[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 151 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11685-S11690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Senate
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
END OF THE 107TH CONGRESS
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I come to offer a few remarks today about
the end of this legislative session. But of course, as is always the
case when I have an opportunity to sit in this Chamber and listen to my
colleague, Senator Byrd, I learn a great deal, and it is always a joy
to do so.
I am going to be very brief. I have to make a speech to a convention
at a hotel near the Capitol in a few minutes, but I did want to say at
the end of this session, and especially after the election of this
year, something about what I believe is ahead of us.
We have just gone through an election. That is the exercise that the
late Claude Pepper used to describe as the miracle in the U.S.
Constitution. He said every second year our Constitution provides that
the American people are able to grab the steering wheel of this country
and decide which way to nudge our country, which direction to provide
America. So that is what the elections are about.
This election is described by some in the press as dispiriting and
disquieting to those of us on the Democratic side of the aisle. To me,
it is not dispiriting or disquieting. I wish the election had gone
differently, but over two cen-
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turies we have elections that change and move and in other ways affect
this democratic system of ours--this system of democracy, I should
say--and I accept the election. The election described a government by
the American people as a government that is very divided. The House of
Representatives they chose is about 51 percent Republican, 49 percent
Democrat. The Senate they have chosen is about 51 Republican, 49
Democrat. Of course, there is a special election in Louisiana in
December that may alter that.
The point is the American people have chosen a very closely divided
government. That is not dispiriting to me at all.
We are able, those who come to this passion and this public calling,
to look ahead to great challenges in our country and understand with
the President and with the cooperation of Democrats and Republicans, we
have to work together to meet these challenges. The change in the
Senate from a Democratic majority to a Republican majority is not much
of a change, after all, because it simply moves a couple of seats
around. It is now 51 to 49 instead of 50 to 49 to 1.
The fact is, in order to get things done to meet the challenges we
face in America, we must find ways to work together. The art of this
democracy working is through compromise. There are some who come here
and decide to say, here is what I believe and I will not move from that
point in the compass. I will not accept anything less than that which I
believe today, on Wednesday.
That is not the way to get things done. We will be best served as we
meet significant challenges ahead if we, the President and all in the
Senate, understand we serve the same master; that is, the American
people. And we want for this country the same thing: To do well, to
grow, to prosper, to be safe, to be secure.
Much of the agenda we work on, especially on the Democratic side of
the aisle, is an agenda that is almost timeless, the things people sit
at the supper table in the evening and talk about, as they have supper
together as a family. These are the things we have worked on for
decades. Questions that a family asks: Do I have a good job? Does dad
or mom have a good job? Does it pay well? Does it offer job security?
Do grandpa and grandma have access to decent health care now they have
reached their declining income years? Are we sending our children to
schools we are proud of? Are our children entering a schoolroom door
that is the best we can make it? Do we live in a safe neighborhood,
free from crime? Is our country safe? Is the security of America safe?
These are issues the families care about and are issues we work on in
the Congress and the Senate.
There are some who come to public service with a very critical
message of our country; it is the easiest thing in the world. It takes
no talent at all. I could demonstrate it in 2 minutes. The easiest
thing in the world is to take a flaw in our system and hold it to the
light and say, look at this, isn't this ugly? Look at this
imperfection, isn't it ugly? Yes, it is a flaw and an imperfection and
there are many in our great country.
But that is not the norm in America. We have industries that spring
up looking at our imperfections. We have television programs that
entertain the American people with other people's dysfunctional
behavior, and they get great ratings. But it is not the main of what
America is about. It is so easy to give the negative side. I am tempted
but I will not; in 2 minutes I can recite the awful things about our
country. We have people who are professionals doing it on radio and
television and in politics every day: Look how awful this place is.
It is not awful at all. This country is a country born of the courage
and blood of patriots. It is a country that survived the Civil War. It
has overcome a depression; beat back the forces of Hitler, Nazism. It
is a country that has done what no other country has done. It has built
the strongest economic engine for growth and opportunity for people in
the world. It has split the atom, spliced genes, cloned animals,
inventions too numerous to mention. It is a country that had people
build airplanes and learn to fly them, had people build rockets and go
to the moon and walk on the moon. Along the way, it cured smallpox and
polio, invented the telephone, the television, the computer.
