[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 4 (Monday, January 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S611-S616]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





             announcement of retirement of bennett johnston

  Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, on occasions of this kind, we are prone 
to look back and think historically as well as to absorb the magnitude 
of the statement of the moment given by my good friend, Senator Bennett 
Johnston, from Louisiana. [[Page S612]] 
  When I came to the Senate, I had the privilege of serving with Allen 
Ellender and Senator Russell Long, who represented the State of 
Louisiana at that particular time in 1967.
  Mr. President, I must say that the strength of those two leaders at 
that time certainly has been carried on in the tradition of Louisiana 
voters and the subsequent Senators, including Senator Bennett Johnston 
and his colleague today who serves with him from Louisiana, John 
Breaux.
  Mr. President, I have had the privilege of serving with Senator 
Johnston on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee now for all the 
years that he has been in the Senate. It was then called the Interior 
Committee of the Senate and Insular Affairs, and then its name was 
changed and, of course, all that time he has been chairman of that 
committee.
  In addition to that, both Senator Johnston and I serve on the 
Appropriations Committee, and we begin this year the 18th year we have 
served in partnership either as chairman or the ranking member, as 
Senator Johnston has occupied that seat, or as I now occupy that seat 
as chairman of that subcommittee and he the ranking member, as I say, 
for 18 years.
  I think on both the authorizing committee and the appropriating 
committee, we get a very, very intimate relationship of the total 
legislative process. I want to say it has not only been an honor and a 
personal pleasure, but I have marveled at the way Senator Johnston has 
carried his duties and responsibilities in both of those committees, 
demonstrating competence, demonstrating brilliance of understanding of 
the issues. He gets up and starts talking about the nuclear power 
facilities, and so forth and so on, and I am always happy to defer to 
him, whether I am chairman or ranking member, any time that subject 
comes up because there is no one on this floor that has greater 
intimate knowledge of that complexity of nuclear energy than Senator 
Johnston.
  I also want to say that Senator Johnston's Christmas cards, when he 
first came here, showed this beautiful family--beautiful Mary, his 
wife, and his children. I watched that Christmas card expand over the 
years. I think it is very significant that sitting next to him on the 
floor of the Senate today is a very distinguished congressman from the 
State of Indiana, who happens to be his son-in-law, Tim Roemer. I am 
very, very pleased to know that he is leaving more than just a legacy 
of record. He is leaving in the Congress of the United States a legacy 
of leadership that will continue.
  Mr. President, there are so many things that come to my mind. I am 
flooded with memories of the thousands of miles that he and I have 
traveled with our spouses and other members of the committee from 
China, Thailand, Indonesia, throughout the whole Pacific region.
  I want to say even though he is noted as perhaps the expert here of 
energy, among his other expertise, whenever he has chaired a Codel and 
is called upon to respond to the head of state, to the prime minister 
or the president or the foreign minister--whoever might be hosting us 
at the moment--on any foreign policy, he can respond with grace and 
with, again, a manner in which we all take pride of being Americans and 
being his associate and colleague on these Codels.
  So he is a Renaissance man with great capacity for many, many 
subjects. He does everything with fairness and with objectivity. I 
often say some of his problems on the committees have been that he has 
supported Republican causes that have not always been supported by the 
majority of his own Democratic Party on that committee. He has been 
that kind of broad-based, Renaissance person.
  This is a decision he has to make. I have regrets in hearing this 
decision. They are selfish and personal because I have 2 years yet as 
well and it also causes me to have to reflect on what my future is. But 
if I should run for reelection and get reelected, I would be very, very 
much lesser a person because I would miss the expertise and counsel of 
Bennett Johnston.
  But, Bennett, being very informal at this moment on the floor, I want 
to say, as a long-time fan and supporter of yours and personal friend, 
I greet this news with great mixed emotions. I am happy for you and 
your family in many ways, yet I am regretful for what you are going to 
deny the Senate as far as the future.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.


                        A Lot of Miles Yet to Go

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am sorry to say to the Senator from 
Georgia, I left a meeting and I will take about 30 seconds here with my 
friend.
  This is not the time to say goodbye to Senator Johnston. We are 
saddened to hear the statement of the senior Senator from Louisiana. I 
think that Senator Johnston spent enough time in my State to be 
qualified to vote, and I spent almost the same amount of time in his 
State for other reasons, I might add.
  But I am saddened to hear the announcement of my good friend. I 
understand his reasons, and I really seriously marvel at his capacity 
to make such a judgment, but I do think that we have a lot of things 
left undone. We have a lot of miles to go yet, and I will say my 
farewells when the time comes. Meanwhile, I say to my good friend, we 
have one big battle, and that is the battle of wetlands. I hope he will 
be there with us until the end.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.


