[Senate Document 109-32]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Doc. 109-32
TRIBUTES TO HON. JAMES M. JEFFORDS
James M. Jeffords
U.S. SENATOR FROM VERMONT
TRIBUTES
IN THE CONGRESS OF
THE UNITED STATES
James M. Jeffords
Tributes
Delivered in Congress
James M. Jeffords
United States Congressman
1975-1989
United States Senator
1989-2007
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2007
Compiled under the direction
of the
Joint Committee on Printing
CONTENTS
Biography.............................................
v
Farewell to the Senate................................
vii
Proceedings in the Senate:
Tributes by Senators:
Akaka, Daniel K., of Hawaii....................
51
Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee.................
33
Allen, George, of Virginia.....................
34
Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
18
Byrd, Robert C., of West Virginia..............
27
Clinton, Hillary Rodham, of New York...........
41
Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota..................
40
DeWine, Mike, of Ohio..........................
44
Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut...........
9, 44
Durbin, Richard, of Illinois...................
12, 35
Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming...................
3, 29
Feingold, Russell D., of Wisconsin.............
37
Frist, William H., of Tennessee................
50
Grassley, Chuck, of Iowa.......................
6
Hagel, Chuck, of Nebraska......................
32
Harkin, Tom, of Iowa...........................
15
Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah.......................
45
Hutchison, Kay Bailey, of Texas................
50
Jeffords, James M., of Vermont.................
26
Kennedy, Edward M., of Massachusetts...........
8
Kyl, Jon, of Arizona...........................
43
Landrieu, Mary L., of Louisiana................
42
Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
4
Levin, Carl, of Michigan.......................
47
Nelson, Bill, of Florida.......................
34
Obama, Barack, of Illinois.....................
25
Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
33
Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
3, 44
Rockefeller, John D., IV.......................
20
Salazar, Ken, of Colorado......................
37
Snowe, Olympia J., of Maine....................
48
Stevens, Ted, of Alaska........................
50
Warner, John, of Virginia......................
39
Biography
Born in Rutland, VT, on May 11, 1934, James Merrill
Jeffords is the son of the late Marion H. Jeffords and the
late Olin M. Jeffords, former chief justice of the Vermont
Supreme Court. His father's family settled in northwestern
Vermont in 1794. After attending public schools in
Rutland, Senator Jeffords received his undergraduate
degree from Yale University in 1956 and his law degree
from Harvard Law School in 1962. He served in active duty
with the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1959, and retired from the
U.S. Naval Reserve as a Captain in 1990. He was married to
the late Elizabeth Daley and has two children, Leonard and
Laura. The Jeffords' residence is in Shrewsbury, VT.
Senator Jeffords spent 32 years in Congress. He was
first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in
1974, and served three terms as a U.S. Senator. Before
arriving in Washington, he served as a Vermont State
Senator from Rutland in 1967 and 1968, and held his first
statewide office as Vermont Attorney General from 1969 to
1973.
Throughout his tenure in Congress, Senator Jeffords
championed legislation to strengthen our Nation's
education system and increase the opportunities for
individuals with disabilities. He left his fingerprints on
every piece of education, job training, and disability
legislation over the past quarter-century. In 1975,
Senator Jeffords, as the ranking member on the
Subcommittee on Select Education, co-authored what would
later be known as the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), which has provided equal access to
education for millions of students with disabilities.
Since IDEA's enactment, Senator Jeffords continued to
fight for full Federal funding for the law.
Senator Jeffords has also been a leading advocate in
Congress for environmental protection. He fought to reduce
industrial pollution and acid rain, and as a member of the
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee he ensured
the passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act. More recently,
Senator Jeffords introduced legislation that would clean
up dirty power plants and create incentives for
investments in clean, renewable power.
Through his leadership on the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee, Senator Jeffords also worked to
improve Vermont's ground transportation system. Last
summer, Congress passed a 5-year, $286.5 billion highway
bill, which Senator Jeffords co-authored. This legislation
will increase Vermont's share of total highway dollars by
40 percent. In all, Vermont will receive more than $1
billion over the 5-year period, with specific projects
included. In addition to creating thousands of jobs
throughout Vermont, the highway bill will dramatically
improve the State's roads, bridges, and rail lines.
Senator Jeffords, who was first elected to the U.S.
Senate in 1988, chaired the Senate Environment and Public
Works Committee from 2001 to 2002 and later served as the
Committee's ranking member. He also served as a member of
the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Veterans' Affairs
Committee, Special Committee on Aging, and the Senate
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which he
chaired from 1997 to 2001.
He was one of six founders of the Congressional Solar
Coalition, and he served as chairman of the House
Environmental Study Conference from 1978 to 1979.
In 1980, then-Congressman Jeffords co-founded the
Congressional Arts Caucus. Throughout his career he
consistently fought for financial support of the National
Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the
Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library
Services. In addition to his legislative work in the arts,
Senator Jeffords has sponsored the Congressional High
School Art Competition in Vermont for 25 years.
In recognition of his achievements, Senator Jeffords has
received many prestigious awards, including being named
Legislator of the Year by Parenting magazine in 1999, and
in 2002 he received the Sierra Club's top honor.
In 2001, Senator Jeffords left the Republican Party and
became an Independent. He has been profiled on ``60
Minutes'' and ``Dateline NBC,'' and in the New York Times
and the Washington Post. He is the author of ``My
Declaration of Independence'' (Simon and Schuster, 2001)
and ``An Independent Man: Adventures of a Public Servant''
(Simon and Schuster, 2003).
Senator Jeffords is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
Farewell to the Senate
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, even a diehard Red Sox fan
has to give the devil his due. Probably the most moving
moment in the history of baseball was when longtime New
York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig walked on the field
to accept the tribute of his fans and teammates. On
Independence Day in 1939, he told the crowd at Yankee
Stadium that he considered himself the luckiest man on the
face of the Earth.
I consider myself pretty lucky, too. I was elected to
the House of Representatives in 1974. That was not the
best year to be a Republican candidate. Out of an enormous
freshman class of 92 new Members, which included Chris
Dodd and Tom Harkin, only 17 of us were Republicans. And
as Chuck Grassley and I walked down the aisle of the
House, he with crutches and I with a neck brace, one
Democrat muttered: There's two we almost got.
Time has gotten just about all of us. With my retirement
and that of Henry Hyde in the House, Chuck Grassley next
year will become the last remaining Member of the
Republican class of 1974, an iron horse in his own right.
The silver lining for me in the electoral losses suffered
by the Republicans was a chance to land senior positions
on the Agriculture and Education Subcommittees that would
quickly throw me into the thick of things. Throughout my
career in the House, I focused on those two issues.
In 1988, with the retirement of Bob Stafford, I ran for
and won a seat in the Senate. Senator Stafford was a tough
act to follow. He had held just about every office in the
State of Vermont and had an enormous impact on the Federal
policy for education, the environment, and elsewhere. I
was lucky when I got to the Senate that there were
openings on both the Education and Environment Committees.
Early on, I learned what the Senate can be at its best.
In 1989, Congress was in the midst of reauthorizing the
Clean Air Act. Even though I was a freshman, the door was
open for anyone who had the time and interest. As John
Chafee, George Mitchell, and the rest of us forged a
strong renewal of the Clean Air Act, I realized these were
the moments I enjoyed most. I realized these were the
moments I enjoyed most when smart and committed people
worked together to solve tough problems and improve the
lot for Americans. Every year since has provided similar
moments, from rebuilding our roads to rewriting our food
and drug laws.
Probably the biggest and the most rewarding challenge
for me has been in the area of education. From my first
year in the House when we enacted the Education of the
Handicapped Act, to work that continues today on the
Higher Education Act, I have tried to do my best to ensure
that every child is given the opportunity to reach his or
her potential.
There is plenty of work left to be done to reach this
goal, and nowhere is that more true than in the District
of Columbia. A decade ago, Congress stepped in to try and
help the District resolve the problems plaguing its
overall budget and its schools in particular. As chair of
the DC Appropriations Subcommittee, I helped lead that
effort. The city is to be commended for its record of
fiscal responsibility in the years since, and I hope the
superintendent, the new mayor, the council, and the school
board will be able to make similar progress in improving
the city's school system.
While Vermont has always been home, I have lived in the
District of Columbia since coming to Washington. Luckily,
I have never lost the ability to be moved by the sight of
the Capitol dome. Its majesty struck me when I first came
to Washington and it still does today. Under that dome and
in the buildings around it work thousands of good people.
We are all privileged to work with a whole host of people
who get too little recognition, from the person recording
my words, to the people who put them in the Congressional
Record while we sleep--not always easy tasks, in my case.
Ours, too, is not always an easy task. I know it is hard
for the public to understand the reality of life in the
Congress, but the continual travel, the campaigns, and the
unpredictable hours of our jobs can take a toll on our
families. I have been blessed with two wonderful children,
Laura and Leonard, who are here with me today, and a
feisty, funny, and an incredibly strong wife, Liz. They
have had to put up with an awful lot over the years so
that I could serve Vermont.
Three decades is a blink of an eye in history, but what
a tremendous period of change in our country we have been
through. When I came to Washington, we were only three
decades removed from the Second World War. My childhood
heroes were heroes of that war, and it seemed as though
every family had a father or son or uncle who served and
sacrificed in that war. But when I came to Washington, an
entirely different war was being waged in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam has colored much of our thinking since. Whether
Vietnam had too much or too little influence upon the
ensuing three decades is a much larger debate, but we
would be better served in world affairs today by being
less haughty and more humble.
I regret that my departure from Congress, like my
arrival, finds our country at war. Young and even not so
young Americans are sacrificing life and limb while the
rest of us are making little or no sacrifice. It seems to
me the very least we should do is pay today for the fiscal
costs of our policies. Instead, we are floating IOUs
written on our children's future. This year we have no
budget, and we are unwilling even to debate most of our
basic spending bills before the November election. Thirty
years from now, we could well face the biggest crisis in
government since the Civil War, if Congress and the White
House do not adopt a more honest approach to government.
The basic compact between generations is being broken.
F.D.R. was right to borrow heavily to finance World War
II, but are we justified in doing so today?
Earlier this month I was privileged to attend the
dedication of a monument in Virginia commemorating the
sacrifice of more than 1,200 men of the Vermont Brigade
during the Battle of the Wilderness. The tangled thickets
of the 19th century have given way to mature forests. The
individuals are largely forgotten, but our collective
memory must endure. Today, we use blocks of granite to
remind us of the sacrifices of the Civil War. In its
immediate aftermath you would think no such reminder would
have been needed. But 140 years ago, so the story goes, a
northern Congressman literally waved a bloody shirt before
his colleagues to inflame them against the South for
alleged misdeeds. True patriotism is the incredible
bravery of those men whose too-brief lives ended on that
Wilderness Battlefield. Waving the bloody shirt then or
today is anything but patriotic.
The beautiful Capitol dome above us, completed even as
the Civil War concluded, should serve to inspire us. I am
an optimist and have been every day of my life. With
Lincoln, I hope that the mystic cords of memory will
stretch from every battlefield and patriot grave to the
hearts of the living, and that we will soon again be
touched by the better angels of our nature.
Mr. President, I wish you and all of my colleagues good
luck and Godspeed.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
?
TRIBUTES
TO
JAMES M. JEFFORDS
Proceedings in the Senate
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Mr. ENZI. ... I would like to recognize two departing
members of the [HELP] committee [Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions]: Majority Leader Frist and Senator Jeffords.
We are fortunate they chose to serve, and we are grateful
for their contributions. Senator Jeffords is a past
chairman of the committee, and, of course, Majority Leader
Frist has been the doctor on the committee and provided a
perspective no one else could. I am proud of the work we
have done here on the committee these past 2 years. By
working together, we have established a track record of
success. ...
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Mr. REID. Mr. President, Senator Jeffords has been a
friend and colleague for many years. We had the
opportunity to serve together in the House of
Representatives. We served together in the Senate. To say
that he has made history during his time in Congress is an
understatement. But more important, he has made a
difference. I have always been impressed by his knowledge
of the issues and his dedication to the public well-being
and the environment. I have had the good fortune of
serving with him on the Environment and Public Works
Committee. He is a stalwart. He is a true believer that
the environment is in distress and things need to be done
to change our environment.
He has worked to preserve the middle class and to
provide for the safety of the American people in so many
different ways. Senator Jeffords is a man of conscience.
No one can question that. He grew up in Vermont where the
Jeffords family first settled in the 18th century. His
father was a longtime member of the Supreme Court. After
Jim Jeffords graduated from Yale, he served in the Navy on
active duty for 4 years. He served then in the Naval
Reserve, retiring as a captain. Senator Jeffords studied
law at Harvard--Yale and Harvard--which shows his
intellect. He returned after having finished law school to
Vermont to practice law. Shortly thereafter, he was
elected to the Vermont State Senate and then attorney
general. He was elected to the House of Representatives in
1975 and served there until he came to the Senate in 1989.
