[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 242 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 242

  To urge the Nobel Commission to award the year 2000 Nobel Prize for 
   Peace to former United States Senator George J. Mitchell for his 
           dedication to fostering peace in Northern Ireland.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 27, 2000

 Mr. Gejdenson (for himself, Mr. Allen, Mr. Bentsen, Mr. Capuano, Ms. 
Carson, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Crowley, Ms. Danner, Mr. Davis of Florida, Mr. 
Doyle, Mr. Engel, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Frost, Mr. Gilman, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. 
Hinchey, Mr. King, Mr. Larson, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Levin, Mr. Lucas of 
   Kentucky, Mr. Markey, Mr. McGovern, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Meehan, Mr. 
 Pallone, Mr. Payne, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Sawyer, 
 Mr. Skelton, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Tierney, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Vento, 
 Mr. Walsh, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Weiner, and Mr. Abercrombie) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  To urge the Nobel Commission to award the year 2000 Nobel Prize for 
   Peace to former United States Senator George J. Mitchell for his 
           dedication to fostering peace in Northern Ireland.

Whereas Senator Mitchell has worked tirelessly over the past four years to bring 
        peace to a place which has known strife and violence for far too long;
Whereas Senator Mitchell's father, who immigrated to the United States from 
        Ireland, and his mother, who immigrated from Lebanon, taught him ``that 
        every human being has an obligation to help those who are in need.'';
Whereas President Clinton appointed Senator Mitchell as a special advisor and 
        envoy for peace in 1995;
Whereas Senator Mitchell endured initial criticism that he would be biased 
        toward one side only to demonstrate to all skeptics that he could serve 
        as an honest broker for all the people of Northern Ireland;
Whereas Senator Mitchell was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1998 for his heroic 
        work in mediating the Good Friday Accords which finally offered the 
        people of Northern Ireland a framework for lasting peace;
Whereas in September of 1999, Senator Mitchell was asked to return to revive 
        peace talks which had appeared hopelessly stalled, conducted a review of 
        the Good Friday Accords, and then crafted a compromise which cleared the 
        final hurdles to a historic devolution of authority from London to a new 
        Northern Ireland Assembly;
Whereas Monica McWilliams, founder of the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition and 
        a central participant in the peace talks, asserted that Senator 
        Mitchell's invaluable role was to ``remind people that they are mirror 
        images, to show the cyclical effect we have on each other'' and said 
        that Senator Mitchell ``refused to contemplate failure and made us 
        refuse to contemplate it, too.''; and
Whereas after helping resolve the most recent crucial impasse, Senator Mitchell 
        said ``I believe that all of this desire for peace by the people of 
        Northern Ireland is so strong that it cannot be denied.'' and that peace 
        has arrived because of the ``will of the people of Northern Ireland to 
        turn away from the bitterness of the past and the courage of the 
        political leaders of Northern Ireland to act upon that will'': Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress of the United States urges the Nobel Commission to 
award the year 2000 Nobel Prize for Peace to former United States 
Senator George J. Mitchell for his dedication to fostering peace in 
Northern Ireland.
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