[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 85 (Monday, May 22, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         IN MEMORY OF LES ASPIN

  (Ms. HARMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, ``Harman, how ya' doing?''
  That was Les Aspin's upbeat greeting each time we spoke.
  His tennis game was not much, but he sure was.
  Loyal always to his beloved Wisconsin. A man who loved the House and 
excelled at the legislative function. A big thinker on defense issues 
who probably contributed more to conceptualizing our modern defense 
policy than anyone else. And a true friend.
  He was certainly there for me as I laid my plans to run for public 
office for the first time in my middle age.
  He helped me strategize, he reviewed issues, he gave me credibility, 
and he personally came to California to campaign for me.
  After I won, he was there for counsel. And I tried to be there for 
him too in some tough times.
  Through it all, he was upbeat. Scarcely a week after his pacemaker 
was inserted in 1993, Defense Secretary Aspin testified for a marathon 
10 hours before his beloved House Armed Services Committee. Near the 
end, this freshman was temporarily in the chair. When he saw me, he 
laughed. ``Oh,'' he said, ``when they said there was reform up here, I 
had no idea it would go this far!''
  Aspin, I will miss you.

                          ____________________