outstanding work. i'm a great admirer of both of you. i appreciate your service. isn't helpful it a our relations when there's widely spread story stating the name of the ship, where it went, and you come and tell us that you can't confirm or deny something that is out there in the media. somebody has leaked all that information to the media, but you can't tell members of this committee who have the responsibility to exercise oversight. the second issue i want to mention is guantanamo. i understand the president has said on numerous occasions that one of his objections is guantanamo. aidend the president's top came to my office and said you were going to give me a plan.

i've always favored closing guantanamo for a variety of reasons. yet we still haven't got a plan from you. not only not a plan, until i asked you about it specifically, there was no communication. after coming to my office and saying you are going to give me that plan, and i said we needed it, we got nothing. not an update, not a briefing on what was going on. so we put in language in president, and the voices his strong objection to guantanamo. finally, this issue of whether we are protecting those people who we are asking to fight isis,t bashar assad and isn't it true that we've dropped munitions, general dunford, to a group of people who we are supporting in syria? general dunford: it is true,

senator. theme we going to protect from russian air attack? general dunford: senator, we have the authority. we have the capability and we have options. >> is it true that the russians are already attacking them? the ones we dropped munitions to. general dunford: the russians have not attacked the ones we've dropped munitions to. >> they have not? general dunford: no, chairman. to make sure that you and i are speaking of the same group, the group i'm referring to is known as the syrian arab coalition. they operate in the northeast part of the country. we recently provided resupply to those individuals. >> and if they are attacked by the russians, you will defend them? general dunford: we have the that.lity to do i can't answer that question. >> they would be interested in

knowing, i think. if we are going to give them equipment and ask them to fight, and we can't answer to them whether we are going to protect them or not, i think it is a degree of immorality. secretary carter: chairman, may i take a moment? first of all, i don't mean to be coy about the ships sailing and i know things are in the newspaper. it has nothing to do with this particular operation. there are all kinds of things in the newspaper that should not be in the newspaper. i don't like to talk about military operations publicly. you are entitled to be briefed on everything, but talking about things in a public setting -- what is classified about it? what is it that you wouldn't think- in fact, i

literally every member of this committee applauds it, so i'm not sure what the reason is why you wouldn't want to just state what has already been from somebody who works for you, the name of the ship, when it went out, but yet you won't tell us. that causes frustration, mr. secretary. secretary carter: i don't mean to cause you frustration. >> i hope you understand our frustration. butetary carter: i do, maybe my hesitation is excessive, but i don't like to talk about military operations in public. perhaps this one should be an exception. let me go on to the other thing you said about gitmo. i too favor, like you, closing gitmo if at all possible. the detainees in gitmo

are not, cannot be safely transferred to another location. in order to close gitmo, as you know, we would need to find a location in the united states in which they could continue to be detained. what has taken the time, chairman, is that we had to survey a number of sites. we've done that at a number of sites around the country. we've completed that. some of those are department of defense sites. we needed to have them nominated by the justice department. and then to do the site surveys, all of that took some time. i expect you will get your proposal shortly. >> i would have appreciated an update. at theicism on this side capital is, to my view, somewhat justified.

the law was broken when mr. swapped for five people. the law required that the president of the united states notify congress, and he didn't do it. frankly, there's a credibility got that is huge when the directnt act ins violation of the law and uses the excuse that there could be a leak. to me, that is not an excuse to violate the law. the cynicism here is immense. the president complains about the nda. to expect that the committee would act after the president violated the law and there is no not is something that is reasonable nor in keeping with our responsibilities. could i say again, my respect, i

appreciate the great work that both of you do. as i said, we've known each other a long time. you, there'so tell a certain amount of frustration here because of the lack of communication. guantanamo is one. another one is this policy or lack of policy about what people we train and equip and whether we defend them or not. the lack of strategy to say that we can take out syrian air defenses in order to establish a no-fly zone is simply not true. i'll ask any military expert. that's not true. you don't have to take out syrian air defenses. syrians can't fly into our places. we've had military members like general petraeus and general keane and others who have a very different view of the whole ,ssue of what we're going to do

