[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           MADELEINE ALBRIGHT

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, there are few jobs on Earth more demanding, 
or where the stakes are greater, than the Secretary of State of the 
United States. The daily business of most heads of state around the 
world pales in comparison.
  The President has made an outstanding nomination. Madeleine Albright 
brings to this job a lifetime of experience. She has proven her 
toughness and her fairness many times over. She has been an unwavering 
champion of the fundamental ideals our Nation stands for.
  She has been a strong voice for international human rights and the 
dignity of all people. She is going to be looked at by millions of 
people all over the world--in democracies and countries that are not 
democratic--as our voice in foreign affairs.
  My wife Marcelle and I have been privileged to know Madeleine 
Albright for over 20 years. We have traveled with her and we have 
worked with her. I also had the privilege to be appointed as a 
congressional delegate to the United Nations, when I joined with her in 
introducing resolutions on landmines. I have always found her to be a 
person of the highest integrity, the greatest ability, wide-ranging 
knowledge, and one real tough ambassador when she has to be, to protect 
the interests of the United States.
  On an issue dear to my heart, the abolition of antipersonnel 
landmines, we could not ask for a more forceful or passionate advocate 
for an international ban. Her trip to Angola last year and her poignant 
descriptions of what she saw there gave a great boost to the effort to 
ban landmines not only in this country, but worldwide.
  The recent United Nations vote, with 156 nations in favor and none 
opposed, for a U.S. resolution calling for urgent negotiations on a 
treaty to ban antipersonnel mines, was made possible in no small part 
because of Madeleine Albright's active role.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter she 
wrote to the editor of the Christian Science Monitor about her Angola 
trip.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [From the Christian Science Monitor, Oct. 11, 1996]

                      Albright View of Land Mines

       The author of ``A Sower of Land Mines Pleads to End Them,'' 
     Oct. 2, eloquently describes the horrific impact of land 
     mines around the world. Ending the devastation of what I have 
     called ``weapons of mass destruction in slow motion'' is a 
     high priority. As President Clinton told the United Nations 
     General Assembly just a few days ago, ``our children deserve 
     to walk this earth in safety.''
       This is why the United States is at the forefront of 
     efforts to end the use of land mines and their stockpiling, 
     production, and transfer. In the last few months, dozens of 
     countries have joined a moratorium on these activities and in 
     a few weeks, at the direction of President Clinton, I will 
     introduce a resolution in the UN that will commit the world 
     community to negotiating and concluding an international 
     agreement designed to end the scourge of these dreadful 
     weapons forever.
       At the same time, as the author discusses, tens of millions 
     of land mines are already in the ground and they go on 
     killing and maiming long after the conflict has ended. Along 
     with other countries, we have contributed more than $90 
     million to demining efforts, and we are working hard to 
     develop new technology to lower the costs of clearance and to 
     reduce the danger to those heroes involved in this perilous 
     work.
       Finally, we are helping prevent greater suffering by 
     alerting and educating on the hazards those millions of 
     civilians, particularly children, whose lives are not only 
     under threat everyday but whose ability to rebuild their 
     communities is circumscribed by the hidden danger under 
     roads, beneath playgrounds, or in unsown fields.
       Whether in Cambodia, Angola, Bosnia, or in many other 
     places, I have seen first hand the heartbreaking devastation 
     of land mines and the continuing tragedy that they inflict. 
     At the UN and around the world, as well as at the just-
     concluded Ottawa Conference, we will continue doing all we 
     can to end this horror and make our earth safe once again.

  Mr. LEAHY. As Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright and I will have 
many conversations on a wide range of foreign policy issues. I know 
Secretaries have traditionally steered clear of budgetary issues. As 
the budget for foreign assistance has fallen sharply in recent years, I 
hope she will become more directly involved in reversing this dangerous 
trend. Secretary Christopher called the decline in funding for foreign 
assistance ``the biggest crisis we are facing in foreign policy 
today.'' Not Bosnia. Not the Middle East. Not the fate of democracy in 
Russia. Not North Korea. Not renewed violence in Northern Ireland. Not 
the simmering conflict between India and Pakistan--both nuclear powers. 
Not the danger of plutonium ending up in the hands of terrorists. Not 
war and hunger in Africa.

  No, all of those things. Because we cannot deal with these problems 
unless we are willing to pay the price. Leadership costs money. 
Ambassador Albright knows that.
  I believe she will make the foreign policy budget a high priority and 
keep it at the top of the agenda. There have already been a number of 
Senators, both Republicans and Democrats, who have said strongly and 
forcefully--respected voices in this Chamber--that they will work to 
ensure that the administration has the funding necessary to effectively 
carry out its foreign policy. We need her active and sustained support 
in this.
  She is going to have her plate full. I urge her to give special 
attention to the needs of our own hemisphere, and I know that she will. 
We have seen real progress toward democracy and free markets in Latin 
America, but the future is far from certain.
  We have a compelling interest in stopping the flow of drugs and 
refugees, in strengthening civilian governments and seeing human rights 
respected in places where they are not, and in broadening our trade 
relations. I know of nobody who would give a better voice to that.
  So I think Madeleine Albright was a superb choice. She will make us 
all proud, as she already has as our representative to the United 
Nations. And I think the fact that we are hearing such strong voices on 
both sides of the aisle commending this choice bodes well for her as 
Secretary of State, and for all Americans. She will be confirmed 
overwhelmingly.
  It truly is the American dream when the daughter of a Czechoslovakian 
escaping communism becomes America's Ambassador to the United Nations, 
and the Secretary of State of this great Nation.
  Mr. President, again, I thank my dear friend from Iowa for his 
customary courtesy, and I yield the floor.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Gorton). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I ask that I be recognized in morning 
business for approximately 30 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from 
California controls the time until 11:30.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Chair.

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