It is a strong country with a resilient people, people who live in
communities and help each other, who care about their kids, care about
their future. Gregg Easterbrook wrote ``America the OK.'' I like the
title--and the book. I like the title because it describes a different
attitude about America, ``America the OK.'' That book came out some
while ago but came out at a time when, as is usually the case, there
were so many voices talking how awful things were in America.
There is not a better place on Earth to live. We are lucky to be
Americans. We are lucky to be alive now.
When I mention the challenges ahead, first and foremost is a national
security challenge. That is an awesome challenge. There is no question
that the September 11 tragedy that befell our country and killed so
many innocent American citizens reminds all this is a big, troubled
world in many respects and national security is very important, as is
homeland security. We must find ways to work together in a big, free,
and open country, to provide some assurance of security for the
American people. We must do that without diminishing the basic civil
liberties that exist in our Constitution for the American people.
This discussion about a national identification card, about a
database in which they will data mine all the information about
people's lives to find out if there is somebody doing something
untoward, that is not the way to approach providing security for our
country, by diminishing the basic civil rights in our country.
We face this very significant threat from Osama bin Laden, who
apparently still lives. I might say, in the early part of this year I
was in Afghanistan, I flew from Tajikistan-Uzbekistan to Baghram
Airbase in Afghanistan, myself, Senator Daschle and others. Flying over
the mountains of Afghanistan, preparing to land at Baghram, I looked
down at the hills and understood deep in those caves were terrorists
led by Osama bin Laden plotting the murder of innocent Americans by
crashing airplanes into the World Trade Center. You understand
especially more than ever when you look on the mountains that we cannot
ever be oblivious to what is going on in the rest of the world. We do
so at our peril. What happens in other parts of the world is of
significant interest to us.
So national security is very important. I don't think there is any
division, any partisanship, on that issue. We care about this country.
We care about its security. We care about the men and women who wear
its uniform proudly in the armed services.
In addition, the issue of national security, another part of security
that is important is economic security for our country because all we
can become in this country relates to having the economic engine that
provides people opportunities so people can work, have jobs that pay
well, with security, to build the good schools, send your kids to good
schools, and provide health care for grandma and grandpa and do the
things that make this a great place in which to live. That economic
security and all of the attendant issues dealing with this economy are
also very important.
I am proud to be part of a caucus in the Senate that says, here are
the things we think we need to do to strengthen our country and provide
opportunity to people in this country. Not handouts, opportunities.
There are times when people are down and out and have a tougher time
with it, when it is important for a country to say, let us help you up.
But the most important element of what we are about is to provide
opportunity. There is no social program in America as important as a
good job that pays well. That is what represents the basis for
providing for a family and providing opportunity in the future.
This is a big old world, with 6 billion people; about half of them
have never made a telephone call; 2.5 billion live on less than $2 a
day; 150 million children are not in school.
It is a big, difficult, challenged world in many ways, and we are
enormously blessed to live here, right here, in this great democracy.
We come from different parts of our country, different backgrounds,
different philosophies, to
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arrive here amidst 100 seats in the Senate. None of us owns a seat
here. We are here as a matter of privilege--privileged to represent
those who sent us here from our home States.
When we come to this Senate and in public policy engage in debate,
there are some who look at that debate and say: Look, isn't that awful.
Debate has broke out in the Senate.
I remember one day reading the Washington Post and one of the critics
some number of years ago said--talking about some very aggressive
debate in public policy here in the Senate:
This has just degenerated into a dispute about principle.
I thought to myself: Well, I hope so. That's why I came here--about
principle.
Debate is what best serves the American people. The old saying: When
everyone in the room is thinking the same thing, no one is thinking
very much--that is a very important thing for us to remember here in
the Senate. We will best serve the cause of our country's future and
best serve the American people by continuing to be aggressive about
that which we believe for the future of this country; by standing here,
offering ideas that represent the approaches we believe will advance
America's interests.
The next session of Congress, both because of national security and
also economic security issues, will be a very difficult Congress. There
is no question about that. But it will not be made more difficult by me
wanting to see the other side lose. I want America to win. And this
country wins when we best serve this country's interests by not wishing
others to lose, but offering the best ideas we have and hoping that
they will engage us in a way that selects the best of all the ideas
offered in the Senate to advance this country's interests.
