[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 151 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11668-S11670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SENATOR ROBERT C. SMITH

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, before Senator Smith leaves the floor, I 
would like to say a few words about our colleague and my good friend.
  First, I thank Senator Smith for his service to New Hampshire and to 
our

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country and also thank him for his friendship and support over the 
years. We have been friends. We have been supporters of each other.
  I can remember many occasions when I was in leadership roles--which 
he supported me for--I went to him and asked for his help and sometimes 
it was not even an issue on which it was easy for him to be supportive. 
Sometimes it affected my own State. Sometimes it affected the country. 
But I don't remember a time--when it was the right thing to do--when I 
asked for his help for our country, or even for my State, that he 
didn't come through and stand with me. I appreciate that very much.
  Sometimes the people who help you the most get the least credit, get 
the least participation in the spoils, so to speak. And sometimes you 
just forget to say thank you. Sometimes I am guilty of that.
  In the last 2 weeks, I have been in such a euphoric mood, I am 
calling people, all the way back to my fourth grade teacher, to thank 
them. I am in a very grateful and humble mood. I think I should say 
that to my friend from New Hampshire, too. I haven't sidled up to him 
enough and said: You are a good Senator and you are a good friend and 
thank you for all the good work that you have done. But I believe that 
and I mean it.
  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. I thank the Senator.
  Mr. LOTT. I won't ever forget it. I wish you and Mary Jo happiness 
and success. I believe you will have it. I believe you will find that 
life after the Senate can be quite nice. In fact, I get a little 
agitated sometimes when I run into our former colleagues who are now 
ambassadors and businessmen and businesswomen. They are making money. 
They are rested and they are tanned and they have new suits and new 
ties.
  Wait a minute, why didn't you look this way when you were in the 
Senate?
  They say: Hey, it's not too bad out there in the real world.
  This is a tough job. There are a lot of demands, a lot of things you 
want to do for your constituents. I know you will find a way to be a 
productive citizen and will be able to do some things with your family 
and wife and children you didn't have the opportunity to do before. I 
certainly hope for that. We look forward to staying in touch with you. 
We will think about you and say a prayer for you along the way.
  I want to particularly note your service to our country on the Armed 
Services Committee on defense issues. Once again, I know some stories 
about Senator Bob Smith that a lot of others don't know, things that 
you did on that committee for a weapons system or for a project. It 
didn't necessarily affect your State, but it was right for our country. 
You deserve credit for that.
  You did do some good things for the environment. A lot of people say: 
Oh, Republicans, you know, they are not going to do anything about 
clean air, clean water, environmental cleanup. In fact, that is not 
true. But we want to do it with common sense. Senator Smith did some 
good things in that position he held on the Environment and Public 
Works Committee as chairman--and when you were in the minority, too.
  You have done good work for your State--an interesting State; a great 
State, I think. Sometimes they show great wisdom. Other times, you 
know, you wonder about it--kind of like my own constituency, how they 
vote. But I think you have reflected them quite well and reflected 
credit on them.
  I said some things about you last Thursday night at an event that you 
weren't able to attend, but I want to respond to your comments here 
today. As I said for others, you can leave here and know that you 
fought the good fight, you finished the race in good fashion, and you 
have been a good and true servant for your people and for your country.

  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Senator Lott, if you would yield for just 
a second, I thank you for your friendship and your leadership. I am 
glad to see you back in the majority. I know you will make good use of 
it.
  I will miss not being here to help you, but I will be rooting for you 
on the outside, as you know.
  You did mention family. I think it is important for all of us to 
reflect and understand, without my wife Mary Jo and my daughter, 
Jennifer, and my sons, Bobby and Jason--without their support over the 
years, it would not have been possible. You know how difficult this job 
is, living in a fishbowl. We all have our families to thank, so I want 
to pay a special tribute to my family for supporting me all these years 
and loving me and still loving me after all of this.
  I thank you again, leader, for your remarks.
  Mr. LOTT. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Carper). The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I want to share with you my admiration 
for Bob Smith. I think it was Phil Gramm who repeated recently what he 
said not long after Paul Coverdell's death: If you love somebody, you 
ought to tell them you love them. Sometimes you are too late.
  I love Bob Smith. I so respect what he stands for. He stood for the 
future. He has been an historian. He knows the past. He has called on 
our military to transform itself, to meet the new challenges in the 
world. He has understood, with great clarity, that we do need control 
in space. That was a remarkable address that all of us ought to take to 
heart about the future this Nation has in space.
  I remember at one of our Armed Services Committee hearings, Secretary 
Rumsfeld was up for confirmation and was asked, critically: Well, you 
don't mean we are going to have war in space, do you, Mr. Rumsfeld?
  Without hesitation he said: We have had war on the ground, we have 
had war on the water, we have had war in the air--and, yes, we are 
going to have war in space, and we need to be prepared to win it.
  One of the great technological advances we have is the ability to 
control space. That enables us to control the battlefield. Senator 
Smith has absolutely been the strongest advocate in this Senate, and 
probably maybe in the House, for the vision that we have to prepare 
ourselves to be able to maintain domination in space. He did it for one 
reason--because he cares about our men and women in uniform. He wants 
them to be able to prevail on the battlefield. He does not want them to 
be subject to attacks controlled by enemy space power; to have our men 
and women in uniform suffer. Everything he has done in the committee 
has been so focused on strengthening and bettering the lives of our men 
and women in uniform.

  He mentioned the POWs. He has absolutely been the strongest advocate 
in the Senate, consistently--in committee, when no public and no press 
is there--always pushing for the families and the lives of our 
prisoners of war. I think it has been a remarkable commitment in that 
one area in which I have seen him lead.
  I was on the EPW Committee when Senator Smith wrote the brownfields 
legislation. It was good legislation and we should have passed it. I 
was naive and I was stunned that we couldn't get that passed. I guess 
it was the trial lawyers because it eliminated all the money we are 
spending on lawsuits and focused it on cleaning up instead of 
litigation. The litigation lobby ended up blocking the bill. I know it 
must have been a great frustration to Senator Smith who worked so hard 
on a bill that would have been tremendously beneficial to the 
environment.
  My perspective here is this: There has not been a Senator who has 
more purity of purpose, more fidelity of commitment to the values that 
make America great. He loves this country. As an historian himself, he 
understands this country and its greatness. He has felt an obligation, 
while in this body, to do everything he can to further and strengthen 
the country that he believes in so greatly. He has never been part of 
the ``blame America first'' crowd. He has believed in the validity of 
the American dream and the positive impact of America on the world. He 
was here during the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the wall, 
and I will tell you one thing: Bob Smith was on the side of freedom 
every step of the way.
  He recognized the ``evil empire'' was evil. He did not appreciate it. 
He valued our values, and he fought for them. I know that must have 
been a special time for him and the man he admired so much, Ronald 
Reagan.
  He stood for the elimination of partial-birth abortion, a most 
horrible

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procedure. When he first raised that here in this body, people were 
offended that he would talk about such things. But as the years went 
by, the vote grew and people began to realize just how right he was, 
and just how horrible that procedure was. We had, virtually--we had a 
substantial majority vote the last time we voted on it, not quite 
making it law, but we had a big step in that direction. That was a 
courageous thing. Even the AMA has come around to agreement with 
Senator Smith, the American Medical Association.
  So it is a pleasure for me to be here today to share a few words 
about a man with whom I have worked closely, who I have admired, who 
has the courage to stand for his convictions--but always in the way of 
a gentleman, always not acting in a way that would offend, but standing 
for what he believes in and for America. Senator Smith, we appreciate 
your service, and God bless you.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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