The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO THE SENATE AND TO DEPARTING SENATORS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S11696-S11698 on Nov. 20, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO THE SENATE AND TO DEPARTING SENATORS
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment briefly about the conclusion of our Senate session. We finished our last vote late last night, and after today's session, we will be in adjournment until January.
The Senate, unlike the House of Representatives, is a continuous body. Only one-third of our number stands for election each year, unlike the House of Representatives, where there is a new House elected every two years. So we are continuous.
The Senate has been called the world's greatest deliberative body. Sometimes I doubt that acclamation, but sometimes we measure up to it, and I think we did yesterday in passing homeland security and the terrorism insurance bill.
There is an air of collegiality and an air of civility, which is the backbone of the Senate. There are only 100 of us. We get to know each other very well. We do that in our committee meetings. We do that in our travels. We do that on the floor of the Senate. A good occasion for that is when we have consecutive votes, back to back to back to back, as we had last night, four votes. This gives us a chance to avoid playing telephone tag, which occurs frequently, and to see our colleagues on the floor and to talk to them.
We will be missing some really outstanding Senators as we conclude the 107th Congress. There is a great deal that could be said about each of them from my own personal experiences.
Senator Thurmond is truly a living legend. When I first saw him chair the Judiciary Committee, he asked a nominee if the nominee promised to be courteous. I questioned whether that was a very good inquiry. What else could the nominee say? The nominee said, ``Yes.'' Then, Senator Thurmond said, ``the more power the person has, the more courteous a person should be.''
Senator Helms finished six terms in the Senate, elected in 1972. One of my fondest recollections of Senator Helms is relative to the pornography bill, which he wrote, and which was declared unconstitutional. After being consulted by him, I gave him a hand in writing a bill which was constitutional.
In order of seniority on our departing colleagues, Frank Murkowski came to the Senate with 15 other Senators, a total of 16. They called us the ``Sweet 16,'' elected in 1980. Now there are but three: Senator Grassley, Senator Nickles, and myself.
Senator Murkowski goes on to be Governor of Alaska, where he can maintain his own schedule and be an executive without relying on 50 other Senators to carry the day.
Phil Gramm is truly an extraordinary Senator. Nobody in the Senate is smarter than Phil Gramm. Perhaps nobody in the history of the Senate was smarter than Phil Gramm. One of his memorable moments was when we were debating how to proceed on the impeachment proceedings of President Clinton. There was a lot of disagreement. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning, Phil Gramm and Ted Kennedy agreed. What were the other 98 of us to do? If those two men could agree, it must be an appropriate solution.
Bob Smith, with distinguished service in the House and distinguished service in the Senate, was perhaps a little too candid sometimes as he took the floor in his quest for the Republican nomination. A little critical of the party, but he was always courageous and always straightforward. I learned a lot from Senator Smith in our caucuses on impeachment. I had not known the depth of his knowledge as a high school teacher, but he was an extraordinary Senator and made a great contribution.
Senator Fred Thompson, a super star. When he came to the Senate, he took over the chairmanship of a major committee in record time and presided over very important hearings on campaign finance reform. What is not really known about Fred is that he is as lighthearted and as good at repartee as he is at the law, which is a very high degree.
Tim Hutchinson served on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs with me, very devoted, very serious, very sincere. He had the misfortune to lose an election or else, I think, he would have had a very long and illustrious career in the Senate. Yet, he may have a long, illustrious career in the Senate. He will live to fight another day.
Bob Torricelli, always on top of the issues, very important to the Judiciary Committee where we served together. He was the ranking Democrat when I chaired the Subcommittee on Department of Justice Oversight; always judicious, always fair and always a great contributor.
Max Cleland, a real hero, a man of great courage. To see Max function in the Senate or in life, with the tremendous injuries he suffered in Vietnam when he fell on a hand grenade, is truly inspirational. We will all miss Max Cleland.
Jean Carnahan. Senator Jean Carnahan picked up the mantle of her husband, Governor Mel Carnahan, and made a real contribution in her two years in the Senate.
Paul Wellstone has been the subject of tribute and a man who will be truly missed. His work on mental health parity with physical ailments will be Paul Wellstone's real legacy. I had an opportunity to travel to Minneapolis to pay tribute to the Wellstones' two sons. The tragedy with Paul and Sheila and their daughter is truly the saddest occasion of the past Congress.
Beyond those who will no longer be with us in the 108th Congress, just a moment to pay tribute to two of our colleagues who are having birthdays today. Senator Byrd, I know his age but I shall not repeat it. That is up to him to say, however, he finishes his 50th year in the Congress of the United States. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1952 and the Senate in 1958. I am glad to be able to have a few minutes on the floor of the Senate to make a few comments. It is a little hard to be recognized when Senator Byrd is in the Chamber.