My fervent hope is that the next couple of years will be years of
accomplishment in which all of us together can think we have done a
good job in a troubled time for this country; in the face of threats--
terrorist threats, national security threats--we have still advanced
the interests of this country, even while keeping this country safe;
advanced the interests of people who work for a living and want
education, good schools, they want health care. They want the things
that make this a good life, as well, here at home. If we do that, at
the end of 2 years I think we will have accomplished something very
significant for this great country of ours.
I thank the Senator from West Virginia for his indulgence as well. I
saw by his papers he is intending, perhaps, to visit with us today a
bit about Thanksgiving, and what a perfect, appropriate subject, the
week prior to Thanksgiving.
I will yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I want to just take off on a word that the
Senator spoke, the Senator from North Dakota. I will not detain him. I
know he has to be somewhere, but he spoke about privilege, that we
ought to be thankful; that this is a privilege. He referred to a
privilege. I want to tee off that word, ``privilege.''
Also, I must say before the Senator leaves that I still have not come
up with the right word when I am thinking about that Greek--it was not
Aristides, it was not Alcibiades, but I will come up with it. But it
was another word. It will come to me. I am still worrying about it.
But on this word ``privilege,'' let us think, if I may suggest for a
little while, about what a privilege it is--what a privilege it is to
be an American, a person born in this country of whatever background,
or a person who has emigrated to this country and been accepted as an
American citizen--what a privilege that is.
I am not thinking about Afro-Americans or Italian-Americans or Greek-
Americans or Anglo-Saxon Americans or anything--we have too much of
these hyphenations. I am not much on hyphenations. I don't go around
talking about my being an Anglo-Saxon American--but I am proud of it. I
know other individuals in this country are proud of their heritage, and
they should be. They should be proud that their ancestors came from
Africa or their ancestors came from England or their ancestors came
from Germany or their ancestors came from Ireland or from Poland or the
Middle East or wherever. They ought to be proud of that. But I don't go
around saying I am an Anglo-Saxon-American. I am proud of being a
descendant of an Englishman who came to this country in 1657--but I am
an American, that's the thing--of whatever lineage it may be.
It may be from the subcontinent of Asia. It may be a Persian. It may
be an Iranian. It may be an Iraqi. Or it may be an Indian from India,
where they have that beautiful Taj Mahal, at Agra.
But I am an American. What a privilege that is. Do you remember what
Paul said? Paul, who was earlier Saul, but he persecuted the Christians
and he came to be named Paul, the great Apostle. He and Silas--I
believe it was Silas--they were arrested and they were beaten. But when
the Roman centurion or the Roman officer heard that Paul was a Roman,
he sent word: Don't--don't strike that man anymore. He is a Roman.
Being a Roman was something, in those days of Biblical history. It
meant something very special, being a Roman. Don't strike him. Don't
flog him anymore, he is a Roman, a Roman citizen.
The distinguished Senator from North Dakota who just addressed the
Senate has a deep appreciation for the privilege of being an American.
And, on this day when we are about to adjourn the Senate, and in
thinking of a day that is coming soon, Thanksgiving Day, we should be
grateful and prayerfully grateful, for being an American; grateful for
this land of ours; grateful, privileged to be an American--privileged.
Let me now refer to the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact,
adopted on November 11--ha. What is that day in our time? The old
Armistice Day, the day on which my mother, my angel mother was buried.
She died of the influenza the night before Armistice Day.
My mother--and may I say to my brother, who is 90 years old and
living in Wilkes County, NC, today, I would almost imagine that he is
listening to the Senate--``debate.'' He is listening to us on the
Senate floor today. That's my brother. I don't know that he is, but I
would wager he is. He is 90 years old. He listens to the Senate
debates.
May I say, if he is listening: Our mother died on November 11, the
night preceding. I don't know whether it was before midnight or after
on that night. Just as I don't remember whether Caesar crossed the
Rubicon before midnight or after midnight on January 11, in the year 49
B.C. I don't remember that. But in any event, isn't it interesting that
the Mayflower Compact was drawn up on November 11, 1620, and Governor
Bradford makes this reference to the circumstances under which the
Compact was drawn up and signed--this is William Bradford. He said
this:
This day, before we came to harbour, observing some not
well affected to unity and concord, but gave some appearance
of faction, it was thought good there should be an
association and agreement, that we should combine together in
one body, and to submit to such government and governors as
we should by common consent agree to make and choose, and set
our hands to this that follows, word for word.
