Tim Murphy

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the bill under consideration.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2533) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 10701 Abercorn Street in Savannah, Georgia, as the ``J.C. Lewis, Jr. Post Office Building''.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2826) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1000 Avenida Sanchez Osorio in Carolina, Puerto Rico, as the ``Roberto Clemente Walker Post Office Building''.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I am just reminded of one other thing. When Roberto Clemente hit his 3,000th hit, as he reached the base, he stood there and raised his hat to the fans. It is fitting for a man who gave his life helping others that we raise our hats to him. I urge all Members to support the passage of this measure that honors Roberto Clemente. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2826, introduced by the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Acevedo-Vila) designates the U.S. Postal Service facility in Carolina, Puerto Rico, as the Roberto Clemente Walker Post Office Building. Roberto Clemente was one of baseball's greatest heroes, both when he commanded the right fields of baseball stadiums across America, and when he was so giving of his time, energy and resources off the field. Naming this post office in Carolina, his hometown, is a wonderful tribute to a man all of us ought to never forget. This legislation is particularly relevant to my constituents and myself because of Roberto Clemente's great years with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He played all of his 18 major league seasons in Pittsburgh, slugging 240 home runs and exactly 3,000 hits. Clemente remains the Pirates' all-time leader in at-bats and hits. Along with his hitting prowess, Pittsburghers and Pirate fans everywhere remember his cannon of an arm. Number 21 finished his career with 266 assists from the outfield, and won 12 Gold Gloves. And at a time when we may confuse the meaning of hero, he truly fits the definition, showing sacrifice and courage and giving of himself to help others. Beyond the baseball field, Roberto Clemente took seriously his role as a community leader. He was known for his work to bring better lives to disadvantaged children all over the world. And tragically, it was his charitable conduct that led to his death. After relief supplies had failed to be sent to Nicaragua immediately following a devastating earthquake in December 1972, Clemente wanted to see to it himself that essential provisions were delivered. Roberto loaded 16,000 pounds of supplies into a DC-7 aircraft and set off for Nicaragua. The plane, apparently overloaded, crashed just off the coast of his native Puerto Rico on New Year's Eve. Major league baseball honored Roberto Clemente the very next summer by inducting him into Baseball's Hall of Fame. He was the first player ever from Latin America to become a Hall of Famer; and today, Major League Baseball's annual Man of the Year Award is named in Roberto Clemente's honor. After Clemente's death, his eldest son, Roberto, Jr., sought to continue his father's benevolent legacy; and in 1993 he established the Roberto Clemente Foundation, which provides educational and recreational programs for disadvantaged youth in the Pittsburgh area. I want to commend all those involved in the work of the Roberto Clemente Foundation today. Roberto Clemente once said, ``I want to be remembered as a ball player who gave all he had to give.'' Off the field, perhaps more than on, today we remember Roberto Clemente as just that, a man who gave all he had to give. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 2826 that will name this post office after Roberto Clemente, number 21. I thank the gentleman from Puerto Rico for his work on this fitting honor for a baseball great and a great humanitarian. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Davis amendment and, more importantly, for the children of America. We have had school choice in this country as long as we have had schools, and it is called money. If you have enough money you can choose where your children go to school, the family can choose, and without it the choice is made for the child. Unfortunately, students stuck in substandard public schools receive inadequate education. The harsh reality is that the lower the level of an individual's education achievement, the lower their income earning potential will be. Study after study in Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, has shown that given the opportunity to attend better schools, even if only for a few years, children improve their math and reading scores. And in both public and nonpublic schools they both improve when you introduce competition. Increasing a student's educational choices means increasing that student's future job choices. As a psychologist and a person who has spent 25 years working with children, I call upon this Congress to focus on the needs of children. The city is working to fix the problems and I commend the district's local leaders for advocating on behalf of children. However, comprehensive change does not happen overnight and children do not have time to wait. New school administrators, new school board members, new curriculum, more teacher training, takes time and these children do not have time to wait. Every day that goes by with a child stuck in an ineffective school is one day too many. Every day a D.C. parent has to send their children to a poor-performing school is another missed opportunity for those children to get a quality education, and the children do not have time to wait. We have an obligation to these children to provide something that works, while at the same time helping public schools. We believe we would be derelict in our duties as Members of Congress if we continue to make children wait too long.