[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 147 (Tuesday, October 26, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13137-S13139]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN HONOR OF SENATOR JOHN CHAFEE

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, it is with great sadness I rise to mourn 
the passing of Senator John Chafee. Senator Chafee was much more than a 
colleague to me. Senator Chafee was a very close friend as well. The 
Senate has lost a giant, and I assuredly have lost a friend.
  John Chafee will go down in history as one of the best U.S. Senators 
to ever grace this Chamber. Senator Chafee was one of those rare people 
who was able to rise above partisanship and work constructively with 
others on both sides of the aisle to achieve important things for the 
American people.
  John Chafee always had a smile, he always had a feeling of the 
possible, and even in the darkest times when it seemed as if there was 
no way to bring people together in this Chamber, John Chafee had the 
confidence that if we just reached out, if we were rational and 
reasonable and talked to each other, we could accomplish great things. 
That was the spirit of John Chafee, and it will be in this Chamber long 
after he has left us.
  I look at his desk now and I see the bouquet of flowers there. What a 
fitting tribute to John Chafee because he graced any room he entered. 
That is the way I remember John. When I learned yesterday that he had 
died, I was thinking of my last encounter with John, which was on the 
floor last Thursday. I was exiting the Chamber with a group of 
Senators. I walked past him and he said: Hey, don't you talk to me 
anymore? Because I hadn't exchanged our usual greeting.
  I came back and I reached out to him. We shook hands, had a brief 
conversation, and I told him: John, you know I'll always talk to you. 
We had a little conversation about what was occurring in the Senate and 
what might be done to improve things. That was John Chafee. That was 
quintessential John Chafee. How are we going to make things better?
  He never spent a lot of time ruminating and worrying. Instead, he 
spent time figuring out how we were going to make things better. That 
is what I so admired about John Chafee, that and his basic human 
decency. You could not find a more decent person to work with in this 
Senate or in any other forum than John Chafee. I admired him so much 
because he really gave a life of dedication to public service.
  John Chafee, we all know, was very fortunate. He grew up in a family 
of means. He did not have to spend his life in public service. He could 
have been on ``easy street.'' But that is not the way John Chafee chose 
to lead his life. Instead, John determined he would take on one public 
challenge after another, whether it was serving in the Marine Corps, of 
which he was very proud, or whether it was serving his State as 
Governor, or serving as Secretary of the Navy, or serving here in the 
Senate. John Chafee had a life dedicated to public service. His State 
of Rhode Island and our country are the richer for it.
  I served on the Finance Committee with John. It was the only 
committee assignment we shared. But I soon became a partner and ally of 
John Chafee's on the Senate Finance Committee because we thought about 
issues in much the same way. John Chafee was somebody who believed 
deeply in fiscal responsibility. He felt very strongly that was 
something we should pursue. But at the same time, he had a progressive 
agenda. He was really the leading advocate for the mentally ill, the 
disabled, and the retarded. As the Finance Committee considered changes 
to Medicare and Medicaid, I was honored to work closely with John to 
make sure that changes did not negatively impact those groups.

  Together, I remember well, we sponsored an amendment to ensure that 
disabled children would not be removed from the Supplemental Security 
Income Program. As a result of John's leadership, more than 100,000 
disabled children were able to maintain critical benefits to help their 
families afford the costs associated with their disability. That was 
John Chafee. He cared about other people--and really cared, not that 
superficial ``just talk the talk.'' John Chafee cared enough to take 
risks and to make a difference in people's lives.

[[Page S13138]]

