John McHugh

Mr. McHUGH

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4157) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 600 Lincoln Avenue in Pasadena, California, as the ``Matthew `Mack' Robinson Post Office Building''.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding to me. I think it is important for it to be pointed out, Mr. Speaker, that we have passed in this year alone 53 of these bills. During the time the gentleman and I have served together, we are in the several hundreds, if not more, and it is a hard record to keep track of. But we have indeed passed, both through the committee and through this House, pieces of legislation naming Post Offices that have not carried full State delegation sponsorship. It is the policy of the committee to request that. In fact, that is a policy that I asked for when 6 years ago I became chairman, and I went to then full committee chairman Bill Clinger and suggested we were in need of a way by which we could have a second check, if you will, on the fitness of each of the candidates. Along with Cardiss Collins, who was then the ranking member on the full committee, and Barbara Rose Collins, the ranking member on the subcommittee, we agreed that that would be not a rule but a policy. When it has happened, as it has happened in the past, where Members have made a legitimate effort to secure full State delegation sponsorship and have been unable to, we have gone to those who have withheld their cosponsorship and tried to ascertain if it was related directly to the merits of the nominee, and where it was not, without that full State delegation sponsorship, we have passed the bills in any event. This was a process to check on the fitness of the nominees. In fact, after the gentleman from California (Mr. Rogan) came to us and in this case showed us documentation where he had reached out through his staff to each member of the California delegation on five separate occasions, I then wrote to each member of the California delegation who had not yet cosponsored his bill and asked if it was in relationship to the fitness of the nominee, because if it was, that is an important thing for us to know. We have not heard back from all of them, but those we have heard from have all said that, no, it has nothing to do with the fitness of the nominee. That is frankly the only thing I am concerned about.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, one of the true privileges and frankly more enjoyable aspects of serving as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Postal Service is the opportunity that it provides I would hope all of us, but certainly, speaking on my own behalf, provides me to learn. I think I am rather typical in terms of the average American who has heard many times over in his or her life about such great athletes as Jesse Owens, and as one of the giants of baseball, we have heard of Jackie Robinson. But I must confess, until very recently, I was not as familiar with a second Robinson, a gentleman by the name of Matthew ``Mack'' Robinson. We have heard, of course, about the achievements of people such as those I have just mentioned. When we talk about Jackie Robinson, we talk about history. When we talk about ``Mack'' Robinson, we talk a bit less about history but a great deal about what made this country great, what made it special. That is simply through the contributions of people like ``Mack'' Robinson. I would say that when it comes to achievements of athleticism, ``Mack'' has to take a back seat to very few people. He was a participant, along with his younger brother, Jackie Robinson, and others with the 1936 Olympic team in that infamous event in Berlin. But beyond that, after returning home, he has achieved what I think is a very, very remarkable record of service to his community through his volunteer help and, perhaps even more importantly, through his character and through his leadership in leading the community of Pasadena from segregation to unification. As I have had the opportunity, as I mentioned, to learn about ``Mack'' Robinson, I have learned how he served his community, how he cared about his neighbors. He became involved not for power or glory, certainly not for money, but because he cared about others and wanted to make today better than yesterday and hopefully tomorrow better than today. That is the kind of life I believe we can all learn a great deal from. That is the kind of inspiration we can all draw a great deal from. The city of Pasadena just recently honored both ``Mack'' and Jackie Robinson by constructing a monument to them near City Hall. I think we owe our thanks to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rogan) for bringing us Mack's name as a fitting follow-on to that celebration and that honor in Pasadena by seeking to name the Matthew ``Mack'' Robinson Post Office Building. The gentleman from California (Mr. Rogan) I would say worked very hard to achieve what we have always strived for here, and that is bipartisanship in reaching out to his fellow delegates within the California delegation. We have tried to work with him to bring us to this floor today in a position to enact a piece of legislation that is a fitting tribute to a very, very fitting individual. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate, as always, the bipartisan support and contributions of the ranking member. I mentioned 53 Post Office naming bills we have acted on, through these four before us this week. That is 53. Twenty-three of those were sponsored by Republicans and 30 were sponsored by the minority and Democrats, so that bipartisanship has I think been very clearly demonstrated. I think it is an important part of our work and it certainly should continue. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rogan), who, as I said, has brought us this very distinguished nominee here today, and who has put a lot of work into reaching this point on the floor, for which I commend him on both counts.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. McHUGH

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4430) to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 11831 Scaggsville Road in Fulton, Maryland, as the ``Alfred Rascon Post Office Building.''