In walking in here I grabbed a book that has a lot of
definitions. I flipped to courage. Whatever definition you
have of courage, you can pick one here going back to two
centuries ago:
I love the man who can smile on trouble, who can gather
strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. It is
the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart
is firm and whose conscience has approved his conduct will
pursue his principles unto death.
That really is Jim Jeffords, and that, Mr. President, is
a quote from Thomas Payne. I have seen up close Jim
Jeffords's courage. Everyone knows, as it has been written
about in books, the conversations that Senator Jeffords
and I had prior to Senator Jeffords deciding that he
wanted to change course and become an Independent. That
was not an easy decision. It involved years of friendship,
and it involved years of his being a member of two
different legislative bodies on Capitol Hill.
Most of our discussions took place on the Senate floor
as people were walking around, but we had conversations in
private. I know firsthand, I repeat, of the courage of
this man. I, in my now long public career have been
involved in a number of things that I will always
remember, but I will never, ever remember anything more
vividly than the Senator from Vermont, as a matter of
principle and courage, changing not only his course but
the course of this country.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is
recognized.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have listened to my friend,
Jim Jeffords, the Senator from Vermont speak here this
morning [see Farewell to the Senate, page vii]. I couldn't
help but think as I heard Senator Jeffords speak with wit
and clarity, and you might say even some emotion, that Jim
Jeffords, given the opportunity to make a speech--and many
of us will do so on this Senate floor as we leave--did it
being true to himself, with his own good nature, his own
sense of history, and his own justifiable pride in what he
has accomplished.
I have known Jim Jeffords from his days as a State
senator in Rutland. I have known his wonderful wife, Liz
Daley Jeffords. They are both dear friends of mine and my
wife Marcel. Mrs. Jeffords was referred to as a great lady
the other night by the anchor of our State's largest TV
station. Some of us who have known Jim for years would say
she gets that greatness for putting up with him for all
these years. But we Vermonters found no difficulties in
putting up with Jim Jeffords. He has been elected
overwhelmingly to the offices he has held and he has done
it with support from Republicans, Democrats, and
Independents alike. He has gotten these votes the old-
fashioned way--he earned them.
We came here together 32 years ago. I like to talk about
the Leahys coming to Vermont in the 1850s. Jim reminds me
his family came to Vermont a century before. We both live
in small towns in Vermont; we have had that sense of
Vermont. He has never lost it. He has been a good friend.
His career highlights are legendary. Let me tell you why
he is supported so. First and foremost, Senator Jeffords
is known as an environmental champion. In Vermont, they
say, If you scratch a Vermonter you scratch an
environmentalist, no matter the party.
He has done it in the great tradition of Senator Bob
Stafford. Senator Bob Stafford is also from the same
county as Jim Jeffords--actually Jim grew up near him. He
mentioned Bob today.
He carved out a legend on education and the environment
when he was here. But then Jim Jeffords had done that as
attorney general and as a State senator in our State. For
the past three decades he has left his fingerprints on
nearly every environmental law enacted, from the Clean Air
Act and the Clean Water Act to the Superfund Program to
acid rain reduction.
In fact, when others in his position would be thinking
about where are the papers going and how will we retire,
just a matter of months ago he offered the boldest
solution to combat global climate change this body has
ever considered.
He has championed legislation to strengthen our Nation's
education system and increase the opportunities for
individuals with disabilities.
In 1975, as a brand new Member of the House of
Representatives, as he said, coming in with a neck brace--
the walking wounded from an election where both of us ran
in Vermont--he coauthored what would later be known as the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA. It was
strongly supported by his colleagues here in the Senate
and before that in the House. It has provided equal access
to education for millions of students with disabilities,
students who otherwise would have been shunted aside and
this country would not have had the value of their
achievements.
As chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension
Committee, he worked tirelessly on education, job
training, and disability legislation. Most recently, his
leadership in the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee was essential to the passage of the highway
bill. Of course, Vermont and the rest of the country will
benefit from that.
I might say there has been no greater leader for
Vermont's dairy industry than Senator Jeffords. In his
work on the Northeast Dairy Compact and the milk programs,
he has fought tough battles for Vermont dairies--and won.
He actually knows as much about our dairy industry as most
dairy farmers.
It is what he has done for future generations. All of us
can talk about what we do here. It is what we leave for
our children and our grandchildren that counts. Future
generations of Vermonters will honor Jim's legacy when
they see the work that he began as attorney general and
continued throughout the Senate--helping to restore Lake
Champlain to its brilliance, its magnificence; or witness
the bald eagles abounding in the wilderness areas, thanks
to Jim.
I applaud him for this statement as he takes leave of
the Senate--although it seems this year we will never know
when we leave. None of us are getting our final airplane
reservations yet. But he has done it with his usual grace
and good humor. I applaud him for that and I hope all of
us when we come to leave, whenever that may be, will have
the opportunity to show that same grace. He served Vermont
well and, just as important, he served the Senate well.
After a long career I might violate the rules somewhat,
addressing my friend and colleague directly: For a long
career, Jim, you can leave with your head held high. You
have served Vermont and your Nation proudly.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa is
recognized.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise to tell the Senator
from Vermont that I am going to miss him in the Senate and
still consider him a friend. I hope to have a long
relationship with him, even in his retirement. I am that
Senator that Jim Jeffords, the Senator from Vermont,
referred to as the one remaining Republican of the class
of 1974. There were 17 of us. I think there were about 70
Democrats. It was a bad year for Republicans. You couldn't
even put the word Republican on your literature. It was
the year Nixon resigned.
There were only 140 of us in the House of
Representatives at that time. I don't know whether Senator
Jeffords felt this way, but I felt this way, that it was
probably the end of the Republican Party. Well, I was
wrong. He and I have been reelected to serve together, to
serve our respective constituents.
I remember Senator Jeffords as an outstanding member of
the Agriculture Committee in the House of Representatives
the 6 years I served on that committee. Then there was a
period of time where I was a Member of the Senate and he
still stayed in the House of Representatives. Our
friendship still held. But working together--you know how
it is in Congress, the House and Senate; there is a Grand
Canyon between us sometimes, and we don't communicate as
much as we ought to. Consequently, it was like getting
reacquainted with Senator Jeffords again when he came to
the Senate. I was glad then and I am very glad now that he
continued his service.
I think he is an outstanding example of probably what is
an unacknowledged principle of political science--at least
it is a feeling I have about the people of our country--
that if you serve honorably where you are at a certain
time and do the best job possible, you are going to have
opportunities to enhance your position within public
service. So as a State senator, then as an attorney
general, then as a Congressman, and then as a Senator for
the people of Vermont, I believe he got to be a Senator
because people in Vermont recognized him, as a State
senator, as a Congressman, and as an attorney general, as
a person who was not there because of political ambition,
wanting to rise to the top, but a person, in each stage of
his public service life, who did what that job required
and did it well. People recognized that and in the end of
the process, he came to the Senate.
In every relationship I have had with Senator Jeffords,
whether he was a Republican or an Independent, it has
always been one that has been friendly and honorable and
honest. And most important, he was a humanitarian in his
approach to public policy.
It seemed to me that as a Member of the Senate, whether
as an Independent or as a Republican, Senator Jeffords
brought forth what it takes to get things done in the
Senate, and that is moderation. It doesn't matter whether
it is a bill that is representing the philosophy of the
extreme left or a bill that represents the philosophy of
the extreme right, nothing such as that is going to get
through the Senate. Eventually you have to have people
come together seeking a middle ground, a bipartisan
approach to get things done. It seems to me, in every
respect, that is what Senator Jeffords did--he sought
moderation because that is how you get solutions and that
is the only way the Senate produces.
I compliment him on his dedicated public service. I
congratulate him on his long service to the people of the
United States and the people of Vermont. I will miss
working with him. I will miss him, but I hope we have
opportunities to have great relationships for the rest of
our lives.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is entirely appropriate
that we take these few moments on the floor of the Senate
to listen carefully and take the measure of an
extraordinary Senator, Senator Jim Jeffords. In these next
several weeks, this Nation is going to be focused in many,
many States on trying to select who is going to represent
them in the Senate. And if the people of those States just
took a few moments to listen to the eloquence of this
Senator, they would know what the standard should be in
selecting someone to represent them in this body. It is
Jim Jeffords. He sets the standard. So we thank Jim
Jeffords for his service--his service to the State of
Vermont and his service to all of our States and to the
country. We thank him for that service.
We also thank the people of Vermont for their wisdom in
selecting this extraordinary talent and giving him the
kind of support that they gave over a long and
distinguished career, especially in those times when he
was willing to take positions and stand up on issues as a
matter of conscience. They understood their native son.
They respected him, and they supported him. So thank you
to the voters of Vermont.
Thank you to his family, Elizabeth that Senator Jeffords
mentioned, Laura, and Leonard--a family that gave him
great support. I think those of us who have been fortunate
enough to know that family and meet that family understand
what a strong influence it has been in terms of his
service.
And thank you, Senator Jeffords, for that simple
eloquence that we heard from you today on the floor of the
Senate, going back into the history of our country,
providing inspiration as we listen to you talk about the
history of the Nation, mentioning with great pride the
role of Vermonters in the time of the Civil War--and his
understanding of history, talking about people of the
Greatest Generation, which were inspiring figures to him
and many of us continuing to the present.
He typically understated his own achievements and
accomplishments. I think many of us on this floor are well
familiar with them. I certainly am as someone who has had
the good opportunity to serve with him on the Education
Committee. I know the difference that he has made in the
education of children in this country, particularly those
with special needs, accomplishments which are memorable
and historical. He mentioned just casually his interest in
the education of the children here in the District of
Columbia. A number of us who are here on the floor now
remember Jim Jeffords speaking in our caucus not many
years ago about how we, as Members of the Senate who
happen to either live here in the District or work here,
even though we are working in this body, have a
responsibility for the education of the children here. He
was the inspiration of a program, a literacy program
called ``Everybody Wins!'' And Jim Jeffords led a number
of us to Brent School here near the Capitol to read with
the second and third graders each week to ensure that
those children were going to have an opportunity to learn
to read. It was just a simple illustration, once again,
that Jim Jeffords does not just talk the talk, he walks
the walk. And at so many different times he has been there
doing just that.
So, Jim, we admire your service. You have demonstrated
here--and we do not understand perhaps well enough--that
you can speak with a quiet and soft voice, but you speak
with a great passion and a compelling argument, and with a
simplicity and effectiveness that has enriched and
enhanced the quality of life and opportunity, particularly
for children but also for all Americans. It is a
distinguished career, and it is one I know that you should
be--and are--proud of. All of us have had our own lives
enriched and inspired because of our friendship with you
and the type of Senator you have been.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut is
recognized.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I add my voice to my colleagues
who have spoken and those who will speak in thanking our
wonderful friend from Vermont for his remarkable service
to our country.
I begin as well by thanking his family, Elizabeth and
the children, as well as the people of Vermont, as Senator
Kennedy has said so eloquently.
Let me also include in enumeration his wonderful staff
people, over the years, who have been very much a part of
Jim's family. In fact, I note from the interns to senior
staff people, everyone refers to him not as ``Senator'' or
``Mr. Chairman''--but just ``Jim.'' That is certainly a
symbol of the kind of relationship he has had with his
constituents and with his congressional family over the
years.
I have had the privilege of serving my entire time in
the Senate--in the Congress--with this remarkable person
from Vermont. We arrived in the House of Representatives
on the very same day, 32 years ago. As Jim pointed out, he
had that neck brace on, and I had a head of black hair. We
have aged over those three decades. But my respect for Jim
Jeffords has only grown.
He has taught us America will listen to you even if your
voice is soft. His achievements in the Senate and the
House are the envy of all who wish to improve a quality of
life in this great country of ours. Jim's body of work is
truly admirable.
But it looks even more admirable when you remind
yourself that it was all the doing of a man unpretentious
enough to be fond of mismatched socks, frugal enough to
spend his earliest days in Washington sleeping in a parked
van, and humble enough to be universally known, as I've
said, as just ``Jim.'' The people of Vermont returned him
to office over and over again on the strength of his
plainspoken integrity and his indefatigable Yankeeness.
That's what Jim brought to this body of discussion; and
that was more than enough.
Jim came to Washington knowing what he wanted to
accomplish, and his success is clear to us today. No one
has worked with more dedication for a clean environment.
