[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H27-H33]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE WAYNE OWENS, FORMER MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM 
                                  UTAH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, as dean of the Utah delegation, it is my sad 
duty to announce to the House the passing of the Honorable Wayne Owens, 
a former Member of this body and a good friend to many of us.
  Wayne died unexpectedly just before Christmas of a massive heart 
attack while walking on the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the 
conclusion of a peace-seeking trip to several countries in the Middle 
East. He was only 65 years old.
  That Wayne Owens would be involved in that kind of activity as his 
life ended is no surprise to those of us who knew him. He spent a 
significant part of his life trying to bring about accommodation of the 
interests and passions plaguing that part of the world.
  Wayne Owens served in this House from 1973 to 1975 and again from 
1987 to 1993, representing the people of the Second District of Utah. 
His political career inspired a generation of young people with his 
political idealism. He was a Democrat and he and I differed on many 
policy issues, but we never disagreed on the need for the involvement 
of the electorate, and especially young people, in the art and science 
of making law. In fact, I might say that while we disagreed on almost 
every issue, he was never, and I hope I also was never, disagreeable.
  In the House, Wayne served on the Committee on the Judiciary, and we 
had parallel careers in that he investigated one Republican President 
and I, early in my career, investigated another Democratic President. 
Later, he served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and it was his 
service there that led to his lifelong concern for the people of the 
Middle East and to his efforts to mediate their conflicts. He created 
the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation to assist in 
that effort.
  At the funeral service held for Wayne Owens, Gordon B. Hinckley, 
president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said of 
him: ``Any man who is engaged in the cause of peace is engaged in the 
cause of Christ. By that measure, Wayne was a true Christian.''
  The world is poorer for his passing. I join my colleagues in 
extending to his wife, Marlene, and his children and grandchildren our 
deepest sympathy for his loss, and our profound respect for their 
husband, father, and grandfather. We will miss him.


                             General Leave

  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members have 5 
days to submit tributes to their former colleague.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Utah?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Hinchey).
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, 
and thank him for providing me an opportunity to express my deep 
affection and respect for Wayne Owens and his memory.
  I can say that we were very good friends, even though our tenure here 
in the House of Representatives did not coincide. He was leaving for 
the second time, actually, as I was coming in in 1993; but we were 
associated by virtue of the fact that we were interested in similar 
issues. Two of those issues most principally were the protection and 
preservation of open space in the State of Utah and peace in the Middle 
East.
  It was because of the initiative of Wayne Owens that I became the 
sponsor of a very significant piece of legislation here in the House of 
Representatives which would set aside a vast amount of publicly owned 
land in the State of Utah to be incorporated within that property owned 
by the Federal Government which is declared wilderness; in other words, 
affording it the highest level of protection for today and for future 
generations.
  Future generations is what Wayne Owens often had in mind, whether he 
was working on environmental issues or working with young people in his 
own State of Utah or elsewhere. He was also, as we all know, dedicated 
to the idea of bringing about peace in the Middle East between Israelis 
and Palestinians and others in that part of the world.
  He first developed this intense interest as a result of his 
missionary work

[[Page H28]]

for the Mormon Church. He was, of course, a devout Mormon, and had, as 
all Mormons do, performed significant missionary work on behalf of the 
Mormon Church. It was in that cause that he first became intimately 
acquainted with the details and difficulties of the circumstances that 
prevail, and that have prevailed, for some time in the Middle East, and 
which led him to establish the Center for Middle East Peace, which 
later became the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Development.
  As the director of that center, he led many of us in this Congress on 
numerous trips to that part of the world, at least for two reasons: to 
better acquaint Members of Congress with the circumstances that prevail 
in Israel and the surrounding area, and also to enlist us in his work 
to bring about a peaceful settlement to the political difficulties that 
prevail there.
  With Wayne Owens I have had the opportunity to be in Israel on 
numerous occasions; also in Beirut, and in Damascus; throughout the 
southern Mediterranean: in Tunisia and Morocco, Egypt, Algeria; and 
throughout the Saudi Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf States, as well.
  Always, Wayne was well received by the political leaders of all of 
those countries. They were well acquainted with him, they liked him 
personally, they understood the devotion and intensity that he brought 
to his work, and they respected him deeply for all of that.
  So whenever any of us traveled with Wayne, we were always treated 
well by everyone with whom we came into contact, not only because we 
were Members of the Congress, but also because we were traveling with 
Wayne Owens, who they knew and respected in the way that I have just 
described.
  I and everyone who knew him were deeply shocked at his loss, by the 
suddenness of his death. He was a man of such energy and vitality we 
all could not help but think that he would go on for a long, long time 
doing the very good work that he has done. It is still hard to believe 
that he has been taken from us in the midst of his work; but so it is, 
and so we miss him and respect him.
  I believe that all of us will continue to show that respect by 
continuing our devotion to the cause to which he in fact devoted his 
life, and that is, the cause of bringing peace to the Middle East.
  I thank Wayne Owens, and I want to also at this moment express my 
deep appreciation to his wife and his family, who suffered, I guess is 
the best way to put it, his work. They allowed him to carry it on. They 
knew he was doing, in effect, the Lord's work. He was doing work that 
they appreciated and understood. I want to express my appreciation to 
his wife and family for allowing him to do all the good things that he 
did.
  We miss him very, very deeply, we admire him, and we feel deeply his 
loss.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I first would like to thank the gentleman 
from New York (Mr. Hinchey) for his comments. He and I worked closely 
together on issues that he has picked up on, public lands in Utah, from 
Mr. Owens; and I want to thank him for his kind words to our colleague.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Wexler).
  Mr. WEXLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. It 
is with a heavy heart that I rise today to honor an outstanding 
visionary leader, former Member of Congress, and dear friend, Wayne 
Owens. Today is a sad day in the Middle East and here in our own 
country, not only because violence and terror continue unabated, but 
also because one of the greatest believers and promoters of peace in 
the Middle East has passed. That man was Wayne Owens.
  It is with profound respect, admiration, and sadness that I wish to 
pay tribute to him today.

