A Ceremony

Unveiling the Portrait

of

THE HONORABLE

E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

1300 Longworth Building 

Washington, DC


CONGRESS.#13
COMMITTEE PRINT

A Ceremony

Unveiling the Portrait

of

THE HONORABLE

E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA

A Representative in Congress from the State of Texas 

January 3, 1965–January 3, 1997

Elected to the 89th Congress

Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture 

Ninety Seventh through One Hundred Third Congresses

PROCEEDINGS

before the

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

U.S. House of Representatives

October 2, 2007

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON : 2009

53–103 PDF 


CONGRESS.#13
A Ceremony

Unveiling the Portrait

of

THE HONORABLE

E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

U.S. House of Representatives

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

[ III ] 

v

The Honorable E (Kika) de la Garza

Kika de la Garza was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964 and sworn in as a Member of the 89th Congress in 

January 1965. He was a Member of the Committee on Agriculture 

since 1965 and was elevated to the Committee Chairmanship in 

1981. 

During his tenure as Agriculture Committee Chairman, Representative de la Garza was one of our nation’s top agricultural policymakers. A nationally-known advocate for American farmers and 

ranchers, he authored Federal policies to strengthen the farms and 

rural economy; provide adequate price and income stability for producers; expand U.S. agricultural export opportunities; ensure the 

availability of affordable credit for producers; properly fund agricultural research activities; assure producers access to safe, effective 

crop protection methods and other technology applications; promote 

a diversified rural economy; ensure the safety of our nation’s food 

supply; and promote the protection of our natural resources. 

As Chairman, Representative de la Garza presided over the 

drafting and successful enactment of three major omnibus farm 

bills (1981, 1985, and 1990) that reformed the nation’s agricultural 

policies. He also guided to enactment efforts to reduce the cost of 

agricultural programs through several deficit reduction bills. 

A long-time proponent of closer trade ties with Mexico, Representative de la Garza helped rally Congressional support that led 

to approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 

in November 1993. His other accomplishments include legislation 

to streamline the agricultural lending system, strengthen Federal 

pesticide laws and various other measures to assist American agriculture, encourage rural economic development, and improve 

human nutrition. 

Throughout his career, Representative de la Garza supported and 

fought for government policies to foster better living and economic 

conditions for all Americans. He worked hard and successfully to 

provide Federal funds to much needed water and sewer services to 

residents of impoverished Colonias in Texas. 

A strong supporter of civil rights, Representative de la Garza 

also worked for improved access to health care for the elderly, veterans, and low-income individuals and for better educational opportunities for all Americans. He supported policies to improve the nation’s infrastructure and maintain a strong, cost-effective national 

defense. 

Mr. de la Garza was born in Mercedes, Texas. He received his 

LL.B. and J.D. degrees from St. Mary’s University Law School, San 

Antonio, Texas. During World War II, at age 17, Representative de 

la Garza enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He later attended the U.S. 

Army Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and served as an artillery officer during the Korean conflict. He is married to the 

former Lucille Alamia. They have three children, Jorge, Michael 

and Angela, and seven grandchildren. The de la Garza’s make their 

home in McAllen, Texas. 

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[ ix ]

P R O G R A M

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

H.R. Bert Pen ̃a 

INVOCATION

Father Daniel P. Coughlin 

Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives

PRESENTATION OF PORTRAIT

The Honorable Collin C. Peterson 

Chairman, Committee on Agriculture

REMARKS

Senator Pat Roberts 

The Honorable Charlie Stenholm 

Senator John Cornyn 

The Honorable Rube ́n Hinojosa 

The Honorable Solomon P. Ortiz 

ADDRESS

The Honorable E (Kika) de la Garza

UNVEILING OF PORTRAIT

Mrs. Lucille de la Garza 

SPECIAL GUEST

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi 

Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives 

Benediction 

Father Daniel P. Coughlin 

Chaplain, U.S. House of Representatives

[1]

The Unveiling and Presentation of the Official Portrait of 

THE HONORABLE E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA 

REMARKS OF H.R. BERT PEN ̃ A 

Master of Ceremonies 

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2007

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

Washington, DC. 

REMARKS OF H.R. BERT PEN ̃ A 

Master of Ceremonies 

Mr. PEN ̃A. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening, distinguished Members of the House and the Senate. The Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Chuck Conner, is here and other distinguished 

colleagues from the Bush Administration. Honored guests and ladies 

and gentlemen, my name is Bert Pen ̃a and I am the Master of Ceremonies tonight for the official action by the Committee on Agriculture 

to formally unveil the portrait of the Honorable E Kika de la Garza, 

a Congressman from Texas, Member of the Texas Delegation and of 

the Committee on Agriculture for 32 years and Chairman of the Committee for 14 years. 

We have a full program tonight, and my first duty, as Master of Ceremonies, is to call on the chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives, 

the Honorable Daniel Coughlin, to deliver the invocation. Father 

Coughlin. 

INVOCATION 

Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin 

Father COUGHLIN. Let us pray. Father God, America the beautiful is 

not only blessed with awe-inspiring beauty, it also produces the safest, 

most abundant and affordable food in the history of humanity. By the 

constant custodial care of farmers, herdsmen and this government, you 

have led us to a land of plenty, making of us a people grateful and 

gracious and generous. 

Tonight, Lord, it is most fitting, during Hispanic Awareness Month, 

that we celebrate with Members and staff of the House Committee on 

[2]

Agriculture to remember the leadership and service of Chairman Kika 

de la Garza. By divine providence, you brought him here to serve on 

this Committee and then he was selected by his colleagues to be Chairman of the Agriculture Committee until he stepped down in 1994. But 

over those years, under your inspiration, guidance and the help of others, his efforts, with three major omnibus farm bills, reformed the nation’s agriculture policies. 