Jim was an environmentalist practically before we had a
word for it. In fact, he got his start in the Vermont
State Senate in the 1960s, fighting the efforts of the
papermills to pour sludge right into Lake Champlain. He
was a long-time nuclear watchdog and among six Congressmen
to found the Congressional Solar Coalition years ago. It
is telling that when he had his pick of chairmanships,
Senator Jim Jeffords chose the Environment and Public
Works Committee. Perhaps most important, he helped clean
up the air we breathe. He mentioned it briefly. But the
work of John Chafee, George Mitchell, and Jim Jeffords
truly created the great Clean Air Act of 1990, a huge
accomplishment. I want to thank Jim immensely for the
tremendous effort he made years ago in improving the
quality of air in this country. If he had done nothing
else in 32 years, that alone would have been a significant
achievement. Of course, his body of work is far more than
that.
Like Jim's dedication to the environment, his work for
children who have special education needs is decades long.
In 1976, he was essential to the passage of legislation
guaranteeing local school districts that the Federal
Government would pay 40 percent of the costs of educating
the disabled. And if that guarantee remains unfunded
today, never let it be said that it was for lack of Jim's
passionate work.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention of Tom Harkin,
another fellow classmate of 1974, working with Jim and
many others who cared about this issue over the years. No
one contributed more to the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act than Jim Jeffords. Few Senators are as tied
to special education, and that is a title to be very proud
of. It has been my honor to work along with him in the
House and the Senate on the issues that meant the most to
him--on after school programs, on higher education, and,
most especially, to secure funding for IDEA.
In Vermont, commitment to education is a long-standing
tradition. Right in the middle of the Civil War, we built
the dome on the Capitol to show our determination to keep
this Union together; but we showed it in another way, too.
A Senator from Vermont by the name of Justin Smith Morrill
created the land grant colleges--the University of
Connecticut is one; there are many all across the
country--and his work was one more demonstration of the
remarkable people who come from that State of Vermont to
help build this country, defend this country, and secure
this country for our children. Senators Stafford and
Morrill passed on that proud tradition, and Senator
Jeffords stands in its forefront today.
Jim has taught at every opportunity the difference
between education as a privilege and education as a right.
It is a right, and its worth is measured in our
willingness to educate even--especially--where it is
inconvenient.
There weren't many Senators shier than Jim Jeffords, but
there wasn't a single one fuller of quiet purpose and
courage. Politics was always a means to Jim's purpose--
never the other way around. And the way Jim practiced
politics, the way he spent his power, was never calculated
to bring him money, or fame, or even particularly glamour.
It was only the quiet satisfaction of a job very well
done.
That is what I think of when I recall the more than
three decades of our service together. But, to tell the
truth, through all those 30 years I had a privileged seat
right here with him. Those without that vantage point are
probably going to remember, first of all, something very
different. We all know how Jim crossed this aisle for good
5 years ago, and how he has served as an Independent ever
since. Jim entered the national spotlight full of honest
regret, and fully aware of how difficult his choice was
for colleagues, his staff, and his supporters.
I saw Jim up close as he struggled with a decision as
few men or women ever have to. But whatever one thinks of
it, there is a fact beyond dispute, which all of us
appreciate in this body: Jim Jeffords has never followed
anyone but his conscience.
If we insist, 5 years later, on reasoning out the need
in votes or dollars or any other measure of practicality,
we only reveal our failure to understand what that man did
on the day he made his choice. Sometimes what goes on in
this Chamber cannot be reasoned away. Jim taught us that,
too.
So, I would like to close with a happy thought. Two
years before the American Revolution, Edmund Burke gave a
speech on the relationship between a Representative and
those whom he tries to represent.
It is his duty,
said Burke,
to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions,
to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to
prefer their interests to his own. But his unbiased
opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience,
he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any
set of men living. These he does not derive from your
pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They
are a trust from Providence.
Jim, you have kept your trust over these many years, in
both the Senate and public life, in your State and in the
Congress. We send you back to Vermont with your work in
the Senate accomplished, with your conscience still clean,
and with our best wishes to you and your lovely family.
God bless you.
I yield the floor.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it took an act of courage for
Jim Jeffords to declare himself an Independent. It took an
act of courage for a lifelong Red Sox fan to quote a New
York Yankee in his farewell address to the Senate.
Jim Jeffords is an extraordinary public servant. Fewer
than 2,000 men and women in the history of the United
States of America have served in the Senate. We all
understand the great privilege of being in this body
representing our great States. But people are not noted in
the history of the Senate for longevity alone. People are
noted for singular acts of courage. And when it comes to
Jim Jeffords, his public career has been a singular act of
courage.
I hail from the State of Abraham Lincoln, where he lived
most of his adult life, and where we claimed him as part
of our national heritage. When I think of Jim Jeffords and
the political party he identifies with more than any other
name, I will say he identifies with the party of that
great leader Abraham Lincoln who stood up for principles
often against public and popular will.
This last week, Time magazine noted they were going to
designate Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont as ``Person of
the Week.'' They said in his one principled decision to
become an Independent, ``He demonstrated to the White
House and the United States Senate that revolutionaries
often come in surprising packages.''
We all know what happened after Jim made his decision to
become an Independent. He told me about walking home to
his apartment at night down Pennsylvania Avenue. And
people who were outside restaurants and cafes would stop
and stand and start to applaud, and Jim would be startled
by it at first. But he received more recognition than he,
I am sure, expected. A lot of it came in positive terms;
some in negative terms. People wanted to name their babies
after him.
In Burlington, VT--I think this is probably the greatest
tribute a politician could ever expect--they named a beer
after him--``Jeezum Jim'' they called it. I hope it was a
popular brew because he has been a popular Senator.
When they asked him why he changed his affiliation to
become an Independent, he replied very simply: ``It is all
about education.'' I remember it well, because I know that
was the deciding factor.
Your commitment to particularly those students who
struggled with disabilities, students who have these
difficulties, your commitment to those kids led you to
this decision. Many of us make these decisions on votes on
the floor. But as has been said, for Jim Jeffords
education went way beyond a vote or a speech. Several
years ago, he established this tutoring program in
Washington, DC, encouraging us, as Members of Congress,
the House and the Senate, to walk just a few blocks from
here, as he did so many times, to tutor the inner-city
youth of Washington, DC.
He is a true Vermonter and a true Independent. When we
look at his record, he was the only House Republican who
voted against the Reagan tax cut because he was afraid it
would lead to dangerous deficits. How right he was. In
1993, he was the only Republican Senator to cosponsor
President Clinton's health care plan. He worked for years
for regulation of tobacco by the Food and Drug
Administration, a goal which I share with the Senator. And
he sponsored the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, banning
employment discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation.
Some politicians in their career find ways to divide us.
Jim Jeffords always looked for ways to bring us together.
A strong supporter of Federal funding for AIDS research
and the arts, justifiably proud of the role he played in
passing the Work Incentives Improvement Act, and, of
course, his record on the environment is without parallel.
I know historians will also record all these
accomplishments and courageous battles when they write
about Jim Jeffords. On July 4, 2001, several weeks after
he made his decision to become an Independent, he sat down
at his home in Vermont and wrote these words:
I hope my decision will move the two parties to the
center, where the American people are. The American people
want an active, responsible, Federal Government.
He went on to say:
There seems to be a hunger in this country for heroes,
especially for the political variety.
Not only with this one historic act of conscience but
throughout his career in the House and the Senate, in
public life Jim Jeffords has been a living example of
these hopes and beliefs. I am proud to have been able to
serve with him. I am proud to count him as one of my
colleagues, even prouder to count him as a friend.
I thank his family for giving him this opportunity to
serve and giving this wonderful man to public life.
I thank you, Jim Jeffords, for all you have meant.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa is
recognized.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, it is, indeed, a privilege to
be here this morning to personally hear the words of our
good friend, Senator Jeffords, and to hear other Senators
get up and talk about Jim in such glowing terms.
However, I must say that all the years I have known Jim
Jeffords, he is an old-fashioned New Englander, which
means he is very modest. That means he is embarrassed to
receive this kind of praise and adulation. Senator
Jeffords will just have to endure it because we love you,
we respect you, we admire you, and you are one of the most
beloved Members of the Senate.
Thirty-two years ago, we came together in the House. You
talked about that. Our colleague, Chris Dodd, was in that
class, and also my colleague from Iowa, Senator Grassley.
I didn't know Senator Jeffords at that time, obviously. We
had just come in as freshmen Members. I found myself on
the Committee on Agriculture with Senator Jeffords. We
both sat down at the end. He was on one side and I was on
the other side because we were just freshmen.
We had a farm bill coming up. After a few weeks on the
Agriculture Committee, we dubbed Senator Jeffords ``the
Senator from Dairy.'' He was tenacious in fighting for his
dairy farmers of Vermont and, of course, New England.
Those from Iowa and Minnesota and Wisconsin--we had dairy
farmers, too, and there was, shall I say, a little bit of
a conflict in how we viewed the world of milk and dairy.
That was my first experience with Senator Jeffords because
we had to work things out. And we did. That was the first
time I got to see the kind of person Jim Jeffords is and
always has been. He was tenacious in fighting for his
dairy farmers but willing to understand that we all have
to live together; somehow we have to seek our compromises.
And we did. We reached a compromise and we moved the
legislation forward. That was the first time I came to
really know and respect Jim Jeffords.
As we moved ahead in agriculture, I found another area
in which I respected and admired Senator Jeffords. That
was the area of environment and conservation. In those
days, people were thinking mostly about all the commodity
programs, how much money we could get in the commodity
programs. We were all protecting our interests. I was
protecting my Iowa interests and Senator Jeffords was
protecting his Vermont interests.
However, conservation transcended everything. That began
back in the late 1970s, in the House Agriculture
Committee. We began the move toward more conservation in
our farm bills, which led to more of a ``greening'' of
America. He did that work also on Environment and Public
Works. When I think about the environment, cleaning up the
environment--clean water, clean lakes, clean streams--I
have to think of Jim Jeffords. He was there at the
beginning.
Then in 1975, on the Committee on Education, Jim
Jeffords coauthored what later became the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act. I was not on the Committee on
Education, but because of my family and because of my
intense interest in disability rights, especially as it
pertained to the hard-of-hearing and the deaf, I learned
about this bill with Jim Jeffords and with Paul Simon--at
that time, Senator Simon--and sort of stuck my nose in
their business, if you don't mind my saying that, because
I was not on the committee. I talked about how we had to
help do some of these things. My focus was narrow at that
time, just in hard-of-hearing and deafness at that time.
My great respect for Senator Jeffords, or Jim, at that
time grew because he was focused on how we make sure every
kid in America gets an education, make sure kids with
disabilities were mainstream, make sure they got the
support in our schools.
It was Senator Jeffords who made sure that in the bill
we passed, the Federal Government committed itself to
providing at least 40 percent of the additional costs to
States and local communities in educating kids with
disabilities. Forty percent was the goal we set in the
bill Senator Jeffords coauthored in 1975.
That moves me up to the year 2001. In the year 2001, the
budget came from the White House, President Bush's budget,
which severely underfunded our commitment to increasing
funding. We have never reached 40 percent. I think the
highest we have been is 18 percent. We have never gotten
the 40 percent. Senator Jeffords wanted to move that up.
Yet the budget came down and had a severe cut in the
funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act. That is when Senator Jeffords said no, he wanted to
make sure that money was in there. That happened, mostly,
on the Republican side of the aisle. I was not privy to
all of that. That is when Senator Jeffords made his
declaration of independence. A matter of conscience--he
could not turn his back on all these years of moving our
society forward to educating kids with disabilities in our
schools and then all of a sudden say: No, we are going to
turn the clock back; we are not going to do it. He wanted
to keep moving forward. The budget would not allow it; he
fought hard for it. Based upon the fact that the
administration would not move on that, he declared his
independence and became an Independent and left his party.
We can all imagine how wrenching that must be, to leave
the party that nurtured us, that we grew up with, that
supported us all our adult life. It is a matter of
conscience. You can read about it in his book, ``My
Declaration of Independence.''
After that, I invited Senator Jeffords to come out to
speak at the steak fry I have in Iowa every year. It was
after the book came out. I will never forget the scene. We
had thousands of people. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday
afternoon. Thousands of people came to meet this person,
to hear him and to hear his message. They had all these
little books they were waving, ``My Declaration of
Independence.''
He had a wonderful message. His message was: don't ever
turn our back on making sure every child in America has a
decent education. It was a simple, straightforward
message. But you should read his book.
Senator Kennedy mentioned another thing about Senator
Jeffords that not too many people know about; that is, his
support for a program called ``Everybody Wins.'' He
brought it here to Washington in the late 1990s and then
began badgering us to participate in it in his usual
tenacious manner. So he got a lot of us hooked on it.