which by doing nothing, has triggered a flood of millions of refugees, which is a problem we are going to be grappling with for many years to come. it didn't have to happen. i look forward to more conversations with you. i appreciate you coming to the community ittee. i appreciate your service. this meeting, i'm sure you'll be happy to know, is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> tomorrow, the senate foreign relations committee holds a hearing on strategy in the middle east. live coverage at 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span 3 and c-span.org. coverage of the committee continues at 3:30 eastern with a confirmation hearing for several nominees, including a nominee for the ambassador to libya. that is live on c-span 3 and c-span.org. >> a signature feature of book tv is our all-day coverage of book fairs and festivals from all across the country with top authors. here's our schedule beginning this weekend. we will be in nashville for the

southern festival of books. at the start of november, we are back on the east coast for the boston book festival. in the middle of the month, the louisiana book festival in baton rouge. and the national book awards from new york city. just some of the fairs and festivals this fall on c-span 2's book tv. nine members of the house of representatives came to the floor to pay tribute to outgoing speaker john boehner. congressman boehner aching speaker in 2011. it is expected that friday will be his last day in congress. this is an hour. the gentleman from ohio. mr. chabot: having represented a neighboring district to john boehner, i have come to know john pretty well and not

consider him not just a colleague but a friend. not just this, but we have had a lot in common. we both lived in the cincinnati area our entire lives. we were born and grew up in a small blue-collar neighborhood just to the north of the city of cincinnati although my family ved to cincinnati when i was six years old. john was the second of 12 children. we are raised catholic and i know having pope francis speaking to us. rivalh played football in high schools. and incredibly. we both played defense. in fact, we both have ties to

former head coaches at notre dame. john played at moore high school and i was recruited to william ap marry. we both worked to put ourselves through schools as january tors. later, we ran small businesses. john with a packaging and a plastics business and i with a very small law practice and we served in local politics. in many ways, i understand the challenges that john has overcome. and make no mistake, john boehner's story is incredible. it is the american dream. and we have a couple of my colleagues who would like to speak this evening. i would like to yield to the gentleman from ohio, mr. gibbs, such time as he might consume.

i would like to recognize speaker boehner. so many of us are here today serving -- had difficult races that year and it was a big morale boost. i remember the last days in the 2010 election. we had two standing-room only rallies in ohio. on the eve of the historic victories, i stood with speaker wayner and lay out the vision for the republican house. i have a picture of the rally. i hope you will continue to look back on those fondly as i do back in 2010. thank you, mr. speaker, for the years of service for the people of western ohio and your

confidence in me. i congratulate you in your retirement and wish you and your family nothing but the best, god speed. mr. chabot: i would now like to yield to the gentlelady from ohio, ms. kaptur, who will be handling the democrats' time this evening. and i might note that she is the most senior member now of the 16 members from ohio and the longest-serving woman in the house of representatives. i would like to yield to the gentlelady. ms. kaptur: i thank the gentleman for organizing this important hour of recognition and i thank all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have been here to thank speaker john boehner for his service to america. john has served the people of ohio for well more than two decades having begun his career in the ohio legislature but has

served here in the congress now for more than two decades and if we think about that period of time, we think about the various situations that he has faced as a member and then later as speaker. certainly in the late 1990's, being part of the broad coalition to balance the budget when president clinton was president and we were able to balance the budget by the end of the 1990's and begin paying back the nation's debt. the 9/11 attack on our our country and subsequent military conflict and the 2008, 2009 economic crash which we are digging our way out of it. well look at the sad invasion by russia of ukraine and the ensuing conflict in the middle east that has spilled over into

syria. this period of speaker boehner's service have been a very difficult time for america. and if i think about some of my favorite memories of the speaker, it would have been one of our more recent experiences handkerchief 's ery wet and his utter joy to invite the pope to address us for the first time in american history a pope addressing the congress as a head of state. another memory i have of the speaker and congressman chabot shared this was with ohio state and the victors in the speaker's lobby in the rayburn room, all of us posing, very proud of our hio buckeyes and some of our

colleagues and handing them out. there were moments of joy as well. and the speaker's many accomplishments as speaker requiring bills to be posted three days online before we voted on them. he had many accomplishments and built a legacy in his own right as a reasonable right despite presiding over a frack issues membership. he worked to find a way forward in a period. even when compromise seemed out of reach. i would have to say without question, speaker boehner's departure is a huge loss to our buckeye state. the house is a place for seniority and the ability to balance demands that matter and we are very, very grateful for his service.

