[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S11949]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO SENATOR PELL

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
gentleman who has done so much to advance the cause of education in our 
Nation, Senator Claiborne Pell, as he nears the close of a 36-year 
tenure in the U.S. Senate.
  A recitation of Senator Pell's accomplishments and the qualities of 
his character that have earned him the respect of so many of his Senate 
colleagues would fill a sizable portion of the Congressional Record, 
but I will limit myself to a few remarks which, I hope, reflect the 
respect and admiration I feel for the senior Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. President, I have served with Senator Pell on the Foreign 
Relations Committee since I joined the Senate in 1993, and I quickly 
learned to respect the word of a man who has been engaged in 
international affairs, and the development of America's role in the 
postwar world, since he attended the founding conference of the United 
Nations in 1945.
  He has been a stalwart supporter of the movement to secure and 
protect human rights in all parts of the world. We have joined forces, 
for example, to protest human rights abuses by the Indonesian 
Government against the people of East Timor.
  Senator Pell pressed for his country to take a strong leadership role 
in protecting the global environment, and he has also been active in 
efforts to control chemical weapons and to keep nuclear weapons from 
being sited on the floors of our oceans.
  But, Mr. President, Claiborne Pell will doubtless be remembered for 
another accomplishment.
  Since 1973, more than 60 million Americans have received college 
educations with the assistance of the Basic Educational Opportunity 
Grant Program, known since 1980 as the Pell grants. Fathering a program 
that has done so much good would, in and of itself, rightly establish a 
Senator's reputation. For Senator Pell, it was a high point in a long 
and distinguished career.
  Mr. President, it has been wisely said that only the educated are 
free. In that sense, Senator Pell has probably been as responsible as 
anyone for securing freedom for millions of Americans.
  He also did much to improve the quality of their lives with his 
efforts to create and nurture the National Endowments for the Arts and 
for the Humanities.
  If his accomplishments were not enough, Mr. President, Claiborne Pell 
also set an example for senatorial behavior.
  The people who send us here expect us to study the issues with care, 
conduct our business with civility and make our decisions with respect 
to the common good. That is exactly what Senator Pell did for 36 years, 
and that is why the people of Rhode Island kept sending him here.
  Mr. President, I will miss Claiborne Pell. I wish him every 
contentment in his life after he leaves this chamber, and I hope that 
we who remain will be mindful of his example.

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