It is every Tuesday. I see Senator Kennedy goes about
every Tuesday; Jim, of course, goes all the time; I go
every Tuesday we are here, as do a lot of staff members.
We go to Brent Elementary School. We read to a child for 1
hour every Tuesday. It has been a wonderful experience for
me and I know for everyone who participates in it. In
fact, we now talk about Jim as being sort of the Johnny
Appleseed of this movement because now it is starting in
other States. We took the idea to Iowa, and now it is
sprouting in Iowa. Other States and businesses are
involved. ``Everybody Wins'' is now moving around the
country. Senator Kennedy said: Senator Jeffords doesn't
just talk the talk, he walks the walk. When he brought it
here, he was there every week reading to kids and getting
us to go down and read to them, also.
I have in my office a big picture, my favorite picture.
It is a big picture taken at Tiananmen Square, a picture
we all will remember of the young man holding a little
briefcase, a young student holding a briefcase. There is a
line of tanks. He is standing in front of the tanks, and
the tanks have all stopped. To those of us who have seen
the video of this, the tanks were coming down the street,
the student went out in the street, he stopped, the tanks
turned to go one direction and he moved over a few steps,
then the tanks moved another direction to get around, and
he moved over and stood there. Finally, the tanks stopped
right in front of him. A hatch popped open, and a military
guy got out and looked at him and stood there for a few
minutes. The tanks all stopped, and then the young man
turned and walked off the street.
A lot of people I talk to about that picture--did they
ever know who he was? No, they never did find out his
name. But I gave them the name. I call him Jim Jeffords.
To me, that young man who did that represents the Jim
Jeffords of the world, willing to stand on principle no
matter what the odds are. No matter what is coming at
them, they are willing to stand on principle.
So after 32 years, we will miss this soft-spoken and
self-effacing New Englander who has a spine of steel.
After 32 years, Senator Jeffords, you have left your mark:
education, job training, disability rights, the
environment and, lest we forget, the dairy farmers of New
England, who will never forget Jim Jeffords.
Jim, we are going to miss you, your kindness, your
leadership, your courage, your generosity of spirit, and
your example. Know that our love, our admiration, our
respect, and our best wishes go with you and with
Elizabeth and your family. Know that you have left our
Nation and the world a mark for all of us to follow in how
to make our Nation and our world a better place.
Senator Jeffords, Jim, Godspeed. Come back now and then.
Come back on the floor. Retired Senators have the
privilege of coming to the floor. Come back on the floor
and remind us why we are here.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is
recognized.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, this is a very poignant
morning for so many. I am so glad I have been able to
arrange my schedule to be here to listen to my colleagues
and friends, whom I deeply respect, and to listen to the
great Senator from Vermont, Jim Jeffords.
If I might say how blessed I have been, I got here in
1993 and went right to the Environment and Public Works
Committee. I met Jim there, and now I get to sit next to
him in the Senate. I got to know his staff.
We are going to miss you. But, Jim, I must say, you made
a beautiful speech today. And in listening to Tom Harkin
talk about you and explain that you have always been
motivated by what is right for the people, if ever you
could take an opportunity to tout your accomplishments, it
is when you say goodbye. People would say that is fair.
But you did not do that. You did not say: This year I
passed this legislation and this bill. The rest of us have
been lauding your accomplishments, but it is just like
you, instead, to talk about this country you love so much.
And you cite to us what our challenges are. And, of
course, they continue to be the challenges you have taken
up: education, the environment, fiscal responsibility, war
and peace. You have left a roadmap for us, and for that we
are very grateful.
I mentioned that I was sworn in in 1993. That was the
so-called year of the women, where we tripled the number
of women in the Senate. That sounds great, but it was from
two to six. We were still a very strong minority. Our
leader, Barbara Mikulski, the dean of the women here,
always taught us, from day one--she said: You are going to
have to work with the men because they control things
here, and you are going to find that among these many men
there are many Sir Galahads.
Jim, you are Sir Galahad. You have been a wonderful
friend to us, treating us, from the minute we walked in,
as equals and colleagues. We are very grateful to you for
that.
I am not going to talk a long time at all. But I want to
talk about three things quickly. One is, I went to your
State of Vermont this last weekend. I had been there
before and always marveled at how beautiful it is, but I
was taken with it again.
Now, coming from California, we have our beautiful
places, believe me. So I have come to appreciate beautiful
places. We overlooked Lake Champlain when we were there.
Knowing that you worked so hard to make that lake clean
and beautiful, thank you for that. There is so much
history there, Jim, that you have also helped to
preserve--you and Patrick Leahy, and so many others who
came before.
But what struck me about Vermont as much as the beauty
are the incredible people in your State, how involved they
are. It is that old New England townhall type of quality.
They get it. They are involved. They love you, Jim. They
love you. When I mentioned your name, oh, my goodness, the
roars came up. You could hear it blocks away.
People love you here and they love you in Vermont. And
your family loves you. As you said, you are blessed, as we
are blessed in your presence.
The second point is your family and how much they care
about you. They are so proud of you. I know how hard it
was for them when you declared your independence. It
rocked their world, just as it rocked your world, and just
as it rocked the country. But when you do something for
the right reasons, it all works out. And you did something
for the right reasons, for the people of this country.
The last thing I want to say to you is, we do not know
how things will work out this November, but either way, I
will be taking a larger role on the committee you love,
the Environment and Public Works Committee, where you have
been an extraordinary leader. You have given us a roadmap
on how to fight global warming--a huge challenge we face.
We cannot turn away from it because if we do, we are
neglecting our responsibility. You, thank goodness, have
written a bill that will show us the way.
So I am here today not only to wish you well in your
retirement, and joy with your family, but to tell you that
I am going to follow your leadership on global warming. I
am excited about the challenge. And because of the love
your colleagues feel for you, I hope you will come back
here, as Tom Harkin said, to help me with that because we
are going to have to move and get going on it.
Mr. President, thank you very much. And thanks to our
colleagues for giving us this time we need to pay tribute
to an extraordinary Senator, one who will be missed but
never forgotten.
Thank you very much. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is
recognized.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I have to start off
anything I say--and I will be short--about Jim Jeffords
with the word ``friendship,'' based upon his unbelievable
qualities of kindness, of goodness, of steadfastness,
being the same person every day under any circumstance.
We sit together. We have sat together for quite a long
time on the floor of the Senate. And we talk a lot. I have
the honor of talking with his staff, too, a superb staff,
who adores him.
The business of friendship in the Senate is
underpracticed. If you know Jim Jeffords, then you know
why you should take more time to know your colleagues
better. Because the fact is--although it has been more so
recently--it is not your politics or your party that
determines how you vote, but your conscience and your
sense of a moral compass that guides you. In that
practice, you have to think of Jim Jeffords.
He is an extraordinarily wonderful human being. He has
got a ferocious sense of humor, which is always delivered
very quietly. And yet he is deep, he is profound, he sort
of looks like Vermont: chiseled; his nose is just the
right shape. And, of course, he talks that way. But he is
humble, not because he wants to be, just because he is.
Nothing about his record is humble. But his nature is
humble. He is gentle; and he really is. He listens, does
not interrupt, does not insist on his point of view--
except when it counts, and then he is unmovable.
All of the subjects he has concentrated on--children,
the environment, many other things that have been
mentioned--there is also the matter of post-traumatic
stress disorder. On the Veterans Committee, which is the
one committee where I do get to--not the only committee,
but I get to sit with him on that committee--he has been a
champion of something which Americans still do not really
understand; and that is, the ferocious nature of being
wounded in war these days--an Iraqi improvised explosive
device that implants shards of metal into people that will
remain there for the rest of their lives; the whole
question of how does somebody rehabilitate a life? And
what is the VA doing about that? Jim is all over that
subject.
When he switched parties to be an Independent, woe be
the person who said: Switch parties from Republican to
Democrat--no--Republican to Independent. And, yes, he got
an enormous amount of cheering and praise based upon his
moral compass. He also got a lot of death threats. Life
was very hard for him for a period of time. So he
understood that was going to happen. But with Jim
Jeffords, the moral compass always prevails. I think it is
one of the reasons all of us here respect him so, admire
him so, look to him as to what the Senate ought to be.
I had never heard the word ``ANWR'' until it was
explained to me by Senator Jeffords. He was there early
because he was thinking, as always, of our children and
grandchildren, and, as they say, their children too. We
always take it one generation too far, but it is true.
Alternative fuels. Will the history books write about
Jim Jeffords on alternative fuels? Yes, they will. Do
people generally in the Senate or elsewhere know that he
has spent a career working on that? Probably not.
Our air; they know about that. The groundwater; they
probably know about that. But his work on alternative
fuels is one of the most important things he's done.
Title I, Head Start, improving the lives of children,
all of that has been talked about--Senator Harkin talked
about, in 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act--he has always been looking ahead. Does that
make him a Good Samaritan? Does that mean he is a do-
gooder or does it mean that he does good? It is the
second. He does what is comfortable to him and what he
feels is just for the people he serves, not only in
Vermont but across the United States of America.
The work he has done with post-traumatic stress disorder
is awesome in terms of those of us on the Veterans
Committee. He is justifiably proud of the research and
work done by Vermont's White River Junction Veterans'
Administration Hospital to help veterans who are
struggling, as they truly are, not just with the postwar
physical problems of being wounded, but the psychological
problems of that, as well.
He has never sought the limelight, and he does not care
about the limelight. He has been elected time after time
probably partly because of that. Because he is not like so
many other people who run for public office who want to
tick off everything they have done. He is Jim Jeffords.
And with Jim Jeffords comes a certain set of principles, a
certain set of commitments to people. The people of
Vermont have understood that over the years. So he has not
had to promote himself in ways that others have to do.
Jim has always had extraordinarily deep passions and
convictions, but, at the same time, he has been a paragon
of civility and humbleness. Jim has a gentle voice, but
his resolve and commitment to stand up for vulnerable
children, veterans in need, and our environment is
assertive and strong.
Throughout his career, Jim has made some very tough
personal decisions. Take his decision to switch parties to
be an Independent in the summer of 2001. Regardless which
party you are a member of, I think all of us would agree
that given the fact that his move fundamentally changed
the governing structure of the Senate, it truly was a
profile in courage. Time and time again, Jim has been
willing to take risks for his beliefs, and he deserves our
respect and admiration for such independence.
In terms of public service, Jim Jeffords has lived a
life that many aspire to. He has spent nearly every day of
his life working to make the lives of people better. In
the 1950s, he served in the U.S. Navy, and until 1990 he
was in the Naval Reserve, where he retired as a captain.
In the 1960s, he began his political service, first as a
Vermont State Senator, then as Vermont's Attorney General,
and then, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, he became
one of the very few Republicans elected to Congress in
1974.
Jim has been a true steward of the environment. Long
before many of us knew what ANWR was, he was fighting to
preserve the environment for our grandchildren and their
grandchildren. He has been at the forefront of fighting to
make sure our air and ground water are safe for our
citizens, and he has fought for the use of alternative
fuels. His efforts have truly cut a trailblazing path for
many generations to come.
Over the years, Jim and I have worked on many issues
together, and I am particularly proud of what we have done
for our students and for our veterans. He understands how
important it is to make sure that our citizens get started
on the right foot. He believes that the first years of a
child's life are absolutely critical in the life and
future of that person, and that is why he has worked so
hard to push for greater funding for Head Start and other
early education programs. And that is why he has worked on
Title I--to help low-performing students, who
disproportionately live in the rural areas that make up
much of West Virginia and Vermont, achieve the standards
they must meet.
That sort of Good Samaritan principle has always guided
Jim's life and career. He has been extraordinary in
advocating for those whose needs are often forgotten. In
fact, perhaps no American living today and certainly no
American legislator--I want to echo here what Senator
Harkin has said--has done more to advance the educational
success of those with disabilities. Almost from his
arrival in Congress, Jim took extraordinary steps because
he believed that the needs of others simply could not
wait. In 1975, as a House freshman, Jim co-authored what
would later be known as the Individual with Disabilities
Education Act, IDEA. IDEA serves as a Federal commitment
to give students with disabilities a better education.
It was an extraordinary legislative achievement, one
that had even greater implications in terms of setting a
moral baseline imperative that we must meet the needs of
those who live difficult lives. Jim has worked, not for
the well-heeled or the heavy-hitting lobbyist--he has
tirelessly worked for the people who truly need help.
I have also been proud to serve with Jim on the Senate
Veterans' Affairs Committee. He has been an important
voice in calling for compassionate care for our veterans,
especially those veterans returning from Afghanistan and
Iraq.
