[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S11814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO SENATOR CHUCK ROBB

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, during the last few moments, several of 
our colleagues gave tribute to our friend. He is my friend and is 
someone so many of us admire here in the Senate. He is someone who has 
made a difference in this body and this country with his deep 
commitment to public service.
  Reference was made this afternoon to Senator Robb and his service in 
Vietnam. He fought for our country and served in the Armed Forces. 
Because of his strong beliefs and commitments to the values of the 
Nation, he made it his responsibility to respond to the Nation's call.
  This is a real reflection of the strong commitment and the basic 
integrity of this extraordinary Senator and friend. He fought in 
Vietnam for the values he believed in deeply. He came back to this 
country served as a distinguished Governor of a great State, the State 
of Virginia. And he continued that service in the Senate.
  Chuck Robb was a neighbor of mine. We have lived as neighbors for a 
number of years. He and Lynda have been good and valued friends over a 
great many years.
  I have enjoyed working with him in the area of education. He has a 
fierce passion to try to make sure every child in this country is going 
to have a good quality education. Even though he is not a member of the 
education committee, he mastered this subject and also provided very 
important leadership in it.
  I think so much of what is included in this dual appropriations 
legislation--which we hope we will have an opportunity to address in 
these next several hours and days--is really a tribute to the strong 
stands he took on good quality education for the children not just of 
Virginia but the children of this country.
  I think he was always concerned about the balance between the 
expenditures and what the economy could stand. He is in every respect a 
fiscal conservative. He believed deeply in making sure we had a budget 
that was going to reflect our values, but also that we were going to 
take care that our resources were going to be well spent in the 
national interest.
  Finally, I want to mention an additional field where his leadership 
was very much in evidence; that is, in knocking down the walls of 
discrimination in all of the forms and shapes that have been presented 
in recent years. That is a defining issue for our country. America will 
never be America until we free ourselves from all types and all forms 
of discrimination.
  There was never a battle in any of the areas involving discrimination 
in which Chuck Robb was not a leader. I will miss him on this Senate 
floor.
  I join with my other colleagues in paying tribute to his service to 
the Senate, but most importantly to his State and also to our Nation. 
He has a great opportunity in the future for continued service. I think 
all Members in this body wish him well and look forward to 
opportunities of work with him closely again.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

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