as the most senior member of ohio's delegation, i thank the speaker for his service to the people of the united states and this house for 25 years. his respectful and moderating presence often with a smile in this house will be missed. and may he and his family enjoy the years ahead as he returns get o other locations to deserved r and r. we have several speakers on this side. congressman chabot, and we await you yielding us time. and i thank you so much. mr. chabot: i thank the gentlelady. reclaiming my time. i yield to the gentleman from mr. ren asy. mr. renacci: i didn't know we were going to talk about that.

tonight, i join my colleagues in rising to voice my appreciation. speaker boehner has been a strong leader to some very difficult and unique times. he has faced many challenging situations and decisions and also celebrated many great accomplishments. he ranged to hear from great leaders such as israel's prime minister and ukranian president. most recently, he orchestrated the head of the roman catholic church, pope fran list. he has improved our education system and the lives of all children. it has been an honor and privilege to serve along side him in this chamber and with the ohio delegation. mr. speaker, one fun fact about speaker boehner and i, we both

love to play golf. and i played a lot of courses together with him but never in the same foursome. i look forward to joining you with a friendly round of 18. i thank speaker boehner and his family for his service and dedication to our country. thank you and i yield back. mr. chabot: i yield to the gentlelady from ohio. ms. kaptur: i would like to yield time to the gentleman from illinois, mr.ly pins ki of chicago. mr. lipinski: thank you for yielding. i want to rise to commend the public service and commitment of speaker john boehner. the speaker has much to be proud of. and and we should be proud of his commitment.

but we find issues that we didn't agree with him. i appreciate that he did his utmost to keep the house functioning in a vital branch of government yes in some very, very difficult times. history will show that john boehner did a fantastic job in getting us through these times. speaker boehner has a big heart. it's not demonstrated in his profane way that he likes to address his friends, but demonstrated well by all the time and effort he has put into a scholarship program for children. ed he knew the advantages he had going to catholic school. he wanted to give that advantage to others and that says much more about john boehner than anything else.

thank you, mr. boehner, for your service, your wife debey and your entire family have made. i would like to acknowledge the speaker's staff who are a great reflection of the speaker, and i want to acknowledge mike summers staff, former chief of barry, katherine, tommy andrews and so many others who really helped this place to run. so thank you for all of your service and i wish all of you the very best. mr. chabot: i yield to the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta. mr. latta: i thank you for yielding and for the special order tonight to honor speaker boehner. this is a reflection and remember the first time you meet people and met people and this

is one of the things that i remembered about john boehner. i was in the ohio general assembly and a couple of our colleagues and some of my fellow members will remember, we were walking across the street in columbus and said, why don't you come over with us we are having a meeting with john boehner. and that's the first time i met the speaker and i can remember how impassioned he was about the youth of america. next time i got to know the speaker is during my special election back in 2007 and after it was all over, my wife and i, which got a call from the clerk's office at 11:00 on election night and said when are you going to get sworn in and i said don't we need to worry about the secretary of state?

we started talking about that and make sure my daughters were here to see me get sworn in. i pulled into the parking garage about 9:00 and i was a member of the state germ assembly and had a vote that day and just as i'm pulling in, my phone rings and i say hello. and he said latta, when are you coming down here. and i said that's funny. he said you will be here tomorrow. leader, we'll see you tomorrow. but he has been accessible to the members here in the house. and have been appreciative of that and never been a time an opportunity to sit down with him in his office to go over the issues that are important to me and the people in my district. and also important as the chairman said earlier about coming from the same area, the

speaker and i share a county in northwest ohio which is mercer county. with all these years going by, i want to wish the speaker and debey and his whole family all the best and a great retirement and i yield back to the gentleman. . . ms. kaptur: i thank the gentleman very much. i would like to say that one of the features i like best about john boehner is that he wanted to be speaker of the house. he didn't want to be president. he didn't want to head over to the other body. he didn't want to -- a supreme court nomination. that he really loved this house. and that matters. that matters to all of us who continue to serve and that matters to the historical record and we appreciate all of his substance that he has given, whether you agreed with him on issues or not. he definitely was a man of the house. i would like to yield time to the very able member from cleveland, down to akron now,

