The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO BOB LIVINGSTON, REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE FIRST DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H690-H697 on Feb. 23, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO BOB LIVINGSTON, REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE FIRST DISTRICT OF
LOUISIANA
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 1999, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I take this special order tonight so that Members of the Louisiana delegation and colleagues from across our country can honor the service of a gentleman who will be leaving our body as a Member on the 28th of this month, just a few days from now; that being the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston).
Of course, Louisiana is still literally in shock that we are losing the services of this man who has represented our State so admirably for so many years, since 1977 when he first came by virtue of a special election, the first Republican elected in the First District of Louisiana in 102 years, and has served our State for the past 11 terms, and most recently for the last four years as chairman of the most important committee of this body, the Committee on Appropriations.
Bob is leaving many, many friends behind when he takes his leave from us on the 28th, not just friends and colleagues who have worked with him but friends who have known him personally, as I have, and others, throughout his political career. Bob is an extraordinary individual and, as he leaves this body, I thought it important that we take some time out to say thank you to him for his friendship, his service to our State and this country and to the many people of the First District in Louisiana who mourn and grieve the fact that he will be leaving public service in just a few days.
Colleagues have come to join me today in honoring him and remembering his great work for our country, and I would like now to yield time to my friend from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery) for comments.
Mr. McCRERY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, it is with mixed emotions that I appear on the floor today. On the one hand, I regret that our colleague, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) will be leaving the House at the end of this week and, as my colleague, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) said, ending his long, distinguished public service.
On the other hand, it is a pleasure for me to come to the floor and say some things about my retiring colleague, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) perhaps that a lot of people do not know, and be able to share those experiences that I have had with him with the public.
When I came to this body 10 or 11 years ago as a freshman, never having held public office before, I had a lot to learn. Bob Livingston I looked up to in more ways than one. He is a lot taller than I am, but also I had followed his distinguished career through the years and I knew that he was a person of substance, a person of character and learning, someone who, if he would, could teach me a lot about this body, how it works, how to get along here, how to get things done.
I suspected that because of his stature in this body, being a fairly senior member even at that time of this body, and having the responsibilities that he had on the Committee on Appropriations and with his own district in the New Orleans area, that he would have little time for a new guy like me. Well, I was wrong. Well, I was right he did not have much time but I was wrong because he made time.
He took the time to counsel me on numerous occasions. He took the time even to travel with me to my district. Then I did not realize what a sacrifice that was for a Member, any Member, much less a senior Member of the Committee on Appropriations, to take a day away from his family, away from his work, to go to some other Member's district for that Member's benefit, but he did it. He flew from Washington to Shreveport, Louisiana, to help us in Shreveport with an economic development project.
Now that I realize, having been here awhile, what a sacrifice that was, it makes me appreciate that gesture on his part all the more. He is that type of individual. He is that type of human being, of person. He really goes beyond what is required of a Member of Congress. He really goes beyond what is required of a colleague, even a colleague from Louisiana, to help all of us.
I am sure each Member of the delegation can relate a similar story about Bob Livingston bending over backwards to try to help us with something that we needed in the State of Louisiana. So he has been a real asset to me and my growth here in this chamber. He has been a real asset to his home district. He has been a real asset to the State of Louisiana and to this country.
I will miss him. I know that Louisiana will miss him, and I would submit that the country will miss him as well. So it is with mixed emotions that I appear on the floor here today, but I have no mixed emotions about wishing my colleague from Louisiana, Bob Livingston, well. I wish he could stay with us a little longer but he thinks it is time for him to go, and he will do well in the private sector, I am sure. We look forward to seeing him here often, though, as he will still be able to share with us some of the wisdom and knowledge that he has gained over the years of his public service.
So, Mr. Livingston, wherever you are, and wherever you will be, know that I have cherished getting to know you, cherished the knowledge that I have gained from my visits with you and hope that you will know that I and many others in this chamber will miss you. Bon voyage. Come back and see us.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, during the course of this hour, I will be telling some things about Bob Livingston as I introduce my colleagues. I thought it best, first, to say a little bit about his family history. It is important to note that one of Bob's immediate ancestors, for whom he is named, was Robert Livingston, the minister to France, who was sent on a great mission by then President Jefferson to acquire from Napoleon the territory of Louisiana. It was his signature on that document of purchase that is of historic reference to us, all of us in the 13 States or parts of States that have been formed out of the Louisiana Purchase.
Robert Livingston was also the sixth Congressman to represent the First District in Louisiana. He served between the years of 1823 and 1829. Coincidentally, when he signed that document of purchase, of the Louisiana Purchase, he signed it on April 30, 1803. April 30 happens to be Bob Livingston's birthday, a great coincidence of history. Of course, Bob was not born in 1803. He was born significantly later but nevertheless a coincidence of history that this document bears his birth date on the signature of Robert Livingston, his ancestor.
What is interesting about this history is that Bob Livingston, our friend and colleague in Louisiana and the colleague of so many of us in this body and a friend of so many of us in this body, with all this great history, with this lineage, nevertheless came into this world to very humble conditions.
In fact, Bob was raised by his mother, his father having passed away unfortunately early in his life. His mother was forced to take a job in a shipyard, where she worked to raise Bob and his sister, Carolyn. His mother Dorothy Billet worked those days in that shipyard for her two children to give them a better life and to introduce them to an education.
