[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 103 (Tuesday, July 20, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8824-S8825]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO KENNETH CHRISTOPHER FOSS

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I come to the floor of the Senate this 
morning to report a sad event to my colleagues. This past Saturday, 
July 17, I received news of the untimely death of Kenneth Christopher 
Foss, one of the analysts on the staff of the Republican Policy 
Committee, of which I am chairman. He was 29 years old and had been a 
lifelong sufferer of diabetes.
  Since assuming the RPC chairmanship in 1996, I had gotten to know Ken 
very well. Most recently, I had worked very closely with him on 
legislation affecting Second Amendment rights. As anyone who knew Ken 
can attest, he was not a man to compromise on principle. He was an 
extraordinary individual who stood on solid moral and conservative 
principles. In an age of relative values and indifference to truth, he 
will be sorely missed. For Ken, devotion to principle was not an 
option, it was an imperative.
  Ken's achievements during his all-too-short time in the Senate and on 
Earth were truly remarkable. He began his career with former Senator 
Dan Coats, first as an intern and then as a staff assistant. He moved 
over to the RPC during the chairmanship of my predecessor, Senator Don 
Nickles.
  Many of my colleagues may not fully be aware of Ken's contributions 
to the operation of the committee's in-house cable television facility, 
channel 2, which we all know is an indispensable tool for Senators and 
their staffs to keep abreast of floor action. This past year, Ken was 
the backbone of channel 2 as its manager.
  In addition, he had shouldered the increased responsibility of a 
constantly growing list of issues as a policy analyst, including guns, 
education, alcohol and tobacco, drugs, immigration, American flag 
protection, census ``sampling'', prosecutorial ethics and asset 
forfeiture, and adoption, among others.
  For Ken, these were not just a list of bureaucratic responsibilities 
at the RPC--they were to him truly a passion, objects of his deeply 
held commitment to justice, the rule of law, and the truest values of 
the American Republic. I might add, his passion extended to the issue 
of Puerto Rican statehood, where his position was diametrically opposed 
to mine. Though he was gentleman enough not to be obvious about it, it 
was very clear to me where he stood.
  Whatever he worked on, he was meticulous and thorough. Whatever his 
task, he was the first to volunteer for the heavy lifting, to collect 
all the background, to consult all the authoritative sources, to do all 
the detailed reading and analysis, to become a walking library on the 
issue at hand. As anyone who has been to what we call the ``big room'' 
at the RPC or down to his basement station at channel 2 in the Capitol, 
known as ``the cave,'' Ken's desk was a veritable archive, testimony to 
both his devotion to duty and to his active mind.
  I want to mention two matters in particular that define Ken and his 
work in the Senate. To say that Ken was devoted to defending American 
rights under the Second Amendment is a masterpiece of understatement. 
As one of the bumper stickers displayed on his desk puts it: ``A man 
with a gun is a citizen; a man without a gun is a subject.'' For Ken, 
those were words by which to live. Ken had a keen devotion to the 
concept of ordered liberty under constitutional government and the 
reciprocal rights and duties of the citizens, especially armed 
citizens. Whatever the gun-related issue--concealed-carry laws, instant 
background checks, mandatory trigger locks, or any other efforts to 
circumvent our founders' clear words--Ken was Horatio at the bridge. 
His assistance to me during the recent debate on gun show restrictions 
was invaluable. He will be sorely missed by me certainly, and by the 
Nation.
  Second, it would be impossible to talk about Ken Foss without 
mentioning his devotion to the unique cultural heritage of the South, 
and especially his native State, the Commonwealth of Virginia. In all 
he did, in his stubborn unwillingness to forsake a cause that he 
thought was just, he was constantly following, and consciously 
following, in the footsteps of famous Virginians of the past upon whom 
he looked as role models: George Washington, Patrick Henry, George 
Mason, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson. Philosophically in agreement 
with the antifederalism of Mason and Henry, Ken really did believe that 
eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and his tireless work 
reflected that conviction.
  His love of Virginia and of the South extended from honoring and 
emulating the great names of the past and ``Sic Semper Tyrannis,'' the 
motto of the State of Virginia on the screen-saver on his computer, to 
his fondness for Allman's barbecue down in Fredericksburg, southern 
rock music, and Alabama football.
  Ken prized the distinctive heritage of his State and his region and 
was afraid that in our modern, homogenized world, we were losing an 
irreplaceable part of a precious cultural patrimony. In his passing, 
Virginia and the South have lost a true son, and the Nation is, I 
think, poorer for it.
  Ken is survived by his parents, Gary and Andra Foss, and by his 
brother Eric. I am sure I speak for all my colleagues in expressing our 
condolences to his family. Ken's father, Gary Foss, is director of the 
Fredericksburg Christian School.
  In closing, I should mention that Ken's dedication in his 
nonprofessional life extended no less to the principles of Christian 
education and the Reformed tradition. For Ken, service to God, to his 
church, to his parents, to his fellow man was an expression of the same 
qualities he demonstrated in his professional life. Whether it was the 
Ten Commandments or the Constitution, Ken knew his duty and inspired 
others to respond to the call.
  This is how I remember him, and this is how I believe he will be 
remembered. We will all miss Ken Foss.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I wish to join my colleague and friend, 
Senator Craig, in making a few comments about a friend of ours--both of 
ours--Ken Foss, who passed away this past Saturday.
  His passing is a real loss to the Senate and a real loss to this 
country. He was a very dedicated member of the Senate family, a person 
with whom I had the pleasure of working for several years. When I was 
chairman of the Policy Committee, I got to know Ken Foss. He started 
his career when he worked for Senator Coats, starting in 1990 or 1991. 
He did good work for Senator Coats, and was an asset to our former 
colleague's staff.
  In 1992, I stole him from Senator Coats' office because he had great 
talent, and great promise; and he quickly became an integral part of 
our team at the Policy Committee.
  I was fortunate enough to be chairman of the Policy Committee from 
1991 to 1996, and blessed to know this energetic person who had a real 
love affair with this country and a real love affair with history. Ken 
was energetic. He worked with a lot of zeal, a lot of passion, and a 
lot of real belief.
  I remember him working in the Policy Committee as a person who always 
did his homework. On any issue, he did his research, and he knew his 
subject. I remember also his dedicated work in the cave, down in the 
basement of the Capitol, doing television work, keeping Members--all 
Members--apprised of what was going on on the floor. He was one of the 
individuals on whom you could count to give an update of what was 
happening on the floor, what was happening politically, what was 
happening substantively, what was happening procedurally, keeping 
colleagues and staff fully informed and ready to act when the time 
came.

