[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 146 (Wednesday, October 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S12545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO SENATOR DALE BUMPERS OF ARKANSAS

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I want to take a few minutes to talk in as 
glowing terms as I can about a great friend, a great Senator, and a 
person I have admired both as a Senator and as a plain good person for 
all the years I have been in Washington. And he is leaving us. He is 
retiring at the end of this session. I am speaking about perhaps the 
epitome of what I believe to be a good Senator, and that Senator is 
Dale Bumpers of Arkansas.
  I am really going to miss him, and this country is going to miss him 
as well. So will this Chamber. He is truly one of the finest Senators 
to have ever graced this body. He has done so many good things over the 
years. It is hard to know where to begin.
  I know he started out as someone in the Marine Corps. As a Navy 
person I will not hold that against him. I can overlook that. But then 
he came back to Arkansas and practiced law, had a small business, and 
even raised some cattle. He had good practical experience, and knows 
the people of Arkansas and he knows the people of this country. The 
people of Arkansas rewarded that--first as Governor, and now finishing 
his tenure as a Senator. He was elected by more than 60 percent of the 
vote in the last two terms.
  Senator Bumpers came to the Senate at the same time I came to the 
House in 1974. For 24 years he has been here.
  Someone said once about Senators in general that some Senators come 
here to coin a phrase, or coin a slogan, and think they have solved the 
problem. But not Dale Bumpers. He has worked very hard to solve the 
problems of this country.
  He has been a close friend, a person of immense common sense. When it 
comes to helping farmers, seniors, working people, and children there 
is no better person to have as an ally than Dale Bumpers. He stuck to 
what he believed. He had the determination to get the job done with a 
strong commitment to the people of Arkansas. He is certainly one of the 
finest orators and debaters this Chamber has ever seen. He has led the 
fight in the Senate against government waste.
  I loved to listen to his speeches on that $12 billion boondoggle 
called the superconductor super collider. And he won. Unfortunately, we 
wasted a lot of money on it. But, the people finally came to their 
senses and saw it as the boondoggle that it was.
  I wasn't in the Senate at the time. I was in the House working to 
kill that other boondoggle called the Clinch River breeder reactor. 
Boy, you would think at that time it was the most important thing to 
civilization that we built that breeder reactor. But finally people 
came to their senses, and we stopped it. And we are better and we are 
stronger because of it. We saved billions of dollars that would have 
been wasted. Dale led the fight on that in the Senate.
  He has led the fight against other wasteful spending such as star 
wars and the space station.
  I believe that he has finally brought home to the American conscience 
the issue of mining interests and the abuse of our public lands and the 
fact that we need to update our laws.
  Anyway, with a common sense approach he has been a strong ally on the 
Appropriations Committee where we need that kind of common sense 
approach.
  On the Agriculture Committee, he placed the needs of America's rural 
communities at the top of the national debate including rural housing 
and rural economic development. He has been the strongest fighter for 
protecting the environment. On the Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act, 
Dale Bumpers has been in the forefront of America's fight to keep our 
country clean.
  As the National Journal put it, Dale Bumpers is the Senator to whom 
``other Senators pay attention.''
  In numerous polls of Senate staffers, Dale Bumpers has consistently 
ranked as one of the best liked Senators.
  So we are going to miss him when we start the 106th Congress in 
January. We are going to miss Dale and his eloquence, his determination 
and his stick-to-itness.
  So to the entire Bumpers family, Dale and Betty, their children--
Brent, Bill and Brooke--and their five grandchildren, I want to extend 
my gratitude, and the gratitude of the citizens of my State, that I am 
so proud to represent, for loaning Dale to us for the past 24 years. 
America is a much better place because of Dale's service in the Senate.
  Mr. President, I want to close on the one note--the one area in which 
Dale has devoted so much of his time and effort, along with Betty on 
protecting our children from illnesses and diseases that have ravaged 
kids since time immemorial.
  No one has fought harder for childhood vaccinations, and to make them 
universal, affordable, and accessible than Dale and Betty Bumpers.
  So in recognition of their contributions, the Appropriations 
Committee, on which Dale served, voted unanimously, Republican and 
Democrats, to name a new vaccine facility at the National Institutes of 
Health after Senator Bumpers and his wife, Betty. This new facility, 
now under construction, will be named the ``Dale and Betty Bumpers 
Vaccine Research Facility.''
  As I said, Dale has been our resident expert on immunization since 
early in his Senate career. He has been a tireless advocate for funding 
to purchase vaccines and provide the public health system with the 
resources necessary to deliver those vaccines to the children who are 
most in need. He advocated a grant incentive program in the Senate that 
the Appropriations Committee has used each year to reward States that 
have been successful in preventing unnecessary diseases.
  So there have been a lot of tributes that have been paid to Dale. 
But, the most lasting tribute will be his and Betty Bumpers' name on 
that research facility at NIH because, that is truly where his heart 
has been in making sure that kids in places like rural Arkansas and 
rural Iowa, and all over America--including our inner cities--to make 
sure they have a healthy start in life by getting immunized. To me that 
says it all about Dale Bumpers.
  We are going to miss him. I hope that he doesn't go too far away. I 
for one look forward to his continued advice and counsel as I serve out 
my career in the U.S. Senate.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. JEFFORDS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. JEFFORDS. I ask unanimous consent to proceed in morning business 
for 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thomas). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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