Bob went on to get his education, getting his degrees, both undergraduate and his law degree at Tulane University, and went on to a great and distinguished career which I will later describe today.
It is from these humble beginnings that Bob Livingston represents, as so many stories in American history and in this chamber, the life of an American citizen coming from humble roots and yet rising above those difficulties because he had a great mom who worked hard to see to it that her two children had a chance in life.
Bob Livingston himself returned to that same shipyard and worked in that shipyard to again begin his life and his career, before he indeed went on to a greater era of public service, again, which I will describe in just awhile.
Now I want begin introducing some of his other colleagues who also want to wish him well in honoring this day as we say good-bye to such a great friend and colleague. Let me introduce from the great State of California, the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon).
Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) for yielding the time and I appreciate him doing this special order and I appreciate him telling those stories about Bob.
I am not as senior as many here today who will be speaking and have not known Bob for as long, so I appreciate the opportunity of learning a little bit more about him on a personal nature from some of these stories. I also, like the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery), have mixed emotions. I hate to see Bob leave. He will leave a hole here in the House, but I appreciate his desire to leave, and after giving over 20 years of service to his country I think he deserves the opportunity to pursue new ventures, new paths.
I have been here now for just a little over 6 years. In my first term here, I remember Bob coming up to me one day and saying that he would probably be approaching me and talking about getting some support for a leadership position he was considering running for. I did not know him really at all, and I thought I was probably going to support somebody else at that time, but I started watching Bob. When you are new here, you have certain heroes that you kind of build up around you and after awhile Bob became one of my heroes. I appreciated his humanity. He did not seem to get caught up in himself. There are people around here that sometimes egos are hard to overcome.
People give us a lot of adoration, and it did not seem to go to Bob's head. He kept his humanity. He kept his humility. I saw how people would talk to him and he gave them his attention, and he was a great listener. I appreciate the integrity that he has shown through his service here, especially the last one he made with giving up the opportunity of being speaker because he felt that that was the thing to do based on his love for his family, his love for his wife, and I think that showed us a great deal.
{time} 1745
I appreciated his leadership style. He listens, he builds consensus, and then he moves forward with determination to get things accomplished.
I appreciate the opportunity he gave me to work with him briefly in moving forward in his planning to be the Speaker of this Congress. I had a chance to look at him a little closer. And all of the feelings that I had for him grew because I saw he was a real, genuine person. And we really will miss him here, but I understand he is going to be around in town and we will have a chance still to enjoy our friendship. I look forward to that.
Mr. Speaker, I wish him all the best in time spent with his family and in pursuing new ventures in life, and feel that it is a privilege and honor to be able to call him a friend.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California. Bob did not live his whole life as a welder in the shipyards. He went on to other pursuits, and one of those was his distinguished service in the United States Navy as an enlisted man from 1961 to 1963. He received, later on, an honorable discharge from the Naval Reserve in 1967.
Bob's career before politics was in law enforcement, and he served from 1970 to 1973 as a Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's office in New Orleans and was honored as an outstanding Assistant United States Attorney for his work there.
His experience also included, by the way, serving as the Chief Special Prosecutor and Chief of the Armed Robbery Division of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office, 1974 to 1975; and he was the Chief Prosecutor for the Organized Crime Unit of the Louisiana Attorney General's Office from 1975 to 1976. A distinguished career in fighting criminal elements and representing the Justice Department of our country, and the District Attorney's office of the City of New Orleans and the Attorney General's office of the State of Louisiana.
It is from that background that Bob, I suppose, was encouraged to seek political office eventually and saw the need for men, indeed, of great commitment to join the Congress and to represent our State here.
And so it was in 1977 that he indeed succeeded in his second quest to come to the Congress in a district that had a 3 percent Republican registration, by the way, when he was elected; an indication of the way that he has reached out across boundaries, old boundaries and old walls and old wounds to build a consensus, as he demonstrated in his years in Congress.
At this point I would like to go across the aisle and to recognize a colleague of his, a great friend of his, the gentleman from Maryland
(Mr. Cardin).
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for yielding me this time so I can express my congratulations to Bob Livingston and thank him for his public service.
I think the Members of this body know very well many of his strengths and many of his contributions to this institution. The great chairman of the Committee on Appropriations who helped bring about, as has been pointed out, consensus on a lot of the difficult fiscal issues of our country.
People think of him in the Republican Caucus for his leadership in rising to the top of the Republican Caucus here in Congress. I might just give one more dimension to where I think Bob Livingston has made a unique contribution to this institution, and that is the love of this institution and the respect for what this body should be doing and the respect for each Member in this institution.
Before coming to Congress, I was the Speaker of our House in the State of Maryland, and I really appreciated individuals who went out of their way to speak up for an institution when it is many times very fashionable to bash an institution, to go back home and slam it and say, gee, I can make political points. But that is not Bob Livingston. He understood that we are going to do better as a body if we strengthen the body. He singled himself out here as a person who wanted to go the extra mile to strengthen this body.
I had the opportunity, did not ask for it, nor did Mr. Livingston ask for it, to cochair the group that looked over the ethics laws that we have to abide by here. I do not think anyone but Bob Livingston could have successfully navigated all the mine fields that we had in that effort. He brought out a bill that ultimately is now the ethics standards by which we live that have really elevated us above partisan attacks. It is not by accident that these last years have been more peaceful as far as the ethics process. And Bob Livingston deserves the credit for doing that.
