Marc Veasey

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to stand with Lupe. That is Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez. Sheriff Lupe Valdez has a great history in Dallas County, but recently she has come under attack from our Governor for trying to build relationships between the law enforcement community and the immigrant community. Governor Abbott sent a threatening letter to Sheriff Valdez, questioning her decision to decline certain Federal ICE detainers when the immigrant in question is not a public safety risk--not a public safety risk. Sheriff Valdez understands that, in order to serve and protect the immigrant community, she must have the trust of that community. I call on Governor Abbott, instead of trying to erode that trust between law enforcement and the immigrant community, to work with the Republican Texas delegation to push for comprehensive immigration reform, to push for the things that the business community wants, that the church community wants, in order to do something about our broken immigration system instead of trying to push for things like sanctuary city bills. If we work together with the immigrant community and do the right thing, together we can work on solving a lot of these issues. I ask my colleagues and the Governor to stand with Lupe and to do the right thing when it comes to Texas immigrants.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize REAL School Gardens, an organization that works in over 40 elementary schools in my district, building gardens that engage the curiosity of students through STEM education. As a member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, I am proud of the work that REAL School Gardens has done in creating a pipeline, a STEM pipeline, in Texas that increases hands-on learning for all the students, including more than 100,000 students as of this year. Additionally, REAL School Gardens has become a great equalizer for many students in the Grand Prairie, Dallas, Arlington, and Fort Worth Independent School Districts who have limited access to learning resources. On November 14, 2015, REAL School Gardens will break ground to create its 100th garden in partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market. I congratulate REAL School Gardens on this achievement and for their work in engaging the minds of our youngest members in the community.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the faculty, staff, and students of Trinidad Garza Early College High School at Mountain View for being named a 2015 National Blue Ribbon School. For the last 33 years, the Department of Education has recognized superior schools for their academic achievement, their progress in closing achievement gaps, and for demonstrating that all students can achieve high levels of success. Nominated by top education officials in Texas, Trini Garza is one of 335 schools across the country being recognized as a 2015 Blue Ribbon School and one of 28 such schools in the great State of Texas. As a dual-degree school, Trinity Garza has made it a priority to make students college ready, life ready, and career ready. I am proud to represent a school that has truly excelled since opening in 2006. Trini Garza, along with 334 other schools, will be recognized at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on November 9 and 10. I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Trini Garza Early College High School on this important accomplishment.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Absolutely. When I graduated from college, paying back my student loans was very, very difficult. And I will tell you that one of the things that I lucked into when I was still in my twenties was that I became a congressional aide. I worked for a Member of Congress. And there was a student loan program for young people that worked on Capitol Hill for them to be able to have some of their student loan debt repaid. Had it not been for that, I don't know what I would have done because the student debt was eating into my discretionary income. Again, we want young people to contribute to our economy. We want young people to go and buy that car that they couldn't afford in college. We want young people to start a family, buy a home. I mean, the American Dream is being able to start a family and buy that home and be able to raise your kids in that home and be able to provide for your family. But, unfortunately, more and more of our young people are saying, ``You know what. I am going to put off getting married. I am going to put off buying that home. I am going to put off putting money into our local economy. I am going to not buy so much for Christmas for my siblings and my parents and other people. I can't afford to because I have thousands and thousands of dollars' worth of student debt.'' We have to figure out some way to do something about this, Representative Swalwell, or we are going to have an entire generation of young people that just has absolutely nowhere to turn.

Mr. VEASEY. Thank you, Representative Swalwell. I appreciate that.

