[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 METZENBAUM

  Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, everyone has a defining characteristic, 
and Senator Howard Metzenbaum's is loyalty, loyalty to the New Deal 
principles of President Roosevelt, to the Democratic party, to his 
family, and above all, to the working people of Ohio threatened by 
structural changes in an industrial society. In their service, he has 
spent more than 50 years in politics, serving in the Ohio legislature 
and the United States Senate. In this body, he has fought fiercely and 
tenaciously for his principles, not always winning but always making 
his opponents aware that it is not safe to ignore him. In his mastery 
of parliamentary and Senate procedure, he has made himself the 
``majority of one'' who often prevails against a less well-prepared 
numerical majority.
  He is a legislative wizard, called a ``leader without portfolio'' by 
Congressional Quarterly, who has a 65 percent success rate in getting 
his bills enacted into law. In response to the needs of his 
constituents in northeast Ohio, he passed worker retraining 
legislation. Among the high points of his distinguished legislative 
career were plant-closing notification legislation, the 7-day waiting 
period of the Brady bill, and the FIRREA legislation of 1989.
  Given his history of involvement in both private industry and public 
service, it is not possible to think of Howard Metzenbaum in 
retirement. He doesn't have the temperament for it. By 1996 I predict 
he will have found some new outlet for his indomitable spirit, 
abounding energy, fierce combativeness and intellectual curiosity. I 
expect that he will make a success of anything that he does and join 
his colleagues in wishing him well.

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