We both have States with a very large number of soldiers
and veterans, and we both know how important it is for our
soldiers and veterans to have the health care they have
earned and deserve. The two of us have been allies in
pushing for greater funding and resources to help our
soldiers with PTSD, and I know that Jim is justifiably
proud of the research and work by Vermont's White River
Junction to help veterans struggling with PTSD.
Jim Jeffords has never sought the limelight--he has
sought results. He has always done his work in the words
of Shakespeare, ``with the modest stillness and humility
that becomes any human.'' But when one looks back at his
record, you can see that the modest man from Shrewsbury,
VT, has left his mark on virtually every piece of
education, job training, and disability legislation over
the past quarter century. It is difficult to determine how
many people Jim's efforts have helped, but if it were
possible to quantify his efforts, I know we would find
that hundreds of thousands of lives have been improved
because of his actions in Vermont and across the country.
The Senate this year is losing a treasure, a man who in
the best tradition of the Senate has never been afraid of
taking a heroic, principled stand without having to make a
lot of noise. Sharon and I are personally losing good
friends in Jim and his wife Liz. And Americans all over
the country are losing one of the most dedicated fighters
for the basic rights that too many disadvantaged people
are shortchanged on. I wish my friend well in his
retirement.
I close with the sadness of losing in our body somebody
such as Senator Jeffords. People go to him. People are
comforted by his presence. People are emboldened by his
nature. They see what it is he does not say to promote
himself or his ideas, and somehow they are attracted to
those ideas because they understand if it comes out of Jim
Jeffords, it is good for the public.
So I think of his family too, I say to Senator Boxer,
and I think of how proud they must be. I also think of
just myself, to be honest, how sad I am going to be not
being able to sit next to Jim Jeffords and share his humor
and to look upon his greatness--not just his nose, but his
greatness: the classic Vermonter, the classic New
Englander. He has been so incredibly good for the Senate.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge
the extraordinary career of Senator Jim Jeffords.
For the past 32 years, Jim Jeffords has served the
citizens of Vermont and the American people with
integrity, intellectual honesty, and diligence. When faced
with the choice between political convenience or
protecting the interests of his constituents, Jim Jeffords
always stood for Vermont and the concerns of hard-working
Americans. When others decided to do what was popular in
Washington or among the chattering classes, Jim remained
true to his values. He has been a model of principled
leadership, often ahead of his time.
Long before protecting our environment and precious
natural resources occupied America's consciousness, Jim
was leading on these issues. Working across party lines
throughout his career, including as chairman of the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee, Jim Jeffords urged
the President to strengthen antipollution measures,
investigated the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and
promoted increased fuel efficiency. During his time in the
U.S. Senate he introduced the Global Warming Pollution
Reduction Act, the High-Performance Green Buildings Act,
and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Investment
Act.
Jim Jeffords has never lost sight of his constituents
and their needs. He loyally stood by farmers in Vermont
and all over the Nation when he fought President Bush's
dairy tax, extended MILC, the Milk Income Loss Contracts
Program, and supported the Farm Security and Rural
Investment Act.
Jim Jeffords has also committed his career to improving
education, which he has treated as one of the great
callings of our time. Speaking at a Rally for Education in
2002, Jim Jeffords said of education funding that ``it is
not an option, it is a necessity, for our children, for
our schools and for the future of our great Nation.'' Jim
Jeffords championed the Head Start Program, increased
funding for elementary, secondary, and higher education,
and sponsored the Better Education for Students and
Teachers Act. He has also provided unwavering support to
American children with disabilities that face a unique set
of challenges in navigating our education system. Even as
a freshman Congressman some 30 years ago, Jim Jeffords
managed to marshal his colleagues in order to pass the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
As a member of the Environment and Public Works
Committee, I have had the opportunity to work closely with
Senator Jeffords and his capable staff. His office and his
standards of professionalism inspire great respect.
On a personal level, I continue to admire a public
servant who has so consistently followed his conscience.
Time magazine recognized Jim Jeffords as the ``Person of
the Week'' for his ``revolutionary'' party switch in 2001.
I do not believe that Jim necessarily set out to start a
revolution; rather he invoked what might be considered a
revolutionary idea to some in Washington: government ought
to serve the concerns and interests of ordinary Americans
instead of catering to fringe groups or election year
antics. In hindsight, most will hail Jim Jeffords's
principled decision to switch parties, though I know the
decision was a difficult one for him and strained his
relationship with many in this body. But Jim Jeffords did
what he thought was right, and I applaud his courage and
his example of leadership.
So I thank Senator Jeffords not only for his lifetime of
service and accomplishments but for having raised the bar
for all of us.
I wish Jim Jeffords and his family many happy years
ahead.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is
recognized.
Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for
their very generous and kind comments. Their remarks
remind me--all of us--the Senate is a family. I also thank
my colleagues for their friendship. I am honored to be
able to serve with you, especially you, I say to Senator
Rockefeller.
You have been very kind to me over the years. I have
followed your guidance, and it has been good. I thank all
of my colleagues for their friendship and am honored to
serve with you. And as I go forward--I don't know--I am
going to wonder why I am going forward and not just
staying with you.
Mr. President, now I guess we should proceed with the
process that is normal. I thank the leader.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, unfortunately, when Congress
meets again in January 2007, this Chamber and our Nation
will be without the services of our esteemed colleague,
Senator Jim Jeffords.
Senator Jeffords has announced that he is retiring so he
may spend more time with his lovely wife Elizabeth. May I
make clear that Elizabeth's gain is the Senate's loss.
For 32 years, Jim Jeffords has proudly and superbly
represented his beautiful State of Vermont and our great
country in the U.S. Congress.
From 1975 to 1988, he was Vermont's lone Member in the
U.S. House of Representatives. Now having served three
terms in the Senate, he has decided to retire. I regret
his departure. He is a Senator I have admired. He is a
Senator I respected since he first came to this Chamber.
Through his hard work and his dedication to this
institution, he has helped to make the Senate a better
place. For that I have been grateful and thankful. He is a
polite, friendly, mild-mannered man whom it is always
pleasant to be around. He is a U.S. Navy veteran who has
never failed to demonstrate his love for our great
country.
This Senator is a great American who possesses a passion
to do the right thing no matter what the consequence. He
is a U.S. Senator who has always displayed a reverence for
this institution, the Senate of the United States.
While he has a natural, easygoing manner, he is a
Senator who will work feverishly, who will work tirelessly
for the causes in which he believes. Seldom has the Senate
seen a stronger or more avid defender of the environment.
He was one of the founders of the Congressional Solar
Coalition. He has chaired the House Environment Study
Conference and the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee. In Congress, he has constantly sought to
broaden and to strengthen the power of the Environmental
Protection Agency, and he has worked to ensure that
important agency does its job.
His efforts to protect our environment have earned him
recognition and awards from a number of environmental
organizations, including the prestigious Sierra Club.
Senator Jeffords has been one of the Senate's foremost
promoters of the rights of disabled Americans. Senator
Jeffords has worked to open opportunities for them. He is
coauthor of the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, IDEA. For his efforts on behalf of disabled
Americans, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, NMSS,
honored him as its ``Senator of the Year.''
Senator Jeffords has been a promoter of the arts. He was
a cofounder of the Congressional Arts Caucus, and not long
ago as head of the Senate committee that oversees the
National Endowment for the Arts, Senator Jeffords--yes,
Senator Jeffords--was able to block a House effort to
abolish the NEA.
Senator Jeffords has been one of the Senate's biggest
and best promoters of education. I have read some
criticisms of Senator Jeffords for his continuous efforts
to seek more and more funding for educational programs for
America's youth, America's young people, especially
special educational programs. He has even been accused of
``bartering his vote'' on legislation for his own pet
educational projects. I think this was probably meant as a
criticism. If it were, I am sure that it is a criticism
that Senator Jeffords wears with pride.
I don't think there is anything more important to
Senator Jeffords than seeing that all of America's
children have every opportunity to fulfill their
educational pursuits. For this, he certainly has my
respect and my admiration. I applaud him. Yes, I applaud
Senator Jeffords.
Throughout his congressional career, Senator Jeffords,
son of a chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and
graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, has
always displayed an independence of spirit, an
independence of spirit for which he has been labeled a
loose cannon. Knowing Senator Jeffords as I do, I know
that his independence stems from an unrelenting
determination to place doing the right thing above
political or personal interest.
While in the House of Representatives, Senator Jeffords
was the only Republican to vote against President Reagan's
tax cut bill because he charged it would increase the
national deficit. And it did. In the Senate, he was one of
two Republicans who voted against President Bush's first
round of tax cuts because those cuts were irresponsible
and favored the wealthy. Senator Jeffords was the only
Republican Senator to cosponsor President Clinton's effort
to overhaul our national health care system.
I remember Senator Jeffords for being 1 of only 23
Senators who voted against going to war in Iraq. I have
been in this Senate 48 years this year. I have cast 17,752
rollcall votes. I will say it again, 17,752 rollcall
votes. And of all these votes--I have said it before--I am
most proud of that particular vote, the vote against that
arrogant and reckless charge to war in Iraq.
The Constitution says Congress shall have the power to
declare war. It does not say that ``one person,'' it does
not say that the President of the United States, be he
Republican or Democrat, shall have the power to declare
war.
So, 23 Senators, including Robert Byrd and Jim Jeffords,
voted to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
That was the greatest vote ever cast in my 48 years in the
Senate. If we only had more Senators with the courage, the
determination and the character of Jim Jeffords, we might
have avoided becoming involved in the bloody mess in which
we now find ourselves in Iraq--with no end in sight. The
Senate needs more Members like Jim Jeffords.
In September 2000, Congressional Quarterly included a
nice profile of Senator Jeffords. That article discussed
his willingness to take independent positions even on the
most partisan issues. It also discussed his black belt in
the martial arts and how he had joined with other esteemed
colleagues--Senators Lott, Craig, and Ashcroft--to form
that magnificent vocal group ``The Singing Senators.''
Congressional Quarterly pointed out that Senator Jeffords
``calls his own tunes,'' and I say he does. He calls his
own tunes.
Eight months later, CQ proved prophetic. In May 2001
came an event for which Senator Jeffords will often be
remembered in his 32 years in Congress, the event that he
has called his own personal ``declaration of
independence.'' He followed his conscience and followed
the path best for him. As I said before, we need more
Senators like Jim Jeffords.
I am sorry to have to say goodbye to this unassuming,
fiercely independent man. As much as I would prefer that
he stay, I understand and I respect his wishes.
I wish Senator Jeffords and his lovely wife Elizabeth
the blessing of Almighty God as they begin the next
chapter of their lives.
Mr. ENZI. ... Mr. President, as the session draws to a
close and we complete the consideration of the bills
before us by casting our final votes of the session, I
rise to express my gratitude and best wishes to one of our
colleagues who will be retiring when the final gavel
brings to a close the current session of Congress.
Jim Jeffords, my good friend from Vermont, has decided
to return home so that he can spend more time with his
family. Although I will miss him, as will we all, I
understand the reasons for his departure. There is nothing
more important than family and the bonds between us and
our children--and grandchildren--are stronger than any
other in our life.
As the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee, I will miss Jim's good ideas, his
commitment to making a difference, and his strong
determination to make our education and health care
systems operate more effectively and efficiently. He was
an important presence on the committee and he and his
staff were always willing to work long and hard on the
initiatives they proposed to help make our Nation a better
place for us all to live.
Looking back, 1974 was a good year for both Jim and me.
I was elected to my first term as mayor of Gillette, WY,
and Jim was elected to his first term in the House of
Representatives. We both took office full of great hopes
and dreams as we looked forward to doing everything we
could to make a difference in the lives of the people we
were elected to serve.
From the beginning, Jim was very clear on his mission in
Congress. He had come here to make sure that our most
precious resource--our children--were well taken care of.
For Jim, the issue of education was not something he took
lightly. It was a commitment that came from his heart. He
took the problems of our schools personally and he was
determined to do something about them. He wanted everyone
to have the same advantages in life that he had. That was
his goal and it inspired him and drove his active
involvement in the consideration of the education issues
that would come before the House and the Senate.
Jim's passion for education not only drove his work on
the subject in Congress, but it also led him in the years
to come to serve as a tutor at a public school on Capitol
Hill each week as part of a literacy program he created.
That program reaches out to involve us all in supporting
our public schools. Its philosophy is simple. Anyone can
make a difference in our schools. All it takes is a little
investment of our time and a willingness to share our
talents with the students of a local school.
Not long after Jim had taken his oath of office in the
House, he began working on what was to be one of his
greatest successes, the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, or IDEA as it has come to be known. Over
the years IDEA has ensured that students with disabilities
have equal access to a good education--and a promising
future. Thanks to this landmark legislation those living
with disabilities will receive the education, support and
encouragement we all need to help us become all we can be
and reach our full potential.
