Larry Kissell

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 861) supporting the goals and ideals of National Military Family Month, as amended.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, I request unanimous consent for Members to have 5 legislative days in which to extend and modify their remarks.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would first like to recognize Congressman Rooney from Florida for bringing this resolution to the floor. It is a very timely resolution and one that, while we recognize the importance of our military families all the time, we certainly want to have the opportunity to make it official, so to speak, for this Congress, this House of Representatives, to join in that recognition. So I thank Representative Rooney for his efforts. I also want to commend and thank President Obama for declaring November to be National Military Family Month as we support this resolution that will join in the goals and ideals that are set forth in this proclamation. Madam Speaker, we know that our military families are dedicated but also face great challenges and difficulties. As our troops have faced repeated deployments and have gone back into the field more often than perhaps we would wish as they serve our country as we need for them to do, so much of the burden of this service falls back to the military family. But the military families have responded in incredible ways. They unite around each other. They support each other. They help their single-parent families. They come together in a way not only to support themselves but to also support their family members that are deployed. It is not a surprise that this happens, because they are an extension of these men and women that serve our Nation so heroically. So with this resolution, H. Res. 861, we simply want to recognize once again the work, the dedication, the sacrifice in how our military families come together and acknowledge this in a positive way from the U.S. House of Representatives. I reserve my time.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, I once again thank Representative Rooney for bringing this resolution to the floor. And all of the ideals that he expressed, I thank him so much for. I've had the opportunity to speak with many of our soldiers; and to a person, they tell me that if they just know their families are being taken care of, what a relief that is for them to concentrate on the duty that we're asking for them to perform in wherever the mission might be. So once again, I ask for support for the resolution for a National Military Family Month, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, I join with my colleague from Virginia in recognizing that the service and dedication of our military families is not just a 1 month deal; it is something that occurs every day, and we should recognize that every day. I ask my colleagues to support the resolution, H. Res. 861.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. I would like to thank the gentleman from Oregon for recognizing me. Mr. Chair, I would just like to add to what Mr. Schrader has said. This bill is straight, simple--straightforward. In the agricultural community, farm supply wholesalers and agriculture end users very much want to protect homeland security. They very much want to protect the safety of the facilities of whose products end up in our food supply. Also, they are concerned about what possible ramifications the bill may have. This is just simply calling for a study to see what impacts may be had. It strengthens the language that is already in the bill. It strengthens that language so that we can see what the results may be in terms of ranchers and farmers and the agricultural community all together.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, this amendment is very simple and is directed directly at the construction segment of our small business economy. Madam Chair, the Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that since our economy has entered this downturn, we have lost nationwide almost 1.5 million jobs. In my State of North Carolina, almost 20 percent of the jobs in construction have been lost during this time period. Clearly, the construction segment of our economy has suffered. Madam Chair, the SBA's 7(a) loans are the loans that are most commonly used by those small businesses engaged in construction. They are being used for many things. They can be used for day-to-day capital, for purchasing new equipment that is needed to do the job, construction itself, renovation or refinancing. Many things, many aspects of maintaining a business are used in these SBA 7(a) loans. The amendment that we offer is quite simple. Currently if a business takes out a loan, then payments are due back immediately. The amendment would offer that these payments be deferred for 1 year, that the small businesses engaged in construction have 1 year to start their payments back. This would help these businesses have just a little bit more help towards being successful. We oftentimes, Madam Chair, have relied upon construction to lead us out of recessions. This opportunity will help small businesses that are engaged in construction help lead us out of this recession. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Chair, I would like to thank the chairman and her committee for their fine work here in helping us on this amendment, and I urge all my colleagues to support this. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. I would like to thank my colleague from California for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, as we look at the Laurinburg Institute, or its official name, Laurinburg Normal Industrial Institute, there is a story to be told here that goes beyond some of the information that we have already received. If you can imagine back prior to September 15, 1904, when the Laurinburg Institute was officially founded, if you could imagine the conversations that took place when Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute came to the McDuffies, Emmanuel and Tinny Etheridge, and said, I have got an opportunity for you. They weren't talking about how they could become millionaires or how they could invest moneys. No, it was something much more important than that. They were talking about education. They were talking about educating African American youth at a time before Brown v. Board of Education, a time when we did not talk about equality of education. In some cases we didn't talk about education of African American youth at all. This was a time in the early 1900s only 40 years after the Civil War. We know our Nation was going through some tough times, and these people were talking about education. There must be something