[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 111 (Thursday, July 31, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S8620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO ROBERT A. STARR

 Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Robert A. Starr, Chair of the Vermont House Agriculture Committee and 
true Vermonter. I pay this tribute in recognition of Mr. Starr's 
unyielding support for the Northeast Dairy Compact, which on August 20, 
1997, provides the first over-order payments so desperately needed by 
Vermont's dairy farmers.
  ``Bobby'', as he is known far and wide throughout Vermont, has given 
lifelong public service to the Vermont agricultural community. Raised 
on a dairy farm during and after the Second World War, knowledge of 
hard times and a capacity for hard-bitten labor were ingrained in 
Bobby, traits which continue to distinguish the character of our hill 
farmers. After schooling at Vermont Technical College, Bobby followed 
the lead of his grandfather and became a member of the Vermont House of 
Representatives in 1979.
  Bobby became a member of the House Agriculture Committee his first 
year, and has been there ever since. He became Chair in 1987, and has 
sponsored and provided leadership on a host of initiatives to promote 
the interests of Vermont agriculture. Bobby has lent his leadership to 
the variety of Vermont's agricultural pursuits, but it is the dairy 
industry which has remained at the heart of his vision. Certainly 
Bobby's upbringing and his strong dairy farm constituency provide the 
foundation of his knowledge and commitment to the interests of the 
State's dairy farmers. Yet his vision is broader than just his home 
district, and indeed has expanded beyond the boarders of Vermont to all 
of New England.
  It is this unique expansive vision which spawned the dairy compact. 
Many of us in this body are intimately familiar with the dairy compact, 
yet few of us may know that the dairy compact was originally sponsored 
by Bobby Starr in the Vermont Legislature in 1989.
  Few initiatives in my memory have sparked such a vigorous policy 
debate as the dairy compact. I am proud to have sponsored the compact 
on behalf of all by colleagues from the New England delegation. 
Adoption of the compact could not have happened without their hard work 
here in Congress, and without the years of dedicated work of a 
veritable army of compact supporters from throughout New England.
  In all, the compact reflects the true spirit of commitment to our 
dairy farmers. The compact's first payment is a tribute to the hard 
work and the tireless commitment of Bobby Starr.

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