As he served in the House, Jim's commitment to working
today to make things better for us all tomorrow led him to
fight for meaningful environmental protections, a more
effective and responsive health care system, and a sound
fiscal budget that didn't overspend our present resources
and leave a bill behind for future generations to pay.
That is the philosophy that directed and guided Jim when
he ran for and won a seat in the Senate in 1988. It wasn't
long after he had taken the oath of office for his new
position that he began working on the reauthorization of
the Clean Air Act--another part of his legislative passion
that will continue to be a key part of his legacy in the
Senate. Even though he had just begun his service in the
Senate at the time, his good ideas and commitment to the
protection and preservation of our natural resources made
him an important part of the team that would write and
promote this important bill.
No one was surprised that Jim was a key Member who was
involved in so many difficult and important projects as
soon as he arrived in the Senate. He preceded me as
chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee and, under his leadership the committee took a
close look at our schools and the quality of the education
we provide our children. It considered how we might
improve the training we provide our Nation's workers so
that they might find and keep better and better jobs. And,
it continued to look for ways that we might provide
support and empower those living with disabilities so that
all Americans are able to maximize their potential and
live their own version of the American dream.
Back home, Jim has deep roots in his State that date
back for generations. His father was a chief justice of
the Vermont Supreme Court and I am sure he learned a great
deal about politics, life and the law from his Dad.
In addition, coming from Vermont, Jim has a great
understanding of the challenges faced by small and rural
States and the local industries they depend on to keep
local and State economies healthy and strong. It has been
said that Jim knows as much about the dairy industry as
anyone directly involved in it in his State. He knows
firsthand that the one-size-fits-all solutions that work
well for the big States, all too often penalize the
smaller ones and leave them without the support they need
to address the same problems the large States face. In the
years to come, when I think of Jim I will remember how he
shared his dream of a better America with us. By daring us
to dream, too, he encouraged us to work together so that
the future would be a brighter one for us, our children
and our grandchildren.
There is an old saying the Native Americans in Wyoming
know well. We have not inherited the Earth from our
ancestors, we are borrowing it from our children. It's a
philosophy that Jim took to heart and put into practice
every day during his many years of public service.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President ... As we recognize, it is a
distinct privilege and high honor to serve our country in
any capacity, and certainly none higher than in uniform.
But it is especially important that we recognize those who
have given years of their lives, sacrificing their
families, their own time, to help make a better world for
all of us. I know of no capacity in which we serve our
country that has given those who have had this rare
opportunity to serve in the Senate anything more noble
than trying to shape a better world from this Senate.
These individuals who will leave the Senate, some on
their own terms, some on the terms of the election, but,
nonetheless, in their own specific way have contributed a
great deal to this country.
I take a few minutes to recognize each. ...
Senator Jim Jeffords, from Vermont. Senator Jeffords, in
his long, distinguished service to our country, served in
the House of Representatives, and then served here in the
Senate. He served our country in the U.S. Navy. Jim
Jeffords's life has been about service.
I had an opportunity to get acquainted particularly with
Senator Jeffords and work closely with him on the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, IDEA. There
has been no one in this Senate over the last 25 years more
committed to education for our young people than Jim
Jeffords. We will miss Jim Jeffords. ...
Mr. President, in conclusion, it is not easy to put
one's self on the firing line and offer one's self as a
candidate for any office. It takes a certain amount of
courage and, I suspect, a little dose of insanity. But
nonetheless individuals who believe deeply enough to
commit themselves to a cause greater than their own self-
interests need to be recognized. Having nothing to do with
me or you or any one individual, but it is the essence of
our country, it is the very fabric of our democracy that
makes it all work and probably gives rise to, more than
any one reason, why we have been such a successful nation
for over 200 years--because people from all walks of life,
in every community, in every State, offer themselves for
office. Whether it is a mayor, a Governor, city
councilman, county official, a sheriff, these individuals
deserve recognition.
We all make mistakes. That is who we are. But in the
end, it is not unlike what Teddy Roosevelt once referred
to in his magnificent quote about the man in the arena.
And it is the man and the woman in the arena who change
our lives. It makes a better world that shapes history,
that defines our destiny. And for these individuals who
will no longer have that opportunity to serve our country
in the Senate, we wish them well, we thank them, and we
tell them we are proud of them and their families and wish
them Godspeed.
Mr. President, I thank you for the time and yield the
floor.
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Mr. REED. Mr. President, this is an opportunity to
recognize the service of several of our colleagues who are
departing from the Senate. To Senator Jeffords, Senator
Frist, Senator DeWine, Senator Talent, Senator Santorum,
Senator Burns, and Senator Allen, let me express my
appreciation for their service to their States and their
service to the Nation and wish them well. ...
To all my colleagues who served and conclude their
service, let me once again express deep appreciation for
their friendship and for their service to the Nation.
I yield the floor.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, we are coming to the end
of the session and 10 of our colleagues are retiring. I
want to say a word about them ...
Or Jim Jeffords, a former Navy captain, who has had so
much to do with offering legislation for clean air and
children with disabilities.
When the most recent class of Senators was sworn into
office nearly 2 years ago, in the gallery were three
women. One was the grandmother of Barack Obama. She was
from Kenya. One was the mother of Senator Salazar, a 10th
generation American. One was the mother of Mel Martinez,
the new Republican National Committee chairman, who, with
her husband, put her son on an airplane when he was 14
years old and sent him from Cuba to the United States, not
knowing if she would ever see him again.
In a way, each one of us who is here is an accident.
None of us knew we would be here. Each of us is privileged
to serve, and one of the greatest privileges is to serve
with our colleagues. We will miss them and we are grateful
for their service.
I yield the floor.
Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, as the time for my departure
from the Senate draws near, on behalf of the greatest
blessing in my life, my wife Susan, and on behalf of
myself, I thank all of my colleagues for their many
courtesies and friendships that have been forged during
the past 6 years. I offer a few concluding reflections
about our time here together, as well as about the future
of our Republic. ...
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I see others who
wish to speak, and I will make a couple of brief comments.
In the comments of the Senator from Virginia [Mr.
Allen], his final couple of comments recalled for me a
statement made in the closing of the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia, when on the back of the chair
of the presiding officer was a sunburst. Someone opined in
that Constitutional Convention: Dr. Franklin, is that a
rising sun or is it a setting sun? And Franklin ventured
to say that with the birth of the new Nation, with the
creation of the new Constitution, that he thought it was a
rising sun.
Indeed, it is that hope of which the Senator from
Virginia has just spoken that motivates this Senator from
Florida to get up and go to work every day, and to look at
this Nation's challenges, not as a Democratic problem or a
Republican problem, but as an American problem, that needs
to be solved in an American way instead of a partisan way.
We have had far too much partisanship over the last
several years across this land, and, indeed, in this
Chamber itself. And of the Senators who are leaving this
Chamber, I think they represent the very best of America,
and on occasion have risen in a bipartisan way. It has
been this Senator's great privilege to work with these
Senators: Allen of Virginia, Burns of Montana, Chafee of
Rhode Island, Dayton of Minnesota, DeWine of Ohio, Frist
of Tennessee, Jeffords of Vermont, Santorum of
Pennsylvania, Sarbanes of Maryland, Talent of Missouri.
As the Good Book in Ecclesiastes says: There is a time
to be born and a time to die. There is a time to get up,
and a time to go to bed. There is a time for a beginning,
and there is a time of ending.
For these Senators who are leaving, it is clearly not an
ending. It is an ending of this chapter in their lives,
but this Senator from Florida wanted to come and express
his appreciation for their public service, to admonish
those where admonishment is needed when this Chamber,
indeed, this Government, has gotten too partisan, but to
express this Senator's appreciation for the quiet moments
of friendship and reflection and respect in working
together, which is the glue that makes this Government
run.
Whether you call it bipartisanship, whether you call it
friendship, whether you call it mutual respect, whatever
you call it, the way you govern a nation as large and as
complicated and as diverse as our Nation is--as the Good
Book says: Come, let us reason together--that is what this
Senator tries to be about. And that is what this Senator
will try to continue to do in the new dawn of a new
Congress. So I wanted to come and express my appreciation
for those Senators who will not be here, for the great
public service they have rendered.
Mr. President, I am truly grateful for their personal
friendship and for their public service.
I yield the floor.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, most of us remember the
tectonic shift that occurred in the Senate in 2001, in the
month of May, when our colleague, Jim Jeffords, changed
parties. He moved from being a Republican to becoming an
Independent Senator and lined up with the Democratic
Caucus. Never before had control of the Senate changed on
the decision of one Senator.
It wasn't the first time Jim Jeffords had followed his
conscience and made history. I can recall his alliance
with my predecessor, Senator Paul Simon. At a time many
years ago, in 1994, when Rwanda was facing a genocide,
Paul Simon and Jim Jeffords were the two voices in the
United States who stood up and called for the Clinton
administration to do something to stop this genocide.
Unfortunately, it did not occur and hundreds of thousands
of people lost their lives. But that call to action by Jim
Jeffords was just one of the achievements of his public
career he can point to with pride.
During that genocide, he was the ranking Republican of
the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa. The
chairman of that committee, Paul Simon, joined with him in
that effort. Five weeks after the slaughter in Rwanda
began, Senators Simon and Jeffords phoned Gen. Romeo
Dallaire, head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Kigali,
and asked what he needed. The desperate general said he
needed 5,000 American troops to stop the killing. Those
two Senators, Jeffords and Simon, got on the phone,
begging the White House to send the troops. They wrote in
their common message:
Obviously, there are risks involved, but we cannot sit
by idly while this tragedy continues to unfold.
Senators Jeffords and Simon received no reply, and the
killings continued. Hundreds of thousands of innocent men,
women, and children were killed or maimed.
Later, Paul Simon would say:
If every Member of the House and Senate had received 100
letters from people back home saying that we have to do
something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first
developing, then I think the response would have been
different.
So many times I have stood on the floor of the Senate
pleading for our Nation to intervene to stop the genocide
in Darfur. Each time, I have thought about Paul Simon and
Jim Jeffords. Had the President listened to them, hundreds
of thousands of people in Rwanda could have survived that
genocide. It doesn't take a great deal of moral courage to
follow your conscience when the world is on your side, but
it is when you stand alone, knowing you may lose, and you
follow your conscience anyway, that you demonstrate real
moral courage.
Time and again in his public career, Jim Jeffords, the
retiring Senator from Vermont, has shown that courage. He
has been an unwavering champion of children and families
with special needs, the environment, affordable health
care for all Americans, and budget policies that are both
compassionate and responsible. He believes in moderation,
tolerance, and that the Federal Government be committed to
protecting basic individual freedoms.
Three years ago this week, Paul Simon died unexpectedly
following heart surgery. At the end of this week, Jim
Jeffords will be casting his last vote in the Senate. We
wish him well in the next chapter of his life. Those of us
who have had the privilege of working with Jim Jeffords,
the new Senators who will join us soon, and those who will
follow in years to come would do well to remember the
moral courage of Senator James Jeffords of Vermont. ...
I wish all of my colleagues who are retiring well as
they begin the next chapters of their careers.
Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to bid farewell
to several of my friends here in Washington. Too often we
get caught up here in the back-and-forth of politics and
lose sight of the contributions of those with whom we work
every day. It is only at moments such as these, at the end
of a cycle, that we have a moment to reflect on the
contributions of our colleagues. And while we may not
always see eye to eye, this Senate is losing several
admirable contributors who have made many sacrifices to
serve our democracy. ...
I also want to say farewell to my friend from Vermont,
Senator Jim Jeffords--a true Yankee Independent and a real
treasure. When I joined the Veterans' Affairs Committee
with Senator Jeffords, I learned early on that he was an
ally in standing up for America's veterans. I was always
impressed with his willingness to listen to all sides of
an issue, and when he spoke, I was always listening. I
have admired his stewardship of the Environment and Public
Works Committee, and I know that the Senate, the people of
Vermont, and people across our country will miss his
leadership and his experience--more than three decades of
service. ...
America, when held to its finest ideals, is more than a
place on the globe or a work in progress. It is the
inspiration to those around the world and here at home to
seek out excellence within themselves and their beliefs.
It has been a pleasure to work alongside each of these
gentlemen, who have helped me as I have found my way,
sometimes literally, through the halls of the Senate, in
the pursuit of these greater ideals that we all share:
security, prosperity, and an America that we leave better
than when we arrived. These ideals will resonate here long
after we all are gone and another generation stands in our
place making the decisions of its day.