So Lord, we celebrate tonight with his wife, Lucille, family and 

friends because to this day, he is a man of balance. Family life and government work, faith and human labor, farm policies and the civil rights 

of minorities have always been a part of his background, his daily life 

and his hopeful vision for America that offers equal justice for all. 

May his own memory of this place this evening, the people who surrounded him during his work here and this portrait give him great joy 

and be balanced by the gratitude of many and the just reward, Lord, 

that you have promised to faithful servants who live and serve both 

now and forever. Amen. 

Mr. PEN ̃A. Thank you, Father Coughlin, for that very important message and beautiful invocation. It is now my pleasure to introduce the 

Chairman of the Committee, the Honorable Collin Peterson, for the 

presentation of the portrait. 

PRESENTATION OF THE PORTRAIT BY HON. COLLIN C. 

PETERSON 

Chairman, Committee on Agriculture 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Bert, and welcome, everybody, to the House Committee on Agriculture and we are pleased to 

see so many familiar faces here. Some of you folks I haven’t seen for 

a while. Welcome back. Senator Harkin. You got the bill written? You 

ready to go? I have learned that. Well, we are glad to have you here, 

Mr. Chairman. And I am pleased to be here to be part of the ceremony and honor my good friend and mentor, my Chairman, Kika de 

la Garza. When I came in 1990, I was way back down on the end of 

the last row. I don’t even think Kika could even see me down there. 

I tried to behave myself and I didn’t do it all the time, right, Kika? 

But, I did most of the time. 

But Kika, as you all know, served in the House of Representatives for, 

I guess a little over 30 years, from 1965 to 1996. He was appointed, 

as a lot of us on the Committee, to serve on the House Agriculture 

Committee during his first term in Congress and he was named Chairman of the Agriculture Committee in 1981, after former Agriculture 

Committee Chairman, Tom Foley, was chosen to serve as Majority 

Whip. He was Chairman during the drafting of three farm bills in 

1981, 1985 and 1990. He then served as Ranking Member during the 

1996 Farm Bill. 

[3]

During the 104th Congress, Pat Roberts, who is here someplace—

where is Chairman Roberts? 

Mr. ROBERTS. Right here. 

The CHAIRMAN. There he is. Move up to the front here. You are a 

prominent person, Pat. During the 104th Congress, Pat Roberts succeeded him as Chairman. Come on up here. Charlie, come on up 

here. We might as well get you guys organized. Pat Roberts is with us 

tonight. He is going to share a few words, as well as Congressman 

Charlie Stenholm, who we all know served on this Committee for a 

long time, and served as Ranking Member prior to my becoming Ranking Member. And as I said, we are pleased to have all these leaders 

in agriculture. We have a lot of Members here. I am not going to start 

trying to name them, because I will forget somebody and screw up and 

be in trouble. But we appreciate you all being with us tonight. 

There are many famous stories about Chairman de la Garza. Mr. D, 

as many people knew him, often talked about his own experience of 

the American Dream and referred to his roots as a shoeshine boy in 

Mission, Texas. Anybody who spent any time with Kika in Washington 

knows the famous submarine story. And I hope, Kika, that you will 

share that story with us one more time here in the Agriculture Committee tonight. But that is up to you. 

Kika was a constant defender of American agriculture. When farm 

programs were unfairly singled out for deficit reduction, he never hesitated to bring out what became known simply as The Chart, which is 

right over here. Anybody that served on the Agriculture Committee has 

seen that chart more times than they want to think about. And as you 

can see, Kika’s chart simply showed the fact that for all the attention 

farm spending receives, you really can’t get much deficit reduction 

from it. There isn’t much there below that little line on the bottom 

which represents how much agriculture is, even if you got rid of all of 

it. Right, Kika? 

During his first year as Chairman in 1981, Kika had to deal with, perhaps, the most difficult farm bill ever written, as some other folks 

might—Pat might disagree with that. Near the end of that process, he 

was asked how he liked being Chairman and he told them that the 

only hard job he ever had was harvesting asparagus. Is that right? I got 

it right. 

Kika has received many honors. There is an elementary school 

named in his honor and is it in La Hoya, La Hoya, Texas? And the 

National Resources Conservation Service established the Kika de la 

Garza Plant Materials Center in Kingsville, Texas in 1981. And then 

there is the Kika de la Garza Institute for Goat Research at Langston 

University in Oklahoma. And I can think of a few folks that they might 

have singled out, but for good reason, they chose Kika, because Kika 

has been a tireless advocate for America’s farmers and ranchers and 

[4]

will be remembered always as a great lawmaker, a great leader and a 

great friend. 

His portrait shows him back at home in Texas where he and his wife, 

Lucille, have retired. I have been down to visit them. It is a great part 

of the world, and a good place to be in the wintertime. A lot of my 

constituents are down there. I can probably campaign down there just 

as well as up home. And as it hangs in our hearing room, which it now 

is doing at a place of prominence, it will remind us always of Kika’s 

great legacy of leadership and the beautiful, bountiful agricultural 

landscape that our Committee is privileged to represent. 

So I am pleased, on behalf of the House Agriculture Committee, to 

be here this evening, to take part in the ceremony and honor my great 

friend and mentor, Kika de la Garza. Congratulations. 

I am going to introduce Mr. Roberts, Senator Roberts. Were you in 

here when I asked Tom if he had the farm bill done? 

Mr. ROBERTS. No. 

The CHAIRMAN. I can ask you, too. You guys have got to get going 

over there. Anyway, Senator Roberts and I have also been good friends 

and as a former Chairman, I am expecting great things out of him over 

in the Senate to help pull things together because he knows what we 

have to go through. We are pleased to have you here this evening, Mr. 