Mr. VEASEY. Congressman Swalwell, thank you very much. I really appreciate your leadership on Future Forum and bringing up important issues like student debt. It is a real issue that so many of our young people struggle with when they graduate from college. In one of the articles that I was reading about student debt, a national magazine put some Instagram photos up of young people and the problems and the issues that they have with student debt. Some of the kids put up some really creative things. One of the graduating students, on their graduating hat, instead of ``Game of Thrones,'' it said ``Game of Loans.'' Another sign that I saw at one of the college graduations said, ``I will soon be joining millions of other young people that are graduating from college, and I will be consumed with thousands of dollars in debt.'' But while these Instagram photos are cute and funny and I am sure are a way for young people to take their minds off of what is going to be facing them in thousands of dollars of debt, we know that this is a very serious issue. Our young people that are graduating from college are putting off buying a house. They are putting off buying that new car. Those sorts of things play a role in how well our economy does. And I think, more importantly, you hear a lot of young people that are graduating from college saying that they are putting off starting a family. That is one of the most important things that we do as young people as we graduate from college and make our way into the world, is that we start that next generation. And in order for us to start that next generation with confidence, kids need to know that when they graduate from college, they are not going to be burdened with all of this debt. We know that college is becoming less and less affordable each day, and it negatively impacts the lives of thousands of Americans across our great Nation, including many of the constituents that I represent in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Right now we have about 40 million young people in this country that have over $1.3 trillion in debt. In the State of Texas, the average debt per student is over $25,000, with over 70 percent of bachelor's degree recipients graduating with a student loan. About 16 percent of students in Texas have defaulted on their loans. These numbers can easily create an economic crisis for an entire generation. While the cost of higher education continues to rise, grants are not going up on the same per-student basis. We have seen the Federal Pell Grant funding levels remain stagnant despite House Democrats urging Republicans to do something, to step in and help these kids, and let's increase Pell Grant funding levels. But we have seen absolutely no action from the Republicans on this. Mr. Speaker and Congressman Swalwell, I think it is important that we do work together on commonsense proposals that provide grants to the most needy and to make Federal loans affordable so that young people can obtain a degree, contribute to our economy, and keep our country going strong without the burden of insurmountable student debt.

Mr. VEASEY. Yes. I have absolutely heard so many stories like that. And it is really interesting. I think, when we are all in our twenties, we never think that we are going to get older. I have been working in politics now since I have been in my twenties, starting off as a congressional aide and spending 8 years in Texas State Legislature and now as a Member of Congress. When you meet kids that are in their teens, kids that are in their twenties, they never ask you about Social Security. They don't ask you much about what is going on with the national defense. And, for years, I can tell you that young people in their teens and twenties never asked me a lot of questions, as an elected official, about many of the issues that affect our country. Most of the questions that I would get from individuals were usually from people that were baby boomers and older that were concerned about Social Security, concerned about the high cost of food or goods or whatever it may happen to be. But let me tell you something. For young people in this country, this issue is getting their attention, not being able to pay back their student debt. And I can tell you that, when I am at townhall meetings, when I am out doing the different events throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, the one issue that young people come to me about--and I know that, if someone is in their twenties or early thirties and they are approaching me about an issue, it is probably going to be about student debt. It has really galvanized them like I have never seen before. Again, they are going to social media like some of the examples that I have talked with you about earlier. They are going to social media. They are going to Instagram and Facebook, talking about student debt, begging the Congress to do something about providing more grants. Again, we want our country to be well-educated. That is how we are going to be able to compete with the rest of the world. But guess what. More and more young people are hearing, you know, ``Why go to college? Why go to college and be burdened with student debt?'' And guess what. If more and more young people hear that, it is going to make us less competitive in the world at a time where we need to be more competitive in all sectors, whether it is in technology, whether it is in manufacturing. We need an educated workforce. I can tell you that young people are being discouraged because of a lack of action specifically, really, by Republicans in Congress. So we have to keep raising this issue.