[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2145-E2146]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DANTE B. FASCELL NORTH-SOUTH CENTER ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 12, 1998

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I join the Chairman of the International 
Relations Committee, Mr. Gilman of New York, and the Ranking Democratic 
Member of the Committee, Mr. Hamilton of Indiana, in strongly 
supporting this legislation to rename the North South Center as the 
Dante B. Fascell North South Center.
  Mr. Speaker, I had the great honor of serving in this House for 12 
years without our distinguished former colleague from Florida, Dante B. 
Fascell, and for almost a decade of my service in the House, he was the 
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In that position he 
played a critical role in dealing with many of the vital foreign policy 
issues of that time--the Iran-Contra scandal, the collapse of the 
Soviet Union, the effort to encourage the democratic political 
transition and the development market economies in the republics of the 
Newly Independent States and the countries of Central and Eastern 
Europe, the end of the Berlin Wall and the unification of Germany, the 
outrageous suppression of democracy and free speech at Tiananmen Square 
in Beijing.
  Dante was a critical player, Mr. Speaker, when the House of 
Representatives considered the War Powers Act in 1974, and throughout 
his service in the Congress, he was adamantly committed to assuring the 
importance of the Congressional role in the formulation of our Nation's 
foreign policy. In the 1970's the Conference on Security and 
Cooperation in Europe took place with the involvement of the nations of 
both Western and Eastern Europe and the United States in an effort to 
improve relations between Western Europe and the Soviet Union and its 
client states. At this crucial time, Dante was one of the most 
insistent and effective voices in advocating the importance of respect 
for human rights as a key element of any agreement with the communist 
countries. It was largely through his leadership that the United States 
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe--the Helsinki 
commission--was established.
  Among the most farsighted concerns upon which Chairman Fascell 
focused his energies and attention, however, Mr. Speaker, was the

[[Page E2146]]

effort to improve and strengthen United States relations with the 
nations of the Western Hemisphere, including Latin America, the 
Caribbean, and Canada. Among his most lasting contributions in this 
regard was his important legislation to establish the North South 
Center at the University of Miami in 1990.
  Mr. Speaker, Dante Fascell worked tirelessly to promote democracy and 
foster an open dialogue among the nations of this hemisphere. His 
efforts in this regard were important in advancing our nation's 
security, competitiveness and economic viability. The East West Center 
has played a vital role in the national debate on the role of the 
United States in the Western Hemisphere. The Center has done important 
work in focusing on regional topics of great importance to our nation--
trade, economic growth, immigration, drug policy and drug control, and 
the spread of democracy and market economics.
  In light of Dante's distinguished record of service in this body and 
the critical contributions which he and the North South Center have 
made in our nation's foreign policy in this hemisphere, Mr. Speaker, it 
is entirely appropriate and fitting that we rename the North South 
Center in his honor. I strongly support this legislation, and I urge my 
colleagues to support it as well.

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