He truly is a unique individual in his love for this institution and I just could not pass up this opportunity to say from one Member,
``Thank you for your public service, thank you for your friendship, we will miss you. We will miss you on both sides of the aisle.''
Mr. Speaker, we like a good fight on the Democratic side and we always appreciated having a good fight with the gentleman from Louisiana. We just wish we could have won a few more times. Congratulations.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin). I might add that the Dean of the House, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) will be inserting his comments into the Record somewhere at this point, along with other Members of the other side of the aisle who have also recognized and appreciated Bob's service and his willingness indeed to cross those boundaries and lines that divide us too often to build consensus and to work as a team.
In fact, so good was Bob at that effort, that I think it is worth recording and worth reporting today that just a few years ago when we passed what we thought would be a 5- to 7-year effort to balance the books of this government over that 5- or 7-year period, Bob Livingston took over the reins of the Committee on Appropriations and for the first time did something quite remarkable in all the years I have served with him in these 11 terms, and that is he actually provided a lower level of expenditure than the previous year.
The result of that austerity, that difficult set of choices that he was willing to forge with Members on both sides of the aisle to bring us to a balanced budget agreement and to enforce it by stringent controls of the Committee on Appropriations, where obviously we want to go help people by spending money. He nevertheless exercised such restraint and control that within several years, not the 5 or 7 predicted by many economists, but within 7 years we are debating about what to do with the surplus, rather than the great deficits that were predicted for our country in all of these years.
Bob probably more than any other individual in this Chamber, I think, is personally responsible for getting us that surplus earlier than anyone expected because of the discipline he showed in those early years as Appropriations chairman and because he was willing to work across the aisle.
Several of the appropriations cardinals who helped make it work are here today and I want to recognize them. First, the gentleman from California (Mr. Packard).
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hayes). Before the gentleman from California is recognized, let me exercise for a moment the privilege of the Chair to extend my thanks personally to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Livingston) and his wife Bonnie, for the friendship, the wisdom, and the kindness that they extended to me and my family. And also for the honor that he has brought to the country, his family, and this body by his actions.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Packard) is recognized.
Mr. PACKARD. Mr. Speaker, I have a long and rather eloquent statement to make and I am just going to submit that for the Record and speak from the heart.
Bob is the kind of person in my life that one does speak heart to heart quite occasionally, and I have had that thrill and that opportunity. Really in a short hour of special orders, it does not do justice in paying tribute from this body to a man that has had such a remarkable influence on the institution and on the country.
Mr. Speaker, I wish that we had more time and more opportunity, but maybe that is not what we need. We just need to let Bob know how much we love and appreciate what he has done.
I have served here for 16 years and so I have known Bob for those 16 years and watched him grow and watched him become a rather significant leader in this institution, and ultimately rise to the point where he changed the direction of the country.
I have always believed that where we spend our money, whether it be in business, whether it be in our family budget, or whether it be in government, where we spend our money is where we set priorities. We spend our money where our priorities are. We can give lip service to priorities, but if we do not really fund or spend our money in those areas, then it is just rhetoric.
But the Committee on Appropriations determines the priorities of this country. We determine where the money goes and we determine what is going to be funded, what is not, and at what level they will be funded. And Bob has been the leader of that process. And so in that sense, he has literally changed the direction of this country and I think very much for the good.
As the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) mentioned, he was probably the most responsible person in all of this Congress for balancing the budget because, again, he controlled the pursestrings. He controlled some of us who serve as chairmen that also control pursestrings, but he was the one who gave us the direction. He was our leader and every one of us looked to him for leadership.
I appreciated the fact that he called me to be a chairman of one of his subcommittees. That was an honor to me, and I appreciated the chance to work with him.
Actually, when the Republicans took the majority 4 years ago, that changed the direction. Bob was at that time put in the most, perhaps one of the most responsible positions in the House by our Speaker, Newt Gingrich, to be the chairman. Even though he was not the ranking member of the committee, he became the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.
Why was he chosen even though he was down the list a few slots? He was chosen because he had demonstrated the ability to make very difficult choices and make them right. That is really a unique quality of anyone to be able to make very difficult choices, but to make the right decisions in making those choices. And there is no position in the Congress that it is more crucial that we have that kind of a leadership than chairman of the Committee on Appropriations.
So, I really did appreciate the chance to work with him. I learned a lot. He was my mentor. He was, as someone said, my hero and still is.
One of the things I noticed about his leadership on the Committee on Appropriations was that he kept it fun. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we ought to enjoy what we do here. I really had fun going to do the hard work of the appropriators because Bob was a fun person to work with. He always had a twist of putting across the tough difficult decision. And I loved that, because we can get so serious and so passionate. And certainly there are few people in this institution that are more passionate on a few issues than Bob Livingston. And to watch him on the floor in those passionate speeches, we can recognize that passion.
But one has got to enjoy the work. One won't be good if they do not enjoy the work. Bob enjoyed his work. He helped us to enjoy the work, and it was a real pleasure to serve on the committee and to serve with him.
Mr. Speaker, I look upon him as truly one of the more distinguished and noble men in the country. He has had me and my wife to his home. We have been very privileged to come and share some time with his beautiful wife, Bonnie, in their beautiful home on the Potomac.
I really do appreciate him. We have worked well together. I have learned to love him as a colleague. I have learned to love him as a man. I have learned to love what he has done for America and what he has done for this institution.