congresswoman marcia fudge, my dear colleague from northeastern ohio. ms. fudge: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i am proud to stand with the ohio delegation this evening to thank you, mr. speaker, for 24 years in the u.s. house of representatives and your lifetime of public service. i'm just trying to get his atext. -- attention. ok. you have served this nation and the people of ohio with distinction. for 24 years, you have honored and respected this institution. you have worked arduously to get things done. as speaker, you have been a leader willing to listen to all sides and address the complex issues of our time. we applaud your commitment and dedication to the house and we'll be forever grateful for your statesmanship and courtesy. while we may not have always agreed, your door was always open.

i could always come to you and discuss problems and issues. i respect your opinion and consider you a friend. i speak for everyone when i say you will be missed in this house. you are a gentleman and a scholar -- scholar and it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have served with you. i wish you well in your retirement. >> thank you. i thank the gentlelady for her kind words. reclaiming my time, i mentioned before in my opening statement that there are a number of rival g.c.l., greater cincinnati league, high schools. there are rivals in all sports and academics and everything, especially in football. mr. chabot: as i mentioned, speaker boehner went to moore and one of those schools, i went to la salle, elder is another school. and the fourth school, not necessarily in order, because they beat la salle this year, for the last five years, is st. xavier high school. and the next gentleman who will e share in this tribute to our

speaker is a graduate of st. xavier high school, and that's brad wenstrup. i now yield to the gentleman. mr. wenstrup: i thank you, mr. chairman, for yielding. mr. speaker, i'm here to recognize the gentleman from redding, ohio. it's a town in my district full of hardworking people and committed families. this man from redding grew up in a big and very faithful family. he learned the value of hard work, sweeping the floors of his father's bar. and worked his walk through xavier university in cincinnati. when it came to -- when he came to washington, he was a reformer from day one of the -- one. the last man standing from the gang of seven. he worked to clean up corruption from the house bank in the 1990's into banning earmarks today. for the first time in a half century, the house of representatives decreased discretionary spending for two years in a row. mr. speaker, with all of your service in mind, i'm reminded of a teddy roosevelt quote, it says, it's not the critic who counts and not the man who

points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doctor of deeds could have done -- or whether the door of deeds could have done better, the credit goes to the man who is in the arena and that is you. john boehner attended molar high school as representative chabot mentioned. school in cincinnati that i'm proud to say is a rival to my high school, st. xavier. we beat molar this year and, mr. chabot, we beat la salle this year. through that catholic schooling, john boehner committed himself to thousands of children that seek a real education and value in their lives. his support for educational choice has opened pathways of opportunity for thousands of children locked in poverty. fighting to give all students a chance to choose their own future. for over a decade, john boehner's held fundraisers for scholarships for d.c. children seeking a chance in life through education at d.c. catholic schools that otherwise they could not get. and hope that these acts of

kindness will be permanently engraved in the legacy of speaker john boehner. so thank you, mr. speaker, on behalf of not only -- not only on behalf of the largest republican majority since 1928, but on behalf of my family, and for your and debby's personal kindness and guidance to us. good luck, mr. speaker. thank you. i yield back. mr. chabot: thank you. i thank the gentleman for his kind words and i'd like to now yield to the gentlelady from, ms. kaptur. ms. kaptur: thank you, i'd like to yield time to charles rangel. mr. rangel: ask to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. rangel: while i'm not only going to miss speaker john boehner, but i'm going to miss when he leave next year the congress that john boehner loved and i have loved so much.

