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




                        TRIBUTE TO HOWELL HEFLIN

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, it has been my practice as Senator 
Republican leader to pay tribute to colleagues who are retiring from 
the Senate.
  Usually, these remarks are delivered shortly before the Senate 
adjourns for the year.
  However, my announcement of 2 weeks ago that I will also be leaving 
the Senate has moved up my time schedule.
  In the coming days, then, I will be devoting some of my leader time 
to share a few memories of those of our colleagues who will not return 
to this Chamber when the 105th Congress convenes next January.
  Let me start with a friend of all of us, Senator Howell Heflin of 
Alabama.
  For 18 years, Howell Heflin has represented Alabama with distinction 
here in the U.S. Senate. But to many here in this Chamber, and to 
countless Alabamans, it is not ``Senator'' Heflin, it is ``judge'' 
Heflin.
  Prior to his arrival in the Senate, judge Heflin served for 6 years 
as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, earning a reputation for 
fairness and common sense. It's a reputation that has continued through 
his service here in the Senate.
  As a member of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Heflin has become 
known, in the words of the almanac of American politics, as ``a careful 
lawyer who picks at the rules of law with the delicate touch of a watch 
repairman.''
  It took someone with that touch to successful revise America's 
bankruptcy laws, as Senator Heflin did in 1994.
  Alabama, like Kansas, is a State with a strong agriculture heritage, 
and I have enjoyed serving with Senator Heflin on the Agriculture 
Committee, and learning a great deal from him about issues ranging from 
peanuts to the boll weevil.
  But as I reflect back on our 18-year friendship, the one incident 
that remains most clearly in my mind was Senator Heflin's vote 
authorizing President Bush to use force to remove Saddam Hussein from 
Kuwait. Senator Heflin was 1 of 11 Senate Democrats who has the courage 
to break with their leadership and stand with the President. History 
will always reflect that this was the right decision and that had the 
52 to 47 vote gone differently, it would have been a tremendous blow to 
America's prestige.
  Elizabeth and I are proud to call Howell and ``Mike'' Heflin our 
friends, and we wish them many more years of health and happiness as 
they return to the state they love so much and have served so well.

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