There are few people in our lives, our whole lives that we meet and work with and rub shoulders with that genuinely have a remarkable influence on our lives. Bob has been one of those persons in my life. There are not many people. I could probably count them on the fingers of my two hands, my father, probably leading the pack, that have made a profound influence on my life. And I would list Bob among those.
Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman from Louisiana, ``Bob, I will miss you. I will miss you more than this institution will miss you, because you have been such a remarkable influence for me for good. I hope the good Lord will bless you in your future ventures, in your home, in your family, and all that you do. I am confident that he will, because you have really paid your dues. Thank you very, very much for your friendship.''
Mr. Speaker, it is with great admiration that I rise today to pay tribute to Congressman Bob Livingston. Bob has been an unforgettable force in the U.S. House of Representatives and he will surely be missed.
When Bob Livingston entered the U.S. House of Representatives 22 years ago, this nation did not have a balanced budget and we were facing increased taxes with each new Congress. Thanks in part to Mr. Livingston's leadership, today Americans are enjoying a budget surplus and a host of tax changes that allow the American public to keep more of their hard earned money.
Bob Livingston has a remarkable ability to turn his ideas into action. He would take ideas, pass them through the House and Senate, and get those ideas signed into law in a way that no one else could. Bob Livingston is a ``doer'' and he will carry this characteristic with him in all of his future endeavors.
As Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Bob Livingston was in charge of all spending legislation approved by this body. In all that he did, Bob will be remembered for his fairness, his dedication to his work, and his commitment to the interests of all his colleagues.
Over the past four years of Bob's tenure as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I have had the pleasure of serving as an Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman. This opportunity to serve with Bob not only helped with my own success as a Subcommittee Chairman for the past four years, but enabled me to watch closely as Bob grew into one of the most effective leaders Congress has ever known.
As someone who has served on all levels of government, both local and here in Congress, I have often been amazed at Bob's ability to bring this diverse body together behind sound ideas and policies. Time after time, Bob Livingston put aside partisan differences and personal goals to forward an agenda that all Americans could benefit from.
For the past four years, Bob and I have had the opportunity to serve closely on the Appropriations Committee. This allowed our friendship, which I already treasured, to grow. Over this time I was continually reminded of the level of man Bob Livingston is. Bob is an honest man of high integrity and I truly respect him as a friend. I know this institution will miss Bob Livingston as a leader, but I will miss Bob Livingston as one of my closest friends.
Bob, I'm not sure if you realize how important you are to this institute, or how many lives you have touched. As a colleague I am honored to serve with you and as a friend I admire you. While we may no longer serve side by side in this House, I can assure you that your legacy, or the many lessons you have taught me, will not soon be forgotten.
I wish you and Bonnie all the best for the future. Thank you for your service to this country. You will be deeply missed.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, we just heard comments of one of our colleagues who indeed has worked so closely with Bob. The relationship has grown incredibly close and personal, and there are others in this Chamber who will speak, but I wanted to take a minute to recognize one of our close friends within our delegation who is also with us to say a few words and that is the gentleman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Mr. Baker).
Mr. BAKER. Mr. Speaker, I certainly want to commend the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) for his effort in organizing this opportunity for Members this evening on what is a difficult but obviously very significant occasion of the announced retirement of our good friend, Bob Livingston.
So many speakers have come to this mike already this evening and talked about Bob's passion. We do not have to guess where Bob Livingston stands when it comes to an important issue. Everybody knows. And it is always an informed opinion, one strongly held. Bob is a person for whom all Members have great regard.
{time} 1800
There is sometimes some concern if he happens to be on the other side of the issue because you know he is going to be very persuasive, and I can speak from direct knowledge on that subject. I can also say that, as an ally, one cannot have a better friend.
Rather than to talk about a lot of things, I would simply point to one important project that I worked on for 3\1/2\ years in this Congress with Bob Livingston as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations. All too often, the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations is viewed as the person who has to do the tough things, cut the budget, tell people no. But there is another side to that responsibility which all too often is ignored.
There was a facility within the Sixth District of Louisiana that really was in deplorable condition. It had ministered to people in a certain health condition for well over 100 years and was under significant budgetary pressure to close. It was historically significant, a facility that was built in the mid-1800s and had served a great and long mission of caring for people who otherwise were viewed as social outcasts.
I went to Bob with the problem and told him what we wanted to do with that facility, which was to create a new education and job training program for at-risk youth, young people who were out of high school, had not gotten their GED, who were not yet in trouble with the law but were likely to end up in a life of social dependency or, worse yet, in the criminal justice system.
It took 3\1/2\ years, but Bob Livingston would be pleased to know that this April the first class of young adults will enroll in the Carville Academy. These are people who are going to be given a chance, not just to get a GED, not only to get job training, but, at that facility, they will be guaranteed a job upon the completion of their successful course work.
That is not something many of Bob Livingston's constituents would have the opportunity to see. But it is commitment to doing something right that makes a positive difference for people who otherwise may never even know Bob Livingston's name. That is the kind of fellow he is. He has commitment, purpose and principle. He never gives up. He does not quit.
For the people of the Sixth District and all of Louisiana, we will not only miss his colorful leadership, we are going to miss his positive, principled leadership in this House. For that, we will all suffer loss.
I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Mr. Baker).