In The Name of God, Amen,
In The Name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten,
the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by
the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,
King, Defender of the faith . . . Having undertaken for the
Glory of God.
Are you listening?
Having undertaken for the Glory of God.
Do I hear that a judge in this land has said to take that monument to
the Ten Commandments out of your Statehouse? Read it. It is in today's
papers--or yesterday's--where a judge who wears his robes of justice,
said remove it.
He should visit my office and see the words of the Ten Commandants
all over the walls there in that public place--the Ten Commandants.
How could we come to a place like this in America, this wonderful
land of ours, this land in which it is a privilege to be born, or to
become a citizen, to live, to serve, to die in this land of ours, where
we can be privileged, how could that judge--how could any judge--say:
Remove those words, the Ten Commandants? Was that the kind of judge,
was that the kind of interpretation of the Constitution--I wonder if
Governor Bradford had that in mind. I
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wonder what he was thinking about when he referred to God.
Let us hear it again. This is what the Mayflower Compact said:
In The Name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten,
the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James.
King James was King of England from the year 1603 until the year
1624, I believe.
By the way, that Bible, the King James Version, was authorized at
Hampton Court in 1604, and it was first published in 1611--the King
James Version of the Holy Bible.
Let me say it again. This is what the Mayflower Compact said. This is
not what some misguided judge may have said about the Ten Commandments.
This is not some misguided judge who has misinterpreted the
Constitution, in my judgment. But who am I? But I am a citizen--not a
Roman citizen. I am an American, ``privileged,'' in the words of
Senator Dorgan, to serve in this land, to work in this land, and to
live in this land.
Here is what the Mayflower Compact said.
Hear me. Hear me now. This is the Mayflower Compact.
In The Name of God.
I am going to go out to meet Him soon. Abraham lived to be 170. Isaac
was 180. Jacob lived to be 147. Joseph lived to be 110. Strom Thurmond
is going to be 100 in just a few days. I am 85 today. But we can't be
here always. I am going out to meet God.
Here is what the Mayflower Compact said. It was drawn up by those
rugged, brave people on that ship as they prepared to get off that ship
and step on the stormy shores--the rockbound coast of Massachusetts.
In the name of God--
Let us listen today as we prepare for Thanksgiving in this Year of
our Lord, 2002.
In The Name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten,
the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James,
by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,
King, Defender of the Faith, [et cetera] Having undertaken
for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith,
in the Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the
first colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these
Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and
one another . . .
I think it means and of one another--
. . . covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil
Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and
Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof do
enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws,
Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to
time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the
general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due
Submission and Obedience. In WITNESS whereof we have hereunto
subscribed our names at Cape Cod this eleventh day of
November, in the year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King
James of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth and of
Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620.
There it is. That is the Mayflower Compact.
Today, on Thanksgiving, let us be thankful to the same God referenced
in this Mayflower Compact. Let us be thankful we are Americans, that we
live in America, that we live in the land of the free and the home of
the brave, that we live in this land which has been so wonderfully
blessed by the God of Hosts, the Creator. Let us be thankful to Him.
Great God, our king.
And the names that followed were: Mr. John Carver, Mr. William
Bradford, Mr. Edward Winslow, Mr. William Brewster, Isaac Allerton,
Myles Standish, John Alden, John Turner, Francis Eaton, James Chilton,
John Craxton, John Billington, Joses Fletcher, John Goodman, Mr. Samuel
Fuller, Mr. Christopher Martin, Mr. William Mullins, Mr. William White,
Mr. Richard Warren, John Howland, Mr. Steven Hopkins, Digery Priest,
Thomas Williams, Gilbert Winslow, Edmund Margesson, Peter Brown,
Richard Britteridge, George Soule, Edward Tilly, John Tilly, Francis
Cooke, Thomas Rogers, Thomas Tinker, John Ridgdale, Edward Fuller,
Richard Clark, Richard Gardiner, Mr. John Allerton, Thomas English,
Edward Doten, Edward Liester.
There you have it, the Mayflower Compact and all the names of the
signatories.