                              {time}  1700

  In my tenure as a Member of Congress I have traveled with Wayne to 
the Middle East on numerous occasions, witnessing firsthand his 
remarkable ability to bridge the gap between international leaders and 
promote dialogue, understanding and accord.
  Wayne was the quintessential peacemaker because he never wavered in 
his steadfast dedication and commitment to the future of the Middle 
East. His expertise on this issue was the focus of his professional 
life, from his years in the House of Representatives, to his time as 
the President and driving force behind the Center for Middle East 
peace. Wayne's unique efforts promoted understanding and communication 
in a time of great uncertainty and despair in the Middle East. At a 
time when hostility, hatred and terror permeated current events, Wayne 
would travel to the epicenter of the conflict to encourage diplomacy 
and peace.
  At a time when no one could envision a resolution to the most 
contentious issues in the Middle East, Wayne consistently offered 
creative answers and an optimistic spin. At a time when doors began to 
close in the region, Wayne dedicated the end of his life to opening the 
channels of peace, bringing American ideals to the region, and offering 
a glimmer of hope to leaders and people in the Middle East.
  Wayne Owens was a truly remarkable man who leaves behind a legacy of 
compassion, leadership and hope. Wayne was a beautiful soul, an 
extremely kind man who loved his family and cherished life dearly. I 
wish to convey my deepest condolences to his wife Marlene and the rest 
of Wayne's family and offer my wholehearted sympathy at this most 
difficult time. Wayne's contributions to history will be forever 
remembered as will his unyielding dream of harmony and peace. Wayne, 
you will be missed by those who care for you, and I consider myself one 
that thinks of you like a brother, an older brother, a very dear person 
and we will all miss you very, very much.
  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Wexler) for his kind words.
  I will submit for the record a statement by the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Berman). If I may take a moment to summarize what the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) said. His ideas are important.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) served with Mr. Owens in 
the House and pointed out in his comments that Mr. Owens was remarkable 
for the broad range of issues with which he dealt.
  He goes on to say that Mr. Owens was a very effective legislator, and 
after he left Congress that he was deeply involved in the Middle East 
peace process. One of the reasons why he was so effective, according to 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman), is that all sides accepted 
him as an honest broker. And finally, he never stopped believing that 
peace was possible even in the most difficult times recently in the 
Middle East.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall).
  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. Cannon) for all he has done in organizing these words today 
on the floor for Wayne Owens.
  I just wanted to rise today to say a few words about Wayne Owens and 
his service to the United States of America. He was a fine public 
servant. Many will talk and some have already about his tireless 
efforts for Middle East peace, but Wayne had an extensive legislative 
record here in the House of Representatives. He fought tirelessly to 
restore endangered species across the West. And the issue that I 
specifically would like to talk about today is his bringing justice to 
the Colorado plateau uranium miners.
  Wayne saw this as a situation with the Colorado uranium miners that 
had to have justice be brought to the situation. And what happened is 
these uranium miners went into mines on the Colorado plateau, worked in 
very dangerous, dirty air mines. There were high radon levels, as the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon) knows. He has worked on this very 
issue. The government knew these levels were very high. Government 
doctors did reports and doctors issued studies, but nobody told the 
uranium miners that there was really a problem. And so many years they 
continued to work in these uranium mines, 10 or 15 years in these dirty 
air mines.
  As many of us know, when you contract radon in a uranium mine and it 
is at high levels what ends up happening is 10 or 15 years down the 
line you get lung cancer, and that is in fact what happened on the 
Colorado plateau, an epidemic of lung cancer. Lawsuits were brought on 
behalf of these uranium