I present to the House another one of the cardinals who have come to the floor today to bid bon voyage to the great chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, the gentleman from Alabama Cardinal Callahan.
Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) for making the arrangements today for me to join most of the members of the Louisiana delegation in paying this tribute to my close friend, Bob Livingston.
We develop friendships here in the Congress. Ironically, when one leaves, occasionally history will reflect that one passed a certain piece of legislation that may be named after one or one did certain things. But the real mark of a character is how many friends one has when one leaves here.
Bob, you certainly leave here today with a myriad of friends, true friends, friends that will stick by you no matter what, friends that you have helped and friends that have helped you. I am proud to call myself one of those friends.
I happened to listen today to all of these Louisiana Cajuns talk about Louisiana, and I have had the opportunity in past years to visit Louisiana, both with Bob Livingston and the gentleman from Louisiana
(Mr. Tauzin). I have had the opportunity to meet with their governors. They are always extolling the merits of Louisiana, talking about what a great, great State it is and talking about the great restaurants and the cuisine and all of the wonderful people there.
But I very seldom hear any of them publicly talking about the greatest asset that the State of Louisiana has, and that is it is only like 75 miles from the Alabama line. Each weekend, you see these people coming from Louisiana to visit the beautiful beaches of Alabama. Bob, you have been to Alabama, and you have visited the beaches there, and we welcome you any time you want.
I would like to share some of the comments that my colleagues have made about your contribution. When I first came to Congress in 1984, we had budget level deficits of some $300 billion, and it seemed to be growing. Suddenly, 4 years ago, that trend stopped. As a result of that, now we have budget surpluses, something that has never been heard of in our lifetime almost.
So many people are positioning themselves or speculate on who was responsible. There are many who say that Ronald Reagan started it, and certainly he did make a tremendous contribution towards the beginning of this surplus that was created. There are some that said George Bush had a lot to do with it, and certainly he did.
There are some, President Clinton being one, taking credit for it, even though some of us think that there was very little contribution on his part, but it did happen on his watch. Certainly he is to be given credit.
But if there is one single individual who deserves the most credit, we have to give it to Bob Livingston. Certainly, Bob, that will be your legacy. That will be the legacy you leave here in this Congress that, under your leadership, under your guidance, as the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, you cut the domestic spending level that created this surplus as we know it today. I am happy to have been a part of that team.
I had the opportunity to sit in on all of these meetings and listen to Bob Livingston pound his fist on the table and say we are not going to spend more money than ``X'' dollars. So I know the contributions personally he has made. I have watched it in my own little purview of jurisdiction of foreign operations where he has said ``no more,'' where he has said ``cut.'' As a result of that, we did cut. As a result of that, we do have a surplus that we, ironically, are arguing about today as to what to do with that surplus. But is it not remarkable and is it not wonderful that we do have the surplus?
I listened to the history lesson of the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) about Bob Livingston's great, great grandfather when he was participating in the Louisiana Purchase. I remind everyone and all of their friends listening today in Louisiana that, at that time, Mobile was the capital of Louisiana. Mobile started the Mardi Gras which you all take so much credit for today.
So we, too, in Alabama sort of feel a companionship, feel a kinship to Bob Livingston's great, great grandfather who purchased the Louisiana territory and thus, as a result of that, became all of the great States that we know today.
Bob leaves at a unique time in history. He is leaving on a good note. He is leaving on the fact that he helped organize this Congress. He is leaving on the surplus that I earlier mentioned. He is joining another career, a career where, hopefully, he will be as successful as he was in the Congress and as he was before he came to the Congress.
But he leaves at a very unique and opportune time in his own personal life, because this week, this week, he was blessed with the greatest gift God can give to man, and that is the birth of a grandchild, Caroline Grace, who was born just this week, the Livingston's first grandchild.
So, Bob, you are going to have the opportunity to spend untold hours with Caroline Grace. She is going to benefit. You are going to benefit. Bob is going to benefit.
I am certain that your career as you leave this body will be just as successful as every endeavor you have ever made in your life. I am proud to call you my friend, and I look forward to seeing you on a more personal level in the years to come.
If I just might add one thing, when you go out into the private venture, when you begin making a little bit of money whereby you can afford some of the better things that you have been denied during your public service in life, I do wish you would buy an automobile with an air conditioner, because let me tell my colleagues, I have so many times, on so many occasions, ridden with Bob to meetings at the White House and the State Department in his antique automobile in the heat of August without air conditioning.
I will assure my colleagues that, after all of this is over with, with respect to the rules and regulations that say one cannot call on Members of Congress, one cannot lobby, we are still friends. We can still go places. But I do wish you would get an air conditioned car.
God bless you, Bob Livingston.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) for all of his kind words and for that piece of revision of history. We want him to know that Mobile does, in fact, do a marvelous imitation of the New Orleans Mardi Gras. I have enjoyed it in Mobile with him on occasion.
I hate to correct a colleague, but Bob Livingston does not drive an antique automobile. That would be giving much too much credit to that automobile. It is just an old automobile and a pretty wretched one at that.
We are joined today by a great and distinguished colleague, Bob, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), chairman of the Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives.
Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am not a cardinal. I am not a Louisianan. I am not even from Mobile, Louisiana. But I am a huge admirer of Bob Livingston, and I have to join my colleagues in saying how sad we are to see him leave, but very happy for the great opportunity that lies ahead for both Bonnie and Bob.
