[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11126-S11128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO GEARY T. BURTON

  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, on August 13, Geary Thomas Burton tragically 
and unexpectedly died while undergoing surgery to correct a knee injury 
he sustained during a recent church-related softball game. He was only 
45 years old at the time of his death. Geary was known to all of us on 
the Armed Services Committee and to many here in the Senate because he 
was a very important member of the staff of the Armed Services 
Committee from 1989 to 1991.
  Today, I want to take this opportunity to recall Geary's many 
professional accomplishments and describe for my colleagues the life of 
this remarkable individual who served the Senate Armed Services 
Committee with great distinction for more than 3\1/2\ years.
  Geary Burton was born on June 30, 1951, in Pittsburgh, PA. We are 
privileged to have his mother, Lura Burton, sitting in the Senate 
Gallery today, along with Geary's sister Nancy and her daughers Claudia 
and Claudette. It was through Mrs. Burton's love, hard work, and 
devotion in raising Geary and his sister, Nancy, that he developed such 
strong character and learned the value and importance of a good 
education. In 1973, Geary earned a bachelor of arts degree at Thiel 
College in Greenville, PA, where he majored in political science. He 
continued his education and earned a law degree from Duquesne Law 
School in 1976.
  With great energy and dedication, Geary used his education and skills 
as an attorney in the service of our country. In August 1973, he 
received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. 
He served as a criminal trial lawyer on active duty with the Judge 
Advocate General Corps from 1977 to 1981. Even after his release from 
active duty in March 1981, Geary continued to serve as an officer in 
the Marine Corps Reserve. In November 1982, he was promoted to the rank 
of major. We all know the Marines set very high standards--and Geary 
fully met these standards. Geary's accomplishments as one of ``The Few 
and the Proud'' are notable. I recall in many conversations with Geary 
he was extremely proud of his service with this elite military 
organization.
  In March 1981, Geary accepted a position with the Office of General 
Counsel at the General Accounting Office, where he served as legal 
counsel to the evaluator staff charged with auditing the Department of 
Defense, a very major responsibility. Geary consistently demonstrated a 
high degree of proficiency in performing his duties and moved quickly 
up the civil service ranks. In less than 7 years, he earned three 
promotions and obtained a GS-15 ranking at the age of 36--which is a 
remarkable achievement.
  Geary joined the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee as a 
detailee from the General Accounting Office in April 1989 to work on 
the complex issues of defense acquisition reform. I remember 
requestiang from the GAO one of their best people. We did not know 
Geary at the time but we really needed help. They certainly lived up to 
that request because they sent us a very talented young man. He quickly 
earned the respect and admiration of his fellow staff members as well 
as Senators on both sides of the aisle with whom he was in regular 
contact. Geary's tenure with the Armed Services Committee lasted until 
December 1992. During that period, he served as counsel to the 
committee for defense procurement and small business issues. We tried 
to keep Geary but finally the GAO demanded he come home because they 
needed him very bad.
  Geary successfully conducted research, drafted legislation, and 
developed congressional and public support for many key legislative 
initiatives. He performed a vital role in helping the Armed Services 
Committee make numerous changes to defense acquisition policy that were 
required in the face of the post-cold-war defense build-down. Geary 
worked hard to enhance the role of small and disadvantaged businesses, 
historically black colleges and universities, and other minority 
educational institutions in defense acquisition practices. Geary's key 
participation in the establishment of the Pilot Mentor-Protege Program 
was a direct reflection of the innovation and creativity that he 
brought to the committee in drafting acquisition legislation. In 
addition, Geary provided outstanding staff work in the oversight of 
programs designed to foster greater government-industry cooperation and 
to increase the use of commercial products and processes in Government 
procurement which has saved and will continue to save on an increasing 
basis literally millions and billions of the tax dollars for the 
American people. This of course has been a top priority of Secretary of 
Defense Bill Perry.
  While Geary's dedication and professional competence contributed to a 
highly successful career, Geary was totally devoted to his family and 
the community in which he lived. He was an active member of St. John 
the Evangelist Baptist Church in Columbia, MD. In his extended 
community of Howard County, MD, Geary served as a member of the board 
for the African-American Coalition and helped establish the Black 
Student Achievement Program. There is a saying that ``Those who possess 
the torch of wisdom should allow others to come and light their candles 
by that torch.'' Geary Burton followed this principle in both his 
professional and personal life to the great benefit of both the Senate 
Armed Services Committee and his local community. His service to our 
committee, to the Senate, and to the Nation was superb.

