[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 150 (Friday, October 29, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13578-S13582]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    IN HONOR OF SENATOR JOHN CHAFEE

  Mr. KYL. John Chafee was a gentleman with every quality that term 
connotes. He always treated everyone with the utmost respect. He was 
unfailingly courteous to everyone. I never heard him utter a bad word

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about anyone. He took his job very seriously, but he did not take 
himself seriously. He always evaluated proposals, first asking what his 
constituents would think about them. He always sought to accommodate 
me, personally. I recall the last request I made of him to break some 
precedents and quickly get a bill through to name a U.S. courthouse in 
Phoenix for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor because we 
did have to break some precedents in order to accomplish that. He did 
it with no problem whatever.
  Others have detailed his considerable service to this country, and I 
will not repeat that. However, it runs the gamut from military service 
to service in the Senate and much, much more.
  I simply want to recall John Chafee, the marine, the gentleman. If 
every one of us in this Chamber comported ourselves as Senator Chafee 
did, the Senate would be a much better place. That is a legacy that any 
person, I believe, would be proud to have. It is John Chafee's legacy. 
He will be missed. But he will be remembered.
  God bless John Chafee and his family.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words about an 
outstanding American who has left us. The flowers in this Chamber now 
recall for us the life of John Chafee, the distinguished Senator from 
Rhode Island who was 77 years of age. He served his country in an 
extraordinary number of ways.
  I served for my first 2 years in this body on the Environment and 
Public Works Committee that he chaired. He was a wonderful person, a 
gentleman of the highest order, a man of propriety and decency, a 
classic Yankee, a leader who loved his country. He not only loved it, 
he proved his love to it.
  He served in World War II in the Marines, landed on Guadalcanal with 
the first invasion forces, and a few years later he was recalled as a 
rifle platoon leader in Korea. He served 4 years as Secretary of the 
Navy and 6 years as Governor of Rhode Island.
  They wrote a book a few years ago entitled ``In Defense of Elitism.'' 
John, I want to say, was not an elitist. In fact, he wasn't an elitist 
but he was of a higher standard than most of us will ever achieve. He 
cared about what was right and wrong. He fought for what he believed 
in.
  He was highly intelligent, and he was blessed in a lot of different 
ways. He went to the finest schools in America. He went to Deerfield 
Academy in Massachusetts as a high school student, was a Yale 
undergraduate, Harvard Law--the very best education he could have. That 
was during a time prior to World War II when there wasn't any doubt 
what those young men and women were taught. They were taught duty, 
honor, humility, integrity, frugality, service to their country and 
fellow man, courage, and manliness. Those are traits that were part of 
his growing up, traits he never gave up until he took his last breath.
  He was not part of the ``do your own thing'' crowd. John Chafee was 
part of the crowd who won World War II and defeated the Soviet Union, 
preserved freedom and democracy around the world, and eliminated 
totalitarian communism virtually from the face of the Earth.
  John was helpful to me personally. I never had a harsh word with him. 
He loved environmental issues. He was a strong environmentalist. We 
didn't always agree. I came here from Alabama having talked to a lot of 
people who were a little bit irritated every now and then about 
governmental regulations that seemed to have no benefit to the 
environment and caused great burdens on farmers and business people. I 
am at this moment quite prepared to consider improving those acts. But 
John was part of the drafting and crafting, and he didn't give them up 
easily. He knew the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act had historic 
benefits in improving our Nation's environment. He would not give them 
up easily. He had to be convinced that you were right in every way 
before he would move toward any change in those laws.
  He really was an effective public servant. He was effective as 
chairman of a committee. He was effective as an environmentalist. And 
he was certainly able to keep that committee together in a most 
harmonious way, with Republicans and Democrats able to work together 
with great harmony. It is a rare thing we see here when we have that 
kind of harmony. We had that kind of friendship.
  His grandfather was Rhode Island's Governor. His great uncle was a 
Senator from Rhode Island. He had a great ancestry of personal service.
  He announced a year ago that he himself would not seek reelection to 
the Senate. But he was extraordinarily proud that his son Lincoln, the 
mayor of a city in Rhode Island, was going to seek the seat he had so 
long and ably held. That was a source of great pride for him. And I 
talked to him about that race.