  We all know John was also a strong advocate of health care. In many 
ways, he became the leader on the Finance Committee on issues of health 
care and especially health care as it related to low-income Americans. 
He wanted to make certain people had a chance, an opportunity. Oh, yes, 
John believed in personal responsibility; there was no question of that 
with John Chafee. But he also believed there were people who were less 
fortunate in life who also deserved a hand up--not a handout but a hand 
up. That, too, was John Chafee.
  I especially remember back in the early 1990s when we had a series of 
very thorny health care issues to work out. A group was formed on the 
Senate Finance Committee, the Centrist Coalition. That group worked 
under the leadership of John Chafee and John Breaux on a series of 
budget questions. That group was preceded by what we called the 
Mainstream Coalition, a group of Senators, Democrats and Republicans, 
who worked together to try to rescue health care reform when it looked 
as if it was going down the tubes.
  In fact, the Senate Finance Committee recessed and gave the 
Mainstream Coalition a chance to try to bring together the diverse 
interests in this Chamber so we could have a chance for health care 
reform to work. I remember spending hundreds of hours with John Chafee 
and that group down in John's hideaway working on health care reform--
hour after hour after hour. John did not want to give up. Even when it 
seemed as if there was absolutely no hope, John Chafee urged us to 
continue to work together, to talk together, and to try to come up with 
a plan that would make a difference in the lives of the American 
people. That was John Chafee.
  Later, with the Centrist Coalition, we focused on the budget. I 
remember the day we brought a budget resolution to the floor that the 
Centrist Coalition had put together. It was a very close vote. There 
were 20 of us in the Centrist Coalition: 10 Democrats, 10 Republicans. 
We met during the Government shutdown. We met throughout the spring. 
Even those of us on the Budget Committee separately debated the budget 
resolution. But when we entered S-201 of the Capitol, Senator Chafee's 
hideaway, we left all partisanship at the door. That was the rule. We 
debated numbers and entitlements and discretionary spending. We 
considered alternatives and options. We voted and we made decisions. We 
put together a budget package that received 46 bipartisan votes in the 
Senate despite the opposition of the leaders on both sides. We had the 
leader of the Democrats and the leader of the Republicans both in 
opposition to our plan, but we got 46 votes.
  I think it shocked many people--24 Democrats and 22 Republicans. I 
remember John's reaction. He was proud. He was proud we had come 
forward with a plan that commanded that kind of support on the floor of 
the Senate, even in the face of leadership opposition.
  Do you know what. I believe that plan helped form the basis for what 
came later. I believe that plan helped demonstrate to the leaders there 
really was support for balancing this budget, for getting our fiscal 
house in order and for making a difference. John Chafee was a leader in 
that effort, and he was proud of it. He deserved to be proud of it 
because he was making a difference.
  The vote on the Centrist Coalition budget and the effort that went 
into putting it together was public policy at its best. It could not 
have happened and would not have happened had it not been for Senator 
Chafee. He demonstrated extraordinary patience, always moving forward, 
always keeping the debate focused until consensus could be reached.
  I remember so well, John, your admonition to us: Steady as she goes. 
That was one of John's favorite sayings: Steady as she goes. His 
strong, steady leadership allowed the centrist coalition to be 
successful.
  That is how I will remember Senator Chafee, and that is just one of 
the reasons we will miss him so terribly in the Senate.
  I say to our dear friend, John Chafee, this afternoon as he said so 
many times to us: Steady as she goes, John, steady as she goes. We will 
miss you very, very much.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I come to this Chamber concerning the 
tragic news we received yesterday morning that our friend and 
colleague, John Chafee, passed away on Sunday.
  John Chafee was a leader who moved the Senate to do great things. He 
embraced the bipartisanship we are so quick to reject in this Chamber, 
and he did so with a dignity and integrity that made us proud to serve 
with him in this body and to call him a colleague and to call him a 
friend.
  John constantly worked to bring his colleagues together and to bring 
his keen intellect and spirit of fairness to bear in an effort to move 
legislation forward. Whether he was working on health care, the 
environment, constitutional issues, or Government reform, he approached 
every issue on its merits and found ways to overcome partisanship to 
work together.
  In an atmosphere which asks us to take sides and defend our ground, 
John Chafee instead sought common ground, and he sought it with an 
uncommon commitment to what was best for our Nation. And always, as he 
worked to foster bipartisanship and civility, he held fast to the 
principles that guided him: a deep commitment to fiscal responsibility 
and a dedication to protecting our children, preserving our 
environment, and striving for better health care for every American.
  I had the honor and pleasure of working with Senator Chafee on a 
number of issues that affected my State of Wisconsin and the entire 
Nation. As a distinguished veteran and one of the Senate's greatest 
patriots, Senator Chafee had the courage and the commitment to 
constitutional freedom to be a vocal opponent of a constitutional 
amendment on flag desecration.
  When he spoke against the amendment before the Judiciary Committee in 
April, he criticized the measure as the first amendment to the 
Constitution that would limit, not expand, our freedoms in that great 
document. But most of all, this great patriot was deeply troubled by 
state-mandated patriotism. John Chafee said:

       We cannot mandate respect and pride in the flag. In fact, 
     in my view, taking steps to require citizens to respect the 
     flag sullies its significance and symbolism.