[[Page H29]]

miners but many of them were unsuccessful. My father was one of the 
ones, Stewart Udall, that brought many of the lawsuits and represented 
the miners. He just told me the other day when we learned of Wayne's 
death, he said, if it had not been for Wayne at that particular point 
when the miners lost their lawsuits, when the families were 
discouraged, when they thought there was going to be no justice, it was 
Wayne Owens that picked up the fight. And he went out and held hearings 
and he involved Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank and the Committee on the 
Judiciary and brought justice to this situation by helping pass a piece 
of legislation known as the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. And 
many families today in Utah and across the Colorado plateau are now in 
much better shape because of Wayne Owens' efforts on that piece of 
legislation.
  All of us here in the House of Representatives, I believe, miss Wayne 
very much and miss his contributions. We want to give our heartfelt 
condolences to his wife Marlene and his family, and we want to thank 
Wayne for his service, his great service to the country.
  Mr. CANNON. As the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) knows, my 
first job as a lawyer, Madam Speaker, was with his father working on 
these very cases that we are talking about. It was one of the great 
experiences of my life, and it is one of many of the areas where 
Congressman Owens and I had a great deal in common.
  I came to represent many of the people who were effected by the radon 
from the uranium mines. In fact, there is a whole town of widows, 
Minersville, Utah, which was part of my district until recently. So 
this has been a very important part of my life and one of reasons I 
appreciate the life and service of Mr. Owens.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague 
from Utah for yielding to me. I knew Wayne, particularly having had the 
opportunity to travel to the Middle East with him, and one thing that 
struck anyone who got to know him was how profoundly proud he was of 
having served in this institution. He served as an aide to Bobby 
Kennedy and to others. He worked in a number of political campaigns. 
Politics was his life. But he saw politics as an instrument to do good, 
to make lasting and positive change.
  His colleagues from Utah have talked about the environmental progress 
that he was able to achieve. He did any number of things in bringing 
diverse groups together. But I have to believe as his lifelong career 
pursuit, at least the latter part of his life, was dedicated to 
bringing about peace in the Middle East. He founded the Center for 
Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.
  He took a great many risks, not just personally and politically, but 
even physically. He had tremendous courage. That courage came from the 
personal belief in what he was doing. He put his own safety far below 
the importance of what he knew needed to be done in bringing about 
peace and reconciliation in one of the world's most conflicted parts. 
He found ways to build bridges. He loved people on both sides and found 
that commonality and worked on that commonality.
  And I want to quote from somebody that not only founded the Center 
for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation but was a very close 
friend of Wayne's, an intimate friend of Wayne's. They shared 
objectives. They loved each other. And that is Danny Abraham. Danny 
sent out a letter from the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic 
Cooperation. I want to quote from it. He says with regard to Wayne, 
``He was respected, loved and cherished by all who knew him. Wayne's 
single-minded devotion to continued dialogue and peace between Israelis 
and Arabs in the Middle East, even in the most challenging of 
circumstances, gave us the hope and courage we could have never found 
on our own. Wayne never faltered from his dream that one day Israelis 
and Arabs would live in peace and he had the magic, the gift of 
nurturing that dream in everyone he met. My beloved friend Wayne was a 
true servant of peace and he lived and died serving humanity. May Wayne 
Owens' life, his dedication and belief in us not be wasted. Together we 
must recommit ourselves to the pursuit of peace.''

  That will be Wayne's legacy, to help us recommit ourselves in the 
pursuit of the noblest objectives that he committed his life to. Again 
I want to thank my friend and colleague from Utah (Mr. Cannon). Let us 
memorialize Wayne in the actions that we take to further the vision 
that he had for peace, not only in the Middle East but throughout the 
world.
  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my friend and 
colleague, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran), for his kind words 
with regard to my dear friend, Mr. Owens.
  Madam Speaker, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Florida 
(Mr. Davis).
  Mr. DAVIS of Florida. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding to me. I had just before Christmas returned to Florida from a 
10-day trip to the Middle East with Wayne Owens and the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Price), who will speak shortly, as well as Danny 
Abraham with the Center. And I wanted to start by thanking Wayne's 
family and the people of Utah for sharing him with us, citizens of the 
United States, Members of Congress, the many people who were touched by 
Wayne.
  Wayne was a wonderful husband, a wonderful father, a wonderful 
citizen and he gave so much because the people of Utah saw fit to send 
him to Congress to equip him with the knowledge that he used through 
the last minute of his life.
  Wayne was one of the most selfless people I had met who served in 
this body. He had a wonderful sense of humor, a very strong sense of 
conviction, and something that I really came to appreciate more in the 
most recent trip to the Middle East, just a certain genius about him, a 
remarkable level of insight into people, people of all kinds, people 
who never could have been in the same room with one another, on 
different sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on different sides 
of other issues that separated us from countries like Syria and Saudi 
Arabia.
  But Wayne truly believed in people and I think did his best to see 
the best in everyone he met and to draw that out, and I think that 
Wayne played a very important role in the diplomacy of this country in 
having some painfully direct and difficult conversations with the heads 
of states in some of these Arab nations and having some very frank and 
constructive conversations with the officials in the Israeli 
government.
  Wayne Owens knew an awful lot about the Middle East and really would 
have been entitled to have been incredibly very cynical about what is 
happening over there right now, even hopeless, as many well-intentioned 
wise people are. But Wayne, like a lot of leaders who have made this 
country great and the world great, was an incurable optimist, and he 
til his dying day never stopped radiating the hope that he had that the 
better angels, as Abraham Lincoln would have put it, of all the people 
he had come in contact with would ultimately prevail, and that the 
United States would in the end play an important role in bringing about 
peace and tranquility in the Arab-Israeli dispute.
  I always thought to myself that if there ever had been or could be an 
election to choose the mayor of the Middle East, my candidate would 
have been Wayne Owens. In the last trip that the gentleman from North 
Carolina (Mr. Price) and I took, at every major airport we passed 
through in the Middle East, Wayne ran into people that knew him, 
respected him, who loved him, who had not seen him in 10 years because 
Wayne was one of those people that you never forgot.
  I have to say that as a United States citizen, I was proud and will 
always be proud not just to call Wayne Owens my friend and someone who 
has helped develop me, but someone who I think represented the best 
things about our country in a part of the world where people are 
judging us very carefully, to see what we are made of and whether we 
really live up to the things that we say our country stands for because 
Wayne represented the very best of this country.