                  Tribute to Senator Bennett Johnston

  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I, too, want to say a few words about this 
man we all think so much of, the Senator from Louisiana, Senator 
Johnston.
  Until a time I can reflect on it at length and really go over some of 
the historical accomplishments he has been so involved in, I remember 
very well when he got elected to the U.S. Senate because I got elected 
the same time.
  With one exception, we have seen eye to eye on virtually everything 
since we have been here, and that one exception was the first day he 
arrived, he had a news conference saying he was the senior Member of 
the class of 1972. That was not only erroneous but it was to the 
detriment of the Senator from Georgia. The next day we had a chance to 
meet personally. The first thing I informed him was he had to retract 
that statement because it was not correct. He did that graciously when 
he found out the accuracy of my remark. Ever since then, he has been on 
target.
  I must say, my colleagues have already enumerated some of his 
accomplishments. He has been an expert in his own field of energy. He 
has been an expert in the field of environment. He has also been an 
expert in the field of foreign policy and national security. He has 
traveled all over the globe. He knows people all over the globe. He is 
respected all over the globe. He has a following all over, not only in 
this country but throughout the world.
  On the Appropriations Committee, he has been a stalwart in that area. 
He has been one of few people, few of us who have been willing to take 
on the tough subject of entitlements over the years, and if some of 
those votes he and I and some others made together back in the eighties 
and even before had passed at that time, we would not have some of the 
entitlement problems we have today.
  So he has had an outstanding legislative record. I will enumerate 
that at a later date. But the most important thing he has done is what 
so many people have difficulty doing here in Washington, and that is, 
while he has done all of this for his State and for his constituents 
and for the people of this Nation, he has held his family together. 
That is the toughy. Anyone who works 60, 70 hours a week, travels on 
weekends, and makes speeches all over is always under pressure, that 
can maintain the love and relationship with his wonderful wife, Mary, 
the children, Sally, Mary, Bennett, Hunter, and all of his family, that 
is truly the exception rather than the rule in this very busy, 
stressful place.
  So he has a family that loves him. He has a wonderful set of children 
that are doing their own things in their own professions, and he has a 
son-in-law, as we have already heard, from Indiana who is here on the 
floor with him as a Member of Congress.
  So I list, Bennett, your accomplishments as keeping your family 
together and raising a wonderful group of children with, of course, the 
tremendous help of Mary who is as outstanding as [[Page S613]] any 
individual I know, and also maintaining a wonderful relationship with 
your staff. You can tell a lot about a Senator by his staff. Bennett 
Johnston has an outstanding staff. Some of them are here today. I 
worked with many of them over a period of time, and I know others of 
them on the floor have worked with them. You can tell an awful lot.
  So I say to my friend, for his own future, I am sure he has reflected 
long and hard on this decision and, from that point of view, I 
congratulate him. From the point of view of the Senate, I am 
remorseful. I think we are going to be a lesser body when he leaves 
here in 2 years, although for the next 2 years, he will be, I am sure, 
as energetic, productive, and effective as he has ever been.
  But I do understand the decision. I understand it. All of us have to 
go through this kind of thought process. He made the decision quicker 
than I thought he would. If I had predicted 2 weeks ago, I would have 
predicted the other way around. But I know he made it after a great 
deal of thought, a great deal of prayerful consideration with his 
family and his staff.
  So it is not an announcement that I take lightly, or with any kind of 
feeling of celebration, because I understand the deficit that is going 
to be left when this outstanding U.S. Senator does retire in 2 years. 
So I congratulate him on his service. I do not congratulate him, 
necessarily, on the decision because I do want to talk to him a little 
bit about it. But I do commend him on his splendid record of service 
for the State of Louisiana and the Nation.
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.