that runs strong in the McDuffie family in terms of their genetics, because not only is this one of only four such schools that have survived till today; it is still run by the same family that started it. Four generations later of McDuffies, they are still running the same school. They are still concerned about education. We know that the opportunity of education is to influence young people for generation upon generation because that influence never stops. Teachers know, and one of the great rewards of teaching is that they know that who they affect may not be the person who is in their classroom; it may be someone two or three generations down that is affected directly by someone that they had taught and inspired. This is what the McDuffie family has offered to us, Mr. Speaker: 50,000 graduates. Think of all of the families and all of the people that were affected by these 50,000 that would not have been if Booker T. Washington had not convinced the McDuffies that the best investment they could make is in education. Now, we have heard a couple of the graduates mentioned. I would like to add a couple more names to that list. Sir John Swan was a premier of Bermuda, one of the first people of color that was a head of state in the Western Hemisphere. We mentioned Charlie Scott, who was the first African American ever to be awarded an athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina. Now, as a Wake Forest graduate, I also have to mention another basketball player, Charlie Davis, who was the first African American Player of the Year in ACC history in basketball in 1971. Once again, we are talking about thousands of people that came through this institute, thousands of people that were affected. Once again, the great joy of education is that its influence never ends. I congratulate the McDuffie family. I congratulate the faculty and alumni and students of this great institution because they have survived, and they have made a difference in the lives of not only the people of Scotland County, which I am fortunate enough to represent as part of North Carolina's Eighth District, but they have also influenced the State of North Carolina and this great Nation of ours.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hefner was my Congressman for 24 years. He was a Congressman that was beloved by the people of the district because he never forgot where he came from. He came to North Carolina having grown up in Alabama as the son of a sharecropper. He had a gift given to him by God to sing music, and he came to North Carolina as a very successful gospel singer. Having never run for office before, he ran for Congress. We in the Eighth District miss him and pass on our thoughts to his widow, Nancy, and his daughters, Stacye and Shelly.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is truly with mixed emotions that I rise tonight on the floor of the House of Representatives. It's a sadness in noting that last week we lost Congressman W.G. Bill Hefner, a Congressman from North Carolina for 24 years from 1974 to 1998. And we truly give our condolences and our regards to his daughters Stacye and Shelly and to his wonderful wife, Nancy. But the legacy of Bill Hefner did not end last week, as we're going to see tonight as we spend some time remembering and talking about and telling stories of Bill Hefner, that his memory will go forth because of the things he did, the person he was, and the Congressman that represented his district in North Carolina so well. Now, I have to tell you, Madam Speaker, that tonight I shall refer to Congressman Hefner as ``Mr. Hefner'' quite often because I was raised in a time and a place when the ultimate respect that you could give to someone is to call him ``Mister.'' And while his wonderful, loving, lovely wife, Nancy, convinced me that I could call her ``Nancy,'' I could not bring myself to call Bill Hefner anything but ``Mr. Hefner'' because that's the respect that people in the district had for him. And, Madam Speaker, as some might be saying, you know, Why is a freshman Congressman from North Carolina the first one to speak tonight? It's because Bill Hefner, Mr. Hefner, was my Congressman from the Eighth District of North Carolina. And with all of the reconfiguring that took place from time to time in my home county, Montgomery County, North Carolina, was always in Mr. Hefner's district. And it was the way that Mr. Hefner represented us and, once again, who he was that we want to talk about tonight. Madam Speaker, I believe that one of the greatest ways we can remember is by telling stories, and tonight we're going to talk about Mr. Hefner. And I have several colleagues and friends of not only myself but who knew Mr. Hefner at the time, and they have been so generous with their time to be here tonight to help us remember. And I just want to start out very briefly by just letting the story of Bill Hefner be told a little bit. Bill Hefner was born in Tennessee. He went to Alabama. He was a son of a sharecropper. He saw that his way out of poverty was through a gift that he had been given by God, and that's through the singing of gospel music. And he was very good, and he received an invitation to come to North Carolina. And this was the time period of the late 1950s and early 1960s where television was much different than it is today, when there was only just a few stations there in North Carolina, and they often filled their time in the afternoon with gospel singing. And Mr. Hefner was so good and his group was so good that they were asked to be part of three television stations in North Carolina. Now, we didn't have that many stations, so this was a great majority of the stations that were represented, and he became known to the people in North Carolina with his group, The Harvesters. He eventually was successful enough and a good businessman that he bought a radio station. And at some point in time, a former Congressman came in and was interviewed by Mr. Hefner, and Mr. Hefner went home and told his wife, You know, I believe I can do that, because Mr. Hefner had never been elected to a public office, never sought public office. He was the president of his PTA and that was his background, but his background was much stronger. He had the background of knowing the people of his district. So he went out, Madam Speaker, and he ran for Congress. And without any political background other than knowing the people and caring about the people and having a sense of who the people were, he was elected in a landslide. So that's the background as to this man W.G. Bill Hefner that I want everybody to be aware of. Now we want to fill it in with some personal stories, and I would like to start out by recognizing David Obey from Wisconsin.

Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Mr. Obey. I would like to add there about Mr. Hefner and his showbiz background. One of the descriptions that was given of Mr. Hefner at one time that I think he enjoyed the most was that it would be recognized that he had a showbiz background, but he was a workhorse, not a show horse. That summed his career up very appropriately, and he did enjoy that comparison. His humor and his ability to charm were pointed out to me one time on the House floor. Evidently, there was quite a serious debate taking place between two sides of the aisle, and Mr. Hefner somehow got the attention, Madam Speaker, of the Speaker at the time, and got the attention of the full House and looked at his watch and supposedly said, How much longer is this going to go on? Because I have to get home to watch the ``Andy Griffith Show.'' And in North Carolina there is no higher calling than to go watch the ``Andy Griffith Show.'' At this point in time, I would like to yield to Chet Edwards of Texas for the time he may consume.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, to kind of point out the legacy of how Mr. Hefner influenced people continues today to reflect that, I had not been sworn in but a matter of hours before I got a phone call from Representative Edwards telling me what a great influence that Bill Hefner was on him and how that mentorship and role model is not forgotten. It continues from year to year to year. At this point in time, I would like to yield to our friend from South Carolina, Representative John Spratt.

Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Mr. Spratt. Madam Speaker, if we had opened this up to everybody who knew Congressman Hefner who could have been here tonight, we couldn't have come close to getting this in within an hour. There are so many people that he affected, and I certainly appreciate the colleagues that are with us tonight. Next I would like to recognize a fellow Congressman from North Carolina, Mr. David Price.

Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, David. And I think, as was just pointed out, that while we have memories of Mr. Hefner and how he could turn serious conversations with humor and charm, that when necessary he stood up for his beliefs and effectively stated those in a way that spoke of the core being that he was. Madam Speaker, I would like to next recognize another gentleman from North Carolina, Representative Bob Etheridge.

Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Bob. Madam Speaker, continuing the North Carolina trend, I would like to recognize Representative Brad Miller from North Carolina.