Then there was Thanksgiving Day, an annual national holiday in the
United States, celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past
year. It originated in the autumn of 1621 when Plymouth Gov. William
Bradford invited neighboring Indians to join the Pilgrims for a 3-day
festival of recreation and feasting in gratitude for the bounty of the
season. By the end of the 19th century, Thanksgiving Day had become an
institution throughout New England and was officially proclaimed as a
national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The traditional
feast of turkey and pumpkin pie has since become an indigenous part of
the national culture. Traditionally celebrated on the last Thursday in
November, it was changed by act of Congress in 1941 to the fourth
Thursday of that month. Canada first adopted Thanksgiving as a national
holiday in November 1879, and it is now celebrated annually on the
second Monday in October.
That has reference to Thanksgiving Day, again, referring to Plymouth
Gov. William Bradford who, in the autumn of 1621, invited the
neighboring Indians to join the Pilgrims for a 3-day festival of
recreation and feasting in gratitude for the bounteous season.
So on Thanksgiving Day let us remember those colonial forbears of
ours, let us remember Plymouth Gov. William Bradford, who recognized
that day of thanksgiving and whose name I referenced earlier in regard
to the Mayflower Compact.
(Mr. DURBIN assumed the Chair.)
Mr. BYRD. So, Mr. President, I want to spend a few minutes just being
thankful. The change in party control is but a small shift in the wind
compared to the gale forces that have blown in the past. It does not
compare to war, to acts of terror, the upheavals in the strategic
balance of power. I will live through that again, if I live, if the
Good Lord so blesses me.
Today, as the Senate attempts to conclude its work for this session,
one can almost smell the turkey roasting.
Tomorrow, if the Good Lord willing--in the Book of James it says:
Don't say you will go here or there tomorrow, and you will buy this and
that, or you will visit this city or that tomorrow; but say: If the
Lord wills.
The Book of James.
So tomorrow, if the Lord wills, my wife and I hope to visit the Giant
store over in McLean. And I can see the lines in the grocery stores.
They are long. And the carts are full, as families prepare for the
feast, for the feast to come next week: Plump turkeys, deep red
cranberries--my wife is the best when it comes to fixing that cherry
pie and the cranberry dressing, and all these things--rich pumpkin pie
filling, sweet whipped cream, crisp green beans, flour and spices for
baking--all are fond reminders of the season of Thanksgiving.
This year, travel is expected to rebound, after the scares of last
year, as families reconnect more strongly. The Thanksgiving feast, the
epitome of family tradition, is back, more precious, more appreciated
than ever.
The Nation, too, feels stronger. Our economy may be weaker, but we
are more aware of ourselves as a nation of Americans, as citizens of
one land, rather than an eclectic mix of communities with little
connection to each other.
As a nation, we feared the sniper who stalked the National Capital
Area just a few weeks ago. As a nation, we pulled for those coal
miners.
I know the Presiding Officer of the Senate today, the distinguished
Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, whose ancestry goes back to the
great country of Poland, does not go around saying: I am a Polish
American. He says: I am an American. He is proud of his ancestry. I
have talked with him about it. But he does not remind me every day that
he is a Polish American. He is an American, just, as I said a little
earlier, I am an Anglo Saxon American. But I do not go around talking
about it. These hyphenated Americans, I am not too high on using the
hyphen in that respect. We are all Americans.
In any event, as a nation, we feared that sniper. And as a nation,
then, we pulled for those miners. And the Senator from Illinois knows
about the coal miners of that State, as I know about the coal miners of
West Virginia.
As a nation, we pulled for the miners who were trapped underground in
Pennsylvania. As a nation, we followed the hunt for terrorists. We
mourned for the victims of terrorist acts committed around the world.
We now know the feeling of wearing a target on our backs by virtue of
the
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passport we carry. It is a new feeling for many Americans; not exactly
a pleasant one, but if it is a burden of our citizenship, we wear it
with pride.
The flags that have flown in yards nationwide since September 11,
2001, are still flying in our minds and in our memories, in our hearts.
Our military, with the National Guard and Reserve forces, is more
unified this Thanksgiving. All are under the strain of extended callups
and deployments but all are working together. They are not weekend
warriors, they are not sunshine patriots versus regulars, but they are
full-time professionals, operating under the shadow of war, pushing
hard to extend security across the globe. I am thankful for their
effort.
I am reminded of the words of Thomas Paine, who wrote, on December
23, 1776:
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer
soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink
from the service of his country; but he that stands in NOW,
deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Now, Mr. President, as I share my turkey and dressing with my dear
Erma and with my daughters and sons in law, grandchildren and great
grandchildren, I will offer a prayer to each of the Nation's men and
women in uniform and their families. As we dine, they are flying, they
are steaming, driving, and standing guard over our Nation's liberty.