I heard on National Public Radio, so the world knows, that Joe Biden is 60 today. He was just elected to a sixth term, which is really remarkable.
It is a great privilege to be a Member of the Senate and to have had the opportunity to work with these men and women and to work for the people of Pennsylvania, my State, and for the people of the United States.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I join my colleague from Pennsylvania and other colleagues who have recently been on the floor today, first in expressing happy birthday wishes to our esteemed colleague from West Virginia, Senator Robert Byrd. I just expressed those birthday wishes to him personally a few moments ago on this, as I told him, the 35th anniversary of his 50th birthday. Because in so many ways Senator Byrd has been a real pillar of strength in the Senate, standing up for the rights and privileges of the Senate, standing up for the demarcation set down by our Founding Fathers between the legislative branch and the executive branch of the Government.
When I say 35th anniversary of his 50th birthday, I mean that because, quite frankly, Senator Byrd does not appear in any way to be one day over the age of 50. So I wish him the best on his birthday and wish him to maintain strength and good health to continue the leadership he has shown in the Senate for the last almost 30 some years.
I also pay my respects to Senators who are leaving: Senator Thurmond, Senator Helms, Senator Bob Smith, Senator Fred Thompson, Senator Tim Hutchinson on the Republican side. Especially I pay my respects to Senator Hutchinson for his great work on the farm bill. We got a really good farm bill out this year. He was a very diligent and good member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and we worked very hard together in a bipartisan fashion to report out a very good farm bill for farmers and for rural America. I especially thank Senator Hutchinson for his efforts in getting that farm bill through.
I also pay my respects to Senator Helms. Senator Helms was the chairman of the Agriculture Committee when I first came to the Senate. We formed a friendship at that time that has endured, although I am sure it is clear to anyone watching or listening that Senator Helms and I have probably not agreed too much on too many things, but nonetheless, we have maintained a very close friendship and respect for one another through all the years. I wish him the best in his retirement, and many happy years ahead for our distinguished colleague, Senator Helms.
For those Senators on this side, Senator Bob Torricelli, again, I thank him for all the work he has done, first as the Chair of our Democratic Senate Campaign Committee that ensured we had the wherewithal in the election before last to win many elections and maintain our strength in the Senate. I wish Bob the best in his future endeavors.
For Senator Jean Carnahan, again, I thank her for her 2 years of service here under very trying circumstances. I was a close friend of her deceased husband, Governor Mel Carnahan, who, as we know, was lost in a tragic plane crash a little over 2 years ago, right before the election, along with her son Randy. Senator Carnahan did a remarkably good job for Missouri and the Nation during these 2 years. She was diligent, hard working, and fought very hard for Missouri and her constituents. Again, I wish her the best in her future endeavors, and her family, to her son Tom and daughter Robin whom I have worked with in the past.
I also pay my respects to Senator Max Cleland. Max and I do go back a long way. I first met Max when he was here in the Senate on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. He became President Carter's Secretary of Veterans Affairs when I was in the House of Representatives. Being a veteran and being a member of the veterans sort of group we had in the House of Representatives at that time, we couldn't have asked for a better champion for veterans issues at that time in the late 1970s than we had in Max Cleland. It was Senator Cleland who, as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, set up the vets centers around the United States. There are now more than 200 of them.
In every case I have been privileged to see a vets center, they are just sort of the heart and soul of outreach and a place for veterans to get help, if they need it, and a place where veterans can make sure they have access to the outlets of the Federal Government for job training and that type of thing, for education.
That is his lasting legacy all over the United States. Of course, it has been repeated time and again about his great heroism in the Vietnam war, for which he received a Silver Star. I will miss him as a very close friend for all these years, and the country has lost the service of a truly remarkable, courageous, compassionate, brave American, Max Cleland.
Senator Dean Barkley, our second Independent, came here from Minnesota under trying circumstances. I had not known him before, but over the last couple of weeks I got to know him, and I have a great deal of respect for him for what he has done here. Very few people serve for only a couple of weeks in the Senate and actually get a bill passed. Senator Barkley got his bill through, and I congratulate him for that. I thank him for his service here and, again, wish him the best and hope he will stay involved in public affairs, both in Minnesota and nationally.
Tribute to Senator Paul Wellstone
Lastly, I want to pay my respects to our departed friend, Senator Paul Wellstone. I did not want this session to end without saying something for the Record about the large gap left in the Senate by the untimely death of Paul Wellstone.