Mr. FEINGOLD. ... Mr. President, today I want to pay
tribute to Senator Jim Jeffords, a man who has honorably
served Vermont and this country in the U.S. Senate since
1989. The people of Vermont have been fortunate to be
represented by a man who is as principled and dedicated to
serving our Nation's best interests as Jim Jeffords.
Senator Jeffords will long be remembered for his courage
and conviction and for his bold decision to leave the
Republican Party and become an Independent. Never straying
from his principles and his commitment to representing the
interests of his constituents, Senator Jeffords made this
decision despite the consequences for him personally. He
knew his decision would enable him to better serve the
people of Vermont and this Nation. His conviction was also
clear when he voted against authorizing the President to
use force in Iraq. He has also been an unyielding voice
for upholding civil liberties and seeking to eliminate
discrimination in the workplace, and I greatly respect him
for his outspoken leadership on these critically important
issues.
I am proud to have worked with him on other widely
ranging issues over the years. I want to particularly
thank him for helping to pass the Bipartisan Campaign
Reform Act and eliminate soft money. Senator Jeffords also
played a crucial role in the effort to pass much-needed
Army Corps of Engineers reforms. Debate over these reforms
was contentious at times, and his work behind the scenes
and on the floor was needed to win support for changing
the way the Corps does business. In the next Congress we
will work to build on Senator Jeffords's hard work and
commitment to these important issues.
As chairman and ranking member of the Senate Environment
and Public Works Committee, he has been committed to
reforming our Nation's energy and environmental policies.
He is a champion for our environment, and his leadership
and expertise will be greatly missed. It is the
responsibility of the next Congress to honor Senator
Jeffords's legacy in this area by redoubling our efforts
to protect the environment.
I was proud to work with Senator Jeffords on other
critical issues as well. As a knowledgeable leader on
education issues, having served as chairman of the Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, he pushed for
reforms to the No Child Left Behind law. I was proud to
work with him on efforts to support our military families
and to cast votes alongside him to force Congress to be
more fiscally responsible.
Here in the Senate, we will miss Jim Jeffords's
thoughtful leadership, his independence, and his
friendship. He was a valued ally on so many issues, and I
wish him all the best in his retirement. ...
Thursday, December 7, 2006
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have had the privilege of
being here for the 28th year beginning shortly. I
calculated not long ago that I have served with 261
individuals. I am not about to try and review all of the
many magnificent friendships I am privileged to have
through these years. Indeed, if one looks at the rewards,
of which there are many serving in this historic
institution, the Senate, it is the personal bonds, the
friendships that we so firmly cement and that will last a
lifetime as a consequence of our duties of serving the
United States of America and in our respective States.
We are called ``United States'' Senators. I often
believe it is the first obligation, our Nation, the
Republic for which it stands. ...
I would also like to pay tribute to nine other U.S.
Senators who will retire from the Senate in the coming
days. ...
Now, I would like to take a few moments to salute our
majority leader, Senator Frist, as well as Senators
Chafee, Burns, Santorum, DeWine, Jeffords, Talent, and
Dayton. Each and every one of these U.S. Senators has
served his State and his country with great distinction.
Without a doubt, I could speak at-length in honor of
each of these outstanding individuals. In light of time
constraints, however, and the fact that so many of my
colleagues wish to similarly pay tribute, I shall endeavor
to keep my remarks brief. ...
From 1956 to 1959, Senator Jim Jeffords served in the
U.S. Navy. He later served in the Naval Reserves. In 1989,
after Jim had served the citizens of Vermont in State
positions and in the U.S. House of Representatives, Jim
was elected to the U.S. Senate. In the Senate, I have been
pleased to work closely with him, particularly in serving
with him on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee and on the Environment and Public Works
Committee. Jim chaired both committees during his years in
the Senate.
While Senator Jeffords legislatively had many interests,
I believe that improving the education of our children,
particularly children with special needs, is the issue
most dear to his heart. I remember him time and time again
on the floor of the U.S. Senate pushing for increased
funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, IDEA. And, I remember joining him, and others, in
pushing hard for mandatory IDEA funding after it became
clear that the Congress would be unable to fulfill its
funding commitment through the discretionary funding
process. While, to date, we have not achieved full
funding, it is without question that Jim Jeffords's Senate
career has left a lasting, positive imprint that will
improve America's education system for years to come. ...
In conclusion, over the years I have served with each of
these 10 Senators, each has not only been a trusted
colleague, each has also been my friend. I will miss
serving with each of them in the Senate but know that each
will continue in public service in some capacity. I wish
each and every one of them well in the years ahead.
Mr. President, I see a number of colleagues here anxious
to speak, and I have taken generously of the time the
Presiding Officer has allowed me to speak.
I yield the floor.
Mr. CONRAD. ... Mr. President, today I would like to
take a moment to recognize my friend and colleague, Jim
Jeffords, who after 32 years of distinguished service in
Congress is retiring to spend more time with his family.
Jim Jeffords's family roots in Vermont can be traced all
the way back to 1794. After attending public schools in
Rutland, Jim received his undergraduate degree from Yale
University and his law degree from Harvard Law School. He
served in the U.S. Navy and retired from the U.S. Naval
Reserve.
I have worked closely with Jim Jeffords for years on the
Centrist Coalition. He is a good friend and someone I
could always trust. Jim has always been independent-minded
with a strong sense of integrity, a real commitment to
fiscal responsibility, an unparalleled dedication to the
environment, and a passion for improving education for our
children. During his time in Congress, Jim Jeffords left
his mark on some of the most important legislation this
institution has passed, including the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean
Water Act, and the 2005 highway bill.
In 2001, Jim Jeffords made a historic and difficult
decision to switch his party affiliation to an
Independent. He was never afraid to make tough decisions,
and this one was no exception. It took courage to stand up
against the rising tide, knowing that his decision would
tip the balance in the Senate and set us on a new course.
Jim Jeffords embodies what it means to be a good
Senator--honesty, a strong work ethic, courage,
dedication, and being true to one's convictions. He is
also thoughtful, modest, and soft spoken. With these
character traits it is hard to believe that he has a black
belt in tae kwon do.
Jim Jeffords has been a true fighter for Vermont. His
compassion and conviction will be missed in the U.S.
Senate. I wish Jim and his family many happy years ahead.
...
Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the
great service of retiring Senators Paul Sarbanes, Mark
Dayton, and James Jeffords. ...
I will also say a few words about Senator Jeffords.
Senator Jeffords has ably represented Vermonters here in
the Congress for decades. In doing so, he has reflected
the independent spirit of Vermonters, and no more so than
when he took the courageous step in 2001 to become an
Independent and caucus with the Democrats.
Since that time, I have had the great pleasure of
working with Senator Jeffords on the Environment and
Public Works Committee. His tenure at that committee was a
fitting capstone to his career, as he has long been
focused on environmental protection.
Throughout his long and distinguished career, Senator
Jeffords has been a strong advocate of renewable energy.
In many ways, he has been ahead of his time. In 1990, he
introduced a bill to promote ethanol and other alternative
fuels, and nearly 10 years ago he introduced legislation
to create a 20-percent renewable portfolio standard.
During his tenure first as chairman, and then as ranking
member of the EPW Committee, he has been a strong and
clear voice for a cleaner environment.
He has been an ally and a champion of reducing pollution
from powerplants, fighting global warming, and making our
buildings more energy efficient. And he has worked hard to
hold the administration to task for numerous rollbacks of
our landmark environmental laws. During his tenure on the
committee, Senator Jeffords has been ably assisted by a
staff led by Ken Connolly and Alison Taylor. I thank them
and Senator Jeffords's entire staff for their assistance
to me and my staff.
Unfortunately, I could not attend the final EPW meeting
this week, but I understand that Senator Jeffords
announced that he is returning home to Vermont, and
described home as ``the place you can go where they have
to take you in.''
I know that Vermont will welcome Senator Jeffords back
with open arms, and I know that he will always have a home
away from home here in the Senate.
Finally, I also wish the very best to my Republican
colleagues who will leave the Senate at the conclusion of
this Congress. The Senate, at its best, is a body that
promotes bipartisanship, deliberation, and cooperation,
and the dedication to shared values. It has been a
privilege to work with my departing colleagues on the
other side of the aisle.
Friday, December 8, 2006
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I have a few more minutes
before the 10:30 vote, and I take this time to say a few
words about some of my colleagues who are retiring. We had
a good bit of time yesterday devoted to their tremendous
contributions, and as each of us, the 100 of us, do know
each other pretty well, I have come to the floor to say a
few things about several of the colleagues I have had the
distinct pleasure of working with very closely. ...
Mr. President, I also want to remember for a minute the
good work of Senator Jeffords. Senator Jeffords tends to
be one of the quiet Members of the Senate. Some of us talk
a lot more than others. He does not do much talking, but
he sure gets a lot done. I will never forget, and the
people of Louisiana are so grateful to Senator Jeffords,
as he chaired the EPW Committee, for being one of the
first Senators in this Chamber to recognize the
extraordinary loss of our wetlands and what it would mean
to south Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico. And ultimately,
of course, we saw the tragedy unfold before our eyes. Had
we listened to Senator Jeffords, and the other few voices
who were calling out years ago, perhaps some of that loss
of life and billions of dollars of loss of property could
have been averted.
Senator Jeffords came down to Louisiana on several
occasions. One I will never forget is standing with him in
this very southern part of the State in Lafourche Parish,
literally almost into the gulf waters, we were so far down
south. I was explaining to him--and this is far out from
New Orleans. You have to try a little hard to get there.
You fly into the big airport, and then you have to go by
either bus or helicopter, and it is difficult. And, of
course, Senator Jeffords's health has not been great
lately. But he was a real trooper, and he said: No, Mary.
I want to go, and I want to see it.
So we flew him way down to the wetlands, and he and I
were standing there, and I was explaining to him how his
work in the Senate was affecting the lives of my
constituents down in the bayou and was saying: Senator,
almost once a week or so some fishing vessel or shrimp
trawler runs into this bridge. And when the bridge shuts
down, we literally not only keep schoolchildren from
getting to school and parents from getting to their
children, but we literally shut down the whole offshore
oil and gas industry or a big part of it, because when a
bridge shuts down, none of the trucks can move, no
supplies can get out to the rigs. Don't you think this
country, which spends trillions of dollars every year, can
spend a few million dollars to fix this bridge?
The words had not gotten out of my mouth when a shrimp
trawler hit the bridge, and the bridge moved slightly. The
big wings of the shrimp trawler collapsed, and Senator
Jeffords looked at me and said: Now, Mary, you have gotten
way too dramatic on this point. You did not have to set
that stage for that boat to hit that bridge. He said: I
get the message. So we, of course, had a laugh about that.
But his sense of humor, his commitment, and his passion
for the environment and the people who live on the land,
the people who live in this natural environment, is what
has always made me a real fan of his. I want him to know I
am going to miss him and his staff who have also been
extremely kind to me and my staff in the Senate. ...
To all of our retiring Members, I say thank you. Thank
you for your efforts on behalf of my State when you were
needed and thank you for your service to America.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I also will say a word about a
couple of my colleagues who are leaving, and I will be
brief. ...
I know we all move on at some time and that none of us
is irreplaceable. But by the same token, these colleagues
of ours who will be leaving will be missed and they will
be remembered for their great service to the Senate, to
their States, and to the United States of America.
I yield the floor.
Mr. DeWINE. ... I also sincerely thank Judiciary
Committee Chairmen Specter and Hatch; HELP Committee
Chairmen Enzi, Gregg, and Jeffords; and Intelligence
Committee Chairmen Roberts and Shelby. I have been
fortunate to have passed dozens of bills and amendments in
my career in the Senate, and most of them were provisions
that I worked along with these chairmen to pass. It would
never have happened without them. I appreciate their help.
I appreciate all the help Finance Committee Chairman
Chuck Grassley has given me--a dear friend--especially
when it came to passing my bills to improve the foster
care and adoption system. I have worked with many Members
of the Senate on this very important issue, foster care
and adoption, including Senators Jay Rockefeller, Mary
Landrieu, Larry Craig, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, John
Chafee, Jesse Helms, Bill Roth, Jim Jeffords, Dan Coats.
They all shared a passion for foster care children. They
all shared a passion for the adoption issue. ...
Mr. President, I want to wish the best to all of my
fellow Senators who were defeated this fall or who are
retiring this year--Senators Frist, Santorum, Talent,
Burns, Allen, Chafee, Dayton, and Jeffords. They are all
good people and all good friends. I wish them well. ...
Mr. DODD. ... Mr. President, today I pay tribute to my
departing colleagues who have, for a time, lent their
talents, their convictions, and their hard work to this
distinguished body. I may have had my disagreements with
them, but the end of a term is a time for seeing
colleagues not simply as politicians, but as partners who
have ``toiled, and wrought, and thought with me.'' Each,
in his own way, was distinctive; and each, in his own way,
will be sorely missed. ...