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. MURPHY. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his response. I must add an emphasis on quality research that is going to drive program administrators to use scientifically valid measures. And additionally, when information is disclosed to the local community and parents, it is imperative that the reports depend on quality measures. Finally, let me add, we know that Head Start is not alone among early childhood education programs. The Perry Preschool Project and the Abcedarian Project are two that are frequently quoted in scientific literature, and we need room for innovations that follow research, but accompanying any Head Start help must be sound ways of measuring success.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman, I would like to enter into colloquy with the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Boehner), and I would like to thank him and the gentleman from Delaware (Chairman Castle) for their ongoing generosity in letting me voice my thoughts on this very important piece of legislation. Mr. Chairman, I testified before the Committee on Rules in support of an amendment which the gentleman from Delaware (Chairman Castle) and the administration support, dealing with accepted scientific standards of reliability and validity that will have a very positive impact on Head Start. As a psychologist who has focused my career on dealing with early childhood education, I know the values of these measures. Head Start currently uses a variety of assessment measures, some acceptable and some less reliable, and teachers and parents need good, reliable information for the sake of tracking Head Start successes and providing taxpayers with information on how well this Federal program is functioning. Less reliable tests provide little value in identifying children's needs for further evaluations. They run the risk of misdiagnosing problems and mislabeling children and are more prone to cultural biases. I ask the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), is it his intent to continue to explore this issue?

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2631. Today, about 76 percent of seniors have some form of prescription drug coverage; and less than 2 weeks ago the House passed historical legislation, H.R. 1, to create a prescription drug benefit for our seniors. Mr. Speaker, when we passed H.R. 1, we did not intend to create a new Federal benefit that would replace the prescription drug benefits that many of our seniors today already enjoy. H.R. 1 does contain a number of incentives to employers to maintain their existing level of health care coverage to their senior retirees. But I personally heard from several constituents of mine, retired Federal workers, who are concerned that the Federal Government in an attempt to save money will reduce or eliminate their prescription drug coverage once a benefit is available through Medicare. In passing H.R. 1, we called upon employers to maintain that coverage it offers to retirees, and the Federal Government has an obligation to lead by example and ensure that Federal retirees continue to receive the same prescription drug benefit as current employees. So H.R. 2631 does just that. It is the right thing to do, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my support for the Medicare prescription drug bill that will be considered by the House later this week. In the coming days, we are going to hear a lot of reasons why this bill is so important to our seniors. And, frankly, many of those reasons are correct. This is an important and long-overdue bill. I would like to say that prior to coming to Congress I was honored to serve as a State Senator in Pennsylvania, and there I served as chairman of the Committee on Aging and Youth, where we constantly worked to provide much-needed services for all seniors, but especially low-income seniors in Pennsylvania. I should note that, in Pennsylvania, over 15 percent of our population is age 65 and older. Some of my colleagues might be surprised to learn that only Florida has a higher percentage of seniors age 65 or older. Access to prescription drugs means a lot to Pennsylvania seniors, as it does throughout the Nation; but in Pennsylvania we are fortunate to have a comprehensive State pharmaceutical assistance program that has been in existence since 1984. It is referred to as PACE and also PACENET. For the last 19 years, low-income seniors in Pennsylvania have enjoyed access to affordable prescription drugs funded through the lottery program. Pennsylvania's PACE and PACENET programs currently serve about 220,000 seniors, spending about $500 million a year. It is the second largest program in the Nation. I have spoken to many of my constituents that have used PACE and PACENET over the years, and they have all told me one thing: it is a good program, they trust it, and it makes a huge difference in their lives. Other seniors in Pennsylvania, as well as throughout the Nation, are asking, however, is there something else that can be done to assist them? Even in some small way, given the cost of prescription drugs for so many of them, very often over a thousand dollars a year, they need some assistance. And, Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that we are not just talking about quality-of-life issues. These drugs are often about life and death itself, and this is why this legislation is so incredibly important to our seniors. When I won my election to this House of Representatives, one of my top priorities was to ensure that States with pharmaceutical assistance programs would be protected under this bill. That is extremely important because over a dozen States dedicate funds to provide some level of pharmaceutical assistance for the elderly. It is important for those citizens to know that Congress is working to protect those States that