[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 65 (Thursday, May 6, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4932-S4933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING FORMER SENATOR R. VANCE HARTKE

 Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, I am pleased to submit for the 
Record a

[[Page S4933]]

statement in honor of one of our former colleagues, Senator R. Vance 
Hartke, (D-Indiana), who served in this body from 1959 to 1976. The 
statement is written by a good friend of mine, former Congressman Bob 
Mrazek, who worked for Senator Hartke from 1969 to 1971. Congressman 
Mrazek was thoughtful enough to submit this in honor of the Senator's 
80th birthday, which takes place later this month. We wish him the 
best.
  I ask that the statement be printed in the Record.
  The statement follows.

               Tribute to Former Senator R. Vance Hartke

                          (By Hon. Bob Mrazek)

       It was my privilege to serve on the staff of former U.S. 
     Senator R. Vance Hartke (D-Indiana), from 1969 to 1971. These 
     were tumultuous times for the United States in the bitter 
     aftermath of the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy 
     and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the Vietnam War continued 
     to cause deep divisions in the nation's social and political 
     fabric, I was proud to witness Senator Hartke's courageous 
     opposition to that war, which he began at great personal cost 
     in 1965.
       Throughout his 18 years of service as a U.S. Senator, Vance 
     Hartke demonstrated absolute fearlessness and political 
     courage in taking principled stands on the most important 
     issues facing the nation, often at the risk of prematurely 
     ending his career. His prodigious legislative achievements 
     undoubtedly distinguish Vance Hartke as one of the greatest 
     Senators of the 20th century.
       From his contributions to creating the Head Start program 
     and Medicare to the Guaranteed Student Loan Program and the 
     International Executive Service Corps, Senator Hartke was a 
     leader who made America and the world a better, more humane 
     place.
       I am honored to call this legendary legislator my friend. 
     In what I believe is a long overdue tribute, I would like to 
     present the highlights of a career that continues to have a 
     positive impact on our country and the entire world.
       Senator Hartke is credited by the definitive book on the 
     Great Society, Guns or Butter, with being one of six Senators 
     who passed Medicare, the crown jewel of the Great Society. He 
     is often called the ``Father of Medicare.'' The 
     Jeffersonville Evening News wrote that he was, ``instrumental 
     in gaining passage of more legislation to benefit the elderly 
     than any other senator.''
       Vance Hartke created his own Peace Corps, the International 
     Executive Service Corps still going strong after 30 years, 
     with activities all over the world. The U.S. ``business peace 
     corps'' has been emulated in 23 developed countries in the 
     world, with 35,000 business leaders participating, with each 
     replicated version also having outreach to every developing 
     country in the world.
       His successful passage of the Kidney Dialysis Amendment 
     saved 500,000 lives and continues to save lives today, 
     earning him the following observation by Richard Margolis: 
     ``We can measure our greatness in compassion, too.'' Perhaps 
     this quote best represents Hartke's legacy.
       During his 18 years in the U.S. Senate, Hartke spearheaded 
     the passage of every major educational bill, among them, the 
     Guaranteed Student Loan Act and the Adult Education Act, 
     which are still going strong today. He has a perfect voting 
     record as rated by the National Education Association.
       As a matter of personal conscience, he broke with President 
     Lyndon Johnson in 1965 to oppose the war in Vietnam at a time 
     when fewer than 300 Americans had been killed.
       Senator Hartke was a Civil Rights champion--even in the 
     face of death threats to his family in Indiana from the Ku 
     Klux Klan.
       Ralph Nader said of Hartke, ``He was the most consistently 
     effective advocate of the consumer in the Senate.''
       Ed Lewis, the well-known Indiana lawyer who died in 1996, 
     called him ``a visionary, an environmentalist before people 
     knew how to spell the word.'' The national environmental 
     community honored him with a ``Special Tribute'' at the 1997 
     Clinton-Gore Environmental Inaugural Ball.
       Senator Hartke was a candidate for President of the United 
     States in 1972.
       In summation, this prodigious record of achievement 
     represents not only a tremendous contribution to the people 
     he represented for 18 years in Indiana, but to every citizen 
     of this nation who has benefitted from the legacy he created 
     for us.

                               S. Res. 68

       Whereas millions of women and girls living under Taliban 
     rule in Afghanistan are denied their basic human rights;
       Whereas according to the Department of State and 
     international human rights organizations, the Taliban 
     continues to commit widespread and well-documented human 
     rights abuses, in gross violation of internationally accepted 
     norms;
       Whereas, according to the United States Department of State 
     Country Report on Human Rights Practices (hereafter ``1998 
     State Department Human Rights Report''), violence against 
     women in Afghanistan occurs frequently, including beatings, 
     rapes, forced marriages, disappearances, kidnapings, and 
     killings;
       Whereas women and girls under Taliban rule are generally 
     barred from working, going to school, leaving their homes 
     without an immediate male family member as chaperone, and 
     visiting doctors, hospitals or clinics;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, gender restrictions by the Taliban continue to 
     interfere with the delivery of humanitarian assistance to 
     women and girls in Afghanistan;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, under Taliban rule women are forced to don a head-to-
     toe garment known as a burqa, which has only a mesh screen 
     for vision, and many women found in public not wearing a 
     burqa, or wearing a burqa that does not properly cover the 
     ankles, are beaten by Taliban militiamen;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, some poor women under Taliban rule cannot afford the 
     cost of a burqa and thus are forced to remain at home or risk 
     beatings if they go outside the home without one;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, the lack of a burqa has resulted in the inability of 
     some women under Taliban rule to get necessary medical care 
     because they cannot leave home;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women under Taliban rule reportedly have been beaten 
     if their shoe heels click when they walk;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, under Taliban rule women in homes must not be visible 
     from the street, and houses with female occupants must have 
     their windows painted over;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, under Taliban rule women are not allowed to drive, 
     and taxi drivers reportedly have been beaten if they take 
     unescorted women as passengers;
       Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights 
     Report, women under Taliban rule are forbidden to enter 
     mosques or other places of worship; and
       Whereas women and girls of all ages under Taliban rule have 
     suffered needlessly and even died from curable illness 
     because they have been turned away from health care 
     facilities because of their gender: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the President should instruct the United States 
     Representative to the United Nations to use all appropriate 
     means to prevent any Taliban-led government in Afghanistan 
     from obtaining the seat in the United Nations General 
     Assembly reserved for Afghanistan so long as gross violations 
     of internationally recognized human rights against women and 
     girls persist; and
       (2) the United States should refuse to recognize any 
     government in Afghanistan which is not taking actions to 
     achieve the following goals in Afghanistan:
       (A) The effective participation of women in all civil, 
     economic, and social life.
       (B) The right of women to work.
       (C) The right of women and girls to an education without 
     discrimination and the reopening of schools to women and 
     girls at all levels of education.
       (D) The freedom of movement of women and girls.
       (E) Equal access of women and girls to health facilities.
       (F) Equal access of women and girls to humanitarian aid.

                          ____________________