[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 41 (Thursday, March 13, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3663-S3664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CASTING OF 10,000TH VOTE
Mr. FRIST. Madam President, I wish to announce to my colleagues that
a truly impressive milestone was just reached with this last vote.
Senator Lugar, on this vote just announced a few moments ago, cast his
10,000th vote as a U.S. Senator. That is a feat accomplished by just 21
other Senators in the history of this institution, the Senate.
Senator Lugar's vote places him in the company of a distinguished
list of Members which includes eight current Senators: Senators Biden,
Byrd, Domenici, Hollings, Inouye, Kennedy, Leahy, and Stevens.
Most importantly, Senator Lugar's achievement is a testament of his
tremendous service, not only to his home State of Indiana but to the
United States of America.
I ask all of my colleagues to join me in congratulating Senator Lugar
for his important milestone.
(Applause.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
Mr. DASCHLE. Madam President, I join the distinguished Republican
leader in expressing my heartfelt congratulations to the senior Senator
from Indiana, our colleague, Dick Lugar.
He was sworn in on January 3, 1977. Over the course of these 10,000
votes cast, he has served as the chairman of the Senate Agriculture
Committee and now serves as the chairman, as we all know, of the
Foreign Relations Committee.
With those 10,000 votes, he has made a major impact on American
history. I would be willing to bet that for every vote he has cast, he
has made at least one more friend over all of these years. He may be a
Republican and I may be a Democrat, but I have never been so
appreciative of a relationship as a Senator as I have with Senator
Lugar. He has many more than 10,000 friends since he came to the Senate
in 1977. So we congratulate him. We tell him of his great service to
this country and our appreciation for that service. We hope that there
will be many thousands more.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mr. HAGEL. Madam President, I congratulate our dear colleague,
Senator Dick Lugar from Indiana, for his remarkable service to our
country in many ways, not just through his leadership and years and
votes in the Senate; prior to his time in the Senate, his service to
our country in the U.S. Navy and all the other contributions he has
made. It is a remarkable morning for our country to recognize this
remarkable individual.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.
Mr. LUGAR. Madam President, I am overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness
and graciousness of both leaders, my friends Bill Frist and Tom
Daschle. I thank both of them for those very wonderful comments.
I will take a moment, if I may, to thank some other people, people of
Indiana, who made it possible for me to be in the Senate to cast the
10,000 votes, those who gave me their confidence, their support, and
their prayers throughout the years.
I especially thank the Lord above for giving me good health
throughout that period of time and who made it possible to do this.
I must pay tribute, as we all are doing today, to Lloyd Ogilvie whose
personal counsel and support to me and my family during the past 8
years has meant so much.
Of course, behind all of this is the confidence and love of my wife
Charlene, our boys, and their wives, who have really sustained me, who
said this is something we ought to be doing, a commitment of our time
and our lives in a way that has been exciting for me and I hope for
them.
My staff has made it possible for me to get to the Chamber for all of
these votes. Wherever we are in the country, in Washington or at the
airport, each one of us is indebted to staff who tell us when the votes
are going to occur and give us some reasonable idea about what is being
voted on. I pay tribute to each one of those persons.
I pay tribute to colleagues who have sustained me each day with their
loyal friendship, likewise the sheer vigor of the experience. I feel
each day it is an adventure, and I am sure that is shared by each of
the colleagues who are present today.
I want to mention specifically Senator Robert Byrd, who was the
majority leader when I first came. One of the reasons my vote total
escalated so rapidly was that in 1977 I think Senator Byrd created an
all-time record of rollcall votes. I am certain he will remember
exactly how many, but I recall there were at least 650, which was a
substantial amount for a freshman Senator to start out with. So we have
had some money in the bank ever since, thanks to Senator Byrd.
Finally, I want to thank the pages. They have played a very special
role in these votes because, as some of my colleagues know,
occasionally I go running out on The Mall. On several occasions I have
been caught as far away as 14th Street or the Washington Monument when
the beeper went off. I had to run swiftly. Fortunately, my pace is
sufficient to get the mile and a half back to the Capitol during the
time of the vote to scramble up the back stairs, but in a disheveled
condition I have prevailed upon the pages to crack open the door, and
the reading clerk has been kind enough to read my name so that I can
peak through and keep this voting record alive.
So I thank all of you. I appreciate very much this moment today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant minority leader.
Mr. REID. Madam President, while the two leaders are in the Chamber,
it is my understanding that the leaders
[[Page S3664]]
are going to provide an opportunity for people who wish to give
statements regarding Pastor Ogilvie--that the chairman of the
Appropriations Committee is going to put that in booklet form. So is it
fair to announce to everyone that they need not come now to give
speeches regarding Pastor Ogilvie, that they will have an opportunity
to give a speech later or insert something in the Record so Dr. Ogilvie
will have all of these in one book?
Mr. FRIST. Madam President, that is correct. There has been an
outpouring of feeling for our Chaplain on this very special day, 8
years after he first gave a prayer in this Chamber. With that
outpouring of respect, people will be given the opportunity to provide
their written statements. Of course, they are welcome to come and make
statements, but we are encouraging people to make their written
statements part of a permanent book that we will be giving him. We will
have morning business and people can come to the Chamber. There will be
other morning business conducted as well, but most of the tributes will
be going into written form, and we encourage people to do just that.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the first 20 minutes
shall be equally divided between the Senator from Nebraska and the
Senator from North Dakota, with the rest of the time until 11:30 a.m.
to be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees.
The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that during the
20 minutes I be notified when I have consumed 5, after which the
Senator from Nebraska will be recognized for 5 minutes, following which
the Senator from South Dakota, Mr. Johnson, for 5 minutes, following
that Senator Brownback from Kansas for 5 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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