"give 'em mel" became part of washington. evermel hancock could be counten to be on the side of more freedom. i didn't go to his memorial service because i decided the best way to recognize his legacy was to be here and vote against these two rules that he certainly would oppose if he was still in the congress and i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from california is recognized. mrs. boxer: just for the record, how much time remains on the republican side? and how much on our side? the presiding officer: nine minutes and 50 second on the republican side. 18 minutes and 15 seconds on the democratic side. mrs. boxer: thank you very much, mr. president. i will use so much time on our side until we have another speaker here -- it will probably be about five minutes -- and then i know senator lee wants to have the floor, which is fine. so we'll proceed. mr. president, this is a very important vote that's coming up. i want to put into sper techive what we're talking about. in 1997, my calculation is 14 years ago? -- several states we

speaker, i rise to pay tribute to a great american who passed away last week, my friend, mel hancock. mel served in this body from 1989 to 1997. he could have been easily re-elected, but he had pledged to serve only eight years and kept his word. mel served the people of southwest missouri with great honor and distinction. he was one of the most downto earth people to ever sit in congress and i can assure everyone that washington never changed mel hancock one bit. he was one of the most conservative members here and if everyone voted as he did we certainly would not be in the astounding hole we are in today. mel was a very successful small business man. early in his career he was a salesman for international harvester and actually lived in my hometown of naaqsville for a year and a half in 1954 and 1955. i told him once i was glad he moved back to missouri so i could be in congress. of course, it was 33 years later when we both first ran. mel was 59 when first elected and was the oldest freshman of those who were elected in 1988. all the new members very quickly grew to respect and lo

i rise today to recognize a former member of this body and a friend and mentor, congressman mel hancock. he would sign all of his letters or emails, whatever he would sign, with the same thing, yours for better but less government. that's what mel believed. when senator jim talent first came to this body he asked mel to help him vote. he said, mel, can you help me to use the voting machine? see, you want to vote no, you push the red button. if you have a conflict, you can't vote on an issue, you push the yellow button for p for present. and he turned and walked off. senator talent said, hey, mel, what's the green button for? mel turned around and said, i don't know. never used it. mel died peacefully in his home, in his sleep, on november 6, in springfield, missouri. mel was a champion of limited government. mel knew that our founding fathers understood the corrupting influence that power on the human character which is why they champion personal freedom. the idea that a government by the people and for the people should preserve liberty for future generations. like our founders, mel wa