  Geary will be missed most of all by his devoted family but he will 
also be missed by all of us who worked with him. He was simply a superb 
individual in every sense of the word.
  In closing, Mr. President, I want to say to Geary's family--his wife, 
LaVarne; his two daughters, Ruth Giovanni and Beth Angela; his stepson 
Kevin Taylor; his mother Lura Burton; his sister, Nancy Bellony, and 
her

[[Page S11127]]

daughters Claudia and Claudette--that my thoughts and prayers, and 
those of all of the members and staff of the Armed Services Committee 
with whom Geary served, are with you in these difficult days. Geary was 
a respected colleague and trusted friend. We will always be grateful 
for his service to the Senate and to his Nation. We will always recall 
with great fondness and with wonderful, wonderful memories his warm 
personality and the energy and enthusiasm with which he approached his 
work and his life.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Dodd be 
permitted to proceed in morning business for up to 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. NUNN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. THURMOND addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The distinguished President pro tempore of the 
Senate is recognized.
  (The remarks of Mr. Thurmond pertaining to the introduction of S. 
2104 are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. DODD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, if I may inquire, I believe I have been 
allocated 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. DODD. I thank the President.
  Mr. President, I have served as a Member of this body for nearly 16 
years.
  In that time, few accomplishments have given me as much pride as the 
day in February 1993 when President Clinton signed into law the Family 
and Medical Leave Act.
  Enactment of family leave legislation threw millions of struggling 
Americans a lifeline.
  It made it easier for the American people to balance the 
responsibilities of work with the needs of their families.
  And most important, it said to the American people: If you or a loved 
one becomes ill, you won't be forced to choose between your family and 
your job.
  I point out that we were the last of the industrialized nations--in 
fact, last of many nations in this World--to actually adopt a family 
and medical leave policy.
  It took 7 years from the introduction of the legislation until it 
finally became law. Patricia Schroeder--also representing the State 
which the Presiding Officer represents--was the author of the 
legislation in the House. I introduced the legislation in the Senate. 
Seven years we spent trying to get this bill to become the law of the 
land. It was an experience fraught with highs and lows.
  Today, September 24, marks the fourth anniversary of one of those 
moments on the road to passage. It was in 1992, on September 24, that 
the Senate voted to override President Bush's veto of the Family and 
Medical Leave Act. Today, to mark this important anniversary, Americans 
are gathering all across the country in nearly 40 States.

  Families, community members, and businessmen who found life better 
under the Family and Medical Leave Act will meet and share their 
experiences with the American public. And today the First Lady will 
travel to Connecticut to hear from those in my State who have seen the 
benefits of the Family and Medical Leave Act in their own families' 
lives.
  Now, I would like to go back to 4 years ago today. On that date in 
1992, 67 of our colleagues--from both sides of the aisle--joined me in 
voting to override the President's veto of the Family and Medical Leave 
Act. It was in fact only the second veto override of President Bush. 
Unfortunately, 6 days later, the House voted to sustain the President's 
veto, thereby killing the Family and Medical Leave Act once again. It 
had been the second veto we had been through in 7 years.
  Our former colleague, Bob Dole, the then minority leader of the 
Senate, was one of those 31 Senators to vote against giving America's 
working families a helping hand. And just this month on the campaign 
trail Bob Dole attacked the Family and Medical Leave Act as what he 
called, and I quote him, ``the long arm of the Federal Government.''
  I think the 12 million Americans who have taken advantage of the 
Family and Medical Leave Act over the past 2 years would probably 
disagree with that view. I think that the 67 million Americans who are 
now covered and eligible to take family and medical leave would have a 
different opinion than that of the former minority and majority leader.
  For those, such as former Senator Dole, who continue to doubt the 
success of the Family and Medical Leave Act, I urge them to examine a 
recent bipartisan report which highlights the success of this 
legislation.
  You may recall, Mr. President, that as part of the legislation we 
formed a bipartisan commission on family and medical leave to examine 
what the ramifications would be. Members of the commission were made up 
of both Democrat and Republican appointees, as well as opponents and 
proponents of the legislation. We spent over a year examining the 
Family and Medical Leave Act with significant surveys of employers and 
employees, with hearings conducted across the country, as well as here 
in Washington, to examine what the implications of the bill had been.
  The overall findings of this commission were clear. In fact, the 
commission was unanimous that the Family and Medical Leave Act has been 
an overwhelming success. What is more, according to the commission's 
final report, the law represents, and I am quoting the report, ``a 
significant step in helping a larger cross-section of working Americans 
meet their medical and family care-giving needs while still maintaining 
their jobs and economic security.''
  The bottom line is that family and medical leave legislation is 
allowing millions of working Americans significant opportunities to 
keep their health benefits, maintain job security, and take leave for 
longer and greater reasons.
  Let us be clear on one point. Contrary to Senator Dole's 
protestations, family leave has also been good for American business. 
The conclusions of the bipartisan report, I think, are very important 
in this regard. And they certainly are a far cry from the concerns that 
Bob Dole and others voiced when this legislation was being considered 
in Congress.
  Mr. President, let me draw your attention, if I may, to this first 
chart which reflects a survey done of business leaders by the 
commission. The vast majority of businesses, nearly 94 percent reported 
little or no additional costs associated with the Family and Medical 
Leave Act. I was stunned by this conclusion since the commission was 
analyzing the initial phases of the legislation. The initial phases of 
a legislation are always the most difficult, with businesses having to 
accommodate, get used to it, and develop bureaucratic procedures within 
their own businesses to accommodate the new legislation.

