Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112th

 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m.

Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor.

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H6153 

Vol. 158 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 No. 128 

House of Representatives 

The House met at 10 a.m. and was 

called to order by the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. FLAKE

f 

). 

DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO 

TEMPORE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following communication from the Speaker: 

WASHINGTON, DC, 

September 20, 2012. 

I hereby appoint the Honorable JEFF

FLAKE to act as Speaker pro tempore on this 

day. 

JOHN A. BOEHNER, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

f 

MORNING-HOUR DEBATE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of January 17, 2012, the Chair will now recognize Members from lists submitted by 

the majority and minority leaders for 

morning-hour debate. 

The Chair will alternate recognition 

between the parties, with each party 

limited to 1 hour and each Member 

other than the majority and minority 

leaders and the minority whip limited 

to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall 

debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. 

f 

REMEMBERING RICKY WRIGHT 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Texas (Mr. CONAWAY) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I rise 

today to recognize a good and decent 

man, a loyal servant of Texas and my 

friend, Ricky Wright. Ricky Wright 

passed away Wednesday, August 1, 

after a tremendous battle with cancer. 

Words cannot adequately express the 

sorrow and disbelief that Susan and I 

feel, along with every member of our 

team, at these difficult times. 

I met Ricky when I first started running for Congress, and since that time, 

Ricky has been at my side as a mentor, 

confidant, and a close friend. While 

Ricky was employed as my district director, he served the people of District 

11. 

This service to his neighbors was a 

task he lived every day. Ricky routinely logged hundreds of miles a week, 

drove to every corner of District 11. 

Through his work, he touched the lives 

of thousands of Texans. There was no 

problem in our district that was too 

small for his attention or too big for 

his talents. 

During these travels, Ricky never 

once met a stranger. With his easy 

smile and open demeanor, Ricky would 

make everyone feel like they’d been his 

friend for a lifetime. But during all 

these travels and meetings, too many 

to count, he never forgot that his home 

was Comanche, Texas. 

Comanche is ever much a part of 

Ricky as his fingers and his toes. It was 

the community he was raised in, the 

community that taught him the character and morals that would guide his 

life. Perhaps that is also where he inherited his stubborn streak. Ricky had 

a confidence in the possibilities that 

could be, in spite of the limited vision 

of those around him. You could see this 

in him every day as he quietly refused 

to yield to mediocrity or to compromise his principles. 

It was his stubbornness that set 

Ricky apart from the crowd, and that’s 

where I believe he was most comfortable, just a little further up the 

path, showing the rest of us the way. 

Today, Ricky is still just a little further up the path showing us the way as 

he showed us how he carried himself in 

the face of those deep difficulties toward the end of his life. 

We’ll remember Ricky as he would 

want to be remembered, a faithful 

friend, a tireless worker whose hopeful, 

idealistic, daring, and decent way of 

life inspired us all. To those of us who 

knew him and worked with him, he was 

like family, and his loss will be felt 

every time we gather together without 

him. He’ll never be replaced or forgotten, and I ask you for your prayers for 

Ricky and his family and those of us 

who loved him. 

I miss my friend. 

f 

STILL FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT 

TO VOTE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Oregon (Mr. BLUMENAUER) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, 

there have been two struggles to make 

American democracy work. First was 

who would be eligible to vote. Originally, only those who were white, 

male, property owners over 21, voted, 

perhaps a quarter of the population. 

More than three-quarters of a century later, having fought the civil war, 

African Americans were granted the 

franchise. It would be another twothirds of a century before voting rights 

were extended to women. 

Finally, in a battle that I was proud 

to be a part of as a college student, 

campaigning and testifying before Congress, we adopted the XXVI amendment, extending the voting rights to 

young people at age 18. 

But there’s always been another battle: Who amongst the theoretically eligible voters are actually able to cast 

their ballot and have it counted? 

It’s no secret the States in the Old 

South waged a brutal extra-legal war 

to prevent newly enfranchised African 

Americans from voting. The discrimination, intimidation and violence are 

well-chronicled; and it’s why, almost a 

century after African Americans were 

given the legal right to vote, we still 

need the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to 

really give them the vote supposedly 

guaranteed under the Constitution. 

Despite the Voting Rights Act, and 

two centuries of struggle, there’s still 


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