He will come back. We have been joined by the Speaker of the House, Speaker Ryan. I don't know how busy your schedule is, Mr. Speaker. I know you have a lot of demands on your time. I will let Charles finish, and then we will call you up…

The gentleman from Tennessee has a brief comment, because the Speaker has to go.

I don't know how many of you know the amount of time that Cliff has devoted to this organization. It is very, very impressive. He has a full-time job and has been an excellent president, has attended many, many of our functions, has taken…

Now, those of you who know me know that I don't give long speeches. I do recall when Newt Gingrich became Speaker and he was asked to give his acceptance speech, he spoke for an hour. That was very unusual. Most new Speakers just say…

Cliff, if we could suspend. The Chair recognizes the distinguished Speaker of the House, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan).

The Chair now recognizes the president of the United States Association of Former Members of Congress, the Honorable Cliff Stearns from Florida, to address the Members.

Thank you, Dennis. We are now going to recognize Cliff again. As part of this meeting, we have to conduct some formal business, which is to reconstitute our board, to continue our officers. Cliff has some remarks about staff also, but this…

The Chair again wishes to thank the former Members of the House and Senate for their presence here today. Before terminating these proceedings, the Chair would like to invite those former Members who did not respond to the roll when it was…

I would advise Mr. Hoyer that there is no 5-minute rule here; however, we do have to vacate the floor in 15 minutes.

Mr. Stearns, if you would suspend for just a moment, we are honored to have with us the distinguished Democratic whip, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

The Chair announces that 29 former Members of Congress have responded to their names.