I am a southerner, though I come from southern California like that great cardinal we have heard from. It is interesting to listen to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) talk about the disparity between the Louisianans and Alabamans. From southern California, they all look the same to us.
But I want to say I remember very vividly the first time that I met Bob Livingston. I am glad to see that we are joined by our former colleague, Mr. Vander Jagt, here on the House floor, who obviously had a very distinguished career here as a member of the Committee on Ways and Means. I remember that it was at the time that Guy Vander Jagt was the chairman of our Congressional Campaign Committee that I first met Bob Livingston. Bob probably does not remember when that was. It was at the Shoreham Hotel, and it was just a few weeks after he had won his special election to serve here.
I was there at some Republican gathering at the Shoreham and was at that juncture considering running for Congress myself. While Guy Vander Jagt provided us with great inspiration, the enthusiasm that Bob Livingston showed just weeks after he had been elected was key to my deciding to move ahead and to run for the Congress. Because he said we have got to win a majority in this place. We have to do everything that we possibly can to implement our very positive Republican agenda. Well, two long decades later, nearly two decades later, we got to the point where we were able to do just that.
The gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) mentioned the issue of spending cuts. One of the things that I think is very important to note of Bob Livingston's reign as chairman of the Committee on Appropriations was the fact that, when we looked at emergency spending, when we looked at even spending for defense, urgent defense items, what was it that Bob Livingston did? He said, there must be offsets. That, to me, was a very positive signal. He stood his ground to make sure that we would have those.
I hope very much that, as we look at a wide range of spending programs for the future, that we in fact follow that great Livingston model which is a very important thing for us, I believe, to do.
I was looking forward to being Bob Livingston's Committee on Rules' chairman, as I have taken on this new responsibility, and I am very sorry that I have not been able to do that. But I want to say that Bob Livingston played a key role during that transition in late November and December. The role that he played is still being felt and I believe will be felt throughout the 106th Congress and beyond.
Not only did he make many very important appointments of members to committees and other spots around here, which, to his great compliment, Speaker Hastert has continued to follow through with, but it was a leadership meeting that Bob Livingston shared where we implemented the four-point agenda that we as Republicans are pursuing: to reform public education; to make sure that we provide tax relief for working families; to deal with saving Social Security so that those that are at or near retirement are not in any way jeopardized, but also look at the very important plans for baby boomers and those younger looking at retirement for the future; and, the fourth point, recognizing that since 1985 we have witnessed a diminution in our defense capability. We are standing firmly for rebuilding our defenses as we look at the very serious challenges that we face throughout the world.
{time} 1815
Those four points, education, tax relief, Social Security, and national security, all emanated from the leadership team that Bob Livingston put together.
And so while he is retiring and going on to an opportunity that will allow him to maybe be able to buy actually an antique automobile and replace that with his old automobile, it is air conditioned, he should know that the things that he has done throughout his entire two decades here, and most recently those efforts that he was able to pursue in bringing about the transition in our leadership, will be felt throughout this Congress and for many years to come.
So I wish him well, and his entire family well, and I want to say that he will clearly be sorely missed around here, and I thank my friend.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, let me point out to my colleague that Bob had the good sense of marrying a good Cajun girl, and Bonnie Robichaux has literally been an extraordinary woman and partner and friend. And to Bonnie and Bob's four children, Rob and Richard and David and Susie, who are all indeed working, Susie here in Washington, D.C. and Rob and Richard and David all in Louisiana, we want to wish them the best. We know that now, finally, they are probably going to see an awful lot more of their dad than they could in all these years that he served both in law enforcement and now in the United States Congress.
To round out this extraordinary parade, I wanted to yield to another one of the cardinals of the Committee on Appropriations who can speak with great eloquence about Bob's friendship and his extraordinary contributions to this body and to the country, the gentleman from Ohio, Cardinal Ralph Regula.
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. And, Bob, tonight, when the phone rings, it will not be someone wanting you to change your phone service, it will be an automobile salesman. Just make sure it's an American model; saying that from Ohio.
We cannot claim kinship with Louisiana, being much further north, but I want to say, Bob, we do appreciate that offshore oil that you send up to fuel our factories and our farms and our homes. And Louisiana, with your leadership, has been out front in providing for the Nation's security.
Bob was given a tremendous challenge as the new chairman in handling a rescission bill. We tend to forget how vitally important that bill was to demonstrate the majority party's commitment in real dollars to reducing the cost of government. It was an enormously challenging responsibility, because what his leadership required was to say to people we are going to take something back that you already have, and that is not easy to do.
And yet we had a very successful bill under the leadership of Bob, saved several billion dollars in rescinding programs that would have otherwise been wasteful spending. And, most importantly, it established a lower base. Because the programs in appropriations build on the base from year to year to year, that savings achieved by that first rescission bill will lead far into the future in saving the taxpayers money. That was an enormous contribution, and it was, I think, quite evident of his excellent leadership as the new chairman of the committee.
I would also say that I was always impressed with his grasp of the issues. Because as chairman, Bob would go from committee to committee and participate in some of the difficult challenges of each of the subcommittees, and to do that he had to have an understanding of the issues. He did very well in serving in that role. And I believe that contributed substantially to the success of the appropriations process in achieving what we now have as a balanced budget, because basically the budget is a composite of all the separate programs.
