[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 126 (Wednesday, October 11, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S10233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S10233]]
                         TRIBUTE TO BRUCE VENTO

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, today I come to the floor to offer a 
tribute to a humble man.
  Yesterday, while I was in Minnesota, I received word that one of my 
former colleagues from the House of Representatives, Congressman Bruce 
Vento, had passed away after a battle with cancer.
  My tribute cannot adequately communicate his successful career, 
because to Bruce, words always paled in comparison to acts.
  Bruce was a tireless advocate for the residents of St. Paul, first in 
the State Legislature and, for the past 24 years, in the U.S. Congress.
  He was a man of his word and a man of principle.
  He was a man committed to doing the right thing for the right reason, 
no matter how long it took.
  Take for example his work on behalf of Hmong veterans--a large number 
of whom reside in his Congressional district.
  He worked on it for over a decade: educating his colleagues about the 
need to help their constituents and offering the compromises needed to 
get the job done.
  I was pleased that after his tireless work Congress after Congress, 
year after year, Bruce's effort paid off.
  Earlier this year, Congress passed and the President signed into law 
his legislation to facilitate citizenship to Hmong veterans who served 
with us in the Vietnam War.
  Bruce was an effective Congressman for the St. Paul area.
  We worked together on a number of fronts to support Minnesota and the 
people of St. Paul such as improving senior and low-income housing in 
St. Paul, supporting St. Paul's effort in becoming a Brownfields 
Showcase Community, and pursuing projects to improve the St. Paul 
Community.
  Bruce is best known for his efforts to protect the environment and to 
improve our national parks and wilderness areas.
  All Minnesotans will benefit from his work to ensure the outdoor 
activities we all enjoy will be there for our children and 
grandchildren.
  That is his legacy, and we are all proud and grateful for his 
achievements.
  Minnesotans were represented well by Bruce Vento, and he will be 
missed.
  To his family and friends, I extend my deepest sympathy.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, we all in the Senate and the House have 
been saddened by the death of Bruce Vento. Congressman Vento came to 
the Congress 2 years after I did. We served together and worked 
together on many issues. He belonged, proudly, to a sort of informal 
Italian-American caucus. We would talk about from which parts of Italy 
our families had come, and we became close friends.
  I remember talking with Bruce when he was first diagnosed with 
cancer. I told him he was in my prayers, my wife's prayers, our 
family's prayers. He was a good man.
  I was sad when I heard him announce he would not run for reelection 
because of his illness. Of course, we have been notified of his death.
  There are Senators and House Members who come here who, under the old 
saying, some are show horses and some are workhorses. He was a 
workhorse. One of his priorities during his last year in Congress was 
the plight of the Hmong people, many of whom settled in Minnesota. They 
are people from Laos who had fought with the United States and its 
allies in the Vietnam war and came to the United States afterwards. 
They very much wanted to become citizens here but had great difficulty 
learning English because they come from a culture that does not have a 
written language.
  Bruce Vento was the primary House sponsor of the Hmong Veterans' 
Naturalization Act, a bill that passed the House and Senate earlier 
this year and became law. This bill waives the English language 
requirement for naturalization, and provides special consideration for 
the civics requirement for Hmong veterans and their spouses and widows. 
It has been a small concession on our part in return for the great 
sacrifices these men made in fighting for the American cause in 
Southeast Asia. I am pleased that with the help of Senators Wellstone, 
Feingold, Hagel, McCain, and others the bill became law before the 
Congressman's untimely death earlier this week.
  There is another bill that addresses an outstanding issue in the 
Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act. H.R. 5234, cosponsored by 
Congressman Vento, will extend the benefits of the new law to widows of 
Hmong veterans who died in Laos, Thailand, or Vietnam. The bill was 
passed by voice vote in the House on September 25. The Senate companion 
bill is strongly bipartisan with seven Democrats and five Republicans 
joining Senator Wellstone as sponsors. I urge my friends on the other 
side of the aisle to lift the hold they have on this bill and allow it 
to pass so we can complete our work on this important issue. We can do 
this in Bruce Vento's memory, but we can also rectify an injustice that 
has been done to the Hmong people who have come to this country.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, it is with great sadness that I join my 
colleague from Minnesota, Senator Wellstone, in paying tribute to the 
life of our colleague, Congressman Bruce Vento. I learned of the 
Congressman's passing upon my return to Washington. I send my 
condolences to his wife Sue and his family, along with all of the 
people from the great state of Minnesota who mourn and who thank him 
for his many years of service in the House of Representatives. He is 
deserving of special praise in recognition of his tremendous efforts to 
use his status as a federal legislator to bring a voice to the 
voiceless and to defend such interests as environmental protection, 
human rights, working families and community building.
  Congressman Vento's career was a truly a remarkable one. He and I 
shared a profound affection for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area 
Wilderness, a place special to so many Wisconsinites and Minnesotans. 
Congressman Vento bravely agreed to chair the Ely field hearings on the 
creation of the Boundary Waters wilderness in 1977, a courageous 
decision for someone who was a Freshman member of the House at the 
time, and was a vocal champion of that wilderness throughout his 
career. As I work on wilderness issues, I am often reminded of 
Congressman Vento's comments on the House floor during consideration of 
the Boundary Waters bill. He said, ``there ought to be an opportunity 
where someone can go and have some solitude, where someone can go and 
have an experience that is different.''
  Congressman Vento used his career to work to protect that 
``different'' opportunity for all Americans in the Boundary Waters, the 
Arctic Refuge, Southern Utah and many other special wilderness areas. 
These places and the people who cherish them, myself included, owe him 
a great debt.
  I also had the privilege of working closely with Congressman Vento in 
this session of Congress on the Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act 
which is now federal law. Congressman Vento was actively involved in 
getting that legislation through the House.
  I join with the Senate in letting Congressman Vento's family know how 
grateful we are for having known him, and how committed we are to 
ensuring that the causes to which he gave his heart and his career 
remain protected.

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