President George H.W. Bush and First Spouse Barbara Bush Coin Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HILL of Arkansas. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, for yielding to me.

I, too, rise and thank John Cornyn, the Senator from Texas, and my good friend, small business man, auto dealer from Dallas, Texas, Roger Williams, for his leadership on this commemoration.

What a treat to be here on the House floor and honor George and Barbara Bush right where he served as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee some 50-plus years ago.

He loved the House. He loved an Arkansan named John Paul Hammerschmidt, a longtime member of the House Transportation Committee. They were best friends. They were freshmen together.

He always spoke fondly of this House, and it served him well when he was Vice President, served him well when he was President of the United States.

My wife, Martha, and I think about one thing when we think about George and Barbara Bush, whom we had the pleasure to know for over 40 years and work for for 4 years.

When you are at school with your kids or filling out a form, there is a line that says, ``in case of emergency,'' and there is a blank, and you are supposed to put a friend's name, a neighbor's name, a colleague's name. Madam Speaker, when we think of George and Barbara Bush, we think of that form.

In case of an emergency, call George Bush, call Barbara Bush. Because that is what they were. They were neighbors. In their soul, as the ranking member from North Carolina said, service was at the heart, whether it is pushing the cart across the Randalls' parking lot in Houston, serving cookies sitting on the floor of the vice president's mansion here in Washington, D.C., welcoming foreign leaders at the diplomatic entrance of the White House, service was at the heart. Being a neighbor was at the heart. That was George and Barbara Bush.

You think about our kids and their striving for who to look up to, who to have as a hero on the sports field, on the hospital board of directors, on the city council, in this House, serving the people of America. Who do you think of? George and Barbara Bush.

America, buy these $1 coins, hand them out to young people and say, if you are looking for a hero, you are looking for George Bush. Look no further than Barbara Bush. What the Bushes did pre-Presidency, in the Presidency, in the limelight for this country was lead and demonstrate service from the heart.

I can tell you a million stories about what a decent person George Bush was and what a wonderful woman, biting, bossy, fabulous mom, grandmother, and First Lady Barbara Bush was. Don't ever be caught chewing gum around her because you will swallow it. She was tough. She set high standards. Her children were held to those high standards. And she has lifted our whole country up to high standards by being an outstanding First Lady.

Tonight on this House floor it is an honor to be here and honor the memory of George and Barbara Bush by unanimously in this House supporting John Cornyn and Roger Williams' good bill to have the United States Treasury mint a coin to someone we look up to, we remember with reverence, we are grateful for, grateful for their service to this country.

From being fished out of the Pacific Ocean onto the fish back all the way to the White House, what a story.

As Chairwoman Waters said, even better was the story after the Presidency. George Bush shaving his head in symbolism, support and solidarity with the kids at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. George Bush wearing that goofy smile with his goofy socks to bring out heart and reverence for the good work of MD Anderson. Barbara Bush, for something that plagues every community in this country, every age in this country, the lack of literacy. How can you be a successful American and not be literate? And Barbara Bush from day one said, this is a fight I am in. And she fought for literacy for adults and for kids all over this country and had fun doing it. Her daughter-in-law, Laura Bush, our First Lady also, has carried that mantle forward.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for this opportunity to be on the floor to pay tribute again to Mr. and Mrs. Bush for their leadership in this country. I thank the Members of this House that come together on both sides of the aisle and recognize a leader when they see one. I appreciate the ranking member from North Carolina for the time. I am going to vote ``yes.''

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