  In my view, it is almost an astounding result that 94 percent of the 
businesses surveyed reported no difficulty in this initial time period. 
I assumed that such positive results would have come later as business 
became more used to the law and not during the initial stages, which 
tend to be the most awkward time.
  So that was a rather compelling result from the list of the employers 
we surveyed. By the way, let me add that there were hundreds of 
employers and employees questioned in the commission's survey of 
reactions to the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  When it comes to the employee performance, which was another concern

[[Page S11128]]

that was presented during the debate over family leave--as well as by 
our former colleague, Bob Dole--about what would be the effect on 
employee performances, what would happen to productivity, what would 
happen to growth when you had people moving in and moving out, as the 
critics claimed, nearly 96 percent of the employers reported no 
noticeable effect on growth. The concern was that this legislation 
would bring growth rates down. In fact, according to employers, 95.8 
percent said there was no noticeable effect at all. Interestingly, 1 
percent said they had a positive growth effect. If fact, we had only 
3.1 percent who said it had a negative effect, again, in just the first 
2 years of the bill being the law of the land.
  More than 94 percent reported no effect on employee turnover. This 
was another accusation, that we are going to get huge turnover rates 
from family leave legislation, and yet on turnover rates, 94.7 percent 
of businesses reported no problems with turnover whatsoever.
  Eighty-three percent of the employers reported no noticeable impact 
on employee productivity. We were told, once again, that productivity 
rates would fall--businesses would lose people and have to hire 
temporary employees to come in for a period of time. Supposedly this 
would cause productivity rates would fall. In fact, 83 percent said the 
law had no impact on productivity whatsoever. In fact, 12.6 percent 
actually said the law had a positive effect on productivity because, I 
presume, people no longer had to worry about losing their job because 
of a family crisis.
  As we all know, Mr. President, family and medical leave is more than 
just statistics. There are real Americans behind these numbers. In 
compiling our bipartisan report on family and medical leave, we heard 
testimony from Americans who have been helped by this legislation. None 
of the commissioners--none of the commissioners, Mr. President--will 
ever forget the story of the Weaver family that we heard during our 
hearing in Chicago.
  Melissa Weaver of Port Lavaca, TX, was 10 years old when she was 
diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and after undergoing a year of 
surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, her doctor regretfully 
informed her parents, Ken and Rosie Weaver, that she had only a few 
months to live. Because of the Family and Medical Leave Act, over the 
next 7 weeks, the Weavers were given the bittersweet opportunity to 
spend every moment together with Melissa during her final days.
  In January 1994, Nedra Ward, an administrative assistant in Chicago, 
discovered she was pregnant. After her first trimester, she developed 
complications, putting her health and pregnancy at risk. Her employer 
allowed her to take time off on an intermittent basis. Today, she has 
both her job and a healthy, strong, baby boy.
  Jonathan Zingman's second daughter was born in 1994. Two weeks after 
the cesarean section birth, the baby developed an infection and was 
hospitalized. Jonathan Zingman took 2 weeks off from work to aid his 
wife in recovering from surgery, to take care of his new daughter, and 
to give his older daughter an opportunity to adjust to her new sister.
  What the Weavers, Nedra Ward, and Jonathan Zingman all have in common 
is that due to the Family and Medical Leave Act, they were not forced 
to make a choice between their jobs and their families.

  As the author of this legislation, I would prefer that no one would 
ever have to use it because of a sickness, but as we all know, life is 
not so kind. The Family and Medical Leave Act has given these three 
American families, as it will millions of others, the opportunity to 
take medical leave when illness strikes and the necessary time to care 
for ailing family members and loved ones.
  I hope that Mr. Dole and others, particularly Mr. Dole, would retract 
any suggestion that he might repeal the Family and Medical Leave Act if 
elected. I can think of few other pieces of legislation that have had 
such a positive and beneficial impact on the American public as this 
legislation, which is now the law of the land because President Clinton 
signed it in February 1993. But for 7 long years we had to fight day in 
and day out to enact family and medical leave legislation. We fought 
through two veto overrides, in which we succeeded in one but eventually 
lost the fight in the House of Representatives. To repeal this 
legislation now would be a major setback, in my view, for America's 
working families and I hope that on this one piece of legislation Bob 
Dole will admit he was wrong and agree today that family and medical 
leave will, and must, remain the law of the land.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who seeks recognition?
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The absence of a quorum has been noted. The 
clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, is it in order to take some time as in 
morning business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator may proceed.

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