I would also say, Bob, if things get tough, you can be a diplomat. I experienced that in your office one day when you were between a couple of Members who had a somewhat different point of view, and you exercised great diplomacy in avoiding bloodshed. A good thing you did have those knives that you had for the first meeting out of reach. It was a real feat of diplomacy because of the different points of view.
Also, Bob, if things get real tough you can start a restaurant. You have a wicked pot of jambalaya, and we enjoyed that in your home one night. I think you said you produced it. It was probably Bonnie's handiwork, but nothing like taking credit when she was not within ear shot.
But, really, I have enjoyed your leadership and I have enjoyed the fact that you have always supported each of us in the subcommittees in dealing with some very difficult problems. Oftentimes we have to make decisions that are not necessarily pleasing to Members in order to keep a restraint in spending, and to accomplish this required having your support as we would bring a bill through the process. I think you have done a superb job of providing leadership. You have established a benchmark that will be a challenge to those in the future.
And since it was the first time in 40 years that we had the chairmanship of that committee, the way in which you conducted it does create a pattern that I think will be followed in the future. So your contributions will reach far beyond your tenure in the Congress, and I join all my colleagues in wishing you and Bonnie the very best. You have been blessed with a good helpmate in Bonnie, and it has been a joy to just be part of this Congress and serving with you and knowing both of you.
Mr. TAUZIN. Thank you, Chairman Regula.
Mr. Speaker, before I yield to the next Speaker, let me just point out that this extraordinary conciliator, this extraordinary legislator, who has reached out across party lines and whole divides, was once an opponent of mine for the governor's race in Louisiana.
He and I contested mightily for that position. In fact, then I was a Democrat and he was a Republican contender for governor of our State. At an event after the race was over, I mentioned Bob had gone around the State of Louisiana trying to convince everybody what a rotten governor I would make; and I had gone around the State of Louisiana trying to convince everybody what a rotten governor he would make. And we must have both been very credible, because they believed us both so well they elected Congressman Buddy Roemer to that seat.
In the end, I, a Democrat, left with a huge debt, defeated in that race for governor, turned to Bob Livingston. And he, as our dean, led an effort, with all the Members, Democrats and Republicans, to help me pay off that debt so that I could move on and serve our State, as I have tried to serve it well as a Member of the United States Congress. It is that kind of spirit, this man, that I think has been the hallmark of his career.
Finally, I want to yield to a few people who want to comment about that, among them my good friend, the gentlewoman from California (Anna Eshoo).
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the Committee on Commerce, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin). I was in my office and I had this station on and I was listening, Mr. Livingston, to the marvelous things that were being said about you and I wanted to come to the floor and pay tribute to you for the kind of man that you have been, for the kind of Member you have been, and the leadership that you have provided here in the House of Representatives.
Just anecdotally, my earliest memory of Bob Livingston is at the Hershey retreat, at the bipartisan retreat 2 years ago. I had gone to mass that Sunday morning, and I looked in front of me to say ``peace be with you'', and who was standing there but Bob Livingston and his wife. Now, I think that in order to be great, and in order to do really extraordinary things, that you have to be a good person. And I believe that Bob Livingston is a very, very good man.
The next time I remember seeing him, and I thought, gee, we keep bumping into one another at religious-like undertakings, was here in the Capitol at a magnificent, beautiful memorial service for Congressman Emerson. And there he was again in his tall and quiet way.
I wish that Bob Livingston were remaining in the House of Representatives, where he would continue the very important work that he undertook both as chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations and the kind of leadership that he has given.
This is the first time that I have crossed the aisle and spoken from the Republican side. I do that, Mr. Chairman, to pay tribute to you, because I think that people across this country, whether they know your name or not, will be the beneficiaries of the kinds of good things that you have done here.
You will be remembered long after you leave here for your goodness, and I wanted to come to the floor to pay tribute to you tonight and to say to you that I have every confidence that you have many, many chapters of exciting times of your life to come. Thank you for what you have been here. Thank you for the gentleman that you are.
I want you to know that I am one of many, many, many here that had looked forward to working with you as Speaker of this House. But you will move on, you will be extraordinarily successful, because you have all the ingredients of leadership to do that regardless of where you are. And may I say, ``May God bless you''. You deserve it.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her extraordinarily warm and generous remarks.
I am pleased to round out this session of honor to my friend Bob Livingston by yielding to another great friend, a good man, another Congressman from my State, my dear friend, Mr. Bill Jefferson.
Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I think the remarks the gentleman made about the Governor's race, when you and Bob were in it, were exactly right. We will have more to say about that in the future, Billy.
I want to say this about my friend Bob Livingston. Bob started out representing a district that was largely Democratic. That is why I believe he learned to work so well with Democrats across the aisle, with Democrats in general, and of course with his own colleagues on the Republican side, because he had a lot of practice doing it in the first district that he undertook back home. Bob Livingston understood how to deal with ordinary people, and he understood how to deal with a city that was as diverse as New Orleans is.
He and I had the good pleasure of working together, not just as colleagues in the Congress but as people who had a responsibility for making the Congress regard our city and for having the Congress respond to the needs of our city, and we did that in a beautiful partnership. He, of course, was the leader of the partnership; I was the junior partner. Nonetheless, he listened to me when I first came here. He encouraged me, he gave me whatever guidance he could, and he parted with me over time to take the issues that I knew were important to our area. He listened to me very well and he made these issues his own.