if republicans think that they had a problem with john boehner, they should have known jack kemp. because it was jack kemp that introduced -- introduced me to boehner. at that time we acknowledged that there were democrats and republicans, but the whole idea that you could be vindictive enough to attempt to destroy someone politically or not work together as john did with george miller in bringing the leave no child behind, the work that i've done on ways and ans with trade, and was so open in dealing with john, who represented not an ideology but represented what he thought was best for the country, to me john boehner was, as so many people have said, just a regular guy. first one in his family, like so many of us, that went to

college. entered public service. and through a variety of things became the speaker of the house that has to be just one of the greatest senses of pride that any american could ever have. the whole idea that there were people in this partisan time that would believe that they would want him to leave even more than democrats would want him to leave is something that would have to be explained by history. but of course things are strange today. black doctor brain surgeon is now leading for president the republican party. and don trump, right behind him, running for president. a big battle as to who will replace john. these are things that are just so unusual, so that while i

miss john, i'm just missing the days when we used to come to this floor and decide how many votes we need to get something passed and we hope that we would be in the majority. but the most exciting thing would be being able to work with the other side and being able to sit with the president or stand with the president and to truly feel that you were not a democrat or republican, but you got legislation passed. we never called it compromise. i guess we called it just working together. and enjoying working together. and that's gone. i don't know whether it would come back. but it would seem to me that john is always going to be remembered as somebody that cared more about his country, his family, and this congress

than he did about being speaker and that's the way i want to remember him. thank you, congressman, for giving me this opportunity. mr. chabot: thank you. we very much appreciate the gentleman's words, who has been around here, a very distinguished gentleman, korean war veteran, and we respect you greatly. the gentleman from ohio, mr. tiberi, is recognized. mr. tiberi: thank you. mr. speaker, what a journey, what a journey. a journey that i got to join after i was elected to the house in november of 2000. my first real interaction with you, mr. speaker, you might remember, you were the incoming chairman of the education and work force committee. as freshmen, we were putting together our requests to decide what our top committee assignments would be.

education and work force wasn't one of mine. but it was apparently one of yours. not just for you as chairman, but for me as freshman. because you came by and saw my list and said, i don't know why you're doing, that you're going to be on the education and work force committee. i said, no i'm not. yes, i was. and yes i did. and it was an unbelievable experience. it was one in which i did not expect and, as chairman rangel said, one that made history, with george miller and the late senator ted kennedy and president george w. bush. and it wouldn't have happened without the leadership of then chairman boehner. boy, could he run a committee. it was really his forte, that most americans don't even know.

what a great committee chairman he was. he was a committee chairman's chairman, quite frankly. and he, as leader, as speaker, will go down in history as one ho cherished that process, that process was not always what he liked or what he wanted, but he sure understood it, he sure respected it, he sure loved it. as mr. rangel knows, he was sure good at it. in a bipartisan way. in november or excuse me in early 2006, we had an opening for majority leader. and i harkin back to a dinner that i was able to attend, back in like 2002, when i heard then chairman boehner said, you know, someday i'd like to be back in leadership.

i looked at him like he was crazy. are you kidding me? how can you do that? you know what he did? he just worked hard, he did the right things, he played the long game. he helped people. and when the opening that he won aw came in 2006, an upset race on the second ballot. to become our majority leader. the dye was already cast and we lost that election in november of 2006. and the democrats took the majority. and john was our minority leader. worked hard, many thought that we'd never see that majority again. and on november, the day before the election, in 2010, i had lunch with then leader boehner and he said, we're going to

take the majority back and it's going to happen tomorrow. ladies and gentlemen, history all changed when pope francis came. it changed because pope francis was here, but it changed the history of john boehner's speakership. but i'm confident history will show that john boehner was one of the best speakers in the history of our country. mr. speaker, god speed, we'll miss you. mr. chabot: i thank the gentleman very much. very inspiring. the gentlelady's recognized again. ms. kaptur: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i'd like to yield time to congresswoman joyce beatty, who had served as the minority leader of the ohio senate prior arriving here, and has just arrived with such capacity and i know she has served with john boehner and knows him very well. thank you for being here this evening, congresswoman beatty. mrs. beatty: thank you, mr.