                              {time}  1715

  He has set a standard for diplomacy that we will all have to work 
very hard to live up to.
  Wayne Owens' untimely death on the shores of Tel Aviv is tragic but 
perhaps

[[Page H30]]

the place where Wayne would have chosen, in between the United States, 
his beloved home of Utah, and on the shore of a country he loved 
dearly.
  Wayne's tragic, premature death gives us another reason to do what 
Wayne Owens would have asked us to do if he were standing here today, 
and that is, to recommit ourselves to peace in the Middle East, to 
serve as an honest broker, to stand for the values that have helped 
this country get to where it is today, to bring about a Palestinian 
state that respects the security of Israel, to help the Palestinians 
find a way to govern themselves, bring the terror to an end and give 
the Israelis the chance to live the dream they have always had in that 
part of the world.
  Let us renew ourselves to the cause of peace in the Middle East. It 
is another way that we can honor Wayne Owens, and I want to thank the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon) and the gentleman from Utah (Mr. 
Matheson) for all the things they have done in Utah today and will be 
doing in the future to honor Wayne Owens, and we are all blessed in 
that.
  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida, and I 
would now yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price).
  Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
calling this Special Order today and for his and the gentleman from 
Utah's (Mr. Matheson) efforts to make certain colleagues have an 
opportunity to pay tribute to our dear friend Wayne Owens.
  Madam Speaker, Wayne Owens bade the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Davis) and me farewell on December 17th after we had traveled through 
the Middle East together for 7 intense days. He planned to take that 
same flight the next evening. But the next day Wayne suffered a massive 
heart attack, collapsed and died while walking on the beach in Tel 
Aviv.
  Our shock and consternation upon hearing the news a mere 24 hours 
after he had put us on that flight were acute, but these emotions were 
widely shared among Wayne's many friends, the Utah constituents he 
served during two distinguished stints in the United States House of 
Representatives, and the admirers of his path-breaking work since 1989 
with the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.
  Wayne's background included 6 years of service for the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including work as a missionary in 
France. In Washington, he served on the staffs of Senators Frank Moss, 
Robert Kennedy, and Edward Kennedy. He gave up his House seat for an 
unsuccessful Senate race in 1974 and then returned to the House in the 
class of 1986, where I and others in that class came to know him as an 
accomplished and supportive colleague.
  He left for another Senate run in 1992 but in the meantime had found 
his true calling in his work in the Middle East. This was hardly a 
predictable path in terms of his personal and professional background, 
but it was one to which he was drawn by his experience on the House 
Foreign Affairs Committee, his friendship with Daniel Abraham, with 
whom he organized the Center for Middle East Peace in 1989, and by his 
vision of what a small, independent and creative organization might 
achieve in this political and policy thicket.
  Wayne, Danny Abraham, and the various Middle East hands and political 
leaders working with the Center were actively involved in the 
discussions leading to the Madrid and Oslo agreements, and they found 
numerous ways of encouraging the Israeli-Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian 
negotiations of the 1990s. Wayne was haunted by the knowledge of how 
close to resolution those efforts had come only to collapse into 
distrust and violence. He had few illusions about the obstacles to 
getting peace negotiations back on track. Still he persevered, always 
looking for the openings, the confluences of interest, the glimmers of 
hope that could be acted and built upon. He was one of the most 
determined and dedicated persons I have ever known.
  Wayne's approach was mirrored in the trip we took in December. We met 
with the heads of state in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, demonstrating 
again the remarkable access and the relationships of respect that Wayne 
and the Center had developed across the political spectrum in Israel, 
in the Palestinian community, and in most Arab states. But many of our 
visits were more narrowly targeted to learn about and to encourage 
promising initiatives that are under way.
  For example, we met in Cairo with Chief of Intelligence General Omar 
Seuliman regarding the next round of cease-fire talks to be brokered by 
Egypt among Hamas, Fatah, and possibly other groups. We then visited 
chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Abu Mazen on the day it was 
determined that he would personally attend this second round.
  We met with Palestinian Authority Finance Minister Salam Fayyad 
regarding financial and budget reform, where there has been enough 
progress to allow the U.S. to broker the release of a first installment 
of Palestinian Authority revenues impounded by Israel.
  We talked with Sari Nusseibeh, head of Jerusalem Affairs for the PLO, 
about the back-channel, unofficial peace initiatives undertaken by him 
and others.
  Wayne specialized in discussions of these sorts, which bore witness 
to his remarkable understanding of the politics of the region and of 
the many facets of peacemaking, his conviction that fact-finding for 
himself or others required diverse sources, and his realization that 
the encouragement offered, the feedback given, the information 
exchanged, in such off-the-record sessions could be significant.
  As a middle-ranking member of this House, I have found such repeated 
visits, and my work with Wayne and the center generally, invaluable as 
a source of information and insight and as an avenue for engagement.
  Wayne was passionately committed to the security and integrity of 
Israel and to justice and self-determination for the Palestinians. He 
understood well the relation between those two and the unlikelihood of 
forward movement without persistent American engagement.
  The achievement of a comprehensive peace among Israel and its 
neighbors is a compelling cause in its own right, but it is one given 
additional urgency by the need for regional cooperation and support in 
combating terrorism and in disarming Iraq.
  With Wayne Owens' passing, we have lost one of our country's most 
determined and resourceful contributors to this cause. It is critically 
important for those of us who understand the value of his work to find 
ways to carry it forward.
  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina 
for his kind comments and now yield to the gentlewoman from California 
(Mrs. Capps).
  Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, let me first thank the gentleman from Utah 
and all of his colleagues from Utah for bringing this resolution to the 
floor, for their wonderful and warm words about Wayne Owens; and I wish 
to extend my condolences to his family, his wife, Marlene, his five 
children and 14 grandchildren.
  Unlike many in this Chamber, I was only privileged to know Wayne 
Owens a very short time; but in the weeks since he has died, I have 
learned a great deal about this man and his career, how he campaigned 
in 1972 by walking his entire district, about his courageous vote in 
the Judiciary Committee to impeach President Nixon, about his 
commitment to environmental protection which was way ahead of its time, 
and such a tribute to the land he represented in Congress.