[[Page S8825]]

  I remember one time traveling to Richmond, VA, to speak at a GOP 
gathering--actually a State convention. It was an effort to try to 
bring the party together after a somewhat divisive campaign. Ken was my 
guide to all the party officials, from those with high rank to those 
whom we never hear much about, but make our party work. His 
understanding and devotion to the Virginia State Republican party was 
strong, and unwavering, and Virginia benefited from his dedication and 
hard work.

  But his political knowledge was equaled, and exceeded, by his vast 
storehouse of knowledge about Virginia history. He knew more on this 
subject than any person I have ever met. From the beginning of the 
Commonwealth as a colony of England, to the present day, you had no 
better guide than Ken. When you are talking about Civil War 
battlefields, which I happen to be interested in, my small knowledge 
paled in comparison to Ken Foss's. And all this information, Ken shared 
freely, enthusiastically, from school children to the elderly, 
inspiring many whom he met.
  As all of our colleagues know, we are renovating the Rotunda. I had 
the pleasure earlier this year of making my second or third trip to see 
the Rotunda in my Senate career. Of course, Ken Foss wanted to 
participate in that, and he climbed all the way to the top with us. All 
of us on that tour certainly enjoyed his presence that morning, 
because, again, his ability to be able to illuminate history, going 
back to Washington, going back to the founding of our country, and 
explaining various facts about our Capitol, was certainly informative 
and reminded us all of what a resource the Capitol is to tell our 
country's story to her citizens.
  To Ken Foss's family, to his father and mother, to his brother, to 
his countless friends, to his colleagues in the Senate, certainly he 
will be missed by all of us. We deeply appreciate his dedication to the 
Senate. We wish to extend our condolences and sincere sympathies to his 
family and to his friends.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Enzi). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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