[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 149 (Thursday, December 1, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: December 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       TRIBUTE TO SENATOR SASSER

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, Jim Sasser has greatly distinguished himself 
during his 18 years of service in the Senate as one of the hardest 
working, most intelligent and most dedicated and effective Senator with 
whom I have had the privilege of serving in my now 36 years in the 
Senate.
  Senator Sasser assumed the chairmanship of the Budget Committee in 
1989, the same year that I became chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee. Over the past 6 years, we have worked together on a number 
of important budgetary and appropriations matters. And it has been 
truly a joy--a joy that I shall remember as long as I serve in this 
body and as long as the Lord God gives me life.
  We both represented the Senate at the budget summit in 1990. Although 
later disowned by President Bush because it was politically unpopular, 
that summit resulted in a number of important improvements to the 
Budget Act. Among those improvements were the institution of binding 
caps, enforceable through a sequester on discretionary spending, along 
with provisions to hold appropriations harmless for miscalculations and 
economic and technical forecasts.
  The agreement also created the pay-as-you-go requirements on 
entitlement spending. I think that Jim Sasser was the key Senator at 
that budget summit. He worked tirelessly to protect the prerogatives of 
Congress in budgetary matters, while at the same time cutting the 
budget deficit by an estimated $450 to $500 billion.
  Jim Sasser also serves on the Appropriations Committee, where he has 
been the very able chairman of the Military Construction Subcommittee 
for a number of years. As the subcommittee chairman, Senator Sasser ran 
a very tight ship. He--unlike some of the other subcommittee chairmen--
often recommended cuts in the military construction budget, below what 
the President requested. Yet, he was always careful to ensure that the 
vital needs of the military were met and that they were kept.
  More than this, Jim Sasser has been a very pleasant man with whom to 
work, a man who has a way of putting other people at ease in his 
presence. He is my friend; he has been my friend, and he will always be 
my friend.
  He has served this Nation and the State of Tennessee with great 
integrity and distinction throughout his service in the Senate.
  Darius the Great was sitting at dinner with others in his court and 
he was presented with a pomegranate. He was asked what he would like to 
have if he could indeed have a wish fulfilled, and he turned to his 
brother Artabanes and said, ``If I could have as many Megabazes, as 
many Megabazes''--Megabazes was the name of one of his foremost 
generals--``If I could have as many Megabazes as there are seeds in 
that pomegranate I would be pleased more than if I could be ruler of 
all Greece.''
  So, Mr. President, I have that feeling about Jim Sasser. If I could 
have had as many effective and loyal and dedicated friends and 
colleagues as was Jim Sasser, then I would have enjoyed my service on 
the Senate Appropriations Committee as its chairman even more than it 
was my pleasure to enjoy.
  Jim Sasser, perhaps more than any other person that I know of, 
embodies the word of the official slogan of the State of Tennessee. 
``Tennessee--America At Its Best.'' Jim Sasser is Tennessee and Jim 
Sasser is America at its best.
  It is not enough to say in your heart that you like a man for his 
ways. It is not enough that we fill our minds with songs of silent 
praise. Nor is it enough that we honor a man as our confidence upward 
mounts. It is going right up to the man himself and telling him so that 
counts.
  Then when a man does a deed that you really admire do not leave a 
kind word unsaid for fear to do so might make him vain or cause him to 
lose his head but reach out your hand and tell him well done and see 
how his gratitude swells. It is not the flowers we throw on the graves. 
It is the word to the living that tells.
  My wife Erma joins me in the expression of these sentiments, and I 
must say that here was a man who really had the markings of not only a 
good Senator but a great Senator.
  Any individual who can bring that Budget Committee together and 
develop a consensus and bring tough controversial well-crafted measures 
out of that committee had to have ability. He must have had a more than 
ordinary portion of patience. And I personally, as one who was a 
majority leader upon two different occasions, want to express my 
gratitude to Jim Sasser for the service that he rendered as chairman of 
the Appropriations Committee. I will express my gratitude to him for 
the service he rendered there and as the former minority leader in this 
body together with service as majority leader, as I have already 
mentioned, it was my experience always when I wanted to call other 
Senators together, when I called other Senators together to get a 
feeling of what the situation was with respect to the body and in what 
direction we should prepare to move as we looked ahead, how we could 
best craft the program of our party, Jim Sasser was one of those whom I 
always called to sit in on those deliberations.
  I have seen men and women come and I have seen men and women go, but 
I am truly sad to see Jim Sasser say farewell as a Member of the body.

     The roses red upon my neighbor's vine
     Are owned by him, but they are also mine.
     His was the cost, and his the labor, too.
     But mine as well as his the joy,
     their loveliness to view.
     They bloom for me and are for me as fair
     As for the man who gives them all his care.
     Thus I am rich, because a good man grew
     A rose-clad vine for all his neighbors view.
     I know from this that others plant for me,
     And what they own, my joy may also be.
     So why be selfish, when so much that's fine
     Is grown for me, upon my Tennessee neighbor's vine.