  I think many of our brethren in the Senate have shared here our own 
thoughts about John Chafee and the quality of life he led. Many knew 
him much longer than I and knew him better than I. But my experience 
with him was personal, it was real, and it was very positive.
  I think he is one of the finest people I have known. He exemplified 
high ideals, the kind of high ideals with which he was raised and from 
the community of which he was a part. He reflected that and carried it 
out with great integrity and ability.
  We will all mourn his loss, and our sympathies are extended to his 
family, his daughter, and his four sons.
  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, tomorrow, most of us will make our way 
toward Rhode Island. We will attend the memorial services for John 
Chafee, our colleague and friend who we have all known and grown to 
respect in our work in the Senate.
  As I look across this Chamber and I notice the black pall and the 
flowers that grace the desk of Senator Chafee, my memory is triggered 
to the first time I ever met him.
  When I first ran for the Senate back in 1988, he called me up. I was 
going through this agonizing process of making the decision whether to 
stand for election to the Senate. I received a call from Senator Chafee 
inviting me to a gathering of prospective candidates at Williamsburg, 
VA. I accepted that invitation. I met for the first time this giant of 
a man from Rhode Island. I do not use the term ``giant'' loosely. He 
has not diminished. This was the impression he made on me at our first 
meeting, and over the years that has been the lasting impression.
  In our daily work here in the Senate, did we agree on everything? No. 
Did I have a true understanding of his constituency in his State? No. 
Nor did he of mine. So we did not agree on everything, nor should we. 
Men of substance do not need to agree but be men of honesty, of 
civility, and of integrity.
  When we refer to the legions of great Americans who have answered 
above and beyond the normal call, John Chafee rightfully takes his 
place among the most distinguished: A marine in the South Pacific, 
Guadalcanal, all during World War II; and, if that wasn't enough for 
his country, he came home, graduated from law school, got his law 
degree, and he answered his country's call again, serving in Korea. I, 
a former marine, understand that. But that was not enough for this man 
yet who took public service very seriously--a Governor, Cabinet 
Secretary, Secretary of the Navy, and Senator. At every station, he 
distinguished himself, his State, his Nation, and his family.
  Though the voice has been silenced, his words of wisdom and 
leadership will echo through these Halls for generations. He was one 
who quietly went about his way in making America a better place. What a 
legacy we would all like to leave.
  He was a leader of a generation. Tom Brokow got it right. It was a 
generation that quietly built a nation no matter their station in life.
  So we say thank you, John Chafee. May we be men and women who protect 
and respect what you have done. You were a giant among men.
  Mr. BAYH. Mr. President, this week, with the passing of Senator John 
Chafee of Rhode Island, we lost a dear colleague and a friend. John 
Chafee was a real statesman. His passing is a tragedy, and a loss for 
America.
  As a new member of this body, I regret that my time serving with 
Senator Chafee was brief. Fortunately, the lessons I learned from 
working with him will last a lifetime. Senator Chafee was an all-too-
rare voice for bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate. He was a force for 
common sense, and someone who always put politics aside and tried to do 
what was right for America.

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  For those of us who value consensus over partisan politics, Senator 
Chafee's approach to service will remain the standard we strive 
towards. His central goal, he said, was to ``operate through consensus 
and cooperation wherever and whenever possible in order to get things 
done.''
  And ``get things done'' he did: after what for most men would be a 
full and distinguished life in public service--World War II duty, 
company commander in Korea, Minority Leader in the Rhode Island State 
House, three-term Governor, Secretary of the U.S. Navy--after all that, 
John Chafee began his service in the U.S. Senate.
  In twenty-two years as U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, John Chafee's 
most remarkable accomplishments came when he managed to bring others to 
the middle-ground on contentious issues such as budget and tax policy, 
environmental protection, and health care.
  Senator Chafee understood the responsibility we shoulder here when we 
write a budget for the nation, and he had the vision to act responsibly 
on behalf of future generations. He was a leader in efforts to reduce 
the federal budget deficit. In 1996 he co-chaired the Centrist 
Coalition which produced a bipartisan balanced budget plan. More 
recently, as Democrats and Republicans fought bitterly over their 
respective $300 billion and $800 billion tax-cut proposals, I had the 
pleasure of working with Senator Chafee as part of a bipartisan group 
fighting to pass a reasonable $500 billion tax cut. For me, working 
with Senator Chafee reinforced the value of his consensus-building 
approach, and my desire to emulate that approach.
