[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 137 (Saturday, September 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11619-S11620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO OUR RETIRING SENATORS
Mr. BURNS. Madam President, we are down to sort of the short rows, I
guess, of the 104th Congress. We will be saying farewell to about 14 of
our colleagues who have chosen to retire from the U.S. Senate, having
given a good many years and a good amount of their talents to this
country and to this body and, of course, to their constituencies in
their respective States.
I have fond memories of every one of them, as I came in 1989 and have
been doing business with all of these folks with a great deal of
pleasure. But it has not been all pleasure. There has been some bitter
with the good. But nonetheless, that is life and that is the
legislative process. That is the way it is supposed to be.
I can remember my first speech on the floor of the Senate when I was
standing in the Senators' lobby right behind the Senate, and I was a
little bit nervous about my first time. Senator Simpson of Wyoming, my
friend to the south, walked by me and said, ``You don't look very good.
In fact, you look a little green around the gills and a little pale.''
I told him, ``You know, I've been in the auction business a long time
and the public speaking business a long time, and this is the first
time I think I've ever really known a little bit of fear.'' I was
apologetic for that. I remember his answer was, ``If you weren't a
little bit afraid, we'd be worried about you.''
He has been a great teacher, Senator Simpson. I cannot imagine this
U.S. Senate without his presence, without his wit, without his humor,
without his approach not only to the legislative process, but his
approach to life, because I can remember when we used to have the old
off-the-record days and the dialogue between the press and this body,
and especially with him and his wife Ann and his family. We will miss
them in the Washington scene.
Senator Heflin is going back to Alabama--the judge, we call him--who
has been a teacher to me on the Energy Committee, facing some of the
same kinds of problems in our respective States, even though he comes
from the Southeast and I from the West.
Senator Kassebaum. Nancy will go home to Kansas. Kind, thoughtful, I
did not always agree with everything she espoused, and she with me, but
nonetheless I will miss her.
Senator Simon from Illinois we will miss, with his voice, very
distinctive voice in this body. But I think we will also miss the
pragmatic way he confronted life in this body and what he could do. He
will go home to southern Illinois, and we will miss him.
Senator Pell and his longtime association with foreign policy.
I can remember as a young man traveling for the American Polled
Hereford Association, and I had the opportunity to travel to the
Pacific Northwest, to Washington and Oregon. I can remember when I went
to Oregon, Mark Hatfield was Governor of that State. I deemed it a
great, high honor to serve with him in his capacity both in Energy and
Appropriations here, and I thought he was an outstanding Governor of
the State of Oregon.
Sam Nunn will be missed. He is the leveling effect on the Armed
Services Committee. We have had great shifts ever since the Wall came
down in this historic time that he chaired that committee, and also as
the ranking member in the last 2 years. But nonetheless, he was the
chair when the Wall came down with a tremendous change, a tremendous
shift in power, in world politics and in world military might. It
happened on his wave. While I was concerned about this Russian
situation, can they feed themselves; he was concerned, can they take
care of all of the bumps in the road and the landmines that they will
encounter while making this great transition from a world power into a
market economy and providing more freedom for their people?
Senator Bradley, who has roots in Missouri, the same as mine, has
done what he thought was right, not what everybody else thought was
right.
We will miss David Pryor because he will go home to his homeland of
Arkansas. Quiet, persuasive, knowledgeable, dedicated.
Bennett Johnston, who was the chairman of the Energy Committee when I
first went on the Energy Committee. Again, he had a leveling effect
because of the many contentious issues and emotional issues that we are
confronted with every day when you come from a State that has a high
proportion of public lands where the Government is really your
neighbor, in fact the Government is the biggest neighbor you have.
Thirty-eight percent of the State of Montana is owned by the U.S.
Government.
For some of you who are not aware what it is like to live next to
where the Government owns everything, there are times when they are not
very good neighbors. Kind of like the fella who moved into your
neighborhood, and they asked, ``How are the neighbors there?'' And he
says, ``How were they where you come from?'' You know, they really do
not practice that kind of philosophy sometimes.
But Senator Johnston is one of those people who tries to level out
the bumps, take some of the emotion out of it, to at least look at the
public lands policy as far as the right thing to do for the land and
the right thing for the people, for the people who lived where those
lands existed, and the impact it would have on their lives. I
appreciate that.
Hank Brown of Colorado will go home, back to Colorado. I think he
probably is one of the most intelligent men in this body, whose mind is
so curious and his approach to life is so pragmatic that he will be
sorely missed in this body. Probably there are not a lot of folks
across the Nation who will really appreciate what he contributed
[[Page S11620]]
to the Senate and what he has contributed to the United States of
America, because he quietly goes about his way in doing the right
thing, and very intelligently.
Jim Exon was the Governor of Nebraska when I was traveling through
Nebraska. There again, he is known as one of the outstanding Governors
of the State of Nebraska. Nebraska is a diverse State, kind of like
Montana, but of course a lot more robust because they have great
agriculture across the State with all the different kinds of
agriculture, because if you will look at Nebraska, it is pretty long.
You have most of the manufacturing, farm manufacturing, which all
pertained to agriculture, and the little towns in eastern Nebraska and
the great grasslands and the sand hills to the west, and, of course,
the North Platte River. I speak of Nebraska with great respect because
I happened to have married my wife in Nebraska. I understand those
folks. Of course, she comes from ranching people and the livestock
industry. So we understand that.
Sheila Frahm will not be coming back after we drop the gavel on
Congress. She will go back to Kansas, coming from a great part of
Kansas, the western part, just about where the next Senator who will
speak came from years ago, the able Senator from Pennsylvania.
All of these individuals will be missed for their individual talents
and the resources they brought to this body. That is what we are, 100
different minds. We are 100 different methods of approaching different
problems that this country faces.
I deem it a great honor to serve in the U.S. Senate with these men
and women who we will not see on this floor again when the gavel falls
this week. I say to my special friends, and especially to Alan Simpson,
who way back in 1988 was part of me getting into this political arena,
we do not say goodbye, we just say so long, because even though our
trails fork at this juncture in our lives, that is not to say that our
trails will not cross in the future again.
I thank them for what they have given this body, for the service to
their constituency, but, more importantly, I thank them for their
service to the United States of America. It will never be forgotten.
I yield the floor.
Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent I may speak for
up to 20 minutes in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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