[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 4, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              THE RETIREMENT OF SENATOR GEORGE J. MITCHELL

  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, as the current session of the Senate draws 
to a close, our Senate will lose its leader. The loss will be 
demonstrably felt.
  The rise of George Mitchell in the Senate has been a phenomenal one 
by any standard. He was appointed to his seat and quickly won election 
to a full term. During his first full term, George Mitchell led the 
Democrats out of minority status to the oasis of being back into the 
majority as head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. As a 
true measure of the power and respect of George Mitchell the person, 
the Senate Democrats elected him as their leader immediately after his 
reelection to just his second full term in the Senate.
  Perhaps only the leader himself understands the difficulty of 
attempting to make this institution move and do the work of the people.
  In comparison to the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate has 
very few ways in which to force action. It takes an extraordinary man 
to assume the leadership role here and operate successfully in a place 
where unanimous consent is necessary in order to do almost anything.
  The legislative accomplishments of George Mitchell, our leader, have 
been well documented and will be for many years to come. However, I 
would like to reflect on George Mitchell, the man.
  If there ever was a man who was more fair than George Mitchell, I 
have not met him. If there ever was a man who could master the details 
of the many complex issues we face, it is George Mitchell. If there 
ever was a man who was an impartial arbitrator, it was George Mitchell.
  I have watched the strain and stress under which George Mitchell has 
had to operate as a leader in an institution where the rules give him 
few carrots and even fewer sticks in order to move forward. Yet he has 
always, without fail, carried out his duties in the calm and fair 
manner which he must have carried out all during his life and which he 
would have carried out when he was a judge and would have carried out 
if he had accepted the Supreme Court nomination that was offered to him 
by the President.
  As Governor, I appreciate what judges do. I appointed more judges 
than any other Governor in my State's history during my tenure as 
Governor of the State of Nebraska. As a U.S. Senator, I have had 
similar responsibilities in my role as one who must vote on judicial 
confirmations. In both cases, one of my principal criteria has been 
whether or not I would like to have this individual be my judge should 
I ever stand before the Bench of justice. I not only believe that I 
would be comfortable with George Mitchell as my judge; I also have the 
similar feeling with George Mitchell as my leader.
  George Mitchell has always, without fail, carried out his difficult 
duties with grace, fairness to all, and a commanding sense of what is 
right.
  He has been the leader of Senate Democrats. Yet, he has also been the 
leader of the entire Senate and has been our spokesman to the American 
people about the work of the people's business here in the Senate.
  The Senate, and indeed our country, owes an enormous debt of 
gratitude to George Mitchell for his service and I want to take this 
opportunity to express my deepest personal thanks and admiration to him 
as well. Fair winds and following seas to my friend George Mitchell, as 
he embarks on a new phase of his life.

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