Chairman, and we welcome our good friend. 

REMARKS OF SENATOR PAT ROBERTS 

Mr. ROBERTS. Thank you, thank you. Frank, are you still back there? 

Oh, Frankie. All right. That is my wife, Frankie. She is the speaker in 

my house and I was talking about a member. I just had a suggestion, 

Bert, if people would step forward about five paces, so that will let 

some people out on the patio come in, if they want. 

And I would like to ask staff members who have served here so long 

just to take the member chairs. Mario, why don’t you take the lead? 

You always did before. Why don’t you take the lead? And Bert, why 

don’t you—well, no. No, you got to do this. Mario, grab some of your 

staff guys that I remember. Go up here and just sit over here with the 

Members. Okay, sit down over there. I am trying to create more room 

so people out there on the patio can get in. Those that are not trying 

to leave the premises by a hanging rope. All right. Settle down, settle 

down. 

My name is Pat Roberts and I am pretty much an antique piece of—

now, come on, settle down, people. This is good stuff. I wrote this. All 

right, okay. Keep going, keep going. You are not done. I remember 

sitting clear back on the Republican side where you couldn’t move for 

a lot of different reasons. Hi, Dale. I am just fine, thank you. You sure 

got a lot of staff, Collin. Always screwing things up. And my time has 

[5]

expired. It is about time for Fred and Randy to knock over the—that 

is an old joke. 

All right. Okay, listen up and I can get this done. My name is Pat 

Roberts. I am pretty much of an antique piece of House Agriculture 

Committee furniture, now stored in the Senate Assisted Living Home 

across the way. I spent 28 years, 12 as a staff bucket toter, 16 as a Member of this Committee. Now, it is important to remember that for 26 

of the 28 years I was in the Minority. However, I had very important 

duties other than my primary job as administrative assistant to a great 

Congressman, Congressman Keith Sebelius, a Member of this Committee. You all remember Keith. If you don’t—I messed them up. That 

was his great quote. You can use that if you like. 

My primary duties on the Minority, as a staffer, were to learn the art 

of ice sculpturing for Mario. I was to file Vernie’s legal papers. I was 

to arrange flowers for Diane. I was to get buckets of ice for Bert and 

the Majority Members—we didn’t get any buckets of ice on our side—

and remind the Chairman that it was Chip Connelly, not Chips 

Connelly. We met in 1336A to work out the CBO mark. I didn’t give 

a damn for about 26 years and then all of a sudden I was Chairman 

and I really gave a damn. And we made the mark one time by actually 

counting up a conditioning grain and then we drank it. 

Mel Thompson was my sidekick in the Sebelius office and by doing 

all of these unbecoming duties for the Majority, as a Member of the 

Minority, as a staffer, we received one three-way light bulb a month 

and two rolls of toilet paper. That was during the days when Tip 

O’Neill really ran things. We had discipline. And in Kika-land, we also 

had a great staff. My job was to make sure that Bill O’Connor’s agriculture program policy encyclopedia was kept in order, so I simply 

wiped his brow. John Hogan was our brilliant barrister. And there is 

a story to that. 

John had an appealing kind of explanation to everything legal, but 

he would clear his voice about every minute and a half. And so we had 

a pool in the Minority, every time Ed Madigan would have, basically, 

John give a report and on how many times John would clear his throat. 

But you had to nail it. You had to nail it exactly on the number. Joe 

Skeen picked 18, Bill Emerson had 17, I had about 22. We all got 

through and it was right on 18 and that was it, and Joe Skeen smiled 

broadly, knowing he had won about a $50 pool, because nobody had 

ever nailed it. When I got up and said John, would you explain that 

one item to me one more time? Emerson and Skeen jumped right up 

and said that is not fair. 

Chuck Hilty of Madigan fame had me press his orange and yellow 

and green and mauve shirt, all the same shirt. Diane and Wonder 

Woman kept us in line. I will never forget the days, after the revolution 

in 1994, when the Majority staff actually discovered the basement rat 

[6]

hole where our staff worked. And I remember the staff director, I 

don’t know who it was, Vernie or maybe it was Bert and it might have 

been Mario. He said you mean people actually inhabited this place? 

Yes, we did. 

But I digress. That is a Senator’s privilege. Kika de la Garza, my 

friend, my colleague, respected Chairman Emeritus of the always then 

powerful House Agriculture Committee. Kika’s attributes and many accomplishments are listed in his biographical sketch. Amazingly, for an 

esteemed Member of Congress, they are all true. And in a day and age 

where bipartisan is better now described as bipolar, I do long for the 

good old days in the House Agriculture Committee, where, when I became a Member, we passed Stenholm-Roberts amendments, too many 

to mention. Then after the 1994 revolution, many Roberts-Stenholm 

amendments. And then a little later, just Roberts amendments. And 

then I quit and I went to assisted living. 

The days as Chairman, when I would be listening to my colleagues 

across the aisle and began to fearlessly jot down notes of rebuttal, that 

is when Dale Wayne Moore, now of department fame, would whisper 

in my ear, ‘‘Sir, you are the Chairman now. You have the votes. You 

don’t have to say anything.’’ So I just let Tom Harkin go ahead and 

say whatever he wanted to say. Actually, Tom was in the Senate then. 

That wasn’t true. The reason we were successful in some things during 

those rather raucous times was due to the experience, the wisdom, and 

the commitment of our Chairman Emeritus, who always put agriculture 

first. 

Now, I am going to tell the infamous submarine story and how we, 

as upstart Republicans, gave Kika a miniature, but genuine submarine 

from which his story evolved. But the last time I mentioned the submarine story, and this is a true story, Lucille was standing up here and 

she gave me a sharp elbow to the ribs and said, ‘‘Oh, now you have 

got him started. We will never get out of here.’’ That is a true story. 