  With this issue and so many others, it was Senator Chafee's 
thoughtful and fair-minded approach that commanded my utmost respect 
and admiration.
  His work in the area of conservation was legendary. He won huge gains 
in the fight to protect the environment, including perhaps his greatest 
achievement, his vital improvements to the Clean Air Act during its 
reauthorization in 1990.
  Senator Chafee also was a dedicated advocate for the reauthorization 
of the Superfund Program and the Endangered Species Act, and though his 
attempts at reauthorizing these programs were unsuccessful in recent 
Congresses, in characteristic fashion he managed to carve out 
significant common ground between the parties on both issues.
  John's efforts on these issues were a great service to the Nation, as 
was his support for another issue recently before this body--campaign 
finance reform. While John and I did not always see eye to eye about 
each aspect of campaign finance reform, he characteristically found 
common ground on which we could agree and lent his invaluable 
credibility to our efforts.
  I was also fortunate enough to work with Senator Chafee in the area 
of health care reform where he displayed an unparalleled commitment to 
improving access and quality of health care for those most in need. His 
ability to rise above partisanship enabled him to do the real work of 
the people, working in bipartisan coalitions to address problems in the 
managed care system and doing the vitally important work of examining 
health promotion, disease prevention, and improving health care 
quality.
  Most recently, I had the pleasure of working with Senator Chafee to 
draft

[[Page S13139]]