speaker. and thank you to my friend, congresswoman kaptur, and congressman chabot, for managing tonight's special order. i am proud to join my colleagues as we absolute speaker john -- salute speaker john andrew boehner, for his almost 25 years of service, and being elected this january to his had third term as speaker of the house. tonight my remarks are personal. i have had the pleasure of knowing john boehner for more than three decades. although at different times we both served in the ohio house of representatives. he and my spouse, otto, served and worked on many things together. when i came to congress, he invited me into his office for a cup of coffee. it's not bad to have a speaker, the third most powerful person in the country, to call you by

your first name and when we're back home to say to others in my district that i'm his friend. as a freshman, as most of you know, mr. speaker, seniority is very important in this house. i was a freshman, that equals no seniority. nelson mandela died and i learned that there was going to be an opportunity for members to go to south africa to nelson mandela's funeral. wow. yes, i wanted to go. all my colleagues said, there's one problem, congresswoman beatty. and that word again appeared, seniority. well i'll always be so grateful for speaker boehner approving the reck menation from leader pelosi, and yes, i went to nelson mandela's funeral. tonight, i am proud to join my

other colleagues and others in saying that speaker boehner served as a great statesman for ohio and the nation. the great state of ohio has benefited greatly through his leadership. while there are things certainly that we have not agreed on, we've always managed to not be disagreeable. in a way that was negative -- disagreeable in a way that was negative for ohio or the nation. but there were some things we did agree on. and there's one quote that was a very proud moment for me as a member of this united states congress. when speaker boehner said, it was beginning to become a political football, and just as i thought it was time to stop, i thought, let's have a discussion with responsible members of congress to try to bring some resolution to this.

but in his own views, there should be no debate because he said, mr. speaker, in my view, the issue is settled. the flag should be gone. and mr. speaker, that flag was the confederate flag. so i say thank you, mr. boehner, for that. thank you, congresswoman kaptur, for recent article that i read that you wrote about speaker boehner and i think you said it all when you talked about his life here in congress. and you said, we all have benefited in our state from the great work he's done. i agree with you. thank you, mr. speaker, for always taking my calls, thank you for always having an open door, and i leave you with these words, the words of nelson mandela.

it always seems impossible until it's done. thank you, mr. speaker. job well done. mr. chabot: reclaiming my time, the gentlelady refered to being able to attend the funeral of nelson mandela. the speaker made it possible for me to also go on a bipartisan delegation to the funeral of pope john paul ii. it's one of those experiences a once in a lifetime thing. 5 sad occasion but one that was inspirational to me and a lot of other members who when as well. i'd now like to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from ohio, mr. scifres. mr. scifres: today i rise to honor a fellow ohioan who has for -- much

mr. stivers: today i rise to honor a fellow ohioan who has done so much for the country. i didn't really know john boehner, but he convinced me to run for congress to make america better. he was very honest in that recruiting process. i said, i'd like to be on the energy and commerce committee, he took a big drag of his cigarette an said, not going to happen. so he never misled me, he never said anything that he didn't back up, and i will always respect that about him and the way he's acted his entire time for 25 years in this house. i know he'll be happy to spend more time with his -- with the things and people that are important to him. he's going to spend more time with his wife debbie, his children, his brand new grandson. and of course he'll spend more time with his golf clubs and probably a bottle of wine. i think it goes without saying

that we'll miss john boehner more than he'll miss us. he's always been the responsible adult in the room. he's always done what's right for america, regardless of the personal costs. he has a lasting legacy in this institution from simple traditions like the boehner birthday song that we'll sing in this institution for a very long time to policy matters like looking after at-risk kids both here in washington and all around this country. enacting meaningful entitlement reform and banning earmarks. he also had political accomplishments, winning become a republican majority in the house and growing that majority. his legacy will be lasting indeed. and i'm a better representative for having worked with john boehner. they say washington changes you, but after 25 years in washington -- in washington, d.c., john boehner has never forgotten where he came from. his roots are that big catholic family, running a local bar in a

blue collar part of cincinnati that background grounded him and gave him the right perspective on both life and public service. losing john boehner's bad for ohio and i believe it's bad for america but it's probably good for john boehner. speaker boehner, on behalf of my constituents, let me say thank you for your selfless service to this country and good luck in the future, and please don't be a stranger. i yield back the balance of my time, mr. chairman. mr. chabot: reclaiming my time, does the gentlewoman from ohio have further speakers? ms. kaptur: i have no further speakers but i would like to add this, if i might. that is that the circumstances that have led to speaker boehner's decision to depart this chamber trouble me a great deal. and history will report on everything that happened that has led to this point, but how sad is it that someone with that