  I came to know Wayne Owens because of his work on another important 
issue, the cause of Middle East peace. As a Member of Congress and as a 
founder of the Center for Middle East Peace, Wayne Owens never lost 
sight of his dream, that one day Israelis and Arabs would put down 
their weapons and take up the mantle of peace.
  Because of Wayne's decency and fair-mindedness, he was a rare Middle 
East expert with credibility in the American Jewish and the American 
Arab communities. He was respected by Israelis and Palestinians alike.
  Wayne Owens was the right messenger with the right message, that it 
is in the United States' interests to vigorously pursue peace with 
Israelis and Palestinians; that the cycle of unspeakable violence, 
illustrated so horribly just 2 days ago in Tel Aviv, will only be 
broken through a negotiated

[[Page H31]]

settlement; that Israelis deserve to live in security, and Palestinians 
in dignity, side by side in two sovereign states.
  How touching it was that Wayne Owens passed away while accompanying 
these two of our colleagues who have just spoken on one of his 
countless missions to the region, that he passed away on the soil of 
the land he loved so much.
  In my last conversation with Wayne, we agreed that I would travel 
with him to the Middle East early this year, and although we will not 
take that trip together, I hope to honor, in my own way, the memory of 
this great man and his legacy by continuing on this path. That path 
will bring us to the day when we can take up and we will wake up to the 
dawn of Middle East peace.
  I thank my colleagues again for remembering their cherished 
colleagues in this fitting tribute. He did the State of Utah proud. His 
legacy gives pride to our Nation, and his message of negotiated 
settlement for peace gives hope to our world.
  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her kind 
words. It dawned on me during her discussion that Congressman Owens has 
been away from this body for 8 years; and yet many, many people have 
taken time at an awkward hour, on an important day, to express their 
appreciation for him and his work, and I hope that this is the kind of 
thing that his family will appreciate and understand and understand the 
depth of the value he brought to this institution.
  Madam Speaker, I would yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. 
Kaptur).
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Utah 
(Mr. Cannon) very much for his leadership in assembling this tribute 
this evening on behalf of our beloved colleague Wayne Owens who passed, 
as others have said, in Tel Aviv, as a witness for peace, and I would 
like to encourage my friend, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon), to 
consider perhaps in Congressman Owens' memory that we, on a bipartisan 
basis, might create, as the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps) 
has very wisely suggested, a Middle Eastern study group oriented toward 
peace in that region and to do so on a bipartisan basis, naming it 
after Congressman Owens who showed us the way in that troubled and war-
torn region of the world.
  He was walking the path to peace and peace requires heroes and it 
requires heroics; and Wayne Owens, for our Nation, is such a hero. My 
heart goes out to his wife, Marlene, his five children, two sisters, a 
brother, 14 grandchildren who truly have a hero to admire.
  At age 65 he did not have to go on that painstaking journey, 7 days 
of intensive work, trying to find those keyholes to peace, and yet he 
did that. He could have been living a comfortable life in some condo on 
some ski slope enjoying himself, but his whole life showed that Wayne 
Owens was not afraid of hard work.
  In 1989, he cofounded the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic 
Cooperation here in our Nation's capital and established working 
relationships with leaders from Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Saudi 
Arabia and was making a difference for all of us as the world and our 
own country is perched on the verge of war in that region. He was 
trying to show us a different path.
  He was not afraid of hard work in his own life. I mean, from the time 
he washed dishes to work his way through school, to walking across his 
own State in the entire second congressional district and winning 
election here, this was a man who endured and who rose above common 
effort to heroic level to try to help the world, to remove from the 
television every evening those terrible images of death in the Middle 
East that infect every child in every nation on Earth, certainly our 
own.
  To his family, may I please extend the deepest sympathy of the people 
of our community. I had the great honor of being able to work with 
Wayne in our efforts here to find a peaceful road in the Middle East. I 
am forever indebted to him, to the organization that he founded and to 