               Bennett Johnston, The Master Of The Close

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I heard about 2:15 this afternoon that 
Senator Johnston was going to take the floor, so I picked up the phone 
and tried to reach him and missed him. I wanted to just say a few 
words.
  I listened, back in my office, to what he had to say. I was thinking, 
back when this mayor from San Francisco in the mid-1980's came back to 
see the head of the Energy Committee. I had an opportunity and I walked 
into his office. I saw the pelicans. I did not even know if he would 
really listen to me. I found a human being who was open, who was 
gentle, who was kind, who was listening, and who was interested. Then, 
of course, in 1992 I came to this Senate and I found a man who was a 
leader of the U.S. Senate--certainly a leader on the Democratic side 
and I believe a leader in the Senate--who had worked for 22 years, who 
had established a reputation in this body.
  I might say, many of the Members on our side, when we were discussing 
the California Desert Protection Act, said toward the close of the 
session, ``Don't worry. Watch Bennett. He is a master of the close.''
  And as the months went on, the debate and the discussion on this 
bill, I saw indeed that Bennett Johnston was not only a master of the 
close, but was a master of strategy. I saw he is a man who is bright. 
He is a man who is articulate. But he is also somebody who is always a 
gentleman, always receptive, always able to say what he thinks in a way 
that brings the best from everyone around him.
  So, Bennett Johnston, I want to say to you: In the few days we have 
been back, this is the worst news I have heard. Even worse than the 
Contract With America, in many respects. I am just so sorry that this 
is going to happen. But there is one thing I do know: Even if you have 
made up your mind there are still 2 years, so we will be hearing much 
more from Bennett Johnston, the master of the close.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.


