Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman for calling this special order and congratulate him. I congratulate because this is a wonderful occasion when we in the House who served with Ed Boland can come together and talk about him and the wonderful contribution he made to our country.
I felt a special responsibility to come to the floor, not only because it was a privilege to serve with Eddie, but also as the senior Democrat on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I know full well what his great contribution was to our country. The gentleman referenced that in his remarks very beautifully, and I want to speak to that for a bit.
I do so bringing some of the appreciation from the staff of the Intelligence Committee, as well as many Members who have served on that committee over time. We serve in the Edward P. Boland Room in the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
For over 50 years, 36 in this House, Eddie Boland represented the people of western Massachusetts with uncommon dedication and effectiveness. He believed deeply in the capacity of government to be a positive force in people's lives and in the duty of those in government to do everything within their power to ensure that result.
It has been said that he treated his constituents the same way as he treated his friends. That explains not only his success at the polls, but the high regard with which he was held. His career was a testament to the fact that politics, when practiced by people of great skill and commitment, is both an art and a high calling.
Eddie served with distinction on the Committee on Appropriations, and was the committee's second most senior Democrat for many years. He was a long-time chairman of what was then the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs and Independent Agencies, now known as VA-HUD. I doubt that there are many communities in the United States who have not benefited from his programs that he promoted on the subcommittee. Veterans hospitals and clinics, projects to improve the quality of air and water, affordable housing for the poor, the elderly and disabled, efforts to reinvigorate the Nation's cities and to explore the universe of which we are a part, were among the activities made national priorities by the appropriations measures he crafted. It is impossible to calculate all of the ways in which those programs made fuller and more secure the lives of the people of our country.
Had Eddie Boland's service been measured only by his work on the Committee on Appropriations, it would have been deemed highly successful. As has been mentioned by the distinguished dean of the Massachusetts delegation earlier, in 1977 Speaker Tip O'Neill asked Eddie to be the first chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Tip's reasoning was simple. The leader of that committee would have to be someone people could trust, as the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. MARKEY) said, someone who could keep a secret.
Eddie Boland's integrity was unassailable. The committee's reputation for keeping secret matters secret is due in large part to the standard established during the 8 years he served as chairman. That is an incredibly long time to be chairman of the Committee on Intelligence.
Although not one to seek fame, he did not shrink from taking on a popular President in a most public way when the U.S. intelligence agencies unwisely, in his judgment, became involved in a civil war in Nicaragua. Later when questions arose as to whether laws restricting the activities of those agencies had been violated, he was among the small number of Members of the House selected to determine the truth. Even in the highly charged atmosphere that surrounded that investigation, when legislation bearing his name was central to the inquiry, he was not interested in publicity, but sought only to do the job entrusted to him by the House.
Despite his many accomplishments in Washington, Eddie took his greatest joy and was most proud of his family back home in Springfield. His wife, Mary, and their children, Martha, Edward, Jr., Kathleen, and Michael were the focus of his life, each though he started late in life to acquire that magnificent and beautiful family. Many of us saw him with his family at the funeral of Congressman Joe Moakley, another esteemed Member of this Congress, and it gave us a chance to say hello to Eddie, and little did we know that it would be good-bye. But we reported to our colleagues in the House that Eddie was still as sharp as a tack and enjoying his beautiful family. Our condolences go out to Mary and the children.
That is why he left here, to spend more time with his family at a very important time in their lives. His devotion to them says as much about the man he was as does his distinguished service in the Congress.
Mr. Speaker, although I only served for a short time with Eddie Boland, I directly followed him onto the Committee on Appropriations and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, so I know well how well-respected he was by his colleagues and by the people in the executive branch. He was one of the quiet, hard-working Members so essential to the conduct of the business of the House. His service enriched the Nation, and will always be a source of great pride for his family. Anyone who served with him will always treasure the privilege of calling him "colleague.''
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing me to participate in this special order.