[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11166-S11167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BEST REGARDS TO SENATOR COHEN

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I rise briefly to extend my best regards to 
Senator Bill Cohen as he leaves this body after 18 years in the 
distinguished service.
  I have had the good fortune of serving with Senator Cohen on the 
Governmental Affairs Committee for the entire 18 years, and have also 
served with him on the Subcommittee of Oversight of Government 
Management on that committee. Sometimes he was the chairman and other 
times I was the chairman during this 18-year period. But in either case 
we were always able to work together and I think make a real difference 
in the management of our Federal programs.
  Several pieces of legislation stand out for me when I think back over 
our years of working together: First and foremost would be the 
Compensation in Contracting Act which Senator Cohen and I cosponsored 
and got enacted back in 1984. There is a current estimate that perhaps 
$40 to $50 billion in savings resulted from that law. That was a great 
piece of work that he had such an instrumental role in.
  Then we worked on lobbying reform which has cleaned up our broken 
lobbying disclosure laws and has resulted in the registration of at 
least twice as many lobbyists and the disclosure of almost five times 
as much money being spent on lobbying activities than we knew of prior 
to this law being passed.
  We have reauthorized the independent counsel law three times since it 
was first enacted in 1978.
  We have struggled with many key issues, including maintaining the 
independence of the office but continuing to retain important checks. 
It is far from a perfect law but it has been worth the effort.

  The list of joint efforts is long: Social Security Disability Reform 
Act of 1984; several reauthorizations of the Office of Government 
Ethics; oversight hearings on Wedtech; the FAA; Federal courthouse 
construction; Federal debarment practices; overloading; security; 
subcontractor kickbacks; hurry-up spending on medical labs; the United 
States Synfuels Corporation. We touched on almost every department of 
the Federal Government.
  We have taken testimony from a broad cross-section of witnesses from 
hackers to slackers, from crooks to saints, auditors, parents, 
scientists, whistleblowers, meat inspectors, doctors, lawyers, and 
engineers. We have had witnesses behind screens, witnesses with 
distorted voices, and witnesses giving testimony by phone over a 
speaker. We have had hearings with all the press, and we have had 
hearings with no press. We have had hearings where everything worked, 
and we have had hearings where nothing seemed to work. We have had 
testimony that was funny, testimony that was tragic. We have addressed 
issues where the solutions were obvious and achievable, and where the 
answers were elusive.

[[Page S11167]]

  But, Mr. President, Senator Cohen and I on this little subcommittee 
have lived through the thick and the thin of congressional life. 
Senator Cohen has done it with integrity, with intelligence, with 
humor, and with elan, and sometimes with some poetry.
  He served the people of Maine and the people of this Nation with 
distinction. The Senate will be a lesser place when he leaves, and I 
will miss him as a friend and as a colleague. And we wish him nothing 
but the greatest happiness because he surely deserves it.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
  Mr. FRIST addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.

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