do with this budget. We need to get started with numbers that we can work with and agree with and move toward paying the bills of the country for the first time in 28 years.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to say I think this is an idea whose time will come. It may not come today, but I believe that term limits will be a reform that comes in this House. I think it can come with some flexibility. I appreciate my colleague from Virginia at least recognizing my amendment as the least bad of the amendments that has been offered today. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment in the nature of a substitute.

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to have the opportunity to offer an amendment to House Joint Resolution 2. I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from Florida, [Mr. McCollum], for his commitment to term limits and for the amendment that he has offered and his consistent stand for term limits over the years. As the Secretary of State in Missouri a number of years ago, I was the first State official in our State to support term limits and, in fact, our State, 10 years ago, adopted term limits as an amendment to our constitution. We were one of the first States to do that. As we know, Mr. Chairman, eventually 23 States adopted term limits as part of their State constitution, and the Supreme Court, by a 5 to 4 vote, determined that States on their own did not have the ability to establish that requirement for membership in the Congress. In the last election, Missourians again voted to adopt an amendment to our constitution that called for even a stricter limit on the terms a person can serve in the House. Our first amendment was 8 years in the House and 12 years in the Senate, with the caveat that half of the States would have to have term limits before our term limits would come to pass. In the last election, Missourians again showed that they were in the mainstream of thinking in the country, where 80 percent of the voters in the country consistently, and generally voters who do not agree on any other topic, agreed that term limits is a reform that would be a beneficial reform for the Congress and would ensure a different kind of decisionmaking in the Congress; would assure that people come more frequently and from different perspectives as to what the government needs to do. We also, in our amendment and in the amendment that I am proposing today, gave leeway to the States that I think is unique in this debate. What the amendment that I am proposing does, Mr. Chairman, is it establishes a maximum amount of time that can be spent in the House of three terms, a maximum amount of time that can be spent in the Senate of two terms, but allows the States on their own to change their constitution in ways different than that if they choose to do so. I think this differs from a proposal that would just say let us leave this totally up to the States, because it does set a limit if a State has not chosen to deal with this on its own. It also allows the States at a later time, and as the thinking on this concept of term limits would mature and develop over time, to, on a one-by-one basis, decide that a different limit other than 6 years in the House and 12 years in the Senate had merit. Certainly I can see a scenario where people might decide that 6 years was not quite enough, but they would then by an individual State basis have the ability to go to 8 years or 10 years or even 12 years in the House, or more. It also, conversely, would allow voters in States that had decided that 6 years was just right to also decide that 6 years was just right for the Senate and to adopt a limit for the Senate of only one term. So we are proposing, I and others of my colleagues from Missouri, in exact compliance with the express direction of Missouri voters in the last election, that the Constitution be amended to allow a limit of 6 years in the House, a limit of 12 years in the Senate, but to give the States flexibility as to how they would deal with that in the future. I appreciate the opportunity that has been provided to offer certain amendments to House Joint Resolution 2. I request your support for an amendment that I have offered for consideration by the House. For purposes of clarification and identification, I will refer to it as the Missouri Amendment. It is my belief that term limits must reflect the desire of the American public to change the system under which this institution operates. Clearly, the public holds the opinion that fewer terms are better than more. Recent polling confirms that an overwhelming majority of voters believe that six terms for a member of the House is too long. Over 80 percent of the voting public prefers a three-term limit. As a former county elections official and as the former chief election officer for the State of Missouri, I have studied this issue and listened to the voters. The voters of Missouri have twice had the opportunity for a statewide vote relative to term limits. They have made their viewpoint known. Consistent with those views and my own, I was the first Missouri statewide official to endorse term limits. I have offered a bill, House Joint Resolution 42, to limit terms to three in the House and two in the Senate. In November 1996, state constitutional amendments were passed in nine States, including Missouri, as a result of grassroot initiative efforts. Those State constitutional amendments instruct members of the State's congressional delegation to work for the adoption of a U.S. Constitutional amendment establishing Congressional term limits. The initiatives also included very specific voter instructions to incumbents and candidates. Failure to comply with these instructions trigger language to be placed by the name of candidates on future ballots which read either ``Disregarded Voters' Instruction on Term Limits'' or ``Declined to Support Term Limits.'' Thus, becoming known as the scarlet letter provision. Many members of Congress support the adoption of term limits. As you are aware, there is much debate over the specific number of terms to be adopted. The situation now occurs which a member of one of the nine States who supports term limits but votes for House Joint Resolution 2, may fail the test and have triggered the scarlet letter provision. In the nine States, the final determination as to whether or not a member followed voter instructions rests with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State may determine that, in order to avoid failing the ``Voter Instruction'' test, a member may be required to vote for language that is absolutely identical and verbatim to that which passed in his or her home State. Therefore, it may be necessary for each of those nine States' delegation to have an opportunity to vote for term limit language unique to their State. House Leadership has expressed concern that such an opportunity be made available. To that end, to ensure that members of the Missouri delegation have the ability to vote for language that meets a verbatim test of Missouri Amendment 9, I am offering the Missouri amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BLUNT

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill to designate the U.S. Post Office Building located at Bennett and Kansas Avenue in Springfield, MO, as the John Griesemer Post Office Building. John Griesemer was born in Mount Vernon, MO, and grew up on a dairy farm in Billings, MO. He graduated from Billings High School in 1948 and he earned a bachelor of science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri, Columbia in 1953. He served as a first lieutenant, Engineering Officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1954 until 1956. After his discharge from the Air Force, John returned to southwest Missouri to work for his family's business, Greisemer Stone Co. He served there as president and as a director until his death in 1993. In defiance of conventional wisdom, John Griesemer balanced a successful career with family life and a dedication to community service. He and his wife, Kathleen, raised five children on a small farm just east of Springfield, MO. John was active in his church, having served as chairman of the annual Diocesan Development fund drive, member of the Financial Advisory Committee and co-trustee of the Heer-Andres Trust of the Catholic diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, MO. He also served as co-chairman of the Margin for Excellence fund drive to establish an endowment and build a new Catholic High School in Springfield. John was an Eagle Scout, a Scout Master and, in later years, served on the Board of the Ozarks Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He was also involved with the Junior Achievement program. In addition to his work with Griesemer Stone Co., John founded Joplin Stone Co. and Missouri Commercial Transportation Co., and served as president of Springfield Ready Mix Co. He was a director of Boatmen's National Bank and, in 1991 was president of the Springfield Development Council, a nonprofit subsidiary corporation of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce. In 1984, John was named by President Reagan to serve on the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, which oversees the Postal Service. He was elected chairman of that Board in 1987 and 1988 and served for 3 years as its vice chairman. In spite of his many personal achievements, John's favorite story about himself was one of personal failure. When he was 8 years old he got a job picking strawberries; at the end of the first day he had failed to meet his quota, so he was fired. In the words of his wife Kathleen, ``that shows that failure is not forever.'' His example is one that all Americans can live by. John Griesemer passed away in 1993, survived by his wife and five children. His legacy is one of service to his God, his country and to his fellowman through dedication to family, business and community. I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring that legacy by passing the legislation that I have offered today.