Thanking C-SPAN for its Service on 25th Anniversary of its First Coverage of Proceedings of House

THANKING C-SPAN FOR ITS SERVICE ON 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FIRST COVERAGE OF PROCEEDINGS OF HOUSE -- (House of Representatives - March 16, 2004)

Mr. NEY. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 551) thanking C-SPAN for its service to the House of Representatives on the 25th anniversary of its first coverage of the proceedings of the House.

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Mr. MARKEY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for yielding me this time.

I rise to commemorate this great anniversary. I was elected to Congress in 1976 just as the great Tip O'Neill was
rising to become the Speaker of this great House. And there was a debate that raged in Congress over whether or not television should be allowed into this Chamber, and it was a debate that went on and on behind closed doors catalyzed by Brian Lamb, who had this idea that he could bring the United States House of Representatives to the American people. And of course the younger Members felt that that was a great idea because we had all grown up watching television. But the older Members, they were not quite so sure that that was a great idea, that the cameras would roam around and look for a Member who is nodding off, look for a Member reading a newspaper on the floor. And so this debate continued until a compromise was reached that the cameras would just focus upon the locations where the Members were speaking. And it was an incredible discussion.

But going back that 25 years, it is now clear that C-SPAN has long served the American people by opening the House of Representatives, the Senate, and thousands of congressional hearings and public safety discussions around the U.S. and the globe for the American public to see and to hear. And it is all because of this decision made by Tip O'Neill, Massachusetts' great man of the House, that all of this was made possible.

As we honor Brian Lamb and C-SPAN for 25 years of televised coverage of the House floor proceedings, we must also honor the memory of Tip O'Neill, whose singular decision it was to begin televising House proceedings, bringing the House of Representatives into the television age. Tip took an enormous risk in opening the House floor to the cameras. Television coverage had been debated for years; and many of, as I said, the more senior Members of the House were vehemently against it. The discussions raged in the well of the House for months on end over whether or not it was a good decision. There were those who preferred the status quo and resisted opening the House floor proceedings to television. But one of Tip's first decisions after he assumed the House Chair was to turn on the cameras. Tip intuitively knew it was an idea whose time had come. And when Brian Lamb went to Tip with his idea to take the television feed and send it across the Nation, gavel to gavel, and Tip agreed, neither of them quite knew what they had wrought.

Jack Farrell and his great biography, "Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century," has Brian Lamb tell his story of his visit with the Speaker: "I was a nervous wreck. I was shaking." He said, "I don't think to this day that" Tip "understood what was going to happen, and I'll never understand why he did what he did. He had nothing to win in the process except a little openness."

I would say that Tip achieved a world of openness and brought great credit to this institution by allowing the American public to see for the first time what had previously been restricted to those who travel to Washington and come to visit us in the visitors' gallery. Tip let the people all across our country get a chance to see the people's House at work. Why did he do it? I would say it was his instinct kicking in about what was the right thing to do. And we could always trust Tip's instinct. He was right to let C-SPAN in 25 years ago, and today we join in expressing our appreciation for Tip's decision and our appreciation to Brian Lamb and C-SPAN for asking Tip to create this huge revelation which has brought democracy into the homes of every single American as well as people around the world. And I think that much of the revolution that has happened over the last 25 years in the world relates to their ability to see how we create our laws and our country. And Tip O'Neill and Brian Lamb deserve the credit.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green).

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