have invested so much. Some of the neighboring States to Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, nearby Connecticut, Florida, so many States have these programs and have invested so much. So seniors are asking us, will we still have some of these benefits, and the answer is yes. I am pleased how closely Pennsylvania's delegation has worked together on this issue, and I particularly appreciate the Chair of the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and Means, the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. Johnson), her guidance, support, and leadership on this issue. This legislation will fully integrate PACE and PACENET for Pennsylvania and other State pharmaceutical assistance programs into the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. This means that for low-income seniors in Pennsylvania they will continue to enroll in and benefit from PACE and PACENET even if they have a choice of other plans to participate in. It gives PACE and PACENET the opportunity to continue to wrap around those programs and make sure that low-income seniors can continue to benefit from them. It also creates a commission so that PACE, PACENET, and Medicare are integrated into a single seamless benefit. Pennsylvania will have a seat on that commission, ensuring minimal disruption for PACE and PACENET beneficiaries. Let us not forget that when people are in their 70s, 80s, and 90s, the last thing they need to juggle is how to deal with prescription drug benefits. They need a single seamless entity, whether it is a magnetic card they can swipe or whatever. The pharmacist and the physician will know what that senior's coverage is and will be able to help them in the simplest possible way to make sure they have access to that coverage. For Pennsylvania, an integrated benefit means Medicare will share a significant portion of PACE and PACENET drug costs, and this freezes up additional funding for PACE and PACENET, possibly some $200 million a year. So the General Assembly can both shore up the financing of those programs in Pennsylvania as well as expand eligibility into higher- income levels, good news to many seniors, who up to this point have been paying out of pocket or trying to pay for other insurance policies. But this bill is not just good for Pennsylvania citizens; it is good for all of our seniors. I would like to focus on another important aspect of this bill. Our seniors cannot afford to wait any longer. We in Congress must act to create a Medicare prescription drug benefit because seniors should never have to choose between food and drugs. The unfortunate truth is that seniors without drug coverage are more likely to skip doses or go without filling a prescription. According to a 2002 study of seniors in eight States, among those with serious health problems, such as congestive heart failure and diabetes, one-third of those who lacked drug coverage reported skipping dosages in order to make their prescriptions last longer. What this means is that rather than controlling their diseases, they are more likely to end up in the hospital for expensive procedures. In addition, access to newer prescription drugs has been shown to lower spending on other services, such as hospital care, due to fewer inpatient stays. Prescription drug coverage just makes sense. And if a senior does not take their medication, they are more likely to fall ill and end up in the hospital. I fully expect over the next couple of days that, despite people calling for bipartisan cooperation, which sometimes, unfortunately, are just words in this town, people will try to poke holes in this bill. They will say it does not cover enough; it is not all things to all people. Mr. Speaker, I do not think there is a single piece of legislation that ever comes out of this assembly that everybody agrees on all portions of. But seniors have been asking for help, and it is important to them that we say help is on the way. It is time to dedicate our energies not just to rhetoric and partisan politics to use this as a mechanism to attack each other. Because seniors see right through this. One elderly gentleman told me, my eyes may be failing, but sometimes we are not as dumb as you think we are. We know what is going on, and we need help and we need it now. So it is important we pass this bill. It is 2003, and seniors deserve comprehensive insurance coverage that includes prescription drugs. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this bill later this week. It is important, it is necessary, and it is critical we do it now. I thank my colleague.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to add one other thing to this discussion, that is, many a small business owner has a lot of money tied up in assets, but very little in cash by comparisons. They will spend perhaps hundreds of thousands a year paying for insurance, lawyers' fees and accountants to make sure that upon their death, the insurance picks up the tab. This money that they spend each year could be spent on employees' wages and benefits and expanding their businesses. Some of the smaller farmers do not have the money to pay for this. I just want to make sure that we keep that in perspective, that there is a lot of money that is spent every year by small businesses that otherwise could be going to help employees. Insurance is what pays it anyway, and that is not the way we should be thinking about it. They should be thinking about ways to keep the money in their business now and after their death so they can continue to have people employed.