James Oberstar: “That is the distinction. My colleague draws false distinctions when talking about naming an airport in Houston for…”

“That is the distinction. My colleague draws false distinctions when talking about naming an airport in Houston for former President Bush. That was done by local authority. That is the whole point. We gave authority to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority full power over the airport. We should not take over their authority and rename an airport. Our Chairman referenced the legislation to name the Commerce Department building. Former Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown died in a tragedy in Bosnia in early April, 1996. Our colleague, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), introduced on April 15 a bill to name the Commerce Department for Ron Brown. My name was listed as a cosponsor. Later, I asked our staff to review this issue before it should come up in our committee. We found that the Commerce Department already had a name. I was not aware of it. I did not know that it was named for former President Herbert Hoover. I ruled against bringing up that bill, against moving that bill in our committee. Instead, our colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), introduced on May 30, 1996, a bill to name a courthouse in New York for Ron Brown, which I felt was more appropriate. I did not want to initiate a procedure in our committee where we would rename a building. That is what this issue is all about, about renaming. And the matter of Dulles renaming was done before we transferred authority to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority.”