[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-31. A resolution adopted by the Senate of the 
     Legislature of the State of New Hampshire; ordered to lie on 
     the table.

                               Resolution

       Whereas, Paul E. Tsongas, former United States Senator, on 
     January 18, 1997, succumbed to pneumonia after a courageous 
     battle with health problems that had plagued him since he was 
     diagnosed with cancer in 1983; and
       Whereas, born on February 14, 1941 and brought up in 
     Lowell, Massachusetts, he was viewed as one of Lowell's 
     finest sons who used the values he learned on the streets of 
     Lowell to eventually lead a bipartisan effort to encourage 
     Congress to balance the federal budget; and
       Whereas, his Lowell high school years, while working at the 
     family dry-cleaning shop, were followed by graduation from 
     Dartmouth College, Peace Corps in Ethiopia and the West 
     Indies, Yale Law School, and a congressional internship; and
       Whereas, he began his political career in 1968 when he was 
     elected to the city council in Lowell, then ran for Middlesex 
     County commissioner and won in 1972, and in 1974 at the age 
     of 33, continued on to the United States Congress; and
       Whereas, throughout his life, he practiced law and remained 
     active in public affairs, speaking out on both local and 
     national issues; and
       Whereas, he shattered ideological stereotypes, favoring 
     ``liberalism that works,'' as symbolized by the federally 
     financed urban park that drew high-tech companies to the 
     empty mills along the Merrimack River in his native city; and
       Whereas, he won the 1992 New Hampshire primary and, 
     although they frequently disagreed early in 1992, President 
     Clinton eventually agreed with the former senator on many 
     issues and adopted much of the Tsongas platform a year later 
     in his State of the Union address; and
       Whereas, in 1992, he joined former United States Senator 
     Warren Rudman as a founding member of the Concord Coalition, 
     a public interest group focusing attention on the nation's 
     economic problems and pushing the need for balancing the 
     nation's books to the forefront of public awareness; and
       Whereas, although he was viewed as ``an outspoken man and a 
     determined and successful politician who never shied away 
     from tough political realities,'' he was also ``a good 
     listener, a good coalition builder, and you knew he was 
     always working for the public good'', now, therefore, be it

     Resolved by the Senate:

       That the members of the New Hampshire senate recognize the 
     many accomplishments and contributions of former Senator Paul 
     E. Tsongas; and
       That condolences be extended to his wife, Niki, and three 
     daughters, Ashley, Katina, and Molly; and
       That copies of this resolution, signed by the president of 
     the senate, be forwarded by the senate clerk to the Tsongas 
     family, to the President of the United States, to the 
     President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the 
     United States House of Representatives, to each member of the 
     New Hampshire Congressional delegation, and to the state 
     library.

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