  Senator Chafee was a longtime advocate for clean air and water, 
wetlands conservation, and open space preservation. As a result of his 
dedication to preserving our natural heritage, Senator Chafee was the 
recipient of every major environmental award.
  As a senior member of the Finance Committee, Senator Chafee worked 
successfully to expand health care coverage for women and children, and 
to improve community services for persons with disabilities.
  John Chafee served his country for many years and in many roles. 
Perhaps his most important legacy is the way he served America: 
``operating through consensus and cooperation wherever and whenever 
possible in order to get things done.''
  We're all going to miss him very much.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise to say some words about the loss 
of our mutual friend, John Chafee from Rhode Island.
  His passing away this week was obviously sad for all of us in this 
body, as well as his family and his friends.
  He has left an impressive legacy both for this body and for his 
service to the United States.
  I would like to take a few moments to express my thoughts about this 
truly heroic person.
  When I came to the Senate in 1981, Senator Chafee was already one of 
the body's giants. He was well respected. I remember the budget battles 
we had in those years in the early 1980s, and the impact he had as a 
leader of moderate Republicans--usually about half dozen or so Senators 
who always had a major influence on the budget process. Disagree though 
some of us might with Senator Chafee's position on these issues, there 
was no disagreement among any of us that the results of his efforts 
were always a moderating influence on what this body did.
  I served with Senator Chafee on the Finance Committee for many 
years--the committee that has jurisdiction over taxes, over Social 
Security, Medicare, Medicaid, foreign trade, and welfare. He had a 
passion; that was to preserve the safety net programs, and especially 
in the health sector. He was a strong supporter of the Community Health 
Center Program of Medicaid, and most importantly children's health 
programs.
  In fact, one of the last meetings in which I joined Senator Chafee 
was his handling of a hearing a week ago in which he was proposing and 
forwarding legislation to make sure that people who were part of the 
foster care system did not fall through the cracks as far as their 
health care was concerned once they were forced out of the system 
because of age.
  Above all else, Senator Chafee, as demonstrated by that hearing last 
week and his promotion of that legislation, was committed to the proper 
amount of health care and quality of health care. He also worked long 
and hard in a very generic area we call health care reform, sometimes 
minuscule fine-tuning, but also Senator Chafee was in the middle of the 
big battles of health care reform.
  During the time the Senate was considering the Clinton health care 
plan, then-majority leader Bob Dole appointed Mr. Chafee to chair a 
Republican health care reform task force. Senator Chafee for several 
months convened meetings every Thursday in his Capitol office. During 
those meetings, he led discussions on various aspects of health care 
reform. I had an opportunity to participate in a lot of those meetings 
and know firsthand Senator John Chafee's commitment not only to 
informing and providing the procedure for informing fellow Members 
about the issue but also his efforts working toward compromise that 
would eventually get the votes to bring legislation to the floor and 
through the Senate.
  The work we did in this task force culminated in a major health care 
reform bill that had the support of most of our Republican colleagues. 
It was a major achievement, needless to say. It wasn't something that 
finally was passed by this body because the whole Clinton health care 
issue got so overburdened with so many controversial aspects that the 
Clinton health care proposal went down, and compromises, more moderate 
and more bipartisan, obviously, were taken off the Senate's agenda at 
the same time.
  That still does not denigrate in any way the hard work of John Chafee 
on health care generally. In fact, it is a very good example of his 
hard work and, most importantly, his commitment to the overall issue, 
over a long period of time, leading up to that last hearing he chaired 
just 1 week ago.
  More recently, Senator Chafee urged the modernization of the 
traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. It is likely, as we go 
further down the road, that Senator Chafee will have had much influence 
on what we as a body produce even though he is no longer with us. In 
that regard, his influence will certainly have outlived his own life. 
That is a hallmark of a truly great man and a great Senator.
