H.R. No. 718

	R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, With the passing of the Honorable Lloyd Bentsen on
	May 23, 2006, this state and nation have lost one of the most
	esteemed and influential American political leaders of recent
	times; and
	WHEREAS, Born Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr., in Mission on
	February 11, 1921, the son of a prominent Hidalgo County family,
	Senator Bentsen graduated from The University of Texas School of
	Law in 1942; and
	WHEREAS, He entered the military as a private that same year
	and served with valor in the U.S. Army Air Corps; at the age of 23,
	he was promoted to the rank of major and given command of a squadron
	of 600 men; shot down twice while flying combat missions in Europe,
	he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with
	three Oak Leaf Clusters; and
	WHEREAS, After returning to the Valley in 1945, Senator
	Bentsen entered the private practice of law in McAllen; he served as
	county judge of Hidalgo County from 1946 to 1948, when he was sworn
	in as the youngest member of the U.S. House of Representatives;
	during the next six years, he became a protege of Congressman Sam
	Rayburn, who believed the South Texan might one day accede to the
	speakership; and
	WHEREAS, Lloyd Bentsen retired from the house in early 1955,
	however, and moved his family to Houston, where he began a highly
	successful career in insurance and finance; he returned to the
	political arena in 1970, winning the first of four consecutive
	terms in the U.S. Senate; within just a few years, he gained
	appointment to the powerful Senate Committee on Finance, which he
	ultimately chaired, and where he became a forceful proponent of
	trade expansion and pension reform; and
	WHEREAS, In 1988, Senator Bentsen ran for the office of vice
	president on the Democratic ticket, together with presidential
	nominee Michael Dukakis; although defeated, Senator Bentsen
	impressed voters and political observers alike with his dignified
	demeanor and quietly commanding presence, and he emerged from the
	campaign with a national reputation and his stature even further
	enhanced; that same year, he won reelection to the senate by the
	widest margin of his career; and
	WHEREAS, Senator Bentsen resigned his seat on January 20,
	1993, to become President Bill Clinton's first secretary of the
	treasury; in that capacity, he became one of the architects of the
	president's deficit-reduction program, guided the new
	administration's first budget through Congress, and played an
	instrumental role in the passage of two major trade bills,
	including the North American Free Trade Agreement; and
	WHEREAS, Following his retirement from the cabinet in 1994,
	Senator Bentsen returned to Houston, where he helped to create a
	billion-dollar private investment firm to finance projects in Latin
	America; he also traveled widely and chaired the advisory committee
	of the Beacon Group, a New York investment bank; and
	WHEREAS, In 1999, President Clinton conferred on Lloyd
	Bentsen the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal
	of Freedom; two years later, The University of Texas School of Law
	bestowed on Senator Bentsen a Lifetime Achievement Award and, with
	an endowment established by his friends, created the Lloyd M.
	Bentsen Chair in Law; and
	WHEREAS, This esteemed Texan was married on November 27,
	1943, to Beryl Ann Longino, a college classmate, with whom he shared
	a union of more than six decades; and
	WHEREAS, Renowned for his even temper, self-discipline, and
	good humor, Senator Bentsen enjoyed the friendship of many members
	of both parties and excelled at building coalitions to achieve
	common goals; his service to his country, in both war and peace, is
	deserving of the deepest appreciation of every American; now,
	therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas
	Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of the Honorable Lloyd
	Bentsen and extend sincere sympathy to the members of his family:
	to his wife, Beryl Ann Longino Bentsen; to his children, Lloyd
	Bentsen III, Lan Bentsen, and Tina Bentsen Smith; to his
	grandchildren; and to his other relatives and numerous friends;
	and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
	prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of
	Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of the
	Honorable Lloyd Bentsen.
	Raymond
	Craddick Gattis Miles
	Allen Geren Miller
	Alonzo Giddings Moreno
	Anchia Gonzales Morrison
	Anderson Gonzalez Toureilles Mowery
	Aycock Goolsby Murphy
	Bailey Guillen Naishtat
	Berman Haggerty Noriega
	Bohac Hamilton O'Day
	Bolton Hancock Oliveira
	Bonnen Hardcastle Olivo
	Branch Harless Orr
	Brown of Kaufman Harper-Brown Ortiz, Jr.
	Brown of Brazos Hartnett Otto
	Burnam Heflin Parker
	Callegari Hernandez Patrick
	Castro Herrero Paxton
	Chavez Hilderbran Pena
	Chisum Hill Phillips
	Christian Hochberg Pickett
	Cohen Hodge Pierson
	Coleman Homer Pitts
	Cook of Navarro Hopson Puente
	Cook of Colorado Howard of Fort Bend Quintanilla
	Corte Howard of Travis Raymond
	Crabb Hughes Riddle
	Creighton Isett Ritter
	Crownover Jackson Rodriguez
	Darby Jones Rose
	Davis of Harris Keffer Smith of Tarrant
	Davis of Dallas King of Parker Smith of Harris
	Delisi King of Taylor Smithee
	Deshotel King of Zavala Solomons
	Driver Kolkhorst Strama
	Dukes Krusee Straus
	Dunnam Kuempel Swinford
	Dutton Latham Talton
	Eiland Laubenberg Taylor
	Eissler Leibowitz Thompson
	Elkins Lucio III Truitt
	England Macias Turner
	Escobar Madden Van Arsdale
	Farabee Mallory Caraway Vaught
	Farias Martinez Veasey
	Farrar Martinez Fischer Villarreal
	Flores McCall Vo
	Flynn McClendon West
	Frost McReynolds Woolley
	Gallego Menendez Zedler
	Garcia Merritt Zerwas
	______________________________
	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.R. No. 718 was unanimously adopted by a
	rising vote of the House on March 22, 2007.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House