                  Senator Bennett Johnston, Statesman

  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, it is a sad day for the Senate, a sad day 
for the Nation, when we find out we will be losing a Member of the U.S. 
Senate who has contributed so much to this body as an institution and 
to this Nation as a whole.
  We do not use the word ``statesman'' very often. I grew up hearing it 
much more frequently than I hear it today. I think we look at certain 
areas of expertise and accomplishment and we realize that there are 
statesmen in those fields, as well as from a generalist viewpoint. I 
look back over the career of Bennett Johnston and I remember when I 
came to the Senate, this Nation was in an energy crisis. We were 
talking about shortages and what had to be done. I remember President 
Carter's speech with his sweater.
  But Bennett Johnston stood out in those days as a voice of reason, 
calling for an energy policy that was really very detailed, but was 
accompanied by great reasoning. His energy policy prevailed over the 
years, and we weathered that crisis. As we have gone through the 
changes relative to energy policy and the relationship of nuclear 
energy, Bennett Johnston has always come forward with expertise, with 
reason, and with a view toward the future and has accomplished 
tremendous feats in regard to the energy field. He had the unique 
position of serving as chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources and the subcommittee dealing with energy and water 
development of the Appropriations Committee. It is very unusual for a 
person to occupy those two positions simultaneously, but because of his 
expertise and seniority and his choice, he selected those. And I think 
the Nation has been the beneficiary as a result of it.
  His State of Louisiana has greatly benefited from his service. I 
consider Bennett a conservative, a progressive conservative. He is a 
southerner. We have pretty well agreed on most issues, as Sam Nunn 
mentioned a while ago. And he has really taken on a great deal in his 
political life, in taking on certain tasks that other people would 
attempt to evade and to avoid.
  He has had to fight bigots. He has had to fight those who were 
intolerant. He has moved forward in the South toward having improved 
race relations and has been a great voice of reason in pursuing that 
particular task. And the South today has many benefits that really 
resulted from his leadership.
  He has been a wonderful family man. I think Sam spoke about that, the 
fact that he has a delightful, wonderful, charming wife, Mary, and four 
children: Bennett, Hunter, Sally and Mary. They are great examples of a 
family and to the fact that there are such close ties among them. He 
has been one of those who have advocated, as we all agree that we 
should, an improved quality of life in the Senate in order that we 
spend more time with our families. He and David Pryor have been voices 
that have sounded forth many times on the improvement of the quality of 
life in the Senate. Hopefully, our new minority leader will agree and 
hopefully he can influence our majority leader a little bit toward 
following the advice that Bennett Johnston has given in the past 
relative to this.
  He loves this institution and he has really done a great deal. I stop 
and think of all he has done. Sometimes you do not belong to the 
respective committees, but he has been a tremendous spokesman for 
southern agriculture. I look back upon many of the battles we have had 
relative to agriculture and know that his voice has been the voice of a 
champion, pertaining to those issues. Then, in foreign affairs, he 
would come back from his trips--I can remember him many times talking 
about the Pacific rim and its great future and the fact that we needed 
to develop better relationships with the Pacific rim nations because 
much of the future would lie there, and the progress that has taken 
place in recent years pertaining to this.
  (Mr. SANTORUM assumed the chair.)
  So we with great sadness see the announcement of the departure some 2 
years from now of a statesman in the field of energy, a statesman in 
the field of race relations, a statesman who has done much for this 
Nation. We will have lost a great Senator. We are now losing a great 
chairman, but nevertheless he will continue as a spokesman in his 
particular fields. But he has also served in so many other different 
ways on the budget, in the field of aging, and in the field of 
intelligence, having served in committees in that capacity.
  We salute Bennett. I think maybe the real reason behind this is that 
he is feeling that he is getting a little older, that he is not as 
accomplished a tennis player as he used to be, and that his colleague, 
John Breaux, is now beating him more often than he used to. Perhaps 
that might have affected his decision relative to this matter. 
[[Page S614]] 
  But we look forward to his, as he leaves and when he leaves the 
Senate, continuing to give us advice, counsel, and we know he will 
continue to be a friend.
  I say to him, my friend, that this is a sad day for America and for 
the Senate. But we respect his decision.
  Mr. SIMPSON addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, I inquire of my colleague, Senator Pryor. 
He was waiting to speak before I came in and he requested time to do 
so.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I respond to my friend from Wyoming by 
saying that I have been here for some time and I am enjoying all these 
speeches so much. I have no preference as to when I speak.
  So I would love to listen to the Senator from Wyoming, to hear him 
talk about our friend, Bennett Johnston.
  Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. President, if I said that my remarks would not 
exceed 5 minutes, there would be an audible gasp. However, I want you 
to observe the clock and you will find that they shall not exceed the 
period of 5 minutes. I, too, will say a lot more later.
  I thank my friend from Arkansas, who came here when I did, Senator 
Pryor, and Senator Heflin, also. We have a special bond in our class 
which is very strong that crosses party lines. In fact, the other 
evening we met, the survivors of the class of 1978, and talked about 
how we might try to make this place work better with bipartisanship. 
That is an effort that we will pursue with people of the caliber of 
Senator Pryor and Senator Heflin.
  But let me just say a word about my friend. Bennett Johnston is a 
special man, a man of remarkable brightness, energy, and a wonderful 
sense of humor, and a person who could come to this floor in the midst 
of a debate on nuclear fission and without a note suddenly be totally 
in the fray or who could come here on issues of energy, Btu's or public 
lands and without a note debate for an hour or two taking questions, 
fielding questions thoroughly engaged.
  So what I learned from him is a remarkable intellect blended with a 
wonderful mind and an ability to deal with complex issues, and when 
everyone else, like in the words of Rudyard Kipling, was ``losing their 
heads,'' blaming it on you, Bennett would be right there with that 
wonderful whimsical smile which is difficult to identify sometimes. You 
never know quite what is being concocted there with that smile. But I 
have seen it many times, and it is always with a gentleness.
  So I thank him for what he taught me on nuclear issues as I chaired 
the nuclear regulations subcommittee as a freshman, and how he helped 
me on all energy issues when I was again chairing that committee. On 
public lands issues, I watched my colleague from Wyoming, Malcolm 
Wallop, work with him and watched Bennett and Malcolm, even though they 
disagreed strongly, work so well together. They gave us finally an 
energy bill that was unattainable for decades. I thank him for that.
  He is dogged, determined, with a persistence and steadiness which is 
enviable.
  So I thank him. I have been privileged to travel with him. Whatever 
they have said about Mary is not enough. That is a special woman, and 
it has been a great honor and privilege to travel with him. Whether it 
was in Vietnam or China or around the world, dealing with nuclear 
issues, any time Bennett rose to give the greetings or receive the 
acknowledgment from another head of state, we just all sat back and 
knew it would be done with wonderful compassion, skill, and a 
completely tactful presentation. He was our spokesman, and whatever 
side of the aisle you were on, you never even questioned that.
  So a gentle, congenial man of very steady demeanor will be greatly 
missed. It is not easy to find people who will do this kind of work and 
take what goes with it. We are thin-skinned sometimes. I know I am. But 
he just smiles and takes it, and can dish it right back in beautiful 
fashion and always with a gentler, much gentler, recipe than it has 
been dished out to him.
  So to Bennett and to Mary, and their dear family, and to the son-in-
law who will serve us in Congress on the other side of the aisle, I 
wish them all well.
  It has been a rich personal privilege for Ann and for me to come to 
know Bennett and Mary Johnston, and we love them. We wish them well in 
whatever they may wish to do in the future.
  Mr. PRYOR addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, this is indeed a sad day. It is a sad day 
for the U.S. Senate. It is indeed a sad day for the State of Arkansas 
to be losing one of our colleagues from this Senate, but of equal 
importance to be losing, Mr. President, one of our neighbors, the 
Honorable Bennett Johnston as our colleague and friend from our 
neighboring State of Louisiana.
  We have often said, Dale Bumpers and I--and I am sure he will 
eloquently address this momentarily--Senator Bumpers and I have often 
said in our State that we have three Senators, that we are very 
fortunate, and that the third Senator is the Senator from Louisiana, 
who on every project, Mr. President, on every issue has stood shoulder 
to shoulder not only with Senator Bumpers and myself and our 
predecessors in this body but also with our State and its people in the 
projects that we pursued on many occasions.
  Senator Johnston in his eloquent, and I must say brief, remarks, 
talked about two principles, one of honor, that the people had honored 
him. And all of us know Senator Johnston well. I know that honor was 
bestowed upon Senator Johnston and that he treated that honor basically 
as holding that honor in trust for the people of his State and the 
people of this country. The other characteristic that he addressed was 
power, that the people of Louisiana had bestowed upon him as a U.S. 
Senator a great power.
  Mr. President, I can say without reservation that of the some 20 
years that I have known this fine gentleman, I have never seen nor have 
I ever heard of this fine man ever once abusing that power or of taking 
that power for granted.
  Mr. President, Bennett Johnston will go down in the annals of this 
great U.S. Senate as one of the great doers and one of the great 
builders that this body has ever produced. The Senate has been a better 
place because of him. His life and his example and his family all mean 
so much to all of us.

