Joel Hefley: “I have never had a chairman like the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence), who can finesse this thing with…”

“I have never had a chairman like the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence), who can finesse this thing with courtesy and respect for every single Member of the committee, be they Democrat or Republican. I want to say thanks to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spence) for the way he has handled himself. He is a testimony of why we should not have terms limits for committee chairmen. Beyond that, down to business, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4205. The authorizations for the military construction and military family housing programs of the Department of Defense for the fiscal year 2001 contained in this legislation continue a strong bipartisan approach to the efforts of this Congress to enhance living and working conditions for military personnel and their families and to improve facilities supporting the training and readiness of our armed forces. I regret very much the lack of emphasis by the Department of Defense on what the record, most of which was developed through taking testimony from senior officials and the uniform leadership of the DOD and the military departments, clearly indicates is a crying need.”