congressional_record: CREC-1994-10-08-pt1-PgE238
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| CREC-1994-10-08-pt1-PgE238 | 1994-10-08 | 103 | 2 | THE RETIREMENT OF THE HONORABLE J. ROY ROWLAND | HOUSE | EXTENSIONS | FRONTMATTER | E | E | [{"name": "Michael Bilirakis", "role": "speaking"}] | [{"congress": "103", "type": "HR", "number": "3955"}] | 140 Cong. Rec. E | Congressional Record, Volume 140 Issue 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994) [Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov] [Congressional Record: October 8, 1994] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] THE RETIREMENT OF THE HONORABLE J. ROY ROWLAND ______ speech of HON. MICHAEL BILIRAKIS of florida in the house of representatives Thursday, October 6, 1994 Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I want to join my colleagues in wishing my good friend, Congressman Roy Rowland, the best of luck in his future endeavors. I know he is looking forward to retiring from the Congress. Unfortunately, his retirement leaves a void in the House of Representatives that will never be completely filled. For many years, Congressman Rowland has been the only family physician in the entire Congress. He willingly shared his experience and medical knowledge with his colleagues on numerous occasions. Many times, when health care legislation was debated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Rowland's opinions and suggestions were sought out. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle and I always found them invaluable. Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to work closely with Congressman Rowland and his very capable staff, especially Kathy Hennemuth, on health care reform. Before that, we had served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Veterans Committee. In addition, we served as cochairmen of the Congressional Sunbelt Caucus on Infant Mortality. In my opinion, our greatest legislative accomplishment together was drafting two separate and completely bipartisan health care bills in the 103d Congress. H.R. 3955, the Health Reform Consensus Act, was the first comprehensive health bill introduced in the Congress that was truly bipartisan. In addition, Congressman Rowland and I forged a completely bipartisan group of five House Republicans and five House Democrats. This congressional group was responsible for drafting the House bipartisan health bill, which drew significant support in the House this past summer--as well as interest in the other body. In my opinion, Congressman Rowland's medical background provided this bill with crucial credibility among our House colleagues. Prior to this year, Congressman Rowland already had established himself as a legislative leader on health issues. A bill authored by Congressman Rowland to reduce unnecessary red tape in the Medicare Program was enacted into law. As a leader in the House rural health care coalition, Congressman Rowland assisted in drafting a wide range of bills to improve the delivery of rural health care that later became public law. He also authored legislation creating the National AIDS Commission to establish better coordination among programs associated with the disease. Finally, while serving as the vice chairman of the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, he cosponsored several measures to provide prenatal and child health care services to high- risk mothers. Throughout his congressional career, Congressman Rowland has been an effective legislator in other legislative areas as well. He has been actively involved in environmental issues and, in fact, served on the joint conference committee that authored the 1990 Clean Air Act. He also played a key role in the 1987 Clean Water Act and served as a House conferee when the final version of this legislation was debated by a House-Senate conference committee. In addition, Congressman Rowland served as one of the leaders in promoting the proposed balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. With regard to veterans, Congressman Rowland served as the chairman of the House Veterans' Hospitals and Health Care Subcommittee. He has been a leader in fighting for improvements in the veterans' health care system and cosponsored several legislative measures to assist our veterans. These are some of the highlights of Congressman Rowland's accomplishments as a Member of the House of Representatives. He has had numerous legislative achievements throughout his congressional career in Washington. While I congratulate Congressman Rowland on this distinguished career on the occasion of his retirement, I believe the U.S. Congress is losing one of its finest and most respected Members. He will be sorely missed, not only by me, but by all of us. ____________________ |