[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]



[[Page H5370]]

                               LES ASPIN

  (Mr. GOSS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I come to the well this morning for the same 
reason the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Skelton] did, to say that this 
weekend our Nation has lost a very stalwart son and a good friend of 
ours. To many of us here, he was an especially good friend.
  Les Aspin's untimely death at the age of 56, after suffering a 
massive stroke on Saturday, underscores both how much he accomplished 
and yet how much more he could have done. In the days ahead we are 
going to be reminded of those accomplishments as we seek to send 
sympathy and comfort to his family and those close to him. I am sure 
that important and caring leaders in many places around the world will 
remember to say, I knew Les, what a great job he did for this country 
for so many years. Equally, many just plain folks who knew Les around 
town here or back in his longtime Wisconsin congressional district or 
wherever it was will say, I knew Les. What a great guy.
  Mr. Speaker, as a classmate and a friend for many years at college 
and as a colleague here in Congress for a while and finally as a member 
of the Commission on Intelligence Roles and Capabilities, which is 
better and properly known simply as the Aspin Commission, which he was 
chairing at the time of his death, I had the privilege and the fun of 
knowing Les and working with him. I think the statement that I read 
this morning of his cardiologist and the news accounts says it best: It 
says simply, Les was an extraordinarily fine man. For those of us who 
knew him in this body, that vote is unanimous.

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