They are on the front lines of the war against terrorism.
Their families are gathering around tables that are not as full as
they should be. Some of the chairs will be vacant. The circle of
smiling faces will be incomplete.
This year especially we ought to remember and be thankful to them and
to God for their effort. We should remember and give thanks for the
efforts of our Nation's veterans. They and their families have also
sacrificed for our Nation. Their families have sacrificed. Their wives
have sacrificed. Their children have sacrificed. Their parents have
sacrificed. Their brothers, their sisters, their kinsmen have
sacrificed.
In this year even more than ever, we will remember the firemen, the
policemen, the lifesaving crews who have performed so heroically during
the crises of the past year and more. As terrorism struck our homeland,
as anthrax filled our Federal buildings, as a sniper took aim at
innocent people going about their everyday business, these first
responders rose to the challenge. People are alive today because of
their efforts.
In addition to their everyday duties, the local and State police, the
fire departments, the public health departments, the hospitals, the
ambulance crews, all are planning how they might best respond to a
major terrorist attack, whether it comes in the form of conventional
explosives or chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons. Their
diligence at this task may make the difference for all of us in the
future. They, too, will have my prayers this Thanksgiving.
Those of us in the Senate family should remember in our prayers the
men and women who gave their lives on September 11, who gave their
lives for us. There was a fourth plane, and some noble men and women on
that fourth plane decided among themselves that they were going to die,
but they decided that that plane, while it would carry them to their
death, that plane would never complete its mission. Its mission, we
understand, was this Capitol.
So we Members of this body, the members of the Senate family, the
pages, the security people here, the Chaplain and his staff, our
staffs, may all give thanks on that day for those brave men and women
who knew they were going to die, who took phones and called their loved
ones and said, for the last time: I love you. But they concluded among
themselves: We will die that others won't die. If one could write the
chapter, if one could have been there, they gave their lives and
brought forth their sacrifices. Who knows? Who knows? Those eagles up
there that from time to time must scream would not be there today.
That plane, that fourth plane, went down in Pennsylvania, the State
in which that Philadelphia Convention was held, out of which came the
Constitution and this great constitutional system that we know about.
So it is a daunting task when we think about the settlers who thanked
Providence for seeing them through a difficult first year. It is a
daunting task to carve a homestead out of the wilderness thousands of
miles from anything familiar. One could not drive to the hardware store
to purchase lumber and nails and shingles and windowpanes. You could
not plug in or charge up labor-saving tools such as power saws and nail
guns. No, each log had to be cut with an axe, dragged to the site and
lifted by hand--not by an electric crane--and placed.
Each shingle for the roof had to be planed for more wood; each stone
for the foundation and the chimney had to be dug up and hauled to the
site. And while the home building was going on, the fields had to be
cleared. The fields had to be planted; the fields had to be tended.
Game had to be hunted and cured, or there would be no food for winter,
let alone for a Thanksgiving feast.
So in this year of our Lord 2002, we gather in warm houses with our
loved ones, each house a glowing lamp of civilization in an
increasingly hostile world. It is a different kind of wilderness that
surrounds us now, a forest of threats from unfamiliar places with
unfamiliar names that press in from all sides. But for a day we can
easily push our nagging fears aside and find comfort in the warm bonds
of family affection.
As we work together, polishing the silver, setting the table, and
preparing and serving the delicious food and talking to the little
ones, the little grandchildren, and to little puppies, like Trouble
over at my house and Danny over at my daughter's home, and washing the
dishes, we share in life's greatest gift--our families.
I would like to close with a poem. I am still looking for that Greek
name. It has slipped my mind.
The poem is ``Home, Sweet Home":
'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the sky seem to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met elsewhere,
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!
An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singing gaily, that came at my call--
Give me them--and the peace of mind, dearer than all!
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!
I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild,
And feel that my mother now thinks of her child,
As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door
Thro' the woodbine, whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!
How sweet `tis to sit `neath a fond father's smile,
And the caress of a mother to soothe and beguile!
Let others delight 'mid new pleasure to roam,
But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!
To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!
God bless our homes, and God bless the sweet land of liberty,
America.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida is recognized.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, God bless America, and God
bless Senator Byrd and what he has meant to this institution, and for
serving in this institution, the Congress of the United States, for
over a half century.