legislation to refine portions of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that 
have adversely affected home health care agencies.
  In everything he did, John Chafee brought a quiet dignity to his work 
and to the work of this body. We all benefited from the spirit of 
civility and bipartisanship he fostered during his 23 years in the 
Senate. I hope we can cherish and nurture that spirit in the years to 
come.
  I extend my deepest condolences to John's family, his wife Ginny, his 
5 children, and 12 grandchildren. John Chafee was a hero in battle, a 
distinguished Secretary of the Navy, a great leader as Governor of 
Rhode Island, and a towering figure in the Senate for more than two 
decades. His life was an inspiration to all those who believed public 
service can, indeed, be an honorable profession. All of us who had the 
opportunity to work with him will cherish his memory and do our best to 
honor his legacy to the Nation.
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I join with my colleagues, many who are 
honoring John Chafee today. He was a proud New Englander and a person, 
in my opinion, who embodied the spirit of service which characterizes 
so many of his contemporaries and those who came before him, not only 
from his State but across the Nation, especially from New England.
  He came out of a culture which always put public service first. To 
him, public service was the purpose of being an elected official. He 
had no other cause or commitment other than doing well by the people he 
represented and by his Nation.
  There is a lot of identity I have shared with John Chafee, more in 
the sense of a father figure than as a comrade or a contemporary, 
during my years growing up. He went to Yale at about the same time my 
father went to Yale. Then he went to Harvard Law School about the same 
time my father went to Harvard Law School. He was elected Governor not 
too long after my father was elected Governor. So there was a parallel 
career path.
  In my household in New Hampshire, the name John Chafee, although it 
came from the distant State of Rhode Island, echoed with great respect. 
It was a name that had attached to it an understanding that there was a 
leader who was committed to his Nation and who understood that to be a 
good leader, you had to be concerned for others first. He was a person 
who set a standard for all of us.
  When I arrived at the Senate and I met Senator Chafee as a 
contemporary, so to speak, I had great anticipation because he was 
literally a very large figure for me as I grew up and a large figure 
within the New England community. I would not have been surprised had 
he been a person who just sort of smiled at a new Senator and said: 
Nice to have you here; we'll see you in a couple years when you get 
your feet on the ground.
  No, that wasn't John Chafee's style. He reached out to me, as he 
reached out to so many Senators who had served with him, both new and 
those who served with him for a considerable period of time. He said: 
Join me; I have some ideas. Sit down with me and listen to them. I 
would like to hear your ideas.
  He brought me into this council he had begun, the centrist group, and 
treated me as someone whose thoughts and concerns were equal to his and 
were of legitimate importance and significance. I greatly appreciated 
that, coming from someone with his senior status and great knowledge on 
issues such as health care. It was really an experience in how one 
builds consensus to deal with John Chafee at any time but especially 
during the first few years I served in this body. My respect for him 
only grew as I had the opportunity to serve with him over the years.
  There was no issue he undertook that he did not undertake as a person 
committed to identifying and obtaining a thoughtful and substantive 
response to that issue. I never experienced at any time his addressing 
an issue in a partisan way or in a political way in the negative sense 
but always in a constructive way and in a manner in which he was 
looking towards resolution. He would take the most complex issues that 
this body had to address, issues such as Medicare, the general health 
care system, environmental laws, issues which created great fervor and 
intensity on both sides of the aisle. He would sit down and, through 
the force of his personality, which was one of generosity and 
intelligence, of sincerity and of commitment, sift through the issue 
and work with the parties and, more often than not, be able to reach a 
consensus position--an extraordinarily impressive individual.
  His greatest strength, I think, was that he was just plain Yankee. He 
had a way about him that is personified by the Yankee mystique. It can 
be defined as being honest and committed, patriotic--of course, a lot 
of other people fall in that category, too--but there was also that 
willingness to be precise, curt, some may say, the willingness to cut 
through the large ferocity of this body to the essence of an issue 
quickly, and the understanding always that our purpose is to serve. His 
purpose above all was to serve the people of Rhode Island and the 
people of this Nation.
  As with everyone else in this body, my heart goes out to Ginny and 
his family. We wish them, during this time of difficulty, Godspeed, and 
we are thankful for the time which we had with John as he showed us how 
to be a good citizen, a good legislator and, most importantly, a good 
American.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, twice I have spoken about John Chafee. He 
was one of the very special people. We just can't stop thinking about 
him or talking about him. I will not take a great length of time except 
to say that as I was listening to my colleague from New Hampshire and 
other colleagues, it really struck me that he was the quintessential, 
almost perfect public servant.
  I believe service is the most noble human profession--service to 
family, service to church, service to community, service to friends, 
public service. There is no more noble pursuit than service. John 
Chafee epitomized public service.
  I wish Americans could have known John Chafee and could have watched 
him and been with him during the day. If American schoolchildren were 
to have been with John Chafee, watched John Chafee, I know one thing, 
most everybody would have wanted to be a Senator. Most everybody would 
have wanted to emulate John Chafee; he was so good. He taught by 
example. Somewhat by words, somewhat by telling students what to do, 
but much more by example.
  We are all almost in awe of John Chafee because of his example, what 
he did. He didn't make a big thing about it. He didn't brag about 
himself. He didn't try to take credit for anything. He just acted 
according to what he thought was in the country's best interest and in 
Rhode Island's best interest. It was just by accident that I learned 
only a couple years ago that he was a highly decorated Korean war hero. 
There are Senators on this floor sometimes who like to brag about their 
exploits in the armed services or at least allude to them and hope that 
somebody asks them more questions about it, pursue it a little more. 
Not John Chafee.
  If John Chafee's staff would write a statement or a speech on his 
behalf and allude to his service in Korea or Guadalcanal as a veteran, 
he would strike it. He didn't want to brag about anything. He didn't 
want to brag about all the awards he had been given. He was that kind 
of guy. To me, they don't get any better. There aren't many cut from 
that bolt of cloth these days.
  I wish more people could have seen and watched John as a person, as 
he was, and a Senator. I know this country would have a much higher 
regard for public service if they just knew who John Chafee was.
  This is really John Chafee's day. I hope we all will savor the good 
thoughts and the wonderful memories of John, this day and in future 
days.

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