Date: 1991-04-18
Speaker: JOHN J. RHODES (republican)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. it Is always good to be back on the House floor. Those of us who served in the House and Senate. of course. feel a special place in our hearts for.the Congress and the freedom for which it stands. This December marks the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights. In the last 2 years. a series of revolutions in Eastern Europe by people who want to enjoy those same rights which are guaranteed in our Constitution have changed the political map of the world. Less than 2 years ago. while attending a seminar in Berlin that brought together current and former Members. of Congress with their counterparts in the German Bundestag. each of the Germans shared their dream to walk through the Brandenburg Gate in their lifetime. Neither I nor any of the other Americans present. and I imagine none of the Germans either. thought that would happen in this century. Yet. less than 2 years later. the Berlin Wall Is down. Germany is reunited. the Warsaw Pact has been disbanded for all practical purposes. and the Soviet Union is on the verge of totally unforeseen economic and political disarrary. Mr. Speaker. our -association has been trying to help in the process of restoring representative democracy in Eastern Europe. At the request of the United States Embassy in Budapest. we sent an observer delegation to observe the first free election in Hungary in nearly half a century. We have hosted representatives of the democratic parties from Hungary for a briefing on the workings of the Congress. Likewise. we have hosted delegations from the Polish Parliament. the Hungarian Parliament. and leaders of the democratic reform movement of Czechoslovakia at the Capitol. The President of Hungary spoke at our associations meeting last spring. We are grateful to the U.S. Information Agency and the German Marshall Fund for helping make these programs possible. We expect to continue to expand these projects with Eastern Europe in the coming year. Although our alumni association of Congress originally started primarily so we could maintain our friendships with one another. our objectives have become much greater than that. You know. some of our colleagues have said to me. "Well. I dont know about your organization. I think about all you do Is get together. and drink. and eat. and lie to each other." And I said. "Well. you know. we do get together. and we do drink a bit. and we do eat a bit. and we do lie to each other. but we do a lot of other things too." Within ourmembership. we number half the Presidents Cabinet. as well as the President. himself. We have a number of Governors. Federal Judges. mayors. university presidents. corporate and trade association executives. law professors. authors. and other accomplished professionals with a variety of impressive credentials. We all share the unique experience of having served in the Congress and our objective is to have this reservoir of talent more widely utilized for the public good. To that end. this year. I appointed a committee headed by our distinguished colleagues from Nebraska and Florida. Mr. McCollister and Mr. Rogers. This committee was divided into four subcommittees. headed by our incoming President Bill Hathaway of Maine. our Treasurer Clarence (Bud) Brown of Ohio. former Army Secretary John 0. Marsh of Virginia. and our able colleague from Idaho. Orval Hansen. At this point in the RECORD. I will list the four subcommittees and their membership.