  I, along with my colleagues, will miss Senator Chafee for many 
reasons. I respected him. I liked him. I listened to him. I looked to 
him as a leader. He spoke with authority and with credibility. Most 
importantly, he was a very compassionate person. Above all, what is 
important in political leadership is that he was very independent. He 
stood up for what he believed in, sometimes in the face of opposition 
from even his own party, my party, the Republican Party. That is the 
quality of John Chafee I grew to admire most.
  Senator Chafee's legacy is his extraordinary service to his country. 
The way he knew to serve was in a very mighty way, whether it was on 
the battlefield as a genuine war hero or his service as Governor, 
Secretary of the Navy, or for 23 years as a Member of the Senate from 
Rhode Island. Not everyone is capable of making a big difference in 
this world, but John Chafee did. We salute him. I salute him, his life, 
and his accomplishments. I join my colleagues in remembering his 
greatness and appreciating the contributions he made to this country.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I want to reflect on the passing of one of 
the true giants in the Senate, someone with whom I was privileged to 
work for the last 15 years I have been in the Senate--Senator John 
Chafee, a good man with a great heart and a great soul, a statesman in 
every sense of the word, a public servant unequaled, a man who 
dedicated his entire professional life to the service of his country.
  He was a good friend of people on both sides of this aisle. He was 
respected by all who knew him and served with him, and he returned that 
respect in kind. During all the efforts with which I had worked with 
him through the years, he always returned respect. If you did not agree 
with him, he respected your position. I never once heard John Chafee 
belittle a

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Member of this body or the other body because of a position that was 
taken by that Senator or Congressman. He respected people's views. He 
respected the fact you come from a different viewpoint.
  He was a great bridge builder. He would reach out to people, always 
looking for a way to craft a consensus, always having in mind ``I am 
not right all the time and you are not right all the time, but if we 
work together, we can build a consensus and find a middle way.''
  He set aside partisanship. He put his energies into working for the 
greater good. He won high praise from a wide spectrum of admirers, from 
the American Civil Liberties Union to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. You 
cannot get much broader than that.
  He is a true American hero. He never talked about it. He left college 
in 1942 and joined the Marine Corps and fought in one of the bloodiest 
battles of the U.S. Marine Corps in Guadalcanal. If that was not 
enough, he fought during the invasion of Okinawa. Those were two of the 
bloodiest battles of World War II.
  He left military service, but came back to fight, once again, in 
Korea in 1951. I do not mean sitting behind a desk either; I mean as a 
soldier in the field. Between his tours of duty, he had already earned 
his bachelor's degree at Yale and his law degree at Harvard. A career 
of distinguished service followed: Rhode Island House of 
Representatives, Governor of the State, Secretary of the Navy, and 
United States Senator. He was the first Republican Senator elected in 
Rhode Island in 46 years.
  Having known him well, I know, no matter where his public service 
took him, his heart was always in Rhode Island. In talking with him 
when he announced he was retiring, he said he looked forward to 
retiring to his home State of Rhode Island.
  He wore many titles in his lifetime--lieutenant, captain, Governor, 
Secretary, Senator, but he was proudest of being a husband, a father, 
and a grandfather. He was devoted to his family: Virginia, 5 children, 
12 grandchildren. I know their loss is tremendous, but I hope in the 
days, weeks, and months ahead they will take comfort in John Chafee's 
magnificent legacy.
  When the major achievements of the 20th century are recounted, many 
will bear his mark: the Clean Air Act, Superfund, Social Security 
improvements, fair housing, civil rights. He played a major role in 
every major piece of environmental legislation that has been passed in 
the last two decades. He fought for health care coverage for low-income 
families and expanded coverage for uninsured children. He fought hard 
for the Family and Medical Leave Act. John made it his mission to make 
sure no American fell between the cracks. America's women, children, 
and families are the beneficiaries.
  I had the privilege of working with John Chafee on a couple of major 
issues. I worked very closely with him for over a year tackling our 
Nation's leading public health problem: the use of tobacco. With 
Senator Graham from Florida, we introduced the first bipartisan bill. 
We called it the KIDS Act to protect our children from tobacco.
  Senator Chafee had the courage to take on the tobacco industry and 
provided great leadership on this issue. He did it because of his 
unwavering dedication to improve health, save lives, and protect our 
kids.
