Eli Crane: “it is a pleasure for me to give this tribute to my good friend and colleague John Porter. John has served with…”

“it is a pleasure for me to give this tribute to my good friend and colleague John Porter. John has served with distinction and honor with me for nearly 22 years in the United States House of Representatives. John is retiring this year as a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, and Chairman of the Labor, Health & Human Services and Education Subcommittee. He also serves on the Military Construction Subcommittee. Like all Congressmen, he on occasion has had things happen to bring him back down to earth. Several years ago when flying into O'Hare he stopped to freshen up before leaving the airport. After washing his hands he went to dry them. The hand dryer had a note attached to it that read: ``Press here for a message from your Congressman.'' On a more serious note, John is founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, a voluntary bipartisan association of members of Congress working to identify, monitor and end human rights violations worldwide. John also has nearly as large a kennel of bulldogs called Watchdogs of the Treasury from the National Taxpayers Union as I have in my office. But John has a record we should all be envious of--in 1992, he was one of only six out of 435 House members named a ``Taxpayer Superhero'' by the Grace Commission's Citizens Against Government Waste.”