the friendships that he made on both sides of the aisle that helped us 
find a better way forward.
  As mission president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
Saints in Montreal, Canada, for 3 years, Wayne Owens took his own peace 
quest to a much higher level and took it to ground zero in the battle 
for peace in the Middle East.

                              {time}  1730

  Madam Speaker, I will place in the Record an article that was in Roll 
Call this week in his honor and also thank the gentleman from Utah very 
much for yielding to me this evening.

                    Former Representative Owens Dies

                           (By Bree Hocking)

       Wayne Owens, a relentless advocate for Arab-Israeli peace 
     and former Democratic Representative from Utah, died Dec. 18 
     while walking on a beach in Tel Aviv.
       Owens, who was 65, succumbed to a massive heart attack 
     while traveling with a Congressional delegation to the 
     region.
       The four-term Congressman served in the House from 1973 to 
     1975 and from 1987 to 1993, representing the Salt Lake city 
     area.
       During his Congressional career, he made two unsuccessful 
     bids for the Senate. In 1974, he lost to Republican Jake Garn 
     and in 1992 he was defeated by Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah). He 
     also ran unsuccessfully for governor of the Beehive State in 
     1984.
       A devout Mormon, Owens served as president of the Montreal 
     mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
     in the mid- to late 1970s.
       Despite his liberal credentials--he was the Western states 
     coordinator for the presidential bids of both Robert Kennedy 
     and now-Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and also was a staffer 
     to the later Kennedy--Owens was admired by Members from both 
     sides of the aisle for his tireless work for peace in the 
     Middle East. In 1989, he co-founded the Center for Middle 
     East Peace and Economic cooperation and served as its 
     president.
       Owens attended the University of Utah, latter earning a law 
     degree from that institution.
       He is survived by his wife, Marlene, five children, two 
     sisters, a brother and 14 grandchildren.

  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. If I 
might make a couple of comments on things she said.
  I was thinking during this discussion that Mr. Owens spent a tenth of 
his life as a Mormon missionary. That is a remarkable commitment. Three 
years as a missionary and another 3 years as a mission president for 
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
  In addition, the gentlewoman mentioned he could have easily spent his 
time on a ski slope. And in fact, in Utah, with all due respect to some 
of the other States who pretend, we actually have the best skiing in 
the world. So he could easily have taken advantage of that.
  In fact, I was talking to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) a 
few moments ago, who will speak in a couple of minutes, in fact I think 
he is next, and he mentioned how healthy Wayne was. The fact is he was 
a healthy, robust, happy, thoughtful person who could have spent his 
life skiing or doing other things that he would have enjoyed and I know 
he did enjoy. But rather than do that, he chose to do things that were 
difficult, that were very difficult, and, frankly, very important.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey).
  Mr. OBEY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I 
was horrified to learn of Wayne Owens' death last week when I was at C-
SPAN, just about to go on their morning program, and saw the news come 
across the bottom of the screen that Wayne had died the day before.
  Wayne and I were neighbors when I was first elected to Congress. He 
and his wife lived right next door to my wife and I in Arlington in 
rented homes. He was then chief staff assistant to Senator Kennedy. I 
got to know Wayne first as a friend and then I got to know him as an 
even stronger friend when he became a colleague of so many of us in the 
House. And after he left this House, as has been mentioned, he devoted 
a good deal of his time to the cause of peace, especially in the Middle 
East.
  He was a strongly religious man. He prided himself on being a 
Christian and he took the responsibilities that come with that very 
seriously. One of those responsibilities, in his view, was the 
obligation that all of us have as the more comfortable members of the 
human race on this planet to reach out to try to help those who are not 
in such comfortable circumstances. He would have been appalled to see 
the lack of a sense of shared sacrifice that so often permeates what 
political leaders do these days.
  But he never forgot his obligations to himself, to his maker, and to 
his fellow man to take into account always the needs of others. He was 
one of the least