  Mr. President, I notice that the distinguished Presiding Officer, the 
new Senator from Pennsylvania, is seated today presiding over the U.S. 
Senate. I know that he faces a middle aisle that some say divides the 
Republicans from the Democrats. I have a feeling, Mr. President, that 
Senator Bennett Johnston, our friend and neighbor from Louisiana, has 
never seen that middle aisle as a line of demarcation, nor as a line of 
division, but merely as a line of invitation to join hands and join 
parties, whether Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, on 
those issues that face this country and those issues that must make us 
a better people.
  Bennett Johnston, in my opinion, has been able to bridge that gap and 
to cross that aisle in friendship, in principle, in camaraderie and 
comity, as well as any Member that I have ever seen in the U.S. Senate. 
He is a wise and a good man. It has been my extreme pleasure and honor 
to serve in this body with Bennett Johnston, my friend and colleague 
from the great State of Louisiana.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader is recognized.


                  Tribute To Senator Bennett Johnston

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I rise to associate myself with the 
remarks made by so many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in 
tribute to our friend and colleague, Bennett Johnston.
  A couple of days ago, I read some words written by George Bernard 
Shaw that I think probably as closely epitomized how I view Bennett 
Johnston as any I have read in my time in the Senate. I would like to 
begin what I hope to be very brief remarks, keeping to the approach 
used by our distinguished colleague from Wyoming in being brief this 
afternoon.
  George Bernard Shaw wrote:

       This is the true joy in life: Being used for a purpose 
     recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of 
     nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments 
     and grievances, complaining that the world will 
     [[Page S615]] not devote itself to making you happy. I am of 
     the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and 
     as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I 
     want to be thoroughly used up when I finish, for the harder I 
     work, the more I love. I rejoice in life for its own sake. 
     Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid 
     torch which I have got ahold of for the moment. I want to 
     make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to 
     future generations.

  Mr. President, that describes our friend, Bennett Johnston. For 22 
years, the people of Louisiana and the people of the United States have 
been blessed with the leadership of this outstanding U.S. Senator. 
Bennett Johnston epitomizes the best in public service through his 
thoughtfulness, his fairness, his determination, his sense of humor, 
and his belief in love for his family. In this period of cynicism and 
ugliness in politics, Bennett Johnston has stood as a pillar of 
integrity, of hard work, of dedication, of devotion to public service.
  I have had the good fortune to know him now for over 8 years. I am 
proud to call him my friend. I am proud that I will have the ability to 
work closely with him for at least 2 more years. I respect his decision 
and know how deeply he feels about his family and his time spent on 
those occasions walking with his wife, Mary. There will be other days, 
as others have said, to talk about the many accomplishments of Senator 
Bennett Johnston, but today let me join with others in wishing him a 
future of good health and much happiness, recognizing that we do enjoy 
his company, his work, his partnership, and the future that we hold 
with him together.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. CRAIG addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho [Mr. Craig] is 
recognized.


