[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 141 (Thursday, October 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12279-S12280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              A TRIBUTE TO SENATOR NANCY LANDON KASSEBAUM

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I rise in tribute to one of the great 
nonpartisan, effective Senators of this body, Nancy Landon Kassebaum.
  Senator Kassebaum's 18 years in the Senate have been marked by shifts 
back and forth in control of the Senate. She was elected into the 
minority, came into the majority within 2 years, returned to the 
minority in her second term, and recently returned to the majority.
  She has been the Senator we needed in these times. Whichever 
direction the winds of partisanship blew, she was the safe haven for 
compromise and progress in the public interest. That is why her 
endorsement is courted so assiduously on both sides.
  Mr. President, I emphasize that the winds have blown back and forth, 
but Senator Kassebaum has fixed on the great issues that concern all 
Americans and sought the solutions we needed. I remember when we saw 
skyrocketing deficits in this body that we worked together to make a 
freeze work. I had a ``Fritz Freeze'' and she had a ``K. G. B.'' 
freeze--Kassebaum, Grassley, Biden, and Baucus. Finally, we worked 
together in 1987 on a joint, compromise freeze. She has also tackled 
limiting campaign spending from a Constitutional point of view. We all

[[Page S12280]]

know the importance of finding a way to limit the influence of money in 
politics, and she has not been reluctant to advance a thoughtful 
position on that. And she has been a leader on making historic progress 
in South Africa. She has been the Senate's voice on Africa, and we 
appreciate that. Furthermore, she has been deeply involved in the issue 
of health research, particularly on Orphan Drugs. Basic health research 
is America's particular pride and strength, and she made sure that 
those with rare diseases are included in our hopeful enterprise. That 
is a contribution that will change the lives of families through the 
generations, who otherwise would have suffered without any hope 
whatsoever. Mr. President, these are all issues that are fundamentally 
important and nonpartisan. They reflect her judgment and her 
leadership, and we are privileged to have worked with her on them.
  Finally, Mr. President, I must brag on my home city of Charleston. 
Senator Kassebaum has recognized its beauty through her frequent 
visits, and, coincidentally, it is home to her son, his wife, and their 
children. I hope we will see more of her there after this Congress is 
over, but, certainly, she has been a real leader that we will miss in 
this Senate.

                          ____________________