[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO SENATOR KASSEBAUM

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I have had the honor and privilege of 
serving with Senator Kassebaum on both the Committee on Foreign 
Relations and the Committee on Labor and Human Resources and, I must 
say, that service together has always been, for me, a pleasure.
  Senator Kassebaum has served on the Labor Committee from the 101st 
through the 104th Congress. In the 101st and the 102d she served as the 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities. 
During that period, we worked most closely and successfully together on 
matters such as the reauthorization of the Carl Perkins Vocational 
Education Act in 1990, Library Services and Construction in 1990, and 
the Higher Education Act in 1992. We worked in the strong bipartisan 
fashion that has traditionally been the hallmark of the subcommittee.
  In the 103d Congress Senator Kassebaum became the ranking member of 
the full Labor Committee, and we continued to work closely together on 
such important matters as Goals 2000 and the reauthorization of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1994.
  Most recently, I have been proud to work with her in her present 
capacity as chairman of the Labor Committee in this, the 104th 
Congress. Her Workforce Development Act provided a much-needed overhaul 
and consolidation of our job training programs, and it also contained a 
series of very strong and positive vocational and adult education 
provisions. I supported the legislation both in committee and on the 
Senate floor, and regret very much that the Senate bill did not 
prevail.
  Similarly, Mr. President, we served together since the 97th Congress 
on the Committee on Foreign Relations. There, to my enormous regret, 
the tradition of bipartisanship is not quite as well entrenched, but 
partisan conflicts were never caused by Senator Kassebaum. She always 
conducted herself in the most rational, informed and moderate fashion.
  I would add that, in her years on the committee, she developed a 
remarkable expertise regarding the continent and the countries of 
Africa and an accompanying--and admirable--dedication to the often 
neglected peoples of that continent. During those years she traveled 
often to Africa, came to know its geography, and developed 
relationships with its political and business leaders. I think it is 
fair to say that she was unrivaled as the Senate's expert on Africa and 
African issues.
  In the years we have worked together on both committees, I can say 
without question that Nancy Kassebaum has always been thoughtful, 
considerate, and gracious. I can also say that she is tenacious and 
determined. But most of all, she brings all of those traits together in 
the most marvelous way. I know that I am not alone in this assessment. 
Everyone in this Chamber knows that is the way it is with this 
gentlewoman from Kansas.
  While I also will not be here next year, I know for sure that this 
body will not be the same without her principled and sensible approach 
to public policy. She will be sorely missed.

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