[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 80 (Tuesday, June 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5757-S5758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO CLAIBORNE PELL

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, ``I am less dynamic than many,'' Senator 
Claiborne Pell once said in his typical quiet manner, ``But I have my 
own course, which I set and try to follow.''
  For six terms, Claiborne Pell has followed that course in 
representing America's smallest State in terms of geography with a 
commitment and dedication that is anything but small.

[[Page S5758]]

  Foreign policy and the environment are just two of the many issues on 
which the contributions of Senator Pell will be long remembered.
  But, as countless college students over a quarter century can tell 
you, the one cause which will be forever linked with the gentleman from 
Rhode Island is education.
  His basic education opportunity grant--justifiably renamed the Pell 
grant in 1980--has provided many financially challenged young Americans 
with the resources necessary to receive a college degree.
  The great educator Henry Adams once said, ``a teacher affects 
eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops.'' Senator Pell 
will leave this Chamber with the knowledge that he will never be able 
to tell where his influence stops--because it would be impossible to 
know or quantify the difference that Pell grants made in the life of 
countless Americans.
  I am proud to be called a conservative Republican and Senator Pell is 
proud to be known as a liberal Democrat. Despite the fact we were on 
the opposite side of many issues, however, I never doubted the fact 
that Senator Pell's word was his bond, and I knew that, no matter what, 
I could always count on Senator Pell's friendship.
  I look forward to counting on that friendship for many years to come.

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