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 4430.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, just last week we began what today evolves into a 3-day process of considering and ultimately passing a number of pieces of legislation designed to extend the honor of the naming of a postal facility after what we like to believe and, in fact, do firmly believe are very deserving Americans. I stated yesterday on the floor of this House that we owe our thanks on the subcommittee to people like the ranking member, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), and his staff for their efforts, but also to those Members from across the country who I think do such an admirable job in searching out and bringing to us the names of individuals who do, indeed, deserve this particular honor. It is interesting to me that while all of them are very, very special individuals, they are all very unique. Today, for example, as we consider the first of what we all hope will be four such initiatives, we see the uniqueness of each individual and each nominee that is represented in all of the four bills. Today, I would like to begin by thanking the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett) for leading us down the right path in that regard. As the Clerk designated, Mr. Speaker, this legislation was introduced on May 11 of 2000 and seeks to name the postal facility located at 11831 Skaggsville Road in Fulton, Maryland, as the Alfred Rascon Post Office Building. Mr. Rascon is a very special individual for a number of different reasons, Mr. Speaker, not the least of which is the very successful life that he has led, coming to this country as he did from his birthplace in Chihuahua, Mexico, and ultimately accruing in this, his new homeland, a remarkable record of bravery and of citizenship. In fact, Mr. Rascon was just recently awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic efforts as well as the serious injuries he received during his tour of duty in South Vietnam where the record that I have had the honor and the privilege of reading speaks very clearly about his valor, about his courage on behalf of his fellow soldiers and his wounded squad members in his attempts to save their lives. We do have the main sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett), with us, so I do not want to go on at great lengths and take away from both the time and, of course, the substance of his comments. So, Mr. Speaker, with a final word of appreciation to the gentleman from Maryland and a final word of appreciate to a very special man in Mr. Rascon, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett), who, as I mentioned before, is the lead sponsor and author of this particular legislation.

Mr. McHUGH

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4517) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 24 Tsienneto Road in Derry, New Hampshire, as the ``Alan B. Shepard, Jr. Post Office Building.''

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

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu) with our appreciation. We are privileged to have the gentleman from New Hampshire here who brought us this particular piece of legislation and, of course, in that context brought us the name of Alan B. Shepard, Jr.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 4517.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass), the remaining Member of the New Hampshire delegation, a fine gentleman who I am certain consulted and worked with the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu) on this piece of legislation and who is a cosponsor of it.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just echo the comments of the gentleman from Pennsylvania and, of course, the gentlemen from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu) and the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass) for the tribute that they paid to a very, very special individual, as our last speaker suggested, I think very correctly, a true American hero, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. I would just make a final urging to all our Members to join us in supporting this bill. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McHUGH

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 4554.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4554) to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1602 Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the ``Joseph F. Smith Post Office Building.''

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume; and first, I want to return the compliment from the gentleman from Pennsylvania, the ranking member. We did, indeed, do some good work here yesterday. That was, as I attempted to indicate yesterday in the course of the discussion on the bill, in no small measure due to the contributions, the input, and the very constructive suggestions that the gentleman from Pennsylvania and his staff made to that bill, and I think we can all take a great deal of pride in it. Let me echo as well his appreciation by expressing my thanks to him for his continued cooperation. I mentioned earlier the bipartisan structure of the subcommittee, the record of achievement, and the bipartisan way that we have accrued; and I think, again, we should all take a great deal of pride in that. It is probably not as common on this floor as some of us would hope it would be. Finally, Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brady) for his very gracious and kind comments and also thank all the Members of the Pennsylvania delegation, including, of course, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Borski), for bringing this nominee to our attention. And I would, finally, urge support from all our colleagues for this legislation.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would never be so bold as to suggest that we save the best for last, but let me instead suggest that for all of the very special individuals that we have the opportunity both here today and traditionally on this floor through the process of postal namings it is somewhat special, I think for most of us, to have the opportunity to pay such a tribute to a former colleague, to someone who had the honor, as we all do, to serve in this, the people's House. And this final legislation, brought to us by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Borski), is indeed such an opportunity. Joseph F. Smith was in fact a Member of this body, elected to the 97th Congress to represent his home district in Pennsylvania. But for anyone having the opportunity, as I have had, who takes the time to look over this gentleman's distinguished life story, we find that his service and his efforts and contribution extended far beyond the walls of this particular House. In fact, he began as a sergeant in the United States Army, serving not only in World War II but receiving a Purple Heart for the wound he received in that action. He served as a congressional staffer, later serving in the Pennsylvania State Senate before coming to Congress; and after having left Congress, he continued to serve in politics and government through various party positions. This is a man who, I think, has shown in his lifetime that he cares as well about his communities, who always strived to serve them, whether through the Armed Services and defending our Nation's pride and freedom, or through elective office and serving those people who were selecting him time and again to be their representative. So just a final word of thanks to the sponsor, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Borski), for bringing us this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McHUGH

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3985) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14900 Southwest 30th Street in Miramar City, Florida, as the ``Vicki Coceano Post Office Building''.

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3985.

Mr. McHUGH

Mr. McHUGH. Mr. Speaker, I would ask the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) if he has any further requests for time.