experience, from our part of the country, the great lakes region, doesn't have all that much here in terms of leadership positions, would do this for what he views as the good of the country because certain individuals seem not to be able to work as a team. and if we can't work as a team, team america, then i think that really harm ours entire republic and speaking as the dean of our delegation, ohio will lose a great deal by this speaker's departure and many times aye said in my career, how is it that the state that produce -- that produced john glenn and to go to the moon, why do we have the smallest nasa center in the kun re? john boehner put his sword in the ground for the glakes region. i worry a lot about what this

means for us as other parts of the country weigh in more heavily. as an ohioan, understanding that there are so many things we don't have from this froth, we don't have a major research center from the national energy lab if you -- we don't, other than wright patterson air force base we don't have bases as other parts of the country do to the same extent when you look at the federal establishment in ohio. if you look at the national park service and what it does west of the mississippi, versus what it does east of the mississippi, we actually had a voice for our part of the country. i take his leaving very personally in terms of what it means to us as a state. i want to thank him for allowing ukraine freedom support act to move to the floor late last year. it was one of the last agenda items of that congress. and that session of congress. and i know without his

intervention, we wouldn't be where we are today in terms of trying to be relevant at liberty's edge. so i thank him for his service, third in line to the presidency of the country, most americans will never know some of the burden that he bore with knowledge that most of us in this chamber does not have but for certain he did. and he held that close to himself and i thank him for all those quiet moments when perhaps the burden seemed almost overwhelming. i thank him for his service. i assume he'll continue to be involved in some ways in the days and years ahead, he loves politics too much to just walk away from it. i thank him on behalf of the people of ohio for representing our state, our region, in his dutiful service to the united states of america. thank you, speaker, john boehner, from ohio. from the heartland. thank the gentleman

for yielding me this timele mr. chabot: thank you very much. reclaiming my time. i want to thank the gentlelady for participating this evening. we really do appreciate making this a bipartisan event. our next speaker is not from ohio. she's the next best thing, the gentlelady from indiana, ms. brooks, and that's, no offense to our next door neighbors in kentucky or pennsylvania. ms. brooks: mr. speaker, i want to thank the gentleman from ohio for spearheading this special order tonight and giving us the opportunity to honor speaker boehner. part of his legacy and what i was told about speaker boehner before i arrived here was his incredible honesty, honesty to all of us who he worked with and honesty to the american people. his humility, his sense of humor and his incredible patience. i remember first coming into congress in the 113th congress and in fact, it was the speaker's wife, debbie boehner, who became the mentor to my husband as a new congressional

spouse. i was quite frankly a bit terrified of the thought of my husband being assigned to the speaker's wife. however, they were perfect, they both enjoy an incredible sense of humor but they also ground us and remind us what's important in life. i'd like to thank debbie boehner for sharing her husband and sharing the father of their children with the country all these many years. and what the speaker shared with all of us is he shared and taught all of us about the importance of this institution. its rich history and how to serve the people of our districts with distinction and honor. although i'm a miami of ohio grad, i have to admit i enjoyed a common bond with the speaker in that my daughter played soccer with xavier university. it was fun to share the love of xavier university with him as well. i'd like to mention probably his last codell or last congressional tip. i was honored to be asked to be part of it, it was this summer a

co-dell to eastern europe to -- a codell to eastern europe, to lithuania and poland and we ended in ireland. while we were in eastern europe it was because of speaker boehner that he showed the eastern european countries how vitally important it was that we stand with our allies against russian aggression. and it was an honor to be part of that trip because he demonstrated america's leadership and commitment to freedom and ensuring that we would stand with our friends and allies and it was an incredible learning experience for me and the others on the trip. when i think about the speaker, he probably has worked harder than anyone i will ever know to protect this institution and although it's not for much longer that we will call him mr. speaker, i will always admire his steadfast commitment to protecting the american public and serving our country. i must share that one of the unique aspects of his leadership and that of his terrific team, which has surrounded him is that they have done an incredible job