So Kika, no submarine story, but another one, and a little bit shorter. 

It was 1994, ladies and gentlemen, and I was sitting in front of the television in the Dodge City headquarters. It was slowly dawning on me 

that for the first time in 40 years there would be a new House Agriculture Committee Chairman. More to the point, it would be me. 

I thought of my dad. I thought of my mother. I thought of my family, and all of the farmers and ranchers in Kansas. All of the great colleagues and staff I had worked for. I thought of my family, and the 

awesome responsibility. I was damn near in tears, when someone 

tapped me on the shoulder and said I had a long distance telephone 

call from someone whose name he did not understand. So I answered 

hello and Kika said, ‘‘I think I have to learn to call you Mr. Chairman.’’ I stammered back, ‘‘Oh, no. No, no, no, Mr. Chairman. You will 

always be the Chairman of the Committee. You will be Chairman EmerVerDate 0ct 09 2002 12:52 Nov 05, 2009 Jkt 041481 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6749 Sfmt 6749 I:\DOCS\DELAGA~1\53103.TXT AGR1 PsN: BRIAN
[7]

itus. You will not be a Ranking Member. But I thank you for the call 

and the congratulations.’’ There was a pause and then Kika said, ‘‘I 

didn’t call you to congratulate you. I just want to know what I am 

going to do with all of my stuff.’’

After that was all done, he agreed to sit down with me and to give 

me some advice and counsel. And I suppose that this may end up on 

YouTube or something, but we settled on the wellness center and so 

there we sat, in the bubble up tubs. There were two. And at any rate, 

we were exchanging ideas on pending legislation, on agriculture program policy, on Members of the Committee. That was a hoot. And I 

told him I was concerned over parliamentary procedure. After all, no 

Republican had to worry about that or an OMB score for 40 years. He 

said don’t worry. I will be your parliamentarian and he was. Every time 

somebody would offer an amendment over there, he would put his 

hands over his mouth and say don’t worry, that will not score. We tried 

that two years ago and asked about the GAO study. And I would say 

you know, didn’t I recall there was a GAO study about that two years 

ago and the score didn’t meet, and would the gentleman consider 

withdrawing his amendment. And we got through it. 

Ladies and gentlemen, all of us come here to make a difference. We 

are fortunate here tonight to honor a man who has made a positive 

difference in the lives of every American and many people in foreign 

lands. A good man, a humble man and the Chairman of the House 

Agriculture Committee, always. Kika and Lucille, we love you. It has 

been a privilege to serve with you and an honor to be able to call you 

a friend. I salute you, sir. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, Charlie, I know that is a hard act to follow, but 

we now are pleased to have another great leader of the House Agriculture Committee for many, many years, somebody I learned a lot 

from. I will say, for both Kika and Charlie, for those of you out here 

that aren’t happy sometimes with what I do, I learned a lot from these 

guys, so if you are looking for somebody to blame. Anyway, we are privileged to have Charlie Stenholm with us, former Ranking Member and 

a long-time Member of the Committee and also a Member from Texas. 

REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE CHARLIE STENHOLM 

Mr. STENHOLM. Kika and Lucille, this has been a mission of a lot of 

pleasure that you have brought to Cindy and I. And my wife, Cindy, 

is back out here. The family sacrifices and the family contributions to 

all of us who have had the privilege of serving in the United States 

Congress are well known to everyone, but, quite often, are understated. 

And I have to say that I am one of those that benefited greatly from 

the inspiration and leadership that you gave, not only on the Agriculture Committee, but how you led your life and sharing your family 

from time to time. That is special. 

[8]

First time I met Kika de la Garza was in Crosbyton, Texas. He came 

out, was kind enough to come out and campaign for Charlie ‘‘Who’’ 

that wanted to become the next Congressman of the 17th District of 

Texas to replace Omar Burleson. Kika comes out to Crosbyton and we 

have a full house, 300, 400 people there and he gets carried away, tells 

the submarine story and a few other things and promised the people 

in that audience that if they elected Charlie Stenholm, he will guarantee I will be on the House Agriculture Committee. Fast forward a 

couple of months or about a year, I get elected, we are in, the Steering 

and Policy Committee is meeting. There is one slot left on the House 

Agriculture Committee and I am still not on it. 

Kika goes to Speaker Tip O’Neill and by the way, Pat, he gave you 

one too many rolls. Kika goes to Speaker O’Neill and said, ‘‘Mr. Speaker, you got to help me. I was out in Crosbyton, Texas. There were 

4,000 men and women from west Texas in that audience and I promised them that if they elect Charlie Stenholm I will see that he gets 

on the Agriculture Committee.’’ I forgot the part of the story, he 

crawled into the office and begged because this was—well, the Speaker 

honored Kika’s request and I got on the House Agriculture Committee. 

And then we had a lot of experiences past Crosbyton. You know, we 

were in Prague, Czechoslovakia before the fall of the Iron Curtain, 

doing a Memorandum of Understanding with Charles University and 

Texas A&M University in dealing with their beginning to communicate 

with each other. And no matter whether we were in Prague, Czechoslovakia or we are dealing with Secretary Niconav, the Secretary of the 

Soviet Union, or whether we were in Italy at the World’s Wine Fair, 

Kika always managed to communicate in their language. Five languages, always perfectly communicating with a slight Spanish accent to 

each of the languages. But he was able to communicate. 

I remember once we were appearing before the Rules Committee. 