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge an exceptional young man from Claysville, Pennsylvania, in my district. Mr. Justin Seaman has recently distinguished himself and has earned several honors as a talented and successful film producer and writer. Justin owns and manages his own film company, Nevermore Production, which has produced two movies that earned tremendous accolades for their powerful themes and serious messages. And while others have won awards for such accomplishments, what is unique about Justin, however, is the fact that he is still in high school. In fact, his projects have struck a chord with his friends and fellow teens, so much so that Justin has enlisted the support of many fellow students at McGuffey High School in producing his work. Films, like one Justin produced about the catastrophic consequences of drinking and driving are changing lives for the better. Using art, Justin is making a real difference in our community. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to take this opportunity to recognize the example one great young man is setting for teens across Southwestern Pennsylvania. Too often when we in Congress talk about teens, we focus on the negative influences affecting them today: drug addiction, alcohol abuse, teen pregnancies, and on and on. But young men like Justin Seaman are standing up for a generation. They are determined to set the right example and to do it with style. We ought to stop and recognize the positive influences of these young leaders more often in America. Our country is a far better place for being home to such inspiring and responsible young adults as Justin. Justin's accomplishments have been recognized on a National level. Just last week he was invited to the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts along with hundreds of his peers from across the nation for special recognition. His recognitions include the Robert Morris College TVT Award of Excellence, the Critics Award for Excellence in acting, four national honors at the Scholastic Inc. Art & Writing competition, one gold award for a personal essay, ``A Guarantee in Life'' and last, but not least, a silver award as well as the American Visions award for his mixed media entry in Scholastic Inc.'s national competition. Justin's list of honors and awards confirms his dedication to furthering excellence in the arts and has rightfully earned him recognition as a leader in the competitive performing arts arena. Justin desires to direct films one day in hopes of reaching the caliber of renowned director, Wes Craven. This coming senior year, Justin has already lined up five films to produce. I have no doubt that Justin's ambition, drive and devotion to the arts will prove fruitful as he continues to pursue his dream of making films. I wish him the best of luck and all the success that his efforts award him and I thank him for being a true role model for teens everywhere across our country.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate one of my constituents, Michael Weiss, for his work as national chairman of the Board of the American Diabetes Association. I am proud of his commitment to the local Pittsburgh community and his leadership at the national level. His efforts are helping to improve the lives of millions of Americans who are impacted by diabetes. Michael Weiss is an attorney in Pittsburgh and has been an active volunteer for the American Diabetes Association at the local, State, and national level. He will be completing his term as the ADA's national Chair of the Board next week at the ADA's Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions in New Orleans. Michael's tireless efforts have earned him the distinguished Charles H. Best Medal of Service. Named for Dr. Best, the cofounder of insulin, this award recognizes meritorious service on behalf of the Association of Americans with Diabetes. An active participant in many civic and community organizations, Michael Weiss lives in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Gerri. I am sure that Gerri and their two children, Melissa and Douglas, will join me in offering sincere congratulations to Michael for his great work as the national chairman of the ADA. He is a credit to our community, and we are proud of and thankful for all that he has done to improve the lives of those with diabetes.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for allowing me to speak on this important amendment that will motivate Federal workers to perform at their true potential. In January, the National Commission on the Public Service, chaired by Paul Volcker, issued a report stating the current civil service system ``makes few distinctions between hard-working high-achievers and indifferent nonachievers.'' A recent OPM study found the current performance evaluation for the Senior Executive Service ``is merely a rubber stamp and not a measure of, nor an incentive to, performance.'' And a recent Center for Public Service survey of Federal employees found the average estimate of the number of poor performers in their midst was about 25 percent. These results are typical of the conclusions reached by other studies conducted to evaluate the status of the Federal civil service. The true value of the individual Federal worker is lost beneath the layers of rigidity in a decades-old architecture of pay and classification. We must not underestimate the value of rewarding our hard-working Federal employees. The amendment offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Tom Davis) which has the strong support of the President represents a major step in the direction of adequately acknowledging these contributions. I urge Members to support this amendment.