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a dedicated Fort Worth community leader, Erma Johnson Hadley, who passed away last week after a very long battle with cancer. Mrs. Hadley was born in Leggett, Texas, where she graduated from high school in 1959 and became the first Black woman from Leggett to attend college. Mrs. Hadley attended Prairie View A&M University. When she finished her career teaching in high school, she came to Tarrant County College, where she served in a variety of different roles, including vice chancellor, and was ultimately named the interim chancellor and chancellor in 2010 of the Tarrant County College system. Chancellor Hadley was known for her passion for ensuring accessible and affordable education for students in Tarrant County. I will never forget Mrs. Erma Johnson Hadley telling me a story about how while all kids are not necessarily gifted equally, all kids that put their mind to it, if their parents work with them, can get a good education and make something of themselves. Mrs. Hadley believed in each and every student that attended Tarrant County College, and I know that the campus and the students are going to continue to benefit from her legacy and her belief in them. She is survived by her husband, Bill Hadley; Ardenia Johnson Gould, who is her daughter; and Spencer Gould, her son-in-law; and a grandchild.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, while I voted ``no'' on rollcall vote 532, I intended to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a very important issue that continues to trouble the American people, and that is the Republican obsession of denying a woman and families' access to certain healthcare services like birth control. Republicans' outdated views on family planning do nothing to empower women and nothing for families in their success in the 21st century. The latest round in the Republicans' battle against women's access to health care is, yet again, an attempt to eliminate Federal funding for Planned Parenthood. This debate has been riddled with lies and deliberate misinformation designed to shock the American people, while needlessly demonizing one of the Nation's leading women's healthcare providers. Mr. Speaker, I think it is time that we talk about a few things and clear up some issues and talk about the facts in this. Since its inception, Planned Parenthood has empowered millions of women nationwide by providing affordable access to contraception. Cutting off funding would cripple Planned Parenthood's ability to provide this crucial service for our Nation's women. The two primary sources of Federal funding for Planned Parenthood come from two programs, Medicaid and Title X Family Planning. These programs were created as a safety net to provide low-income individuals with access to critical medical services that they would otherwise be forced to forego due to their high cost, such as birth control. Together, these programs account for over 40 percent of Planned Parenthood's operating budget. Stripping these dollars would severely decrease Planned Parenthood's ability to provide care for 2.7 million people that they serve every year. Let me tell you what this means. This means millions of the Nation's poor women would not only be at risk of losing affordable contraceptive services and counseling, but also their access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, as well as testing and treatment for STDs. It is important to understand that, for those who are uninsured, this is the only way to get this lifesaving care. This would mean 400,000 fewer pap smears for women, 500,000 fewer breast exams, and 4.5 million fewer STD tests and treatments nationwide. Let me be clear. It is not just Democrats' districts that will be affected. If you go outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, these smaller cities and suburban areas and rural areas, those are Republican districts; they have low-income women, and they will be cut off from this funding and this treatment. All this is at risk because of Republicans' objections to Planned Parenthood providing safe and legal access to abortions. This is less than 3 percent of what this organization does. In accordance with Federal law, no Federal funds go to cover abortion services. Another faulty argument made by Republicans is that the Nation's community healthcare centers could absorb the work that Planned Parenthood currently does. I love community health centers, and I appreciate the work that they do because they really do serve the underserved, but the idea that these facilities would be able to provide adequate services to nearly 3 million additional people who would suddenly be without care is simply unimaginable. Community health centers rely on other sources for affordable care to alleviate the strains of residents' needs, sources like Planned Parenthood. This is not imagined. I have seen it in the State of Texas. I have visited community healthcare centers in the district that I serve, and they are very overwhelmed as a result of the void for healthcare services purposely created by the Republican State legislature. One of the things you always hear Republicans hollering about is how much they want to save taxpayers money. Let me tell you something. What happened in my State of Texas in 2012, Governor Rick Perry and the Republican State legislature banned Planned Parenthood from participating in the Medicaid Women's Health Program, a joint initiative that saved Texas millions of dollars in Medicaid prenatal and delivery costs through the prevention of unplanned pregnancies. Today, 30,000 fewer women are receiving that care, Medicaid claims are down by 26 percent, and Texas taxpayers are now paying the full price to support the State's community health centers. Republicans wasted lots of money. Where does that leave us today? I will tell you a lot of these antiabortion groups and their political allies have created this partisan debate by releasing a series of deceitfully edited ``undercover'' videos casting Planned Parenthood in a negative light. Let me tell you that these videos are a sham; they are lies, and they do absolutely nothing to help increase access to the critical services that Planned Parenthood provides for women. Documents and testimony submitted to the Energy and Commerce Committee during a wasteful and unnecessary investigation show that absolutely no evidence exists to substantiate claims that Planned Parenthood violated the law in any way. In fact, their fetal tissue donation program is not only compliant with Federal law, but goes well beyond the law's requirements. Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to cease their fruitless fight against birth control--because we know that this is really what this is all about--and Planned Parenthood and women's health and get to the job of governing. We all want women to have access to the health care they need to stay healthy for their family because, let me tell you, in my family and in families around the country, that if mom is not healthy, the rest of the family is not healthy. That is why I choose to put people before politics and stand with women, families, and all the people of Texas and America in my support of Planned Parenthood.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my Republican colleagues to please don't shut down the government. Let's work together. Let's put politics aside and do what is best for the American people. By the end of this month, we are expected to negotiate a responsible budget agreement, but threats from the rightwing extremists are taking us off course once again. I recently wrote an op-ed challenging Republican threats to women's healthcare coverage, as I refuse to stand on the sidelines when our country's daughters, sisters, and mothers are under attack. Instead of, once again, holding women's health care hostage in order to pass a biased agenda, we need to come together to pass a responsible, bipartisan budget to address our Nation's most pressing problems. Now, residents in the Dallas/Fort Worth area are concerned about getting some congestion off of our freeways and doing things like making sure that the American public has good, well-paying jobs and protecting our businesses. They want us to pass a balanced and responsible budget that averts another government shutdown. We cannot expect to repeat the same mistakes and think that it is going to yield different results. The American people are counting on us to focus on what matters: jobs, education, and fixing our country's crumbling infrastructure.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Fourteen years ago, our Nation faced an unparalleled tragedy that forever changed us. Today our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims that perished in these attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania on September 11. We mourn with the families of the victims and continue to thank the selfless first responders who rushed to aid those in danger, even if it meant risking their own lives. As we remember the lives that were lost that day, we must also commemorate the brave men and women of our armed services who have lost their lives trying to protect us from the dangers we still face today. Today we must stand as more than just Democrats and Republicans but, rather, together, as Americans, who will work to ensure that our Nation never faces an attack like that ever again.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 50th celebration of the Diez y Seis parade in my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. In 1965, Juanita Salinas and Pauline Valenciano both recognized that Fort Worth did not have a public celebration for Mexico's Independence Day. Together, the organization that they worked with began organizing the parade as a way to celebrate this important event for the Latin American community. For the last five decades, their work has grown--and the celebration has, too--into one of the largest in the country for Hispanic heritage events. The hard work by the committee will be seen during this year's parade on September 12, which also will serve as the kickoff for National Hispanic Heritage Month. I want to personally thank Juanita and her committee for their continued commitment to the Hispanic community in Fort Worth. I wish them their best on this 50th year.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the instrumental work of the Progressive National Baptist Convention to protect the right to vote as they host their annual session from August 2 through 7, 2015 in Dallas, Texas. At its annual session, the Progressive National Baptist Convention calls on its current members to protect the right that its founding members fought to earn: the right to vote. Today, on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the right to the ballot box is once again challenged and the foot soldiers fighting to protect against the disenfranchisement of vulnerable populations are more necessary than ever. Since its Civil Rights era founding in 1961, the Progressive National Baptist Convention has fought to improve the conditions of the African American community at large. The Progressive National Baptist Convention was the denominational home and platform for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as its founding leaders worked to unite Baptist faith communities across the country to further the socio-economic liberation of African Americans in the United States. The founding principles of fellowship, progress, service and peace continue to guide its membership as they now apply the cornerstones of their organization to advocate for full voter registration and participation. In the last two years the Supreme Court weakened key components of the original Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing state legislatures nationwide to actively create and implement voter ID laws meant to keep African Americans, Latinos and other traditionally disenfranchised communities away from the ballot box. On the heels of the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the Progressive National Baptist Convention continues to be a vital Baptist denomination with an estimated membership of 2.5 million actively working to give full voice, leadership and active support to the black community, America, and ultimately the universal fight for human freedom. Today, the Progressive National Baptist Convention calls on its nationwide membership to fight in the name of voter empowerment and restoration of voting protections for all Americans. In my home state of Texas, one of the battlegrounds for the modern struggle to protect the right to vote, the Progressive National Baptist Convention will galvanize member churches across the country to work to end voter intimidation, voting suppression, and suspicious practices. Additionally, the Progressive National Baptist Convention will embark upon a nationwide voter registration campaign with a special focus on the communities targeted by voting discrimination. In honor of the great civil rights tradition that the Progressive National Baptist Convention continues, and in recognition of its status as an active advocate organization for the African American community and disenfranchised communities everywhere, this statement will be entered on Tuesday, September 8, 2015.