Claude Pepper was the Chairman of the Rules Committee at the time 

and Claude looks down at Kika and he says, ‘‘Mr. Chairman, you have 

an ag bill you would like to bring before the House?’’ ‘‘Yes, sir.’’ ‘‘Do 

you have your ducks in a row on this bill?’’ And Kika says, ‘‘Mr. Chairman, I am trying to put my ducks in the wagon, but they keep jumping 

out. But we will do the best that we can.’’ How well I remember that. 

There is a special quality in all of us, and I look out and see so many 

colleagues, friends from Texas, Madam Speaker, glad to see you here 

today. I know Kika is, also. But as we look out, it is the friendships that 

we make and the associations that we have and those things that nothing will ever take away from us. And just as I began, I say Kika and 

Lucille, you have made a great contribution to the Stenholm family 

and I know I speak for everyone here that has come to know you and 

[9]

appreciate you. Those that served with you and those who worked with 

you and those who have followed you ever since, we appreciate you. 

And now in closing, I want to share a little bit of news that probably 

no one is aware of. You have already heard reference to the submarine 

story and I am not going to go into that. And Lucille, I am far enough 

away from that elbow. But you know, if today you were to go down this 

street to the 17th Street entrance to the World War II memorial, you 

would enter on the south side, which is appropriate for one of the 

most prominent Members from the South, Mr. Chairman. There is a 

series of commemoration plaques that show the action on the Pacific 

front during World War II. Along that wall is one sculpture that commemorates the contribution of agriculture to our national effort in 

World War II. 

And immediately after the sculpture commemorating agriculture is, 

you guessed it, a submarine. So agriculture comes before submarines 

one more time. Did Kika strike again? Or should we be thinking of 

naming a submarine for Kika de la Garza? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. PEN ̃A. Ladies and gentlemen, the Speaker of the House, Nancy 

Pelosi, has just arrived. I will recognize the Speaker now, so she may 

deliver her remarks this evening. 

REMARKS OF SPECIAL GUEST THE HONORABLE NANCY PELOSI 

SPEAKER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

Speaker PELOSI. How exciting it is to gather in this room to honor 

Kika de la Garza, Mr. Chairman. This is the second portrait unveiling 

in this room that I have attended, Kika. The first I attended was for 

Speaker Foley in honor of his being Chairman of the Agriculture Committee. How wonderful that he brought that important value and that 

important issue to the speakership. I don’t have that credential as 

Speaker, because I told them at the time that we did have one farm 

in San Francisco. It was a mushroom farm and it was indoors. But 

nonetheless, I have a full appreciation of your leadership and the contribution that agriculture has made to the war effort at that time and 

to the strength of our country and our balance of power. 

And if I didn’t know that, Chairman Peterson would be reminding 

me every minute, so it is an honor to join him, Chairman Peterson, 

Charlie Stenholm, my Ranking Member of whom we are very proud 

and former Chairman, but now Senator Roberts, to honor this great 

man. I was in McAllen, Texas last week and I saw firsthand the affection and respect that the people of the region have for Kika and for 

Lucille. At every stop they were cheered, kissed, hugged and revered. 

And I could see, visiting McAllen and Edinburg and other parts there, 

why Kika and Lucille wanted to go home. What a beautiful area, an 

agriculture area and a patriotic area, Mr. Stenholm. Very patriotic area 

contributing greatly in every way to the strength of our country. 

[ 10 ]

And so here we are, honoring Kika for 32 years of service in the 

Congress of the United States, 1965 to what is it, 1997? My goodness. 

I had the privilege of serving under him for part of that time and I 

saw firsthand a remarkable list of achievements that would be the envy 

of any Member. A founding Member of the Congressional Hispanic 

Caucus. He put the issues of that great community on the national 

agenda and for that, we are all in your debt, Kika. He amplified the 

voice of Hispanic Members and Hispanic people throughout our country. 

As the first Hispanic to lead a standing House Committee, imagine 

that, imagine the history of that. Chairman de la Garza left a very enormous mark on farm policy. One of his most impressive achievements 

was stiff competition, mind you, for that designation, his successful 

shepherding of three farm bills as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee. Three farm bills, Collin. 

The CHAIRMAN. I don’t think I——

Speaker PELOSI. We didn’t even realize what an accomplishment that 

was until a couple of months ago. Tom Buis, stop laughing so loudly 

here. As Chairman Peterson and many up here will tell you, completing a farm bill is a heavy lift. Enacting three is nothing short of 

remarkable. Chairman de la Garza presided over the presentation of 

those three farm bills and that is a reflection of his love and understanding of farm country and rural America. As Chairman, Kika de la 

Garza streamlined farm loan programs, protected family farmers with 

emergency assistance in the very difficult times of the late 1980s, 

strengthened rural America and our nation’s nutrition programs and 

he has many, many more accomplishments. 

It is wonderful to have Chairman de la Garza back in Washington. 

I see Angela and other members of the family and certainly, his dear 

and beloved and beautiful Lucille. I congratulate you on receiving this 

tremendous honor and think it is a real tribute. We have Senator Harkin, we have Senator Cornyn from Texas, we have many, many Members of the House and that speaks eloquently to the very distinguished 

leadership of Kika de la Garza. Although he has been gone 10 years 

now, he is always part of the legacy of this Congress. Thank you, Kika 

de la Garza, for your patriotism and for your leadership to our country. 

Thank you, Kika. 

Mr. PEN ̃A. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Thank you, Chairman Peterson, Senator Roberts and Charlie Stenholm. I would like to recognize 

three key Members of the Texas delegation, beginning with Senator 

Cornyn, who has graciously come over from the Senate to speak tonight. Senator Cornyn. 

[ 11 ]

REMARKS OF SENATOR JOHN CORNYN 

Mr. CORNYN. For a Member of the United States Senate, I will be 

uncharacteristically brief, since Senator Roberts has said just about everything that could be said. And I always look to him for guidance on 

a variety of issues, but particularly, when it comes to agricultural issues. 

