[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13] [House] [Page 18563] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING CONGRESSMAN IKE SKELTON The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. TAYLOR. Number one, I want to thank Mr. Akin for allowing us to go into your time a little bit. As a fellow Missourian, it's obviously time well spent. Mr. Speaker, I have a Vietnamese American friend who has a limited use of the English language. He is also very devout. I once saw him at his boatyard hit his thumb with a 5-pound maul. And having a limited use of the English language and also being very devout, he did not use the kinds of words I would use in that situation. He just shouted over and over as he was shaking his thumb, ``No joy.'' This is a ``no joy'' moment. For those of us who have had the privilege of working with Ike, we want to say thank you. If you are the mother or father of a troop, a marine, a coastie, a sailor, you should know about Ike Skelton. You should know his name. In our line of work, if you do something stupid, you are a headline. If you do the right thing, people don't know your name. But if your child has been saved because of a mine-resistant vehicle, you should know Ike Skelton's name. If you are a military retiree who is enjoying the benefits of TRICARE for life, you should know Ike Skelton's name. If you are a guardsman or Reservist who is now eligible for TRICARE, you should know Ike Skelton's name. What he won't ever tell you, out of concern for his kids, and I won't tell you the branch, but he has two sons who are officers in the United States military. But what every mom and dad should know is that there was one more parent out there looking out for their kids, and that was Ike Skelton. So, Ike, for all of those things and for your great humility, I got to tell the story. Ike visited a Coast Guard buoy tender on the Missouri River. And given his nature, obviously he paid his respects to the captain, engineering officer. But then he sought out the lowest- ranked person on that boat, a seaman apprentice. Went back to him and said, Hi, how are you doing? I am Ike Skelton. I am a Congressman from Missouri. How do you like the Coast Guard? I do. He said, Have you ever had a Congressman on your buoy tender before? And the kid said, No, and I hope to hell we never do again. They have been working my butt off for the past 2 weeks scraping and painting, getting this boat ready for you, sir. Now, only Ike Skelton would tell that story about himself. So now the rest of America knows. And I hope that seaman apprentice is listening tonight, and I hope he made chief one day. But, Ike, you have been an incredible role model. Someone who put together a $600 billion bill that involved the lives of airmen, marines, sailors, and to some extent coasties, certainly the troops in the field, and it passed out of your committee unanimously. That is an incredible feat. And all of us are grateful for your service. God bless you. ____________________