Paul was my closest friend in the Senate. But in truth, Paul Wellstone was one of those rare souls who so many saw as their best friend. He had a powerful authenticity that made a miner on the Iron Range know that he was as important to Paul as the President of the United States.
Paul never had to proclaim his decency; it shone forth every day in great acts of political courage and small acts of human kindness. He never had to ever say he cared. It just showed in how he greeted the elevator operators and the policemen outside. Sometimes we would walk over to the Hart Building and talked to workers on the ground. Everyone was a friend of Paul's and he always had a smile and a handshake for everyone.
We saw this in him every day, in dozens of ways, from that hand over there at his desk relentlessly chopping the air as he stood on the floor speaking for those who otherwise had no voice, to the countless people he reached out to help across his State and across the Nation.
The hard-working folks he cared about most didn't have lobbyists or influence, but they had Paul Wellstone, and he truly was their best friend. Everyone called him Paul--not just his colleagues but staff and citizens alike. He would not have it any other way. No one ever wore the title of ``Senator'' better--or used it less.
In the days since that terrible tragedy, we have seen an outpouring of grief and admiration every bit as authentic as Paul was himself. It is a tribute to him and to the yearning I believe in this country for a politics that can truly be the noble profession of putting principle above the latest polls. Paul truly was the soul of the Senate. Sometimes he cast votes that even some of his friends disagreed with--
on war or on welfare. But when he did, he was the mirror in which we, his colleagues, looked at ourselves and searched our own hearts to ask whether or not we were doing the right thing.
So we say thank you to the political science professor whose measure of truth was never in political theory, but the impact that his decisions and ours had on real people.
Since he left us, Paul's friends and admirers have focused on Paul Wellstone as the lone man in the arena fighting a battle against injustice. Paul Wellstone was that. But he was also a doer who left behind a real record of accomplishment in the Senate.
Paul was one of the Senate's leading voices for education, pushing for investments in early education, for class size reduction, and for student financial aid so working and middle-class families could afford to send their kids through college. And we worked together tirelessly to increase the Federal Government's investment in special education, so students with disabilities could get the education that is their right.
Paul Wellstone worked alongside Senator DeWine to pass sweeping reforms of our Nation's job training, adult education, and vocational rehabilitation programs. By streamlining often confusing and overlapping programs and paperwork, Paul Wellstone's efforts are helping ensure that America's workers get the training and help they need to stay on the job or to find new employment.
As a warrior for peace, Paul understood this Nation's duty to the men and women who bear the scars of war. Paul authored, fought for, and helped enact legislation to improve the living conditions of hundreds of thousands of American veterans. This law ensures that homeless veterans who suffer with alcoholism and drug addiction have ready access to the treatment and care they need and deserve.
Paul also made a courageous push for a policy whose time had passed and should be done now, and that is mental health parity. Along with Senator Domenici, Paul authored the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, a groundbreaking proposal ensuring health care coverage of mental illnesses be provided on par with coverage of other medical illnesses. In the final year of his life, he continued to push for the expansion of mental health coverage, again teaming with Senator Domenici to introduce the bipartisan Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act, which could expand parity for mental health insurance.
I hope that in the next Congress, the Senate and the House will enact what I hope will be deemed the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act, to finally put mental health on the same plain, the same level as all other medical illnesses.
Paul once said, ``Politics is about what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine.''
Paul didn't just dare to imagine a better America--he helped to build it. Sure, he was willing to fight the lonely fight when he thought it was right and proper, but he also knew how to turn idealism and ideas, ideas into action to improve people's lives--investing in education, expanding health care, fighting killer diseases such as Parkinson's, helping homeless veterans, and veterans exposed to radiation.
Because of what he did, family farmers will have a better future. Because of what he demanded, mental illness will be soon treated equally in our health care system. Because of who he married--his wife Sheila--and because of her passionate charge, more women and children will find safe harbor from the scourge of domestic violence.
Paul Wellstone left us at a time when America needs him the most. He believed, as his champion and mentor Hubert Humphrey once said, that
``the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children, those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly, and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the disabled, and the needy.''
Those words, as much as anything else, form the focus of my public life and, I hope, the true path of my political party. It is a course in conscience that Paul Wellstone tried to set for his party and his country.
But it now falls to each of us, those in the land of the living, to continue Paul Wellstone's journey for justice, to continue to speak out, to stand up and fight the good fight, and to lead our Nation with courage and conviction. The times demand it. In the coming days, may we all have the courage of our friend, Paul Wellstone.
Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________