I am a humble barrister by profession and while I have consumed vast 

quantities of agricultural products during my lifetime, I don’t consider 

myself an expert. 

But I do want to say just a couple of words of appreciation to Kika 

de la Garza and his wonderful family and say, coming from Texas, he 

is a Texas legend and somebody who has done so much for our state 

and to advance not only the cause of agriculture, which employs, 

roughly, one out of every five Texans, but obviously has made a tremendous impact here in Washington and across our nation and literally, around the world. So Kika, thank you for allowing me to come 

by and share just a few words of appreciation. Thank you for your 

great service, the tremendous impact you have made on this great Nation and this is a fitting tribute for those many years of wonderful service. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. We are going to officially accept this portrait on behalf of the House of Representatives and we have the Speaker here and 

she is the appropriate one to do that, so at this time, I think we will 

have Lucille come up and we will unveil the portrait and then the 

Speaker will officially accept it and then we will hear some words from 

Kika. So if the rest of the delegation wants to come up from Texas, 

Hispanic Caucus, the more the merrier. 

[Portrait unveiled] 

Speaker PELOSI. So on behalf of the Congress of the United States, 

it is a great honor to accept this magnificent portrait of Chairman Kika 

de la Garza. For a long time to come, anyone who visits the Congress, 

visits the Agriculture Committee, will see the energy, the dedication, 

the patriotism in this great portrait of Kika. Congratulations, Kika. You 

are looking good. 

The CHAIRMAN. Rube ́n. Before we have Kika speak, I am going to 

have the current Member from Kika’s district say a couple of words, 

Rube ́n Hinojosa, my good friend. 

REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE RUBE ́N HINOJOSA 

Mr. HINOJOSA. Thank you, Collin. I appreciate very much the opportunity to say a few words. I was very pleased to hear Father Dan and 

Bert Pen ̃a open the program and delighted to hear Chairman Collin 

Peterson and former Chairman Pat Roberts, now Senator Roberts, 

from Kansas; Charlie Stenholm. But I also want to acknowledge many 

of the current Members of Congress and former Members of Congress 

who are here today. I especially want to recognize all of the Members 

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of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who are here to pay their respects to the founder, together with Congressman Roybal from California. These two men and a few others were the ones who started the 

Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which today celebrates its 30th anniversary, and we thank each and every one of you who are here today. 

I am pleased to be here with my wife, Marty, and my family, all of 

us to honor a great American and a great Texan, the Honorable E 

Kika de la Garza. I am very proud to represent the Congressional District, number 15 from Texas, that Congressman de la Garza represented, honorably, for over 32 years. When Kika became Chairman 

of the this House Agriculture Committee, he was the first Hispanic, 

since 1917, to chair a House standing Committee in the House of Representatives. To hear the words of our speaker, Nancy Pelosi, in recognizing him for his outstanding and extraordinary work as Chairman, 

it gave me great pleasure because I can look up to Congressman de 

la Garza, whom I replaced after his retirement, and look forward to 

someday trying to do some of the great work that he did. 

During that 15-year tenure as Chairman, Kika successfully led the 

way for the House to pass the three omnibus farm bills that were mentioned earlier. Although we are here tonight to honor his work on the 

Agriculture Committee, through the unveiling of his official portrait, 

Kika did not just confine his work in Congress to agriculture issues. In 

1976, he became one of the founding Members of the Congressional 

Hispanic Caucus, which he chaired from 1989 to 1991. A strong supporter of civil rights, safeguard for minorities, Kika fought for improved access to healthcare for the elderly and for veterans, bettered 

living conditions for lower income individuals and the impoverished, 

and increased access to educational opportunities for all Americans. 

In closing, Marty and I want to recognize his wife, Lucille, who has 

been his strongest supporter and who, I am sure, is very proud to be 

here tonight to see her husband, Kika, get this well-deserved honor. 

Kika and Lucille, my sincere congratulations and thank you for all your 

public service to our great country and the great people of south 

Texas. God bless you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Rube ́n, and we have been joined by the 

Ranking Member, the current Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee, former Chairman, whose picture we just hung 

here, we hung him two or three weeks ago and we are going to hang 

Kika tonight. But Bob, we are glad to have you with us. So ladies and 

gentlemen, without further ado, my Chairman, always my Chairman, 

the Chairman Emeritus of the House Agriculture Committee, Kika de 

la Garza. 

[ 13 ]

REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA 

Mr. DE LA GARZA. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. 

Chairman. I want to commend you on the great work that you are 

doing as Chairman of the Agriculture Committee that I had the privilege of presiding over for a few years. To all of my colleagues that are 

here, those that have left us and gone to the Senate, Pat Roberts, and 

my other colleagues that are here, my family is here with me. We are 

very proud of our son, Jorge; Jorge and his wife and his daughter, 

Laura, and Tina and Jorge. Where are you, Jorge? There you go. 

Would you come up here in front? Laura and Jorge. Jorge is, I can’t 

say it, cardiothoracic surgeon. Our son, retired Commander of the U.S. 

Navy, Mike de la Garza. Mike, Amelia, and our official photographer, 

Angela. 

Thank you so very much. Philip. Where is Philip? There you go. 

They said so many nice things about me, I had thought I had died and 

gone to heaven. Is this how it is going to be? But I appreciate all of 

you being here and the artist that did the painting, the portrait, is 

here, also. Thank you so very much. I didn’t want to say I am—I don’t 

know why, by protocol, and I didn’t want to be in a coat and tie with 

a flag in the background hanging in the Agriculture Committee, so this 

young lady pictured it well and did a good job. Cousin Joe Miller, a 

nephew. Did I miss anyone? 

Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. I hope you enjoy—someone asked me are you going to have hors d’oeuvres? I said of course. 

She asked if they would be light or heavy? She didn’t come? She is in 

here someplace. She didn’t know if she wanted light or heavy hors 

d’oeuvres. But everything they said about me was part of a team effort. 

Those that work for the Agriculture Committee, those that worked for 

the Agriculture Committee through my tenure before and we were 

there together, we did it together in a really unusual way. We were receiving criticism for all the spending that went to the rich farmers of 

America and this chart has been to every State in the Union. 

That little line at the bottom, that is all we spent for agriculture. 

That is it. I would show this chart in Chicago, and New York, says, 

‘‘What, all the rich farmers are getting richer?’’ No, we are not. We 

are giving you all the good food that you eat and the now famous submarine story. I was invited—they come, freshmen, young members, 

they come from the military to greet you and to welcome you. When 

the Navy fellow came, he said I see you are an old Navy fellow. I said, 

‘‘Yes, I was in the Navy. Can you help me get onboard a ship?’’ He 

said, ‘‘Sure, when do you want to go?’’ Because I was in the Navy and 

never had been on a ship. He says, ‘‘When do you want to go? Let 

me know.’’

So couple of weeks later, he came by, a Commander, and said, ‘‘We 

got you. You are going on a Navy ship.’’ It was the USS Macon, CA132. 

[ 14 ]

It was someone from Georgia here. The Macon was a ship that I went 

on. When we were out there, I asked the Commander how about submarines? He said, ‘‘Well, we will see about you going on a submarine.’’ 

So a couple of weeks later they invited me to come on a submarine 

and there we were, out in the Gulf of Mexico, into the Atlantic. You 

may have heard about some whales jumping on land and getting out 

of the water? That was me in my submarine. But we did it. 

Finally, I asked the commander, how, knowing that this was the 

height of the confrontation with the Soviet Union and they knew 

where our ships were, in port or at sea, they knew where our planes 

were, on the ground or flying. They knew where everything was, except 

one thing. They didn’t know where that submarine was. And that is 

what saved us from the Soviet Union going after us because they didn’t 

know where that submarine was. And this is what saved us, this is what 

kept us safe. 

But the most important part, and I tell it to you here, I asked the 

commander, how long can you keep this thing underwater? He says, 

‘‘Oh, take a guess.’’ I said, ‘‘I don’t know, one year, two years, three 

years?’’ He said, ‘‘No. You are in the Congress?’’ ‘‘Yes, of course.’’ 

‘‘You are on the Agriculture Committee?’’ ‘‘Yes.’’ He said we can keep 

this submarine underwater as long as we have food for our crew. That 

was the secret. So who saved us from all that happened with the Soviet 

Union? It was the farmers and ranchers of America. 

They did it for us and I was proud to be a very small part of that 

endeavor, but had it not been for the farmers and ranchers of America, we would have been just another nation without enough food to 

sustain ourselves, so thank you, farmers and ranchers of America. I say 

it right here, in the Agriculture Committee, that I had the privilege 

and honor of presiding and thank you for this beautiful—I am not 

leaning on the fence because I am tired. I am leaning because I am 

proud of what is behind me: Santa Gertrudis cattle and the grass and 

the fence. 

I might tell you a little personal—the name of the Santa Gertrudis 

originally came from the now famous King Ranch. But it was named 

Santa Gertrudis because it belonged to the de la Garza family. The 

mother of the de la Garzas was named Cruz, so they named the ranch 

Santa Cruz de la Garza because it belonged to a de la Garza family and 

the mother of the de la Garzas was named Gertrudis, so they named 

the ranch Santa Gertrudis de la Garza, which I don’t know how far 

down the line I came, but I am proud of it. I am proud of it. 

So this has been a team effort. To those of you that worked on the 

Committee with us and helped three omnibus farm bills and a multitude of other bills for the U.S., for the world, for America and for 

you, who partake of the bounty of our great agricultural system. So 

thank you very much. God bless America and God bless agriculture. 

[ 15 ]

Mr. PEN ̃A. Ladies and gentleman, I would like to recognize the Dean 

of the Hispanic Caucus and a senior Member of Congress from Texas, 

the Honorable Solomon Ortiz. 

REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE SOLOMON P. ORTIZ 

Mr. ORTIZ. Thank you. Even before I came to Congress, Kika was already a star and he was my mentor, after I took half of the district that 

Kika represented, Brownsville and all the way to Kleberg County. I 

know it has been a long time coming, but we come here to honor a 

great American. I will never forget when they opened a Bingo site, we 

had a big ceremony and all of the community was there and all the 

leaders were there. Even winter Texans were there. When we saw Kika, 

when the winter Texans came over and they saw those tall aviators, tall, 

and Kika, this lady came to Kika and she said, ‘‘Kika, how come you 

are so short?’’ And he said let me tell you why. He says I served in 

a submarine and the bunks were so small that they did not give me 

a chance to grow. 

But Kika, we are here to honor you because of your leadership and 

your family. It takes the efforts of a great family, a wife and the children. I will never forget, when I came to the first Hispanic Caucus 

meeting, I was one of six Hispanics when I came to Congress and Kika 

stood up and he said somebody once said that behind a man is a great 

woman. Lucille stood up. He says not behind, besides a man. So Kika, 

we are just here to honor you today and to wish you the best. You have 

been a great role model for all of us, not only in south Texas, but 

throughout the country. Congratulations. 

Mr. PEN ̃A. I am looking around for Members of Congress who would 

like to speak now. If not, of course, we want to thank the Friends of 

Agriculture Portrait Committee, including the American Peanut Shellers Association, U.S. Sugar Corporation, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, 

and so many others who contributed to making the portrait possible. 