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I be removed as a cosponsor from H.R. 3412.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Pratt & Whitney on its recent milestone of having been incorporated for over 90 years. This is truly a remarkable achievement. I am proud to represent the employees of Pratt & Whitney's Dallas Airfoil Repair Operations facility in the city of Grand Prairie, and I am very proud to have those manufacturing jobs there. I am very proud that aviation has come a long way since Pratt & Whitney's development of the air-cooled Wasp engine in 1925. Its passion for excellence continues today as it produces the engine for the revolutionary F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The technological advancements in aviation that Pratt & Whitney have developed over the last 90 years have helped make our Nation stronger, and they have kept our men and women in uniform safer. Congratulations on 90 years of service.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the life and legacy of a very inspirational Grand Prairie resident from the Dalworth community, Ms. Tommie Williams. Ms. Williams worked as an educator in several capacities next-door in the Arlington Independent School District. She served as a first, third, and seventh grade teacher, a basketball coach, a cheerleading sponsor, and vice president of curriculum at Sam Houston High School. In addition, Ms. Williams was the first African American administrator and the first parent to serve as a community ombudsman in the Arlington Independent School District. In honor of her outstanding service and education, the Tommie B. Williams Elementary School in Arlington was dedicated in her honor in 1991. Although we lost a great educator in the Arlington Independent School District and many in the Dalworth community lost a great neighbor, her friends, the students that she taught, the parents, the faculty will always remember her passion and her belief in a brighter future for our youngest members of society.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the approaching 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and talk about the importance of restoring the Voting Rights Act as well. For decades, the Voting Rights Act has stood as the guardian for all Americans to exercise their right to vote. But 2 years ago, the Supreme Court reversed course on expanding voting rights when it ruled that section 4 of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional. Just hours after that ruling, my home State of Texas immediately began enforcing discriminatory laws against minority citizens from voting. I sued the State to fight these unconstitutional efforts in Veasey v. Perry, which the United States district court agreed that Rick Perry, then the Governor of Texas, signed an intentionally discriminatory Texas voter photo ID law. It was under Perry's watch as Governor of Texas that the State legislature passed the most egregious voter ID law in the entire country. Mr. Speaker, as we await the decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Veasey v. Perry, House Democrats will continue to fight against obstacles to voter participation and talk about the importance of restoring the Voting Rights Act. As you can tell by what is going on in Texas, it needs to be done now.

Mr. VEASEY

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of one of the great leaders that stood tall here in Washington, D.C., and back home in Texas, James ``Jim'' Claude Wright, Jr., who passed away recently, back in May, at the age of 92. And, Mr. Speaker, I am sad to announce that his wife Betty just died on July 15, just last week. So the family has been through a lot. We have a lot of really nice stories to tell about Speaker Wright and how he has influenced so many people. I want to begin by yielding to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), our minority whip.

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman from the 30th District, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson, for her very kind words about Speaker Wright. He was very fond of you and appreciated your leadership in an area that he excelled in, which was transportation. I just want to thank you for your kind words. Now, I would like to recognize from Houston, Texas, the distinguished gentlewoman, Sheila Jackson Lee, who would also like to have a few words about Speaker Jim Wright. So many Texans that served with Jim Wright and those who didn't have the opportunity to serve with him really appreciated his style and everything that he stood for. He was such a statesman. You can tell how his influence was felt because so many individuals like Sheila, so many other people that knew the Speaker reached out to me after his death and wanted to send condolences to his friends and his family, and she was just thankful that he was so influential in Sheila Jackson Lee's life as well. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Houston, Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize, from the 30th Congressional District in Texas, the gentlewoman from Dallas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who also was very well acquainted and was a good friend of Speaker Wright's and has some great stories about things that she shared with Speaker Wright over the years. Now, I would like to welcome and yield to the gentlewoman from the 30th Congressional District from Dallas, Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).

