[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 89 (Friday, May 26, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S7599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     NOMINATION OF DR. HENRY FOSTER

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I compliment the Labor and Human 
Resources Committee for reporting out the nomination of Dr. Henry 
Foster to be Surgeon General of the United States.
  Earlier this morning, the committee met and by a 9-to-7 vote 
recommended the confirmation of Dr. Foster for Surgeon General. Two 
Republicans joined with seven Democrats in favoring his nomination and 
thereby bringing the nomination to the floor.
  It is my hope that we will take up Dr. Foster in this Chamber. It is 
my sense that there are sufficient votes to bring Dr. Foster to a vote 
in the face of what has been announced to be a prospective filibuster. 
There is at least one Senator on the committee as reported who favors 
bringing Dr. Foster to a vote even though that Senator voted against 
him in committee.
  I had occasion to meet with Dr. Foster early on, and at that time I 
was convinced that the sole issue was the issue of whether Dr. Foster 
should be disqualified from being Surgeon General because he had 
performed abortions, a medical procedure which is legal and authorized 
by the U.S. Constitution. It seemed to me at that time that all the 
other matters which were brought up were red herrings, and that real 
opposition to Dr. Foster lay in the fact that he had performed 
abortions, a procedure authorized by the Constitution of the United 
States.
  I said on the Senate floor early on that Dr. Foster was entitled to 
be heard by the committee, entitled to have his day in court, so to 
speak, in this Chamber for a vote, both out of fairness to Dr. Foster 
as an individual and really as a sign that nobody would be railroaded 
out of this town without having a day in court, a chance to have an up-
or-down vote in the Senate.
  There is a very important precedent beyond Dr. Foster as an 
individual as to what he is entitled to as a matter of fairness and 
that is to others who may be interested in coming to Washington, 
tempted to come to Washington to perform public service. And many would 
be discouraged if Dr. Henry Foster would not be entitled to fair 
treatment by the Senate of the United States.
  I thought that reasons given by our colleague, Senator Frist, in 
supporting Dr. Foster's nomination were very important; that Senator 
Frist, a physician himself, emphasized Dr. Foster's commitment to try 
to combat teenage pregnancy, and that may be the No. 1 social problem 
in America today. If that can be brought under control, then there is 
no better person to try to do that than the Surgeon General of the 
United States. And also Dr. Foster's commitment to press for abstinence 
and to press for family values; those are positions which I think are 
very appropriate for the Surgeon General.
  So Dr. Foster has cleared a very significant hurdle in the 
affirmative vote of the Labor and Human Resources Committee. Some 
predicted he would never get that far.
  From what I sense, the climate in our body is to favor his nomination 
coming to the floor for a vote. I think a filibuster will be defeated 
and I think ultimately Dr. Foster will be confirmed. That is a very 
positive sign of respect for the laws of the United States, as 
interpreted by the Supreme Court, that a woman does have a right to 
choose, that a nominee like Dr. Foster is not disqualified because he 
performed a medical procedure, albeit abortion, authorized by the 
Constitution, and that men and women of character and good will can 
come to this town and get a fair hearing and perform an important 
public service.
  I thank the Chair and I yield the floor.

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