James Traficant: “I believe energy independence should be a goal of the Congress in addition to conservation and our environment. But I…”

“I believe energy independence should be a goal of the Congress in addition to conservation and our environment. But I have asked for this time for a different reason. Our illustrious chairman, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Dan Schaefer), this is probably and, unless he has another bill today, could be his last bill. There are so many Members that love Dan Schaefer. He has been a great chairman, a great friend and everybody on both sides of the aisle appreciates that. I want you to know that from the bottom of my heart and I thank you. I want to cite one example. Although he destroyed the Democrat baseball team every year, he is undefeated with help from guys like Shimkus and Largent, et cetera, but he even played Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Jo Ann Emerson. And I said to him, 'Chairman, you're playing these two women and if you had any guts you'd call them into your office and cut them,' naturally jokingly. And he laughed. But then he not only played Ileana and Jo Ann Emerson, he found the time to put them in the game and reward them, two great women in our Congress, for having practiced. I cite that, because that is about the way Dan Schaefer is; fair, he made sure everybody got a shot, he did that with me and my district, and we thank you, Chairman.”