[[Page H32]]

selfish human beings I have ever known, and he believed passionately 
that in the Middle East, the center of so many of the world's 
religions, that there ought to be a way to bring the parties closer to 
each other to avoid the violence and bloodshed that has plagued that 
region of the world for so long.
  He is a tremendous loss not just to his family, but to all of us who 
took daily inspiration from his lack of cynicism and his profound human 
decency.
  I thank the gentleman very much for holding this special order, and I 
appreciate also the comments of my colleagues in tribute to this 
wonderful man.
  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin. I 
did not think about it until he spoke, but it occurs to me that he did 
not spend a tenth of his life doing missionary work, but when we 
consider the religious zeal he brought to the Middle East, it was 
probably more like two-tenths or a third of his life in these difficult 
and selfless aspirations.
  Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson).
  Mr. MATHESON. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon).
  I first met Wayne Owens when I was 12 years old. He was running for 
Congress in 1972 in the State of Utah and he took the State by storm. 
He walked over 700 miles during that campaign. And the walking was not 
just a gimmick. The walking was an indication of the fact that Wayne 
Owens genuinely, genuinely wanted to get to know the people of whom he 
was asking for a vote and the people who he was going to represent.
  I think throughout his life, with all of the great goals that Wayne 
tried to achieve and the big picture and the big items he pursued, he 
never lost that notion of relating to the individual person, to the 
common man. That is something we here in this House should remember as 
we look back on Wayne's life.
  I had the opportunity to be a campaign manager for Wayne Owens during 
one of his elections. It was an exceptional opportunity, a challenging 
opportunity, because Wayne, again, always liked to dream big and he 
would ask a lot of the people who worked for him. He pushed people 
beyond what they thought they could do. And as someone who was rather 
young at the time, I got to be a campaign manager, and that was 
something that was a significant development in my own life. So I 
considered Wayne a friend, a mentor, I considered him my Congressman, 
and I am pleased to occupy the Second Congressional District office 
that Wayne once represented so well.
  When Wayne came to Congress the first time he happened to be on the 
Committee on the Judiciary, and he was involved in the impeachment 
process with then President Nixon. That was an exceptional period in 
Wayne's life. It was a time when he had invested so much time and 
effort in terms of examining that issue because he understood the 
gravity of the situation. This was not a partisan effort. And I 
remember talking to Wayne about the stories of when he actually voted 
out those articles of impeachment, about he and his colleagues walking 
out of the room with tears coming down their faces because they 
recognized what a difficult circumstance that was for this country.
  I think that was one instance where Congress behaved in a 
professional way, and it showed the strength of this country that we 
were able to move on from that circumstance, and Wayne Owens was an 
important player in that process.
  It was mentioned earlier about how he advocated for victims of 
radiation exposure. When Wayne was not in Congress, when he was an 
attorney, he represented victims of radiation exposure, the widows of 
the miners that worked in the uranium mines, the people who were told 
this was safe when it was not. And that work in private life is another 
example of a guy who acted in the context of service, and when he got 
to Congress he continued with that and pushed ahead with the Radiation 
Exposure Compensation Act.
  This was a critical issue that forced the Federal Government to 
acknowledge it had lied to people and exposed people to dangerous 
radiation through open air testing of nuclear weapons in southern 
Nevada and also through the uranium mining activities; an important 
issue for people throughout the Colorado plateau.
  As I have gone through these comments, what strikes me is the fact 
that Wayne Owens was a guy who always had big goals and big objectives, 
whether it was trying to address a wrong that the Federal Government 
had committed and force them to admit culpability, whether it was other 
issues we have heard about today, like pursuing peace in the Middle 
East, whether it was pursuing a tremendous change in public lands 
policy in Utah, with Wayne's vision of a wilderness designation in that 
State. And there were other big goals and lofty dreams that Wayne Owens 
pursued, some of which are successful today, and some of which the work 
is going to go on past Wayne's activity in regard to those issues. 
Significant issues.

