[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 21, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S8806]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     NOMINATION OF DR. HENRY FOSTER

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, we debated today whether a minority of 
members of the Senate will permit Dr. Henry Foster a vote on the 
confirmation of his nomination.
  Dr. Foster is qualified to be Surgeon General of the United States. 
His 38-year career as a physician has reflected his concern for the 
medically underserved in our society and most clearly for young people. 
He has delivered more than 10,000 babies and trained hundreds of young 
doctors.
  Unfortunately, his nomination has become a pawn in the game of 
Presidential politics. Apparently, some of our colleagues see an 
advantage in the Republican Presidential nominating process to using 
the issue of abortion as a rallying cry to frustrate the confirmation 
process. If a bipartisan majority of the U.S. Senate is prepared to 
vote to confirm the President's appointment, that vote should occur and 
Dr. Foster should be Surgeon General.
  Pure and simple, the excuse for denying a vote to Dr. Foster is that 
he has performed a legal medical procedure on behalf of a tiny 
percentage of his patients.
  Some of my colleagues in the Senate oppose a woman's right to choose 
on abortion, and that is their right. As lawmakers, they have the right 
to try to regulate it within constitutional limits and indeed, through 
the route of a constitutional amendment, they may even try to prohibit 
it. We have debated, and I'm sure we will again, debate that issue in 
this Chamber.
  However, we should not try to turn Dr. Foster's nomination into that 
debate, because doing so is neither fair to the nominee, nor wise for 
the Nation.
  I think Dr. Foster's views on abortion echo that of the vast majority 
of Americans. Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. Now that last 
word rare is important. It's a word many people use when they talk 
about abortion, but Dr. Foster hasnt just talked about making abortion 
rare--he has done something about it.
  Dr. Foster's I Have a Future program in Tennessee is considered an 
effective approach to teen pregnancy prevention. Indeed President Bush 
considered Dr. Foster's program one of his Thousand Points of Light, an 
outstanding example of Americans taking their own initiatives to make 
our country healthier and stronger. In this program, Dr. Foster has 
focused on helping young people develop confidence and self-esteem, 
because he knows that the teenager who can say ``I have a future'' is 
the teenager who can say ``I don't want to give up that future by 
having a baby.''
  The qualities of leadership and vision Dr. Foster demonstrated in 
creating this program will make him a fine Surgeon General.
  I was moved by Dr. Foster's testimony before the Labor and Human 
Resources committee and paid a visit in my State to a program that 
shares many of the goals he has achieved in his I Have A Future 
program.
  At Detroit's Northern High School, the Michigan Metro Girl Scout 
Council, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, has developed 
the Jayhawk Teen Center. The center provides young people with a safe, 
clean, and attractive place to come after school. It's a place to play 
a game of checkers' or a game of pool or to use a computer to log onto 
the Internet. It's also a place where young people learn how to resolve 
conflicts without violence, how to avoid the dead end street of 
substance abuse, and how to practice sexual responsibility. A team of 
four student managers runs this center, and I wish you could see the 
pride on their faces when they describe the difference it's made in 
their lives and the lives of their fellow student. Here too, young 
people are realizing they have a future.
  When I met with these students, I told them about Dr. Foster, the 
work he had done and why I thought he would make an even greater 
contribution to our country as Surgeon General. But I also told them it 
was possible his nomination would not even be allowed to come up for a 
vote. They were puzzled by that. They couldn't understand how a good 
man, a man who had done all Dr. Foster has done, could be denied that 
opportunity. And, I do not think the American people will understand it 
either. They won't understand why Presidential politicking should 
prevent us from considering the nomination of a physician so qualified 
for this position.
  Mr. President, I voted to invoke cloture on the nomination. The 
President is entitled to his nominee, if a majority of the Senate 
consent. We should have that vote and find out.


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