[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S58-S59]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE NEW YEAR

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the new year is now upon us, a 
Presidential 

[[Page S59]]
year, and already the competition is fierce among candidates for 
election to ``Safire's New Political Dictionary: The Definitive Guide 
to the New Language of Politics.'' Accordingly, Mr. President, I have 
the honor to propose as first-in-the-field, a remarkable triple-
hyphenated safe bet and sure winner from the new year's day editorial 
of the Washington Post entitled, appropriately enough, ``The New 
Year.'' The editorial looked back to its predecessor 50 years ago, when 
the Post editorial writer of that age, contemplating the end of the 
Second World War, pondered whether the United Nations might now bring 
peace on Earth. This year's editorial comments, ``That sort of world-
federal-ish talk seems almost quaint today.'' Indeed, it does. Cord 
Meyer apart, there are not likely to be as many as half a dozen 
Americans alive who remember the World Federalists and their 
unflinching attachment to world government. That, of course, is just 
the role editorials play in our lives; to remind us of forgotten 
fancies and dashed dreams, lest we become too much impressed with the 
wonders of our own age.
  Mr. President, I can report that Mr. Safire, interviewed by telephone 
in his posh Washington offices, readily concurred that ``world-federal-
ish'' was definitely an early starter for this year's pol-lexigraphic 
race, adding that it might prove a watershed compound and go on to win 
a triple crown.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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