John Myers: “we thank our friend, the gentleman from Alabama, Sonny Callahan, for taking this hour to remember and honor 30 years of…”

“we thank our friend, the gentleman from Alabama, Sonny Callahan, for taking this hour to remember and honor 30 years of service of our colleague. On November 8, 1966, 72 new Members were elected to Congress, 59 Republicans and 13 Democrats. Today, there are three of us in that class remaining in the House of Representatives, and as has been mentioned already, all three of us have chosen this 30th year in Congress to retire: Congressman Montgomery from Mississippi; the person we are honoring this afternoon, Tom Bevill of Alabama; and I am from Indiana. That class, there was another Member who went on, had trouble keeping a job here, served only 4 years in the House, but I talked with him this morning, former Vice President and former President of the United States, George Bush, said for me to extend best wishes and congratulations to Tom Bevill and Sonny Montgomery for their 30 years of service. Tom, as I call him, has served 16 years as chairman of the subcommittee where we both have served those 16 years, and I served those 16 years as his ranking member; and the past 2 years, because of the election, I have been given the honor of holding the chairmanship and Tom has been the ranking member. But the relationship never changed; it is completely, absolutely nonpartisan. Tom is a gentleman. Nothing went into a bill unless we both agreed, when he was chairman.”