Dalton Yancey is here. He started with us a long time ago to put this 

together. Vernie Hubert is here, Fred Clark and others, including 

Mario Castillo. I want to thank Debbie Smith. Debbie, thank you for 

your hard work and dedication to the Committee on Agriculture, and 

thank you for guiding us through the process. And I would like to recognize Jena Rawley-Whitaker, the artist who painted the beautiful painting, for a few words. 

REMARKS OF JENA RAWLEY-WHITAKER 

Ms. RAWLEY-WHITAKER. I just want to say that when I found out I was 

going to paint a Congressman and a Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, I was relieved to know he would be in jeans and a cowboy shirt. 

You know, there is just something about a man in boots. And so I really was thrilled to get to do that. I want to tell you that in recent times, 

[ 16 ]

as an Executive Director of a homeless shelter in Amarillo, I have come 

to discover that I am in touch with legislation and programs that Kika 

de la Garza put into place, so that I can minister to the veterans, we 

have a lot of homeless veterans; the immigrants and the elderly that 

come to us. They are helpless, they are hopeless. They have nothing 

and they don’t know what to do. And through Kika de la Garza and 

his work that he did in these areas, championing these minority groups 

and these little groups that have no hope of making it work for them. 

I just want to say, for example, in August, this August, we fed 14,000 

people in our little homeless shelter in Amarillo, Texas and that was 

because of a food bank program that Chairman de la Garza put into 

place. So I just want to honor him for that today. Thank you. 

Mr. PEN ̃A. I thank all of you for being here tonight. I would like to 

call on the chaplain of the U.S. House, Father Dan Coughlin, to give 

us the benediction. 

BENEDICTION 

Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin 

Father COUGHLIN. Mr. de la Garza, I tell you, there is a scripture 

story. The story stays alive as long as there is a story teller. Obviously, 

tonight your story will live on and on. Let us pray. 

We bless you and praise you, Lord God of creation, for your abundance and resources you have poured on this nation. May the American people always rejoice in a rich harvest of the fields and productive 

herds as they grow in compassion for the poor and the hungry at 

home and around the world. We bless you and we praise you, Lord, 

our redeemer, for the good work, past and present of the House Committee on Agriculture. May their endeavors on policies and laws increase both production and protection of America’s food and lead to 

even more responsible trade with our neighbors. 

And finally, tonight, Lord, this gathering of family and friends are 

truly your sign of Kika’s blessings in life. We ask you and praise you, 

as a source of life and love, for the Honorable Kika de la Garza, his 

wife, their three children and seven grandchildren. May this celebration affirm the gratitude of colleagues, the people of Texas and of this 

nation for a job well done and express their prayerful hope for long 

life and happiness and health which you alone can give, Lord, for you 

reward the good and the just forever and ever. Amen. 

[Whereupon, at 7:05 p.m., the ceremony was adjourned.]

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COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 

103RD CONGRESS

E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA, TEXAS, Chairman 

GEORGE E. BROWN, JR., CALIFORNIA, 

Vice Chairman 

CHARLIE ROSE, NORTH CAROLINA

GLENN ENGLISH, OKLAHOMA

LEON E. PANETTA, CALIFORNIA

DAN GLICKMAN, KANSAS

CHARLES W. STENHOLM, TEXAS

HAROLD L. VOLKMER, MISSOURI

TIMOTHY J. PENNY, MINNESOTA

TIM JOHNSON, SOUTH DAKOTA

MIKE EPSY, MISSISSIPPI

BILL SARPALIUS, TEXAS

JILL L. LONG, INDIANA

GARY A. CONDIT, CALIFORNIA

COLLIN C. PETERSON, MINNESOTA

CALVIN M. DOOLEY, CALIFORNIA

EVA M. CLAYTON, NORTH CAROLINA

DAVID MINGE, MINNESOTA

EARL F. HILLIARD, ALABAMA

JAY INSLEE, WASHINGTON

THOMAS J. BARLOW III, KENTUCKY

EARL POMEROY, NORTH DAKOTA

TIM HOLDEN, PENNSYLVANIA

CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY, GEORGIA

SCOTT BAESLER, KENTUCKY

KAREN L. THURMAN, FLORIDA

SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR., GEORGIA

BENNIE G. THOMPSON, MISSISSIPPI

SAM FARR, CALIFORNIA

PAT WILLIAMS, MONTANA

BLANCHIE M. LAMBERT, ARKANSAS

———

PAT ROBERTS, KANSAS, 

Ranking Minority Member 

BILL EMERSON, MISSOURI

STEVE GUNDERSON, WISCONSIN

TOM LEWIS, FLORIDA

ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH, OREGON

LARRY COMBEST, TEXAS

DAVE CAMP, MICHIGAN

WAYNE ALLARD, COLORADO

BILL BARRETT, NEBRASKA

JIM NUSSLE, IOWA

JOHN A. BOEHNER, OHIO

THOMAS W. EWING, ILLINOIS

JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, CALIFORNIA

JACK KINGSTON, GEORGIA

BOB GOODLATTE, VIRGINIA

JAY DICKEY, ARKANSAS

RICHARD W. POMBO, CALIFORNIA

CHARLES T. CANADY, FLORIDA

NICK SMITH, MICHIGAN

TERRY EVERETT, ALABAMA

FRANK D. LUCAS, OKLAHOMA

RON LEWIS, KENTUCKY

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

DIANNE POWELL, Staff Director 

VERNIE HUBERT, Chief Counsel/Legislative Director 

GARY R. MITCHELL, Minority Staff Director 

GLENDA L. TEMPLE, Hearing Clerk

Æ

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