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Burns) for putting together this legislation which actually is extremely important. I know I have seen in my own practice as a psychologist the importance of helping to make sure that children get to the right professionals and that there is not coercion or threat that goes to the families. I want to take a few moments, first of all, to lay out with regard to this bill the issues involved with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, an often misunderstood and often maligned diagnosis that because of that lends itself to prejudicial comments as certainly the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy) was also alluding to. Attention deficit disorder has a number of diagnostic criteria which are laid out in what is called the ``Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.'' They include categories of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Because psychiatric and psychological symptoms are described in behavioral terms they oftentimes seem vague and only behavioral. For example, under the inattention category, it might mean a person who fails to give close attention to details or has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly or does not follow through on instructions to finish school work, et cetera; often has difficulty organizing tasks and activities or avoids or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort. When one just hears some of those symptoms, one may think that those could cover a wide range of behaviors that may not necessarily reach a diagnosis that requires medication, and there is something to that. That is why it is so very important when there is a concern raised about a child's symptom picture perhaps fitting the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder that that child be thoroughly evaluated by perhaps a team of professionals psychiatrists, psychologists, people who are trained to do this, but not simply referred on the basis of this child is difficult in the classroom. And let me lay out why. In terms of attention behaviors, we look upon this as a primary, secondary, and tertiary diagnosis. A primary attention deficit disorder is one where a child actually has the symptom pictures of attention disorder related to the biological and in some cases some inherited factors for that, but it is pretty clearly in that category. They meet the diagnostic criteria. Secondary attention deficit disorder is when the child may have the same problems with concentration and attention and getting their work done, but it is secondary to some other problems. For example, a child may have an anxiety disorder. They may be suffering from depression. They may have sensory problems. I have known children who were referred to me for attention disorder only to find out they needed glasses or they had a subtle hearing loss. They may be having social problems, cultural problems, as they are moving from one school district to another and have a great deal of difficulty. They may have speech and communication problems where they have trouble understanding the teacher. And yet those children's symptom picture can look similar. They are not paying attention, not concentrating, they are not getting their work done, they are agitated and hyperactive. It is important that those other problems are diagnosed clearly and those are treated and those are not the children who should be given medication. A third type is a tertiary problem, and this is not the problem with the child so much as it is a problem with expectations. That is, people may expect a pre-school child to sit still. People may expect a teenager to concentrate and not daydream. We know anybody with any rudimentary knowledge of having children knows that those are not realistic expectations, and yet there are those sometimes who feel that children who are out of sync with their expectations will somehow require medication, and that is inappropriate. These diagnostic criteria, I should also add, in the testimony that was given to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, there were some who raised the question of whether or not this was biological. I draw some attention to some research that was done, I believe, in 1990 where they did Positron Emission Tomography. That is, they could look at the activity in the brains of people who were identified with attention disorder and those who were not and found in those who had a diagnosis of attention disorder, their brain activity was somewhat lower. That is not to mean that they had brain damage. It simply meant by looking at levels of brain activity, they found that those parts of the brain that generally control impulses and thought, that is, the frontal lobe, et cetera, were not as active as those in people who did not have attention disorder. That lent a great deal to the science of understanding attention disorder because all along before that we thought that the brains were overstimulated and it may actually be they were undercontrolled in some regions. This of course also lends credence to why sometimes one may use medication. The medications used, such as Ritalin or Adderall or Dexedrine, are stimulant medications; and we for many years wondered about this paradoxical effect of why would you give a stimulant medication to actually slow someone down. And the point is that it appears to stimulate those portions of the brain. Basically, sometimes a layman can understand that if they feel tired and groggy and overwhelmed and they are having trouble staying alert and staying focused, sometimes a person, as they are driving down the road, will be overactive. But the point is this: What I am trying to lay out here is the complexity of this. Let me end with this one anecdote. When I was practicing as a psychologist, I received a call to evaluate a child, and did so. Then, calling back to the school district, said this child does not appear to have primary attention disorder. I think there were some other issues here, but not that. I was told then by the referring source in the school district, put this child on Ritalin, or we will never refer another child to your practice again. I challenged that person on that immediately and said I need to go by what I believe an appropriate diagnostic criteria is and suggested they withdraw that threat. But that is the very reason why we need legislation like this, to say this is not something that should be done to control children. This should be something that is done to help do the best thing in the child's best interest with the best people involved using the appropriate diagnostic criteria. This is a positive thing for children and ultimately a positive thing for families, and I certainly implore my colleagues vote yes on this bill.