[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 25 (Monday, March 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1815-S1816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO REMMEL T. DICKINSON

  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I pay tribute to my most senior staff 
member who is departing after a well-earned career to take on other 
pursuits. I do so with a sense of sadness, but indeed, a great sense of 
recognition for an individual upon whom I have relied, as have many 
other Senators. Rem is meritorious among his peer group of staff in the 
Senate and is recognized as the type of individual who is the very 
foundation upon which we, the 100 Senators, have to rely every day. His 
support and advice enables us to represent our respective 
constituencies and to do what we individually think is in the best 
interests of our Nation.
  Remmel T. Dickinson's service in my office began February 12, 1979, 
and he is to complete his Senate career on Wednesday, March 5, an 
impressive 18 years, on my staff, and serving 20 years in the U.S. 
Senate.

[[Page S1816]]

  He proudly hails from Little Rock, AR, but developed early on in his 
career in the Senate an equal if not greater loyalty to the 
Commonwealth of Virginia. I must hail him for that.
  From the campaign on which I was first elected, in 1978, he came on 
to the Senate, and like so many, he did not want to start anywhere but 
right down at the threshold level where he could learn the system all 
the way up. Indeed, he started in that all-essential institution known 
in the Senate as the mail room, which in many respects is the heartbeat 
of every Senate office.
  With meticulous attention to detail and congenial personality, and I 
want to underline that, Rem gained the admiration of his peers in the 
Senate wherever they may work, and his peers throughout the 
Commonwealth of Virginia, because he was very loyal to many, many 
people in Virginia. He was a true friend, and is today and always will 
be, to those that are disadvantaged in our society--be it with physical 
problems, educational problems, health problems, or whatever it is. The 
bigger the problem, the bigger the challenge, the harder Rem Dickinson 
worked to solve it.
  The Federal employees are often a very beleaguered group. He was 
there no matter what the challenge, to step up and advise me and other 
Members of the Senate, and indeed, staffers throughout this 
institution, on what he felt was best and equitable for the Federal 
employee. And not just those in the greater Metropolitan Washington 
area, but all across the United States he was recognized for his 
knowledge as it related to the essential services provided to the 
Federal employee by our country. Equal access for quality education 
opportunities and equal access in our health care system were his 
goals, and indeed we have achieved that and will go on to try and 
improve on those achievements here in the Senate.

  In past years, Rem worked tirelessly on the Republican Health Care 
Task Force striving for solutions to the dilemma confronting millions 
of Americans who simply did not have health insurance and the millions 
more attempting to cope with the ever-increasing problems associated 
with increasing health costs.
  In the area of education, Rem has helped in supporting our States to 
provide educational service for students with disabilities, known as 
IDEA. His attention has also focused on impact aid, a program which 
local school districts, those local districts colocated with military 
bases all across our Nation, and helping to get those funds which will 
enable the children of military families to receive their education in 
the local school districts without too severely impacting the costs of 
others who contribute, by and large, through local real estate taxes.
  Rem believes, as I do, that education is the key to a better quality 
of life for all Americans. He has earned a reputation for honesty and 
professionalism both in the Senate and, as I said, throughout Virginia. 
My constituents have had an open door to the Senate's work through 
Rem's expertise in these areas.
  As the years have passed, I am impressed by his dedication to duty, 
his loyalty to this Senate, to those on my staff, and to those on other 
Senate staffs, and indeed on a one-on-one basis with many Senators. 
Above all, he is a gentleman of honor in the finest traditions of the 
South which he loves.
  Indeed, Rem has earned the loyalty, respect, admiration, recognition, 
and gratitude of virtually everyone with whom he has come in contact 
during his lifetime.
  And I can only presume that the manner in which he has carried 
himself, and the care he has exercised in the performance of his duties 
will continue in whatever Rem chooses to do when he departs the Senate.
  We will miss Rem's daily good counsel. I commend Rem for a career 
well spent and well conducted, and I congratulate him on the 
contribution he has made to our Nation, to Virginia, and we wish him 
the best in his future pursuits.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. I ask unanimous consent I be allowed to speak for up to 
12 minutes in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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