[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       HONORING SENATOR DeCONCINI

  Mr. DURENBERGER. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
someone who, like myself, is writing the final chapter of his career in 
the U.S. Senate.
  I have been here for 16 of Dennis DeConcini's 18 years in the Senate. 
For this reason, I feel that I have some standing to appreciate the 
contributions he has made to this body and to this counrty.
  Dennis and I have been Senators at a time when partisanship was on 
the rise in both Houses of Congress. I can testify to the fact that 
Dennis DeConcini always put his constituents, and America, first.
  It is hard to imagine today how polarized this Chamber was at the 
height of the cold war. Remember what a warmonger Ronald Reagan was 
supposed to be? It is a far different world from the one we live in 
today. But Dennis DeConcini's thoughts and actions were not devoted to 
scoring political points off the President. He was concerned with the 
hard issues of defense and intelligence policy. What are the threats to 
this country? And what's the best way to defend ourselves?
  Those were the questions Dennis grappled with. And his spirit of free 
inquiry--his bipartisanship and strength of character--made progress 
possible on countless foreign policy issues.
  It is no fault of Dennis DeConcini's that the same kind of progress 
did not happen on the Federal budget. I think if it had been up to 
people like me and Senator DeConcini, we could have made the tough 
choices back in the 1980's, and made them stick. Dennis' work as 
founder and co-chairman of the Senate Grace Commission caucus is just 
one testimony to his commitment to deficit reduction.
  In Dennis DeConcini, the people of Arizona, and the people of 
America, are losing a forceful voice for the future. If we judge 
Members of Congress on how much they did to leave the next generation 
better off than the one preceding it, Dennis DeConcini can hold his 
head up high in the pages of Senate history.

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