  I could go on and on. The Central Utah Water Project, a project that 
had been involved with Federal funding for many, many years but it was 
going in the wrong direction. Wayne was part of a group that pulled 
people together from the sportsmen community, from the conservation 
community, from the agriculture community, and they completed the 
Central Utah Water Project as a Member of Congress in 1991, a 
significant issue that moved the State of Utah forward.
  That is the Wayne Owens I am going to remember, a guy who would dream 
big and would relentlessly and tirelessly pursue issues. But what I 
will also remember is what I pointed out at the start of these 
comments. This was someone who was incredibly genuine and would listen 
to people and took the public trust very seriously. It is the type of 
approach to the job that I think we can all learn from, and I think we 
can do no better activity to honor Wayne than to follow in that way in 
terms of how we approach this job.
  Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. 
Matheson) for his kind words and for his help in organizing this event 
for Congressman Owens, who preceded him sometime ago in his Second 
District of Utah.
  The last time I spent some time with Wayne Owens was the evening of 
one of the sniper attacks in northern Virginia here and the freeways 
were shut down. Wayne and I flew in together and shared a taxicab into 
town and I had the pleasure of spending 2 hours with him.
  The nice thing is the government only paid the normal fee because we 
split the taxicab fee, but it was one of the more pleasant periods of 
time I have spent. We talked about many issues and talked about many 
things. We talked about the issues we had worked together on and the 
issues we disagreed on. It was a fine experience from my perspective.
  The gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson) mentioned that Wayne Owens was 
a person who caused you to work. I worked for Wayne Owens when he was a 
professor of law and I took a class from him. I worked against him in 
some of his campaigns. I was wondering about the 12-year-old and 
whether I was actually engaged or not. I think, in fact, I am a little 
older than the gentleman from the Second District, and will have to do 
the math later to see who had known Mr. Owens longer. He was a dear 
friend for as long as I can remember.
  We did work against each other on campaigns. We both suffered through 
a remarkable experience of investigating a President, and he and I 
developed a deep bond of shared experience there. We both worked 
together on the downwinders issue. That was my first job in law school, 
was working on that issue with the father of the gentleman from New 
Mexico (Mr. Udall), Stewart Udall. And it was wonderful that Wayne 
picked that up and made that work.
  We both shared a deep, deep love for the beautiful public lands of 
Utah. He traveled those lands, I traveled those lands, yet we had very 
distinct differences on how those should be managed. We shared a 
kinship, however, based upon one of the things that became a hallmark 
of his life, and that was, from my perspective, wonderful. He was a 
friend.
  I am richer from my experience in knowing Wayne Owens, and we as an 
institution and as a country are poorer

[[Page H33]]

for his passing. I would like Marlene and the children and 
grandchildren to know how much we cared for him. I hope that this hour 
that we have spent talking about him will help them understand the 
deep, deep effect he had on our lives and on the course of American 
history, on the course of how we deal with our public lands and how we 
deal with individuals.
  Mr. BERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the life and work 
of Wayne Owens and to send my regards and sympathy to his wife, Marlene 
and his children and grandchildren.
  I had the privilege of serving with Wayne in the House, and I quickly 
developed a great admiration for his hard work, integrity and 
dedication to good public policy. We served together on the House 
Foreign Affairs Committee, where he focused his attention on the Middle 
East.
  Wayne was active on a broad range of issues, and while he spent much 
of his career focused on weighty matters of international affairs, he 
never lost sight of the issues that mattered most to people in his home 
state of Utah.
  Wayne was a very effective legislator, and he earned the great 
respect of Members on both sides of the aisle for his willingness to 
put politics aside and tackle the important issues of the day.
  After Wayne left Congress I continued to have the pleasure of working 
with him on the Middle East peace process.
  As President of the non-profit Center for Middle East Peace, Wayne 
worked tirelessly to promote continued dialogue between Arabs and 
Israelis in the Middle East. His goal was to help build economic 
interaction between Israel and her Arab and Palestinian neighbors and 
through that work, to support and promote the peace process. He spent 
much of the last decade meeting with leaders in the region trying to 
foster peace through economic development.
  He was very effective in this role because all sides accepted him as 
an honest broker.
  Even over the last couple of years, when many others gave up hope 
that Israelis and Palestinians would ever be able to resolve their 
differences, Wayne continued his work to find common ground.
  He was often frustrated--as we all are from time to time--and he 
understood the realities on the ground, but he never stopped believing 
that peace was possible.
  We will sorely miss Wayne, and his dedication and creativity. As we 
work toward a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the Middle 
East, may we remember Wayne's life and works and let every action we 
perform be a tribute to his memory.
  Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I rise tonight to remember the life and work 
of former Congressman Wayne Owens. I did not know Wayne when he was a 
member of this body: I met him two years ago when he came to my office 
asking me to support the Middle East peace process.
  Wayne's tireless commitment to Middle East peace, his willingness to 
reach across party lines, to go anywhere, and to talk to anyone, has 
been a source of inspiration to all who believe that Arabs and Israelis 
will one day live together in peace and security. He was a study in 
moderation and tolerance, a compassionate man who believed that all 
people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. Wayne was also a 
true patriot. He loved his country and he believed that our values of 
freedom, prosperity, and tolerance should be shared with the entire 
world, particularly the Middle East.
  But what makes this moment most painful for me is that Wayne Owens 
was my friend. He was a true champion of peace, and he lived and died 
serving humanity. He will be missed dearly.

                          ____________________