We have had the privilege of again having one of the great insights
into American history as seen through the prism of Senator Byrd's
observation after a half century of American politics and American
history.
When I was a Member of the other body, the House of Representatives,
one of the great delights I had was to
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sit at the knee of Congressman Claude Pepper, a former Senator. He was
a walking political history book. And along with that delightful
personality, you could learn so much just listening. Of course, he was
always a great delight. The Senator who presides and I both had the
pleasure of being with Claude Pepper. So often I would hear when he
would take what he would call his ``boys''--those members of the Rules
Committee--on a trip and those younger Members of Congress--younger by
one-half and sometimes two-thirds the age of the venerable Claude
Pepper--could not keep up with the energetic pace he kept on those
congressional delegation trips.
And so, likewise, it has been such a privilege for me that I have now
had the opportunity to come here to the Senate and sometimes to sit at
the knee and learn from the senior Senator from West Virginia.
For what you have given to all of us--the particular interests and
affection you have shown to the new Members of the Senate in the 107th
Congress--we are all so very appreciative to you.
Again, thank you for your words today in commemorating this time of
Thanksgiving that so many of us in our own way will say a little prayer
of gratefulness for this blessed land of which we have the privilege of
being citizens.
Mr. President, I rise today to again give another one of my speeches
about my favorite little agency, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, before the distinguished Senator proceeds,
if he would allow me to interrupt him for a comment.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. I yield to the Senator for that purpose.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator for his
kind words of praise. But let me say some good words about him. That is
why I have sought to interrupt him. The Senator has come to the Senate
and brings with him a marvelous background of knowledge--knowledge of
space, space flight, and our explorations into space. He is not by any
means as long in his experience in this great country as I am. I can
remember when Lindbergh flew across the ocean in 1927, I believe on May
9. When he launched that flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, the New
York Times had a headline, if I remember, that said Lindbergh flew
across New York City--or perhaps it was Nova Scotia--at the
``tremendous'' speed of 100 miles an hour. That man, when he flew
across the ocean--sometimes 10 feet above the water, sometimes probably
10,000 feet above the water--he had a payload of about 5,500 pounds; he
had about five sandwiches, and he ate a half of one on his way across
the water. That was a lonely man.
But now this man from Florida, who graces this Chamber, flew in space
at the tremendous speed, I would imagine, of about 18,000 miles an
hour. So as we in high school used to talk about that flivver--there
were not many flivvers in that day. A few automobiles were owned by
high-ranking officials in the coal mining community, and they spoke of
that automobile coming down Sofia Mountain at the speed of a mile a
minute. Here is this man who has come to us and has flown at the
tremendous speed of 18,000 miles an hour. He has also brought with him
a deep respect of the Constitution of the country, a deep respect for
this institution.
I thank God, as we near Thanksgiving Day, for pioneers like this man,
Senator Nelson of Florida. He is a pioneer in space. We have
thankfulness to him and other men like him, such as the Presiding
Officer who comes from Illinois; they both came over from the other
body. So many of us came from the other body, and so many of us, I am
sorry to say--especially those who have come lately--seem to think this
body should be another House of Representatives. I should not get
started on that.
But I thank the distinguished Senator, my dear friend, for his kind
references to me and the context in which he made those references. I
hope I can live up to his faith and his accomplishments. I thank him
for the Senator he is and the American that he is as we near
Thanksgiving Day in a land for which we have so much to be grateful.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for his
kind words. Whenever he is so gracious to me, as he just has been, I
think myself undeserving of those kind words.
I look around this Chamber and see the places that people who have
really shown courage and devotion to duty and to country sit, a place
like over there, Senator Inouye, a winner of the Congressional Medal of
Honor; a place like over there, Senator McCain, a prisoner of war who
withstood those horrors for over 6 years; a place like over there for
Senator Chuck Hagel, a distinguished veteran of Vietnam; a place like
over here, the seat of Senator John Kerry, the holder of the Silver
Star from Vietnam; or that seat right there, the occupant of which will
be leaving us at the end of this Congress, a triple amputee from
Vietnam, Senator Max Cleland, who has overcome so much and yet who has
the greatest attitude of any Senator in this body. These are the
heroes, and there are many more, both men and women, in daily acts of
courage. I feel very privileged to be a part.
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