[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 82 (Thursday, June 6, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SUPPORTS NAMING NEW NURSING FACILITY IN HONOR OF THE LATE SENATOR JOHN 
                                 HEINZ

                                 ______


                         HON. WILLIAM J. COYNE

                            of Pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 6, 1996

  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the late 
Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz and urge my colleagues to support H.R. 
3376, which will name the new nursing care facility at the Aspinwall VA 
Hospital in his honor. An advocate for the elderly and a defender of 
Pennsylvania's interests, John Heinz was an asset for the city of 
Pittsburgh and the State of Pennsylvania. He built a well-deserved 
reputation as one of the State's most popular public officials.
  Henry John Heinz III was born in Pittsburgh, the only son of H. J. 
Heinz II and the greatgrandson of industrialist Henry J. Heinz, who 
founded H. J. Heinz Co. in 1869. The Heinz family is often credited 
with helping transform Pittsburgh.
  John Heinz was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, graduated from 
Yale University in 1960, and received an M.B.A. from the Harvard 
Business School in 1963. A scholar with natural business acumen, John 
Heinz graduated in the top 10 percent of his Harvard class. After 
business school, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and spent 1 year on 
active duty and 5 years in the Air Force Reserves.
  After working for a number of years in the family business, John 
Heinz ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1971. Heinz served 
for nearly 20 years in the U.S. Congress, 5 in the House and 15 in the 
Senate, with interests and influence ranging over a wide field of 
complex subjects including trade, tax, health care, and pension policy.
  Despite his privileged upbringing, John Heinz spent much of his time 
in Congress working on behalf of steelworkers, the elderly, and the 
disabled. His mostly blue-collar constituents approved of his candid, 
grassroots style despite his enormous wealth.
  John Heinz worked in Congress to improve the lives of Americans. His 
interest in health care for the elderly found an outlet on the Aging 
Committee, which he helped establish in the 1970's. As ranking minority 
member of the Aging Committee, he focused national attention on abuses 
in nursing homes and fraud in the Medicare Program. He also spearheaded 
a successful effort to strengthen Federal regulation of health 
insurance for the elderly. Constantly working on behalf of his 
constituents, one important legislative accomplishment was crafting 
trade legislation to adopt a more assertive policy on imported steel 
and other items that had an unfair advantage when competing with the 
products of Pennsylvania. Always concerned about the strength of 
American families, one of John Heinz' last major initiatives in the 
Senate was an unsuccessful effort to require the Pentagon to ensure 
that no single parents or couples with children be deployed to the 
Persian Gulf.
  The late Senator John Heinz III was a scholar, a patriot, and a 
dedicated public servant. He was a strong advocate for the citizens of 
Pittsburgh and the State of Pennsylvania. I urge my colleagues to join 
with me in supporting H.R. 3376 so that we may pay a fitting tribute to 
John Heinz by naming the new nursing care facility at the Aspinwall VA 
Hospital in his honor.

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