[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 91 (Friday, July 10, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S7937]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HIGHER EDUCATION ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1998

  (In the Record of July 9, 1998, on page S7873, a portion of the text 
of Mr. Dodd's remarks was inadvertently omitted. The permanent Record 
will be corrected to reflect the following:)
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, very briefly, I see my colleague from Ohio 
here, I want to add my voice to those who have spoken in praise of 
Senator Jeffords, the chairman of the committee, his staff, and the 
wonderful job they did in leading this piece of legislation and working 
with Senator Kennedy as the leading Democrat on our side.
  What we witnessed today is a wonderful example of how the legislative 
process ought to work. It is hard to imagine taking on a piece of 
legislation that has a 5-year lifespan to it, a higher education bill 
that affects so many millions of Americans. We did this in one day in 
large measure because the committee worked very closely together, Mr. 
President. A lot of work went into trying to resolve issues as a 
committee. There were a couple we couldn't, so we left those to our 
colleagues, which is the way it should be here when you can't come to a 
final resolution.
  That shows remarkable leadership on the part of the chairman and the 
ranking Democrat, that they can take a bill as complicated and as 
comprehensive as this, one as long in duration as this and bring it to 
the floor and, in the space of virtually 12 hours, provide the kind of 
unanimous--it may have been unanimous, I don't know what the vote was 
here--almost unanimous vote in support of the Higher Education Act for 
our Nation.
  I want others to know that this is a good example of how we ought to 
work here. I hope others will heed this example.
  For Dan Coats, who is not on the floor this evening, our colleague 
from Indiana, this will be the last higher education bill he will be 
involved in, as he made the decision to leave the U.S. Senate at the 
end of his term. Certainly, there will be other bills between now and 
when the session ends. I am certain Senator Coats feels a sense of 
pride, as he should, having played a major role in the last higher 
education bill he will be involved in in the U.S. Senate. I commend him 
for his efforts.
  Let me join in commending staff: Mark Powden for his fine work, Susan 
Hattan, Scott Giles, Jenny Smulson, Corey Heyman.
  Senator Kennedy's staff: Marianna Pierce did a wonderful job on the 
Democratic side working on this and keeping us well informed and trying 
to work out amendments during the committee process and on the floor.
  Jennifer Kron and Jane Oates did a wonderful job, as did Townsend 
Lange from Senator Coats' staff. And you will all understand why I pay 
a special tribute to Suzanne Day of my office who does a fabulous job 
on these issues, and has for many, many years. She was joined this year 
by a new member of our staff who did a terrific job, Megan Murray, who 
is here with us on the floor this evening. I want to thank her, as 
well, for the tremendous effort she put into making this a successful 
bill.
  So, Mr. President, I commend our colleagues, and staff particularly, 
for really doing a very, very fine job. And in these days of acrimony 
and partisanship and invective behavior, it is wonderful to know there 
are examples of where this institution shines and shows its best. It 
did so under the leadership of the distinguished Senator from Vermont 
and the Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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