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, at this point in time I would like to recognize Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Mr. KISSELL. Thank you, Steny. Madam Speaker, I am going to conclude now, but you don't finish when you talk about Bill Hefner, because, as we've seen tonight, the legacy will not end. It will continue for all the good things he did, but I want to talk a little bit about the personal side of Bill Hefner and what he meant to me. There are all of these things we've heard tonight, and as I mentioned earlier, he was my Congressman. I must say that, while those many years he represented us, I wasn't involved in party politics. I never ran for public office like Mr. Hefner, and there came a time when I felt that maybe that was what people like me should do because that's what Bill Hefner had done. He was a man of the people. He recognized the working people, and he stood up for those people. I said, you know, we have seen in our district, the wonderful Eighth District of North Carolina, that, if you go out to the people and if you tell them who you are and if they recognize in you the knowledge that you know who they are and if they know that you respect them and that you are concerned about them, as we saw for 24 years, those people will reward you by sending you to Congress. So it was with knowledge of what Mr. Hefner had done that I ran for Congress. I come from a very small town, Biscoe, North Carolina--1,500 people--and needless to say, it wasn't exactly a turning moment in North Carolina politics when I announced that I would run for Congress. It is with the legacy, though, of Mr. Bill Hefner that people look to the person for what he says and not who he is and not where he comes from. One time in my home county, Montgomery County, which is also a small county, President Bill Clinton was coming to visit our local hospital. He was accompanied by Mr. Hefner, and together they went visiting there in the hospital. I heard this story, and I think it kind of sums up everything about Bill Hefner. They went into the room. The President and Mr. Hefner went into the room of a patient's. Mr. Hefner said, I'm Bill Hefner, and this is President Clinton. The gentleman, the patient, said, You're Bill Hefner? I've been wanting to meet you all my life. You're a wonderful Congressman. I've even sent you a little bit of money, and I love the way you sing. You're the best singer ever. He never once recognized that the President of the United States was also in the room. It was all about Bill Hefner. Bill Hefner's favorite song was ``If I Can Help Someone.'' Mr. Hefner, Shelly, Stacye, and Nancy, please know that you have helped many people. Thank you so much, and God bless Bill Hefner. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, I missed two rollcall votes as I was attending a meeting in North Carolina concerning my state's higher educational system. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall numbers 478 and 479.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, June 24, 2009, I missed two rollcall votes as I was attending a White House briefing on the Energy bill. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall number 428, and ``no'' on rollcall number 429.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker there was a time in our communities across the Eighth District that in addition to our own family and our church family, many of us were also part of the same work family. We marked time by the whistle blowing to change shifts and met our friends at the gate as we were coming and going. Even if you worked for a different mill than others we all shared a common experience. After 27 years in the textile industry, I have a very large work family and a man I considered the father of that family passed away April 19. J. Paul Russell was a visionary, not only in the textile industry but as a community leader as well. With Mr. Russell's passing, Montgomery County has lost a true legend and one of its most impassioned leaders. Mr. Russell had a personal interest in all his employees. He treated all people with respect. He knew the names of their children and grandchildren. I worked closely with his son Charles during my time at the mill, and Charles treated people the same way. It is why people chose to work at the Mills for 20 or 30 years. It was this type of determination and commitment that helped our communities prosper, and that we miss so much now that so much of the textile industry is gone. Mr. Russell was part of the ``Greatest Generation'' and he had that entrepreneurial spirit. The textile industry was just one of his many contributions to our community. He was instrumental in bringing the county airport to Star and the hospital to Troy. During those years, so many of us here in Montgomery County relied on the Russell family for our livelihood. For a period of many years, the Mill employed 800 people from our community. But it wasn't just jobs that the Russell family provided, it was community leadership. They didn't just live in our communities--they were our county commissioners, Boy Scout leaders, served on town board--much of which Mr. Russell did himself. There were and are Mr. Russell's in every community across our District. We all know how our communities have been affected by the loss of the textile industry. It was not only the loss of jobs which we still struggle to replace, but it was the loss of leadership as well. These families provided so much leadership in our community, and it was all gone so quickly. One of the things I will always remember about J. Paul Russell was his spirit. He was an amazing person, one that attacked life with gusto, not just in his work but when he was having fun as well. He lived his life to the fullest. This is a chance for me to honor, not only Mr. Russell and his family for their contributions, but to all of those people who make a difference in our community. Those special people are scattered throughout our District. They spend their time doing things they know will better their community and make a difference in the lives of the people around them. It is the best legacy we can hope to leave. It is the legacy that J. Paul Russell has left. Mr. Russell will dearly be missed by his family, friends, and community, and his contributions made to our community.

Mr. KISSELL

Mr. KISSELL. Madam Speaker, on Monday, May 18, 2009, I was unable to vote as I was participating in an Armed Services Congressional Delegation meeting at Ft. Bragg and missed three rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 267 to pass H. Res. 300, Congratulating Camp Dudley YMCA of Westport, New York, on the occasion of its 125th anniversary; ``yea'' on rollcall No. 268 to pass S. 386, the ``Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009''; and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 269 to pass H. Res. 442, ``Recognizing the Importance of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and its Positive Effect on the Lives of Low Income Children and Families.''