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 178) honoring the life and work of former Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Matthew J. Ryan and offering the deepest condolences of the United States House of Representatives to his wife and family on his death.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 178, introduced by my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), honors the life and work of former Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Matthew J. Ryan and offers the deepest condolences of the United States House of Representatives to his wife and family on his death. Mr. Speaker, Matthew Ryan was one of the most influential public servants in the great State of Pennsylvania for more than 20 years. After winning his first term to the State House in 1981, he ultimately rose to the level of Speaker where he served the longest tenure as House Speaker of any Republican in Pennsylvania history. Speaker Ryan was a well-regarded member of the Pennsylvania State House, largely due to his close relations with all representatives of both parties. Current Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell, a Democrat, kindly spoke to Speaker Ryan's effectiveness and affability, saying that he consistently provided ``strong and effective leadership without resorting to destructive partisanship.'' Governor Tom Ridge, who is now the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, often spoke in affectionate terms of the positive working relationship he had with Speaker Ryan; and similarly, Governor Mark Schweiker, who followed Governor Ridge, talked of Matt Ryan in the most endearing of terms. Longtime Delaware County GOP Chairman Thomas Judge, Sr. has said, ``You couldn't get mad at him. He was just an individual who would say he would disagree with you, and he certainly would give his viewpoint, but when you left the room, you were friends. He never held a grudge.'' Because of this respect, Speaker Ryan's colleagues in the legislature honored him by rededicating the Capitol Annex in Harrisburg as the Matthew J. Ryan Legislative Office Building. Luckily, they could do that before Matt Ryan passed away so he could see his name on that building. Matt Ryan, sadly, passed away on March 29, 2003, after a long battle with stomach cancer. He is survived by his wife, Delaware County Judge Patricia H. Jenkins; five children, Matt, Jr., Maureen, Katie, Terry and Jayne, and 12 grandchildren. As the resolution states, we offer each of them the condolences of this House and the reassurance that Matthew J. Ryan will never be forgotten. Therefore, I urge all members to support the adoption of House Resolution 178 that honors the career and life of Matthew J. Ryan; and I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) for introducing this important measure. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MURPHY

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 985, introduced by my distinguished colleague from the State of Ohio (Mr. Gillmor), designates the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 111 West Washington Street in Bowling Green, Ohio, as the Delbert L. Latta Post Office Building. Mr. Speaker, this is a special day for this House as we have a chance here to honor one of our own former Members. U.S. Representative Delbert Latta, or Del, as he was affectionately known, worked 30 years for the people of the great State of Ohio's fifth district. He was one of the House's most devoted Members, and I am proud to be a part of these proceedings to honor him today. Del grew up in northwest Ohio before serving our country in the Ohio National Guard and Marine Corps Reserve. After graduating from Ohio Northern University's law school in 1943, Del Latta began to practice law in Bowling Green. Ten years later, he sought and won a seat in the Ohio State senate, to which he was reelected two times. Finally, in November of 1958, Del Latta was elected to the 86th Congress, beginning a career where he spent most of his time fighting for fiscal prudence. Not known as one of this body's most attention-seeking Members, Congressman Latta was definitely one of its most diligent. He held pivotal seats on the Committee on Rules, the Committee on Agriculture, and the Committee on the Budget during his time in the House. In 1975, he became the ranking member of the Committee on the Budget, a post he held for 13 years until his retirement. In that position, Del Latta played an important role by consistently fighting for budget-balancing measures and against wasteful government spending. He was the dean of his home State of Ohio's congressional delegation when he chose to not seek reelection in 1988, and he returned home to Bowling Green. In addition, perhaps the most suitable aspects of renaming this post office building after Congressman Latta is the fact that this very facility once housed Congressman Latta's district office in Bowling Green. Therefore, I urge all Members to recognize the public service career of former Ohio Congressman Del Latta by supporting the passage of H.R. 985. I thank my colleague from Ohio for introducing this important measure. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Gillmor), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers on this issue, and I want to again thank the gentleman from Ohio for introducing this important legislation. I urge all Members to support the adoption of this measure. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MURPHY. 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. 985.