Mr. VEASEY. Leader Pelosi, I appreciate those kind words about Speaker Wright, and I know that his family will appreciate everything that you have to share. Thank you so much. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Hoyer, I thank you very much. I appreciate those very kind words about Speaker Wright, and everyone in Fort Worth and the metroplex will appreciate those kind words as well. I also would like to recognize Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She is another Member of Congress who also served with Speaker Wright, someone that she was also very fond of. She had the opportunity to talk with Speaker Wright a couple of years before his passing when she was down in Fort Worth. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi).

Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Houston, Sheila Jackson Lee, for sharing so many great stories and fond memories of Speaker Jim Wright. I would like to add a few words of my own. Jim Wright was very influential to me. When I was elected into the State legislature in 2004 was when I really started to get to know him well. I had known him previous to that when I was an aide for United States Congressman Martin Frost, who was also from Fort Worth. Once I got into the State legislature, I got to know him even more, and I realized very quickly what a great storyteller he was. Speaker Wright had some amazing stories from people that he had met over the years, people that influenced him in his life. So many people always wonder how he became the great orator that he was. There were so many stories that I heard early on about before the House had C-SPAN--now, we can watch coverage of the House of Representatives 24 hours a day, thanks to technology--but Speaker Wright was such a great orator that, before C-SPAN came into effect, you heard stories about staffers coming to fill the galleries so they could come and hear this man from Fort Worth, Texas, come in and give speeches because they were so amazing. I asked him: How did you become the great orator that you were when you were in the U.S. House of Representatives and that you still are today? Even, unfortunately, with the oral cancer that he had--his speech had been hampered, but it was still amazing, the wisdom and the knowledge that he shared. As you have heard from so many speakers tonight, boxing was a very important part of life. He loved boxing. It was something that he watched over the years. When he was growing up in Weatherford, Texas, that was one of the ways how young boys and men distinguished themselves, was their boxing skills on the street. He told me that, one day, his dad told him that while it was great that he was able to distinguish himself with his fists through boxing, that if he really wanted to improve himself and improve his lot in life, that he would learn how to be a great orator, that he would learn what the anatomy of a great speech was all about; so Jim Wright, at a very early age, decided that he was going to learn how he could become a better speaker, and there are so many stories like that. I went to his office right before I was sworn in, in 2012, and I asked him to just share some of that wisdom with me as an incoming new Member of Congress. He told me so many stories that day. One of them related to boxing. Many of you know Larry Hagman from ``I Dream of Jeannie'' and from the TV series ``Dallas.'' Some of you may know that Larry Hagman's mother is Mary Martin of Peter Pan fame. Mary Martin was actually from Weatherford, Texas, and she knew Jim Wright and knew Speaker Wright's family. I said: Larry Hagman told a friend of mine that he ran into that you taught him how to box; is that true? Speaker Wright began to tell me the story about his mother thought that maybe he needed to get back to his Texas roots and have a little bit more Texas upbringing in him, and so she sent him back to Weatherford, Texas, with his dad; and Speaker Wright taught him how to box. That was how Larry Hagman learned how to become a boxer. One of the areas that Speaker Wright--and Nancy Pelosi talked about it a lot--how he was a big influence in my life and so many others' lives--and I would be remiss if I did not mention some of the former Members that also he was very influential in their lives. Congressman Martin Frost, who was the ranking member of the Rules Committee, Speaker Wright was very, very influential in getting him on the Rules Committee his freshman year in office. Also Secretary Pete Geren, a former Member of Congress and Secretary of the Army and Air Force, again, Speaker Wright was very influential early on in his career. Pete Geren was actually Speaker Wright's successor in Congress, and that was also very important to him. Many people know that Speaker Wright was known as a very strong Democrat. He was someone that loved the Democratic Party, that was very proud of his Democratic roots and had a very strong relationship with organized labor in Tarrant County. When you talk to people that are longtime employees at Lockheed Martin, at General Motors, at