Mr. REID. Mr. President, the great Senator Daniel
Webster once remarked that the Senate is a place ``of
equals of men of individual honor ... and personal
character.''
He was right, and we can see what he was talking about
in the fine men the Senate is losing to retirement at the
end of this Congress: Senator Frist, Senator Sarbanes,
Senator Jeffords, and Senator Dayton.
On previous occasions, I have talked about how much I
appreciated serving with Senators Frist and Jeffords.
Today, I would like to say a few more words about Senators
Sarbanes and Dayton. ...
Mr. President, Mark Dayton, like Paul Sarbanes, like Jim
Jeffords, like Bill Frist, will be missed.
The Senate--and our country--are better off because of
their service.
Mr. HATCH. ... Mr. President, I would like to extend my
best wishes to my good friend and colleague, Senator Jim
Jeffords.
For the last 18 years, I have been privileged to serve
with Jim here in the U.S. Senate. When he first came to
the Senate in 1989, he was assigned to the Senate Labor
and Human Resources Committee. At the time, I was the
ranking minority member of that committee and worked
closely with Jim. In fact, when Jim later became chairman
of the committee, he changed the name to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, better known today
as the Senate HELP Committee. He did that because he felt
that the purpose of the committee was to help people.
Later, he and I also served together as members of the
Senate Finance Committee.
Jim has an undergraduate degree from Yale University and
graduated from Harvard University Law School. He served in
the U.S. Navy for 3 years and was in the Reserves until
1990 when he retired as a captain.
He started his career in politics in 1966 when he was
elected to the Vermont State Senate. In 1968, he became
the attorney general for the State of Vermont. In 1974, he
was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he
tells a very interesting story about the day that he was
sworn in as a Member of the House. As Jim tells it, 1974
was not a good year to be a Republican candidate--for
those who do not remember, it was the year that President
Richard Nixon resigned due to the Watergate scandal. The
1974 freshman class had 92 new Members of which only 17
were Republicans--two of them were our Senate colleagues,
Chuck Grassley and Jim Jeffords. At the time, Chuck was on
crutches and Jim was in a neck brace. As the two walked
down the aisle, Jim heard one of the Democrat Members say,
``There are two we almost got.'' Well, all I can say is,
thank goodness the Democrats didn't get Chuck and Jim. The
two of them have been an integral part of both the House
and the Senate.
Senator Jeffords has always been known for his self
deprecating sense of humor. I will never forget his story
about being interviewed by a reporter with Congresswoman
Millicent Fenwick, who, as many know, was a very elegant
woman from New Jersey, on their first impressions of what
it was like to live in Washington. Congresswoman Fenwick
talked about her lovely view of the city from across the
river. When asked what it was like for him to be in
Washington, Jim replied that he lived in a Winnebago in
the parking lot of a Holiday Inn and he had a view of the
hotel dumpster. Quite honestly, Jim is probably one of the
most humble and down to earth people I have met in the
Senate.
Jim is someone who fought hard for increased education
funding, especially for special needs children. He is also
very passionate about environmental issues. But in my
opinion, one of Jim's most significant achievements was
the difference he made on health care issues. Jim was
committed to providing a prescription drug benefit to
Medicare beneficiaries and was actively involved in
writing the tripartisan Medicare prescription drug bill
which was considered on the floor of the Senate in 2002.
Jim, Chuck Grassley, former Senator John Breaux, Senator
Olympia Snowe, and I all got together and wrote a bill
that provided a drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries.
It was the foundation of the Medicare prescription drug
benefit, Medicare Part D, which was included in the
Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Jim provided valuable
input and did his best to look out for what was in the
best interests of senior citizens and the disabled. So
far, 38 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in the
Medicare Part D Program.
Before I close, I want to share an insightful story
about Jim that is indicative of the way he has led his
life. When Jim interviewed Paul Harrington to be the HELP
Committee's health policy director, it was at his home in
Shrewsbury, VT. Shrewsbury is a very rural town in a very
rural State and that is best typified by the Brown Covered
Bridge. Jim conducted the job interview in his garage
where he had a large pile of bent nails on his work bench.
While he discussed the possibility of Paul joining his
staff, they each began straightening out the used nails.
At the end of the conversation they had created quite a
large pile of nails that were useful again. Paul shared
this experience with many of his friends and colleagues
when he left the Senate because he felt that the
circumstances of the job interview were indicative of
Jim's philosophy and his approach to problem solving. I
couldn't agree more. There's a practical side to Jim's
nature that seeks to adapt old solutions to solving new
problems. Using the analogy of the nails, Jim has always
been able to take up used ideas from the past and put them
to good use in new circumstances by reshaping them to fit
the new needs of today.
I want everyone to know that I consider Jim to be one of
my dear friends in the Senate, and while I was
disappointed when he decided to become an Independent, I
respected his decision. And so did former Senate Majority
Leader Bob Dole, who is a close friend of Jim's. In fact,
on the first year anniversary of Jim's big decision, Bob
sent Jim a pineapple upside down cake. He told Jim that he
looked all over for a cake to send him and came to the
conclusion that a pineapple upside down cake described Jim
the best. While that may be true, let me say that Jim is a
man who has the best of intentions and always does what he
believes is in the best interests of his constituents.
While serving in the Senate, Jim has always been an
independent force and that is one of the main reasons that
I respect him so much. Policy always came before politics,
something very rare in Washington these days. He has a
great love for the institution. He is passionate about
issues he cares about and it showed when he offered an
amendment in committee or spoke on the Senate floor.
Jim has dedicated his life to public service and the
great people of Vermont are very fortunate to have had him
representing them in both the House of Representatives and
the Senate. He is a great legislator and he will be missed
by all of us. I wish Jim Jeffords all the best in the
years ahead. ...
Mr. LEVIN. ... Mr. President, when this session of
Congress comes to an end, Senator Jim Jeffords will leave
the Senate. He has been a thoughtful and independent voice
here, and he will be greatly missed.
Senator Jeffords has been a true champion for the
environment. He was instrumental in passing the 1990 Clean
Air Act, and he chaired the Environment and Public Works
Committee from 2001 to 2002. He has fought for policies
that encourage renewable energy use and that reduce
emissions of carbon and other pollutants.
Senator Jeffords is a strong believer in promoting
economic development that also protects the environment
and preserves the landscape. In the 1960s, when he served
as a State senator and then attorney general of Vermont,
Jim worked on the most comprehensive State-level growth
management policy in the United States. Jim continued
these efforts as a U.S. Senator, and I joined with Jim in
1999 to form the Senate's Smart Growth Task Force, a
bipartisan, multiregional caucus.
With Jim's leadership, the task force's membership grew
to more than 20 Senators who shared the goal of
determining how the Federal Government can help States and
localities address their own growth management issues. Out
of this task force, a series of bipartisan legislative
initiatives have emerged, including legislation to promote
brownfields development, support urban and town centers,
provide transportation funding and access, and conserve
open space and historic structures.
Senator Jeffords has also been a strong leader on
education, job training, and disability legislation and
served as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions Committee from 1997 to June 2001. He has a
particular passion for improving education for students
with special needs and coauthored the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act. Jim Jeffords is also a strong
advocate for fairness and has sponsored legislation to end
discrimination based on sexual orientation and to
strengthen penalties for hate crimes.
Senator Jeffords became a household name and earned a
spot in Senate history in 2001 when he left the Republican
Party, creating a Democratic majority in the Senate. That
action stunned Washington. But for those of us who have
been fortunate to know him over the years, we were not at
all surprised that Jim Jeffords had followed his
conscience and his deep commitment to the interests of the
people of Vermont and did what he believed to be right.
I want to wish Jim and his wife Elizabeth well as they
enter a new phase in their lives.
Ms. SNOWE. ... Mr. President, I rise to express my
enormous gratitude and deep appreciation for my good
friend and colleague, Senator Jim Jeffords. President John
Adams, who served as the first President of this body,
once exclaimed. ``If we do not lay out ourselves in the
service of mankind whom should we serve?'' The answer
given through the years by Senator Jim Jeffords has been
one marked by the eloquence of his actions.
True Yankee independence and integrity are two of the
hallmarks distinguishing Senator Jim Jeffords. Our
legislative service together dates back to the 97th
Congress and our participation together on the House Aging
Committee, ironically at much younger ages than we are
today. We have also served together on the Senate Finance
Committee. I will forever fondly remember the monthly
Moderates lunches we attended together, just as I will
cherish the lunch we shared in the final days of his
distinguished tenure in the Senate.
Indeed, so many achievements distinguish this public
servant and usher him into a prestigious pantheon of
officeholders whose common denominator is uncommon
commitment to addressing tough issues that truly affect
the daily lives of the people whom they represent.
Educated at Yale University and Harvard Law School, this
son of a former chief justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
could have pursued any number of pathways in his life, but
it testifies to his strength of character and abundance of
integrity that he chose to use his depth of learning,
prodigious skill, and expertise on behalf of others with
the goal of service--a journey that began with his active
duty in the U.S. Navy in 1956 and that continued
throughout his 32 years in the Congress. From his days in
the U.S. House in the mid-1970s--where he also served with
my husband John McKernan--to the present, Senator Jeffords
made a priority to champion education and the environment
and by doing so became one of the best advocates these
issues have ever had.
In 1975, Senator Jeffords, as the ranking member on the
Subcommittee on Select Education, coauthored what would
later be known as the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, which has provided equal access to
education for millions of students with disabilities.
Since its enactment, Senator Jeffords has continued to
fight for full Federal funding for the law. He has fought
to reduce industrial pollution and acid rain, and as a
member of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee he ensured the passage of the 1990 Clean Air
Act. More recently, Senator Jeffords has introduced
legislation that would clean up polluting powerplants and
create incentives for investments in clean, renewable
power.
In 2001, during the tax-cut debate, as we were working
to ensure a fair but a fiscally-responsible compromise,
Senator Jeffords and I combined to advocate for
significant relief for the working poor. In 2003, during
intense negotiations, we joined forces to ensure
prescription drug benefits for Medicare. And I could not
have been more pleased to work with him in authoring the
so-called Snowe-Jeffords provision to the historic
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. I couldn't be more proud
that our arguments were not only persuasive in the Senate
but ultimately before the U.S. Supreme Court after more
than 3 hours of oral arguments, as the act--including our
provision--was upheld.
In the true spirit of statecraft, Jim Jeffords has
ennobled not only the art of public affairs but the public
affairs component of art. Then-Congressman Jeffords
cofounded the Congressional Arts Caucus and has
consistently fought for financial support of the National
Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the
Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library
Services. Like my State's own Margaret Chase Smith,
Senator Jeffords has been a public servant of deep and
abiding conscience, buttressed by a profound courage and
unwavering love for his State and his country. I wish him
all the best.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. ... Mr. President, today we say goodbye
to Senator Jim Jeffords after 18 years in the Senate,
serving the State of Vermont.
Throughout his years in the Senate, Senator Jeffords has
remained steadfast in his convictions and beliefs.
As a proud citizen of the State of Vermont, Senator
Jeffords has made enormous efforts to ensure the interests
of his State were represented in the U.S. Congress.
This is the legacy Senator Jeffords has earned.
As a staunch proponent of environmental issues, Senator
Jeffords rose to leadership as chairman of the Environment
and Public Works Committee in 2001, and he currently
serves as the committee's ranking member.
Senator Jeffords leaves the Senate with my respect. ...
UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--TRIBUTES TO RETIRING SENATORS
Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the tributes to
retiring Senators be printed as a Senate document and that
Senators be permitted to submit tributes until December
27, 2006.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Mr. STEVENS. ... Mr. President, Senator Jim Jeffords's
service has been unique but no doubt beneficial to his
home State of Vermont and to our country. On May 21, 2001,
Senator Jeffords pursued his conscience and made a
difficult decision to leave our party. While unexpected, I
respect Senator Jeffords for following his heart and doing
what he thought was best for his constituents in Vermont.
Jim has now served three full terms in the Senate. Over
the years, he has stood out as a champion for education
and the disabled. In 2004, he co-authored the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act. His work here has helped
improve millions of lives.
I wish the distinguished gentleman from Vermont well in
his future endeavors. ...
Mr. AKAKA. ... At this time, Mr. President, I would like
to take the opportunity to wish my warmest aloha to
Senator Jim Jeffords, who is retiring after 32 years in
Congress. The Committee on Veterans' Affairs will be
losing one of its finest and most esteemed members. A
veteran himself, Senator Jeffords has been a strong voice
and advocate for veterans. I thank Senator Jeffords for
his service. He will truly be missed. ...