[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12274-S12275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO SENATOR NANCY KASSEBAUM

  Mr. PRESSLER. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to my friend and 
colleague, Senator Nancy Kassebaum, on her retirement from the U.S. 
Senate. It is not easy for me to bid her farewell. I sincerely will 
miss her presence in this body. Nancy and I have served together since 
1979, when we both came to this body. Since then, we have shared and 
fought for the same traditional midwestern ideals and values. Working 
together, we have succeeded in ensuring that our States get their fair 
share of Federal funding. She understands the unique needs of rural 
America. Few have shown her deep commitment to the interests of Kansas 
and the midwest.
  It has been a great privilege for me to work with Senator Kassebaum. 
She has been an inspiration to me and countless others. Her hard work 
and dedication to this body and to the people she represents in Kansas 
are unprecedented.
  During our years together on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 
I

[[Page S12275]]

developed a deep respect for Nancy's convictions and her commitment to 
aiding people in lesser-developed areas of the world. As both Chair and 
ranking member of the Subcommittee on African Affairs, Senator 
Kassebaum has shown compassion, tempered with pragmatism, in dealing 
with the unique issues of war-torn, famine-ravaged sub-Saharan Africa. 
Her expertise on issues affecting this area of the globe is unequaled 
in the Senate.
  Senator Kassebaum's expertise does not end there. She also knows the 
United Nations inside and out. She has dedicated much of her time to 
reforming the waste, fraud, and abuse that is rampant within the UN. 
Frankly, she spearheaded increased congressional oversight of the UN. 
The Kassebaum Amendment withheld 20 percent of regular budget 
assessments beginning in fiscal year 1987, in an effort to make UN 
budget voting proportional to country assessments. A host of UN 
accounting and budgetary assessment reforms have followed in the wake 
of this amendment.
  Senator Kassebaum also is a champion of education. She has worked 
tirelessly to secure increased funding for student financial aid and to 
reorganize the Jobs Corps program. As Chair of the Labor and Human 
Resources Committee, Senator Kassebaum also must be given credit for 
shepherding the Republican workfare plan through Congress. Because of 
her steadfast determination, we finally passed real welfare reform--
reform that will end the failed ``free lunch'' approach to welfare and 
will bring aid to those who need it most. She is a tough, commonsense 
reformer, whose tenacity and calm resolve will never be forgotten nor 
easily replaced.
  Finally, perhaps her crowning achievement of this Congress was 
passage this year of commonsense health care reform. Thanks to the 
Senator from Kansas, working Americans need not fear the loss of their 
health insurance policies when they change jobs or because of a pre-
existing condition. Thanks to the Senator from Kansas, the self-
employed will be able to deduct a greater portion of their health 
insurance costs from their Federal tax liability. These represent real 
and positive health care reforms.
  As the 104th Congress draws to a close, I wish my friend, Nancy 
Kassebaum, the very best as she embarks on new interests in her home 
state of Kansas and elsewhere. Her career in Washington has been 
distinguished. Her public service to her State and Nation are unrivaled 
in terms of results. Senator Nancy Kassebaum will be remembered as a 
first-class public official. I wish her all the best now and in the 
many years to come.

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