  I thank God for the privilege of working with Jim Sasser, and I am 
grateful for the opportunity to say this publicly. I am sorry it is 
under such circumstances, but we all know that life has its ups and 
downs, its defeats and its victories, and we accept them as they come, 
always looking upwards, not backyards and believing that the future may 
present the opportunities still to serve, especially to one who is so 
capable in service to his country and to his State.
  Mr. SASSER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. SASSER. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues and friends 
for those touching and generous words.
  I must say that I feel a bit like Tom Sawyer peeping out from behind 
the church balcony listening to his own funeral eulogy.
  I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life with the same 
energy, exuberance and expectations that I brought to Washington 18 
years ago.
  Today I look back with no bitterness, with no remorse and with no 
regrets.
  The memories I will take with me from the Senate will be warm ones.
  I have had 18 wonderful years in this great institution doing what I 
knew best, doing what I loved best, and doing it with passion and 
devotion.
  Not many men and women have been so fortunate.
  It has been my greatest reward and my greatest honor to represent the 
people of Tennessee.
  I did my very best to ease their burdens and to nourish their dreams.
  Abraham Lincoln once remarked:

       I want it said of me by those who know me best that I 
     always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought 
     a flower would grow.

  I would hope that my Senate career will be recollected and 
characterized in such a warm and caring light.
  Mr. President, our Nation seems to be in the midst of a very 
troubling season, a day and age often punctuated by high anxiety, a 
time when cynicism whittles away at our time-honored institutions of 
democracy.
  But I depart this great institution with only the highest esteem for 
it and for the men and women who serve our Nation, men and women who 
give so unselfishly of themselves, men and women who bring the hopes, 
dreams, and fears of the American people to be played out on this 
stage, men and women who still hear and give shape to the thundering 
promise of America.
  I have been privileged to serve with them.
  Finally, Mr. President I want to take a moment to thank my wonderful 
wife, Mary, and my children, Gray and Elizabeth, for everything they 
have done, for the enormous sacrifices they made for me. They have been 
the center of my life and they always will be.
  I want to thank my staff for their tireless work and for the loyalty 
they have shown me. It has been my honor to serve with these dedicated, 
fine individuals.
  Mr. President, the hour approaches. And even though time often seems 
to stand still in the Senate, it's time for me to say to all of my 
friends and colleagues, ``Thank you, Godspeed and Goodbye.''
  Mr. President, may I just say to my distinguished friend from West 
Virginia how much I appreciate the remarks that he has made this 
evening and say that the distinguished President pro tempore over many 
years has taught me many things, including an enormous respect for this 
institution. And I leave here feeling very reassured that our friend 
from West Virginia will be here to instill in other new Senators as 
they come the sense of tradition of the U.S. Senate and its place in 
our system of Government.
  I thank the distinguished President pro tempore for his remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader, Mr. Mitchell, is 
recognized.
  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I listened with great interest to the 
words of the distinguished President pro tempore of the Senate about 
our friend and colleague, Jim Sasser. And while I know that I cannot 
match his eloquence, I can match his affection for Senator Sasser and 
his regret at the fact that Senator Sasser will be leaving the Senate.
  I thank the distinguished President pro tempore for his truly 
eloquent and obviously heartfelt words about someone who he and I and 
many other Senators share a great affection and immense respect.
  I first had the pleasure of meeting Jim Sasser a quarter a century 
ago when we were both active in political campaigns in our respective 
States.
  I have had the pleasure of calling him a friend over those many 
years. When I entered the Senate, he was already here and because of 
our earlier friendship, he welcomed me, made me feel at home, greatly 
assisted me, as he has so many others who followed.
  I do not think any Member of the Senate has a tougher job than the 
chairman of the Budget Committee. I think every Senator recognizes 
that.
  Indeed, Mr. President, one of the most fortuitous moments of my life 
occurred when, 14 years ago, after having been appointed to the Senate 
and then in the election of 1980, having seen the Senate revert from 
Democratic to Republican control, I was summarily kicked off the Budget 
Committee after only 5 months of service there. At the time, my 
feelings were hurt. But I shortly thereafter was able to gain 
appointment to the Finance Committee, where I served since then. In my 
mind, that is the best trade since the Yankees got Babe Ruth from the 
Red Sox for a couple of minor leaguers many years ago.
  I saw firsthand, in my limited time on the Budget Committee and in my 
prior experience with Senator Muskie, who was the first chairman of 
that committee, and since then, especially as majority leader, the 
extremely difficult and demanding, indeed, the punishing task of 
serving as chairman of the Budget Committee.
  Everyone here has one or more tough tasks. And I think it is fair to 
say Senator Byrd, as the distinguished former leader, and myself 
serving in this position, being majority leader is no piece of cake. 
But there is nothing here that compares to serving as chairman of the 
Budget Committee. It is the toughest job there is.
  No one has ever done it with greater skill, tact, patience and, most 
importantly, success than has Jim Sasser. He has led the way 
courageously, at great political risk and cost to himself, to economic 
policies which have benefited the people of this Nation. As a direct 
result of what Jim Sasser has done, unemployment in America is today 
much lower than it has been at any time for several years, the Federal 
budget deficit next year will go down for the third year in a row, the 
first time that has happened in 50 years, economic growth is rising and 
the economy is growing, nearly 5 million jobs have been created in the 
past 21 months. All of that directly resulting, at least in part, from 
the actions taken by the Congress shaped and guided by Senator Sasser.
  We are going to miss him very much, not just in personal terms, which 
will be large enough, but in terms of his service to the Senate and to 
the country. And I know, because I regard Jim Sasser as a very close 
and dear friend, that he will be sorely missed.
  Mr. President, I thank Senator Sasser for all he has done. It has 
been a real pleasure to serve with him and now to leave the Senate with 
him.

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