sharing his experience as leader with the american public. whether we have watched on youtube or other ways a morning trip to the diner for breakfast, fixing his lawn mower at home, carving the turkey or most importantly to him the historic visit to pope francis, he and his staff have done an excellent job of giving the american public an the american people an inside look at the life of john boehner, the speaker of the house. he embodies the qualities of an american patriot and it's truly been an honor to serve with him in the united states congress. i'm now so pleased he'll have the opportunity to enjoy being a new grandfather and enjoy -- enjoy his children, lindsay and tricia, and of course his wife debbie and he will very much be missed. thank you, mr. speaker, for your commitment to our country. thank you. mr. chabot: i thank the gentlelady for her words. she mentioned she's a miami of

ohio, and i mention that my son is a graduate and i almost went there myself. i would like to yield to the gentleman from florida. mr. curbelo: i thank the ohio delegation for giving us this special opportunity to honor a man we all admire and appreciate. i'm not from ohio, i'm from the state of florida and i have been known -- i haven't known john boehner nearly as long as many of my friends who have spoken here tonight. however, i can say this, mr. speaker. for many of us, who are still relatively new here in congress, for many of us that represent younger generation of leaders who have come here to serve, john bayner is a great example, n example of decency, of sincerity, of integrity, an of profound caring for every single american an for all of us.

a. moved by john -- i am moved by john boehner's work in education which is clearly one of his great passions. as a school board member in miami-david county, i saw firsthand -- miami-dade county i saw firsthand the difference john boehner's work in education made in the lives of children. . oftentimes poor children, low income children, who would not be counted had john boehner not done such wonderful work in the committee on education and the work force. when he was chairman. the legislation that john boehner and those who served with him advanced made sure that every child counted and that no child would be counted out, no matter where they lived , the color of their skin, or where their parents came from. so today i just say thank you to john boehner.

i say thank you to his family. like the speaker, i'm the father of two girls. i know exactly how much they have sacrificed for him, for his colleagues and for our country. mr. speaker, i'm a better man for having served with john boehner. this institution is a better institution for his service. and tonight we and the american people thank him. i yield back. mr. chabot: i thank the gentleman very much and i'd now like to yield to the gentlelady from american samoa. mrs. radewagen: i thank the gentleman from ohio. mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the unwavering dedication and years of exemplary service of house speaker john boehner to our great nation. as the delegate to the united states house of representatives from american samoa, i'm always

honored to address the chamber and even more so today, so that i can acknowledge the sincerity, kindness and years of hard work of a man that i have known for over 20 years. as a man who has gone from the humble beginnings of a night janitor to the speaker of the house, the united states house of representatives, mr. boehner is the perfect example of the american dream fulfilled. it demonstrates that with hard work, dedication and a strong moral compass, one can achieve great things in our great nation. from the humble beginnings of a child of 12 who used to sweep floors, to second in line to he presidency, not too shabby. i believe that the fact that he rose from very humble beginnings to the speakership has made him the man and leader he is today. one who always made even the

lowest ranking freshman feel at ease and included. and thank him for that -- and i thank him for that. while we all know of the many achievements that this man of the people has accomplished during his career, and recognize his inquestionable dedication to our nation, many do not realize just how kind, modest and caring he truly is as a person. during a recent g.o.p. retreat, i was able to spend a few minutes with the speaker, or should i say, my granddaughter, ella, did. i had brought ella, who was two years -- 2 years old, with me to the retreat so that i could spend some time with her during the breaks in between the activities. well, let me tell you, ella was mesmerized by the speaker and i'm pretty sure he felt the same. they had a conversation that only of two of them seemed to

understand. and ella was just fascinated with this very funny man who as so kindly entertaining her. this short but memorable interaction is one that i noela will be proud to -- that i know ella will be proud to recount when she's older. mr. speaker, i ask that the house rise and join me in saluting the 53rd speaker of the united states house of representatives, john boehner, and also thank him for his unwavering dedication and outstanding service to our greatful -- grateful nation. thank you, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. mr. chabot: i thank the gentlelady for her very kind and inspiring remarks. d i'd now like to yield to the gentlelady from virginia. mrs. comstock: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today to honor speaker john boehner, a hardworking, dedicated gentleman who has served this institution with