  While we did not succeed with our bill, we did succeed on another 
important effort, and that is combatting teen smoking. Senator Chafee 
and I offered an amendment to fully fund FDA's initiative to have store 
clerks check the IDs of children and young people before they sell 
cigarettes.
  And as you walk up to the counter in your 7-Eleven and other stores, 
right now you will see they have put in place an ID check. They check 
IDs before selling cigarettes.
  Senator Chafee led that initiative.
  Senate passage of this amendment was the first big defeat of big 
tobacco in the Senate in 10 years, since we passed the ban on smoking 
on airlines. That effort has had a big impact. Thousands and thousands 
of kids have been prevented from buying a deadly addictive product.
  As I said, that important victory would not have been possible 
without John Chafee and his skill at forming a bipartisan coalition and 
crafting a creative solution to this very pressing problem.
  I also had the privilege of working with John Chafee on disability 
issues. As the chief sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 
which passed and was signed into law by President Bush in 1990, Senator 
Chafee and I formed a working relationship on this issue. He was a 
major champion for creating alternatives to institutions for people 
with disabilities, to get people out of institutions and into their 
homes and into their communities where they could be fully integrated 
into all aspects of American life.
  Senator Chafee's work to create the Medicaid home and community-based 
waivers opened the door for independent living for tens of thousands of 
people with disabilities across our country.
  I can tell you this has been a movement that has taken hold in our 
country. It has provided so much joy to families. It has provided 
opportunities for people with disabilities.
  I had a family in my office the other day from Iowa, the Piper 
family, Sylvia and Larry Piper, and their son Dan. I have known Dan for 
a long time, since he was in high school. Dan has Down's syndrome, but 
he was mainstreamed in school, after his parents had told him they 
probably would have to put him in institutions for the rest of his 
life. They got him in high school. He was the captain of the football 
team. He acted in school plays. And after he got out of high school, he 
went out and got a job. He has been working now for several years, and 
he lives in a community setting. He has his own apartment. He has his 
own job, pays taxes, buys his own TV set. He told me he just bought a 
VCR. Community-based living. His parents are proud of him. They are 
happy he is out there on his own. They know his future is going to be 
bright. He is not stuck in an institution someplace.
  Well, sitting in my office with my friends, the Pipers, and my long-
time friend, Dan, I had to think of Senator Chafee and his leadership 
to create the community-based waivers that allow people with 
disabilities to live independently.
  He also worked in a true bipartisan manner to promote maternal and 
child health programs. John Chafee's commitment to fighting for what he 
believed in was matched by the dedication of his long-time and loyal 
staff. My heart goes out to all of them. I have worked with them for a 
long time. They are a great staff.
  John Chafee was a very humble, unassuming giant in the Senate. He had 
a broad, inclusive vision. He was a principled and thoughtful person. 
He was kind and generous. He asked and gave the best of himself in 
everything he did. He never sought recognition. He rolled up his 
sleeves and went to work. His spirit and his voice will be sorely 
missed. I am privileged to have called him my friend.
  In closing, at times such as this I always remember the question that 
was put to John Kennedy one time. A reporter once asked President 
Kennedy how he wanted to be remembered. President Kennedy gave it a 
momentary thought, and he said he believed the highest tribute that 
could be paid to anyone would be to be remembered as a good and decent 
human being. So if I could use that as the highest tribute that can be 
paid to anyone, we remember John Chafee as a good and decent human 
being.
  I yield the floor.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I want to end this session of this 
week by once again remembering our colleague, John Chafee. We started 
this week, Monday morning, with the tragic news of the passing of 
clearly one of the most beloved of all Senators sitting in this 
Chamber.
  During the week, Senator Chafee's desk has been draped in black with 
flowers on his desk. We have all talked in this Chamber about this 
wonderful man. We have all related so many of the great deeds he did, 
from his service in World War II to his service in the Korean war as a 
marine who truly exemplified what ``Semper Fi'' means. We have talked 
about what a wonderful human being he was and I think have renewed our 
efforts to make this a more civilized Senate because of him.
  Today the people of Rhode Island began to pay their respects to their

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former Governor and their three-term Senator. He is lying in state as I 
speak in the capitol he loved so much. All of us remember when he 
announced that he would not seek reelection. He simply said: ``I want 
to go home.'' John Chafee is home.

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