And so, Bob, for the folks who drive the RTA buses, we thank you. For the people who worry about the hurricanes and those levied areas, we thank you for that. For those folks who drive on the streets that never really were quite right, that never will be because the ground is too soft and the street is always going to give way, we thank you for always remembering us in our community development programs and efforts. We thank you for what you did for our schools and for education, and for the way you tried to introduce technology, a very new feature, into the Louisiana economy, and how you helped to diverse our economy.
We now have a monument that is an example of the kind of innovation that you are capable of, and it sits at the University of New Orleans, and will be there, I hope for all time, as a living monument to your creativity. What you did was to bring to our area, and to bring to the whole of our government, a new way of thinking about how to save money and to consolidate and to make our budget work better and in more effective ways; and, at the same time, to partner with the private sector in ways that now have created more than 1500 jobs in our area in this one facility and that will be there, hopefully for a good long time, as a Bob Livingston memorial.
Now, we all hope to be remembered well when we leave this place. And as many of my colleagues said earlier, I'm confident that you will be, mostly for your decency, because people could talk to you, because they could work with you, because they respected you, and because we all looked forward to greater service from you. Bob, for one, I am really going to miss your presence here and I am going to miss the prospect of what would have been, I believe, great service as the Speaker of this House.
{time} 1830
And so, for those folks in Louisiana who would like to stand here with me today and from my district and say good-bye to you, let me on behalf of all of them give you our fondest farewell and our fondest best wishes for you and your wife and your family and say we were lucky to have a chance to serve with you and lucky to have a chance to be a partner with you for the time I have been and lucky to have known you and your family, and we wish you the best luck and Godspeed for all that you do in the future.
Mr. LATHAM. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. TAUZIN. I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.
Mr. LATHAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for yielding.
I just come to the floor to say thank you to a real gentleman, Bob Livingston, to say thank you for his honesty and integrity, someone that I admire very, very much and, last of all, to say thank you for the opportunity that Bob Livingston gave me to serve with him on the Committee on Appropriations. His leadership is something that will always be very, very important in my career here in the House.
He is going to be missed tremendously. We love him and wish him Godspeed.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and neighbor for his kind words.
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. TAUZIN. I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for yielding.
Not many people know, I think, the heart of Bob Livingston, but he is somebody that can be ferocious but caring ferocious. I served under a lot of different commanding officers in the Navy, and we had good, bad and others. So you get to judge leadership a lot being in the service.
Let me give my colleagues one instance, and Bob will remember this. I had worked four terms trying to get on the Committee on Appropriations, and I felt that I had been cheated out of the Committee on Appropriations, and I did everything I could working with the leadership, even above the Appropriations chairman, Mr. Livingston, to get on Appropriations and Defense Appropriations.
Well, it was almost a no-no situation, and yet I proceeded to do just that. And when I finally got on the Committee on Appropriations and Defense, Bob Livingston, to get me on there, had to give up his slot on the Defense Committee on Appropriations. That is what he did. But, in the meantime, he took me back in a little room and put his finger in my chest and treed me for about 10 minutes. But you learn that Bob Livingston did this not in front of other people but he expressed himself man on man, directly to me. That itself shows leadership. It shows caring. It shows compassion.
Bob, we are going to miss you. Godspeed. And if I can ever be the wind in your sails, let me know.
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I think this hour is just about over. It has gone much too fast, and there is so much more we could say to honor and extend our great respect to Bob Livingston as he terminates his many years of service to the State of Louisiana.
I just want to add one personal thought. Bob and I have been friends for a long time. We contested each other politically. We have been on different sides of the fence occasionally. At the end of the day, we have always been friends. And that has been the hallmark of his career. He leaves so many friends here.
Bob, Louisiana will miss you. Louisiana will miss your service. Louisiana will miss your caring, concern for her, for all of her people. And my colleagues in Louisiana and across this body will miss you for the good man that you are.
Mr. Speaker, with great thanks and appreciation to the gentleman from Louisiana (Bob Livingston), who I will now replace as dean of the Louisiana delegation, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my friend and the Representative of the good people of Louisiana's First District, Bob Livingston.
Bob Livingston is a man of courage and honor. In every aspect of his career in Congress, he has made clear his enduring love and respect for the institution of the House of Representatives in which he has served for 22 years.
At a time when our nation was calling out for leadership, Bob Livingston reminded us all that the institutions of our democracy are stronger than any one person.
I have witnessed firsthand the strength and fairness with which Bob Livingston led the Appropriations Committee and how he demonstrated exceptionally well the leadership necessary to bring people of divergent ideas and talents together. I can say proudly, too, that as New Jersey's only Member of Congress to serve on the Appropriations Committee, Chairman Livingston was receptive to the needs of New Jerseyans and supportive of my work in Committee on important state priorities.
It is, of course, legend now, that day he came to take over the Committee wielding a ``Louisiana fileting knife.'' And with a surgeon's precision, he led us to make cuts that put our budget in balance for the first time since 1969. Under his leadership in the 104th Congress, our Committee reduced government spending by over $50 billion, and we continued this trend in the last Congress, too. This will be Bob's legacy, and I am proud to have had the opportunity to be a part of it.
Bob, you will be missed. Thank you for your courtesy, and your friendship. I wish you and Bonnie continued success for the future.
General Leave
Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on my special order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hayes). Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Louisiana?
There was no objection.
____________________
