[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 111 (Tuesday, September 19, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H7737-H7738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO SENATOR DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from New York (Mr. King) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KING. Mr. Speaker, Senator Moynihan has often said that there is 
no sense in being Irish unless you realize that some day, somehow, the 
world is going to break your heart. Well, obviously the hearts of New 
Yorkers are broken by the stepping down from the Senate of Senator 
Moynihan. But, at the same time, we as New Yorkers can rejoice in the 
absolutely unparalleled contributions he has made to our country, to 
our State, and also in the fact that he is the quintessential New 
Yorker.
  Whether it was growing up in the streets of New York, shining shoes, 
working on the docks, working for Governor Harriman, running for the 
president of the New York City Council many years ago, serving as 
ambassador to the U.N. in New York where he stood up for the dignity of 
people everywhere, where he almost single-handedly denounced the 
resolution against Zionism, a man who was willing to always come to the 
brink, to stand and fight for what was right. Certainly during the 24 
years he has been in the United States Senate, he has never allowed 
partisanship to in any way interfere with the job that he did.
  The gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) stated that he has the 
privilege of being your Congressman. I got the short straw. I 
represented Senator D'Amato for many years as his Congressman. I 
remember the many conversations I had with Senator D'Amato, where he 
would say how you were invaluable to the Senate, how partisanship never 
entered into the relationship you had, going back to the very first 
meeting after his election you had with him in the Hotel Carlyle in 
Manhattan.
  I remember Senator D'Amato preparing for that meeting with you, and 
afterwards saying, ``I just met the greatest guy in the world.'' From 
that day forward you forged a close relationship.
  But that really personifies the relationship you had with all the 
people of New York. You were always there. You were, on the one hand, 
always defending the institutions of the United States, but, at the 
same time, willing to challenge accepted thinking.
  Your book Beyond the Melting Pot certainly redefined the importance 
of ethnicity in the United States, the fact that you were willing to 
challenge Federal programs that were not working, which certainly 
antagonized people on the left; but then you went against people on the 
right by telling them that we had much more to do to strengthen the 
American family, we had more to do to be responsive to those who were 
being left behind in good economic times.
  Senator Moynihan, it really is a privilege for me as a Member of 
Congress to be able to join in this tribute to you. It certainly was a 
great meaning to me as a New Yorker for many years, whether it was 
reading your books, whether it was trying with my thesaurus and 
dictionary trying to understand all of your speeches and op-ed pieces 
in the New York Times and intellectual journals, whether it was always 
being challenged and sometimes provoked, other times really just put to 
the test by trying to measure up to the standards you set by answering 
the questions that you were posing; and you real personify what it 
means to be a Senator.
  You are a man of Hell's Kitchen and a renaissance man; a working man 
and a Harvard professor; a street politician who ran for president of 
the city council; and a diplomat who walked with world leaders.
  So I am again honored and privileged to be able to serve with you in 
the United States Government, but, most importantly, to be here today, 
and also

[[Page H7738]]

to not really make a request, but almost impose upon you to say you 
have an obligation to work with us for all of your remaining years, to 
keep those columns coming, those op-ed pieces, to keep the letters and 
speeches coming, and never, ever stop probing our conscience, making us 
take that extra step to work for our constituents and the meaning of 
the United States.
  Thank you, Senator Moynihan.

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