[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11536-S11537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           RETIRING SENATORS

  Mr. FORD. Mr. President, these last few days mark the last that we 
will have the pleasure of working with some of the most talented and 
dedicated Senators to have served in the U.S. Senate. That's because 13 
of our finest Members will be retiring this year.
  Recently, former Senator Warren Rudman wrote that ``As a Senator I 
had enjoyed sitting down with colleagues like George Mitchell, Sam 
Nunn, Bill Bradley, Joe Biden, and Ted Kennedy and saying, `We have a 
problem here--let's find a way to solve it.' They were Democrats, to 
the left of me politically, but just because we saw things differently 
I didn't question their morality or their patriotism. I didn't come to 
Washington to cram things down people's throats or to have people cram 
anything down my throat. I thought the essence of good government was 
reconciling divergent views with compromises that served the country's 
interests.''
  All of the Senators retiring at the end of this Congress have set 
their moral compasses in the direction of compromises to best serve the 
country's interests. In doing so, they have served their constituents, 
the U.S. Senate and the Nation well.
  They understood that the arbitrary labels many are so insistent to 
place on each other, in the end, fall short and are inadequate to 
describe an individual's commitment to country. That in fact, to weigh 
a life, a community's future or a country's needs, a different type of 
scale is required.
  In a pluralistic society such as ours, there are many ways to 
confront a problem and arrive at a solution. These fine Senators 
recognized that their job was to reach a principled position amidst all 
of these often conflicting choices. Henry Kissinger put it another way 
saying, ``The public life of every political figure is a continual 
struggle to rescue an element of choice from the pressure of 
circumstance.''
  They saw that the preoccupation with these labels is what grips us in 
gridlock. And that paralysis can cripple a nation's ability to solve 
its problems and move forward. With their fine guidance we have been 
able to move beyond gridlock on issues of great importance to the 
everyday lives of all Americans from health care reforms to important 
budget and spending questions, energy, immigration, the elderly, and 
judicial matters.
  When judging the choices they've made, I believe history will look 
back on their service with great respect and admiration. Over and over 
again, when confronted with conflict or when called upon for 
leadership, they insisted that their decisions answer the larger 
questions: Will it stand the test of time for our country? Will our 
country gain strength from this decision? Time and again, their 
guidance has resulted in policies that have come to define our country 
and the common vision we hold as a nation.
  In closing, Mr. President, I want to extend my personal thanks to 
Senators Sam Nunn, Nancy Kassebaum, Howell Heflin, David Pryor, 
Claiborne Pell,

[[Page S11537]]

Jim Exon, Hank Brown, Alan Simpson, Paul Simon, Bill Bradley, Mark 
Hatfield, Bennett Johnston, and Bill Cohen for a job well done and my 
wishes for continued success in the future.

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