{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-1994-10-08-pt1-PgE238", "1994-10-08", 103, 2, null, null, "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)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Page E]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]\n\n             THE RETIREMENT OF THE HONORABLE J. ROY ROWLAND\n\n                                 ______\n\n                               speech of\n\n                         HON. MICHAEL BILIRAKIS\n\n                               of florida\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Thursday, October 6, 1994\n\n  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I want to join my colleagues in wishing\nmy good friend, Congressman Roy Rowland, the best of luck in his future\nendeavors. I know he is looking forward to retiring from the Congress.\nUnfortunately, his retirement leaves a void in the House of\nRepresentatives that will never be completely filled. For many years,\nCongressman Rowland has been the only family physician in the entire\nCongress. He willingly shared his experience and medical knowledge with\nhis colleagues on numerous occasions. Many times, when health care\nlegislation was debated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee,\nCongressman Rowland's opinions and suggestions were sought out. My\ncolleagues on both sides of the aisle and I always found them\ninvaluable.\n  Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to work closely with\nCongressman Rowland and his very capable staff, especially Kathy\nHennemuth, on health care reform. Before that, we had served on the\nHouse Energy and Commerce Committee and the Veterans Committee. In\naddition, we served as cochairmen of the Congressional Sunbelt Caucus\non Infant Mortality.\n  In my opinion, our greatest legislative accomplishment together was\ndrafting two separate and completely bipartisan health care bills in\nthe 103d Congress. H.R. 3955, the Health Reform Consensus Act, was the\nfirst comprehensive health bill introduced in the Congress that was\ntruly bipartisan. In addition, Congressman Rowland and I forged a\ncompletely bipartisan group of five House Republicans and five House\nDemocrats. This congressional group was responsible for drafting the\nHouse bipartisan health bill, which drew significant support in the\nHouse this past summer--as well as interest in the other body. In my\nopinion, Congressman Rowland's medical background provided this bill\nwith crucial credibility among our House colleagues.\n  Prior to this year, Congressman Rowland already had established\nhimself as a legislative leader on health issues. A bill authored by\nCongressman Rowland to reduce unnecessary red tape in the Medicare\nProgram was enacted into law. As a leader in the House rural health\ncare coalition, Congressman Rowland assisted in drafting a wide range\nof bills to improve the delivery of rural health care that later became\npublic law. He also authored legislation creating the National AIDS\nCommission to establish better coordination among programs associated\nwith the disease. Finally, while serving as the vice chairman of the\nNational Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, he cosponsored several\nmeasures to provide prenatal and child health care services to high-\nrisk mothers.\n  Throughout his congressional career, Congressman Rowland has been an\neffective legislator in other legislative areas as well. He has been\nactively involved in environmental issues and, in fact, served on the\njoint conference committee that authored the 1990 Clean Air Act. He\nalso played a key role in the 1987 Clean Water Act and served as a\nHouse conferee when the final version of this legislation was debated\nby a House-Senate conference committee. In addition, Congressman\nRowland served as one of the leaders in promoting the proposed balanced\nbudget amendment to the Constitution.\n  With regard to veterans, Congressman Rowland served as the chairman\nof the House Veterans' Hospitals and Health Care Subcommittee. He has\nbeen a leader in fighting for improvements in the veterans' health care\nsystem and cosponsored several legislative measures to assist our\nveterans.\n  These are some of the highlights of Congressman Rowland's\naccomplishments as a Member of the House of Representatives. He has had\nnumerous legislative achievements throughout his congressional career\nin Washington. While I congratulate Congressman Rowland on this\ndistinguished career on the occasion of his retirement, I believe the\nU.S. Congress is losing one of its finest and most respected Members.\nHe will be sorely missed, not only by me, but by all of us.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-1994-10-08-pt1-PgE238"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 11.943218996748328, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}