[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE DONALD RIEGLE

  Mr. DeCONCINI. Mr. President, I have had the pleasure of serving all 
18 of my years in the U.S. Senate with the distinguished Senator from 
Michigan, Don Riegle. We came to the Senate in the same freshman class 
in 1977. And now as Senator Riegle prepares to leave the Congress to 
spend more time with his family, he leaves behind a proud record of 
public service--27 years of serving the people of Michigan and the 
Nation with distinction.
  Don Riegle's retirement will be a loss for the people he served so 
well. Time and again he brought to the forefront issues vitally 
important to America long before they caught the public's attention. In 
the early 1980's Don saw the crisis in our health care system and 
worked diligently for reform. He chaired more than 40 hearings, in 
Washington and throughout his State of Michigan, in which hard-working 
families could voice their problems with a health care system in need 
of repair. In 1989, he recognized the need for a new finance 
Subcommittee on Health Care for Families and the Uninsured, fought for 
its creation, and became its chairman. He was a leading force in 
expanding Medicaid coverage for pregnant women and children and fought 
tirelessly to make immunizations available to America's children.
  As chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban 
Affairs, and as a key member on the Finance and Budget Committees, Don 
Riegle has made major contributions to U.S. economic policy. He has 
been one of our strongest spokesmen in promoting a fair but tough trade 
policy which puts America on a level playing field with our 
competitors. He did yeoman's work in reforming both the savings and 
loan industry and the banking industry. He has championed the 
rebuilding of America's cities and was an early advocate of enterprise 
zones. He is an acknowledged expert on the unemployment compensation 
system, and authored the law reforming the method by which the system 
is funded. As my colleague from Maryland, Senator Mikulski, has pointed 
out, Senator Riegle ``has truly been an architect for housing policy in 
the United States of America. His approach has been to see the housing 
framework as a way not only to provide shelter for the homeless but 
also to look at how we can generate jobs today and opportunity 
tomorrow.''
  Senator Riegle will be sorely missed by America's senior citizens for 
whom he worked tirelessly. He will be missed by every working man and 
woman in this Nation and by his beloved constituents in Michigan for 
whom he has done so much. He has served this Nation well and I wish him 
and his family every happiness and success in the years ahead.
  Senator Riegle is a friend of mine. I have grown to know him and his 
family well. I cherish his friendship. We have had good times and we 
have had hard times together. We understand what this Government 
process is all about--the joys of it and the sorrows. I hate to see him 
leave this body, but I understand because I have made the same 
decision.

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