[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S12272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE 104TH CONGRESS

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, the 104th Congress certainly ended far 
better than it began. A year ago, I truly feared that the major 
accomplishments of my 36 years in the Senate were about to be 
jettisoned by the extreme agenda of the new majority. Now, as the 
Congress draws to a close, the outlook is considerably brighter, thanks 
in great measure to President Clinton's determined resistance to an 
unreasonable dismantlement of progressive government. I am immensely 
pleased, in particular, that the tide was turned on education and that 
we actually wound up with a 12 percent increase in Federal funding.
  To be sure, there have been some disappointments, notable among them 
the failure to ratify the Chemical Weapons and Law of the Sea Treaties. 
And we should not lose sight of the fact that there is still momentum 
toward curtailment of many programs of great merit. I fervently hope 
that the coming election will produce a Congress that will be more 
moderate in outlook and further redress the balance toward progressive 
government.

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