American Airlines, the things that he did with transportation, all of those things were very, very important for who he became. In addition to that, he also learned a lot from some of the failures and mistakes that he made. He told me that his first term in the State legislature, that it was not easy, that he didn't get along with the speaker of the house in the State legislature. When he was elected here, he wanted to make sure that he got along with Sam Rayburn when he was elected to Congress. He told me: Marc, I have learned my lesson from when I was in the State legislature, and I really wanted to be on the Foreign Affairs Committee because that was what was really happening back in the 1950s when I first got elected. With the cold war going on, I wanted to be on that committee. It was something very important to me. Speaker Rayburn put me on the Public Works Committee--which is now the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He said, That ended up that was a mistake that I made because that committee ended up really making my career. It is hard to think that I would have become majority leader and Speaker of the House had I not been on the Public Works Committee--which is where Speaker Rayburn put him. Again, in addition to being that strong, strong Democrat that he was, I can tell you that bipartisanship was something that he was very fond of because he talked a lot after his career in Congress about how bipartisanship helped make this country strong and about how it helped make him a better Member of Congress. If you go and look in the archives of the Star-Telegram from just a couple of months ago after he passed, you will notice the remarks that were given from a very bipartisan group of people in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Roger Williams, also from Fort Worth, he was quoted in the Star-Telegram; Kay Granger, former mayor of Fort Worth, was also quoted in the Star-Telegram--about how Speaker Wright did so many great things for Fort Worth. One of the areas that he liked to talk about was the Voting Rights Act and how important voting rights were to him and also Eisenhower and the freeways. He told us a great story about how he and a few other Congressmen went to Eisenhower about getting the interstate highway bill passed and how President Eisenhower said, Let's get the votes; let's get it done--and how they came together in a bipartisan way in order to get that legislation done. My favorite story that he told me about is the importance of bipartisanship. I asked him: Mr. Speaker, I am going to be a new Member of Congress, and so many people talk about how Congress is broken and they don't work together. I said: Do you have any theories on why that is? He said: That is a very good question. When I was in Congress, we spent a lot of time getting to know one another. We spent a lot more time in Congress than we do today. He said: I want to tell you a story. One time, I told my daughter, I want you to go get a job--and this was before he was majority leader--I want you to go and get a job, and I do not want you to use my name. Whatever you do, do not use my name. She came home that evening and she said, Daddy, I found a job. He was like, Oh, great, where did you find a job? She said, I got a job in the minority leader's office. Speaker Wright, a great storyteller that he was, he said: I just exploded, and I said, What, you got a job at the minority leader's office? Did you tell them who I was? She said, Dad, you told me not to use your name. He said that he immediately picked up the phone; he called Gerald Ford up, and he said, Gerald, I need to apologize to you. I want you to know that my daughter has accepted a job in your office, and she is to report to your office first thing in the morning and apologize and say that she cannot accept the job. He said that Gerald Ford said to him: Jim, if your daughter wants to work here, it won't be any problem at all. He said: Marc, can you imagine that happening today? It really stopped and gave me pause just about how much things have really, really changed. Speaker Wright was an amazing person, a person of great wisdom, intelligence, humility. He would talk about how he lost the Senate race and it was fine for him to lose that special election for the U.S. Senate because things ended up working out for him in the U.S. House of Representatives. He could actually find humor even in something that was a big defeat for him. I just wanted to thank him, and I am so thankful that our paths crossed and that he was such an influence to me and so many others. I can tell you that the city that I am from, Fort Worth, Texas, that the city is the great city that it is today because of the work and the statesmanship of Jim Wright. His legacy continues to live on through so many others that continue to serve in Congress today that are in other positions in office and in business. Mr. Speaker, I am just very, very grateful and very blessed that I knew Speaker James Claude ``Jim'' Wright. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.