                  Tribute to Senator Bennett Johnston

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, a few moments ago, my staff came into the 
office and said, ``Quick, turn on the television. Senator Bennett 
Johnston is announcing that he will retire after this term.'' I did, 
and I caught the remaining words that the Senator spoke.
  I came immediately to the floor to express, on the part of the Idaho 
Senators who are serving and who have previously served in this body, 
the respect we have for Senator Bennett Johnston of Louisiana. Other 
than you, Mr. President, I am, at this moment in time, as I scan the 
floor, one of the more junior Senators serving, although I am 
privileged to be the senior Senator from Idaho. I say that in context 
to having arrived here 4 years ago, and to have asked the advice of the 
then retiring senior Senator from Idaho, Jim McClure, ``From whom might 
I seek counsel as it relates to certain issues that are near and dear 
to our State of Idaho and to the Nation?'' --I served on the Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee that Bennett Johnston was chairing at that 
time and continued to chair through the 103d session of Congress--and 
without ever thinking of anything else, Jim McClure said, ``Chairman 
Bennett Johnston.''
  I had just served 10 years in the House, and I was used to the 
dynamics of the House. I thought to myself immediately: But he is a 
Democrat; therefore, he is partisan. That was quite typical of the 
style of the House. There was not the comity nor the bipartisan nature 
of the Senate existing at that time in the House. I remember at that 
time Senator McClure said, ``On the issues that you will be dealing 
with, Larry, Bennett Johnston should always be your counsel. And when 
he cannot be bipartisan--and there were times when he could not be--he 
will be very straightforward because you will always know where he 
is.'' For those 4 years, following that advice, Bennett Johnston was 
true to the description of Jim McClure.
  Let me also speak briefly for Steve Symms, recently retired from the 
U.S. Senate who, again, spoke similar words. My exposure in working 
with Chairman Johnston over the last 4 years has certainly paid honor 
to both of those gentlemen and their respect for Bennett Johnston of 
Louisiana.
  Bennett, personally, I will miss you. I will miss you because of your 
talent and your energy and your willingness to be bipartisan and 
cooperative in the name of good public policy. And I oftentimes, Mr. 
President, marveled at the sharpness of mind and the detail with which 
Bennett Johnston engaged the issues of energy. Whether it was 
electrical energy generated by nuclear or hydro or coal power, he knew 
the details. He knew the phenomenal maze of law that is bound around 
all of that, whether it was with the utility companies, or whether it 
was with the Federal regulatory agencies. I was always amazed because I 
suggest that never in my service in the U.S. Senate would I expect to 
command that kind of knowledge or understanding as does Chairman 
Johnston.
  I will miss you, Bennett Johnston, because of these things and 
because you have become a friend, and I appreciate that. At the same 
time, let me say how much I respect your willingness to recognize that 
there was a time to say, ``I will do something different.'' I think 
that is important for all of us, because I have the privilege of 
serving in the U.S. Senate because a senior Senator, at the peak of his 
senatorial ability, announced his retirement, choosing to do something 
in the private sector of our country.
  So I do respect those kinds of decisions, recognizing that there is 
life after the Senate, and that expertise and talent and service can go 
on to serve in other ways and in other capacities.
  But for the coming 2 years, Bennett, you will remain a valuable and 
contributive member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and 
the Appropriation Committees on which you serve. While you now serve in 
the minority, that will never stop me from seeking your counsel and 
your advice because, while the title has changed, the respect has not. 
In 2 years time, I will miss you, as will in body.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I defer to the Senator from Arkansas, 
who I overlooked, who has been waiting for some time. I would like to 
be recognized following his remarks in tribute to Bennett Johnston.
  Mr. BUMPERS. I thank the Senator from Alaska very much.


