[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 139 (Friday, September 8, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S12937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              SENATE ETHICS COMMITTEE PERFORMED WITH HONOR

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, one definition given for the word ``ethics'' 
by the Random House Dictionary is--and I quote--``The branch of 
philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect 
to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness 
and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.''
  Members of this body who are called to service on the Ethics 
Committee are asked to make judgments quite unlike the judgments 
required by service on any other committee of the Senate. These 
individuals are called upon to grapple not only with public policy and 
legal and constitutional questions, but also with the deeper 
philosophical questions which have confronted the human race since Adam 
and Eve found themselves tempted in the Garden--namely ``the rightness 
and wrongness of certain actions'' by their own colleagues. There is no 
more daunting task than this.
  To be asked to sit in judgment of another's actions and motives is, 
in one sense, an honor, but it is also an humbling experience for those 
who are so honored to sit in judgment. And with that charge must come 
the certain inner realization that no one among us is without fault, 
that none of us is free from errors in judgment, weakness, and at times 
failings of character. Such task is made all the more difficult in a 
body such as this, where politics too easily intrudes, and where 
friendships developed over long years can cloud one's objectivity.
  I am deeply saddened by the tragedy that has befallen our colleague, 
Senator Packwood. However, he has done the right thing in choosing to 
spare the Senate further agony over his fate. Although this experience 
has been difficult for all concerned, one thing is clear. The Senate 
Ethics
 Committee has again performed its most arduous function with honor, 
thoroughness and professionalism. I commend the chairman of the 
committee, Senator McConnell, vice chairman, Senator Bryan, Senator 
Mikulski, Senator Smith, Senator Dorgan, and Senator Craig for their 
handling of this extremely contentious matter. I commend the very 
professional staff of the Ethics Committee for their diligent work 
stretching over some 2\1/2\ years. I understand that the staff read 
16,000 pages of documents, spent approximately 1,000 hours in meetings 
and interviewed over 260 witnesses during the investigation of this 
matter. That staff has served the Senate well.

  We live in times which are, unfortunately, more politically charged 
and ruthlessly partisan than I have ever witnessed in my tenure in the 
Senate. And it is nothing short of amazing that the Ethics Committee, 
evenly split among Democrats and Republicans, could come to a unanimous 
decision on this very unfortunate and highly politically charged 
matter. They were pulled and they were tugged by the media, by other 
colleagues, by an enormous workload, by political forces outside this 
body, and I am sure by their own personal inner turmoil over judging 
the actions and determining the fate of a fellow human being. Still and 
all, they came through. The ability of the Senate to police itself has 
been questioned time and time again. In this instance, perhaps the 
committee's toughest test in many years, I believe that the question 
has certainly been answered in the affirmative.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  Mr. SANTORUM. If the Senator will withhold.
  Mr. BYRD. I withhold my request.

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