                  TRIBUTE TO SENATOR BENNETT JOHNSTON

  Mr. BUMPERS. Mr. President, this is indeed a sad day for me 
personally and, though Americans may not realize it, it is a sad day 
for them, too.
  The other morning, I read where former Secretary Cheney said he was 
not going to run for President and, in a spate of candor customary to 
Dick Cheney, said the price was ``too high.'' I toyed with a 
Presidential race one time and came to the same conclusion. I never did 
say it, though.
  But the truth of the matter is, public service, which I was taught by 
my father was the noblest of all callings, has come to demand an almost 
impossible price.
  I have no idea what went into Senator Johnston's thinking in arriving 
at the decision not to seek reelection. I know he is a family man. He 
is one of the few people I would defer to, maybe slightly, in his 
devotion to his family over me. So maybe that was it. But I am not here 
to wonder aloud what all went into his decision.
  The first time I heard of Bennett Johnston was when he ran for 
Governor of Louisiana and he was using the same media consultant I had 
used a year earlier in running for Governor of Arkansas, Deloss Walker. 
And while Bennett barely lost that election, he was elected handily for 
the U.S. Senate 2 years later.
  I might say to the Senator that that was probably the most fortuitous 
thing that ever happened to him. As a former Governor and Senator, I 
can tell you it was the most fortuitous thing that ever happened.
  But Deloss Walker had told me what a good candidate Senator Johnston 
was. And so he came to the Senate 2 years before I did. I was put on 
the Energy Committee, which was a widely sought committee assignment at 
that time because the Arab oil embargo of 1973 had everybody frightened 
to death. We were going to become energy independent. We were going to 
develop alternative fuels, and you name it.
  Senator Johnston had the seat just in front of me, and later of 
course became chairman of the committee. I forget the year. But I 
became ranking Democrat on that committee. [[Page S616]] 
  There are perhaps people in the Senate who have been closer to 
Senator Johnston than I have been, though I do not see how. I have 
traveled with him abroad. I have sat at his right hand in that 
committee, all these years. I have found him to be an ardent opponent 
on occasion. It took me forever to kill the super collider because he 
was on the other side. And I did not really kill it. The House of 
Representatives deserve the credit for killing the super collider. But 
I can tell you, as long as Senator Johnston was in the Senate, it was 
not going to happen over here.
  But in good times and bad, in battles together and battles against 
each other, I found him always to be brilliant and tenacious, but 
eminently fair. Last year, he took on another battle on the side of the 
angels that I had been fighting sort of a lonely battle for about 5 
years, and that was reform of the mining laws of this country. Senator 
Johnston got involved in that debate last year. He was tenacious. But I 
promise you some of his most ardent opponents, including the Senator 
from Alaska and the Senator from Idaho, will tell you they always found 
him to be eminently fair. He held hearing after hearing, private 
hearings with them to see if there was any accommodation that could be 
made that would satisfy them.
  And on the California desert bill, another battle that I had been 
involved in for 6 years here, he took that battle on last year and won 
it and we passed the California desert bill. Some day the people of 
America will look back and say we owe Bennett Johnston a big one for 
that.
  His announcement today follows the same announcement by two other 
fine men in this body, Hank Brown and Paul Simon. And my guess is there 
are going to be others.
  We could sit here and I guess make partisan speeches or philosophical 
speeches about whether or not the price of public service has become 
too high, and that would serve absolutely no useful purpose at this 
point.
  Bennett will have another career and he will have more time in that 
career. I do not know what it will be, but I promise you whatever he 
takes up, whether he decides to become a professor in some law school 
or maybe teach political science or some contemporary course on 
politics at LSU or someplace else, I do not care what it is, he will 
have more time for his family than he has had in the past 22 years.
  So, Mr. President, today is a sad time for me. It is going to be a 
personal loss to me for Bennett to leave the Senate, but more 
importantly it is a loss for America.
  I have never favored term limits. It is not easy to go before an 
audience when you know 70 to 75 percent of that audience favors term 
limits, and say you do not favor it, but I do not; never have. One 
reason is because it would arbitrarily cause us to lose good men and 
women with good minds, but, above all, a wealth of experience which we 
cherish in every single profession in America except here in politics.
  Well, Mr. President, I will probably be here to say this a few more 
times over the next 2 years for good friends of mine who decide not to 
run, but I can tell you I will not say with any more fervor or 
conviction at any point in the next 2 years, no matter who leaves here, 
that this is truly a great loss to this Nation and especially to the 
State of Louisiana.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. I thank the Chair.

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