[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S21-S26]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMMEMORATING THE LIFE OF FORMER SENATOR WILLIAM V. ROTH, JR.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, Tom Carper and I have a resolution at the
desk, and I ask for its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 284) commemorating the life of
William V. Roth, Jr., former Member of the United States
Senate from the State of Delaware:
S. Res. 284
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. was born on July 22, 1921 in
Great Falls, Montana, was raised in Helena, Montana,
graduated from the University of Oregon, and earned law and
business degrees from Harvard University;
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. was decorated with a Bronze
Star for meritorious service with Army military intelligence
in the South Pacific during World War II;
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. moved to Delaware in 1955 and
resided in Delaware until his death;
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. was elected to the House of
Representatives in 1966, and served the State of Delaware
with distinction until his election to the United States
Senate in 1970;
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. continued to serve the State
of Delaware and the United States in the Senate from 1971 to
2001, where he personified the title ``Honorable'';
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. championed tax and savings
reforms and deficit reduction as Chairman and a member of the
Senate Committee on Finance;
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. worked tirelessly to control
government spending as Chairman and a member of the Senate
Committee on Governmental Affairs and to shape foreign policy
as president of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Parliament Assembly and chairman of the Senate NATO Observer
Group;
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. was a man of integrity,
decency, and character who was committed to his family and to
the people of Delaware; and
Whereas William V. Roth, Jr. was a trusted friend and
colleague and a dedicated public servant: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That--
(1) the Senate has learned with profound sorrow and deep
regret of the death of the Honorable William V. Roth, Jr.,
formerly a Senator from the State of Delaware;
(2) the Secretary of the Senate shall communicate this
resolution to the House of Representatives and transmit an
enrolled copy of this resolution to the family of William V.
Roth, Jr.; and
(3) upon adjournment today, the Senate shall stand
adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of
William V. Roth, Jr.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. BIDEN. I thank the Chair. I thank the clerk for reading the
resolution in its entirety.
Mr. President, my friend, our colleague, Bill Roth, died while the
Senate was out of session. Otherwise, I am certain there would have
been a profuse outpouring of sentiment on the floor, as when any person
of consequence dies.
Bill Roth was a man of the Senate and a man of consequence. He was
also, even though we were on opposite sides of the aisle, one of my
closest friends in the Senate. We had the honor, as my friend and
colleague, Senator Carper, and I do, of riding Amtrak together. In
Bill's case and my case, we rode the train together almost every day
for 28 years. Literally, for the first 24 years probably every day the
Senate was in session.
You can't have that kind of proximity with a man or a woman without
getting to know them pretty darn well. I got to know Bill very well. I
got to know his family. I got to know his hopes, his dreams, his fears,
and his concerns, as he did mine, my family, my hopes, dreams, and
concerns.
An unusual thing developed: a bond of trust. I can and will say for
the record that there is no person in public life I came to trust more
than Bill Roth. I trusted him with my concerns. I trusted him with
family issues. I trusted him with personal issues. And I trusted his
judgment on political issues, even when he and I disagreed.
We would ask each other questions: What do you think would happen if
I do the following? What do you think the consequence would be? Even
though we were in opposing parties, neither hesitated to give our
friend the best advice we could.
I once said that running against Bill Roth was like running against a
wheat thrasher: big, gobbles up everything in his way, and he was very
silent. Before it was all over, everything was harvested.
Bill Roth, I think, was the most underestimated man with whom I have
served going into my sixth term as a Senator.
I might note for the record that Bill Roth's family is incredibly
talented. His wife, Jane Roth, is one step away from the Supreme Court
as a Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge. None of us
[[Page S22]]
who know her ever hesitated to support her. We pushed her. She is
highly regarded and, as my friend from Pennsylvania, Senator Specter,
knows--and no one knows the Third Circuit better than he does;
literally no one knows it better than he does--is one of the most
respected jurists on that venerable circuit.
His son, Bud, is a lawyer who is an extremely talented young man, and
his daughter, Katie, is a doctor. I might note that Bill finally had a
namesake. Just shortly before he died, he got to see his daughter's son
who they named William. Bill actually died here in Washington visiting
Katie.
This is a man who lived a full life, raised a great family, and will
be missed not just by his family, but by our entire State and all those
who knew Bill.
I can say without equivocation that I would have been honored, quite
frankly, to have any one of his senior staff members work on my staff.
One of the ways I think you measure the mark of a national leader is to
look at the people with whom he or she surrounds himself or herself.
Look at the people who they pick to represent them. Look at the people
who they choose to be their alter ego.
Without exception, Bill Roth chose administrative assistants and
senior staff members out of the same mold as himself: always totally
honorable, balanced, straightforward, not at all ideological.
I have close friendships, personal friendships, with Bill's former
staff directors, people who still live in Delaware and, I might add--I
don't want to ruin their reputations--support me politically, support
me in my races. It is hard, as I said, in a State as small as ours--I
see my friend from Utah, which has grown to be a very large State
relative to us, but when I first arrived here, when his dad was here,
with whom I served, I think we were a little bit bigger than Utah at
the time.
In small States, everyone knows everyone. Everyone has a sense of who
everyone else is. It is hard in a State as small as ours, when you are
in close proximity to people you respect, not to let it show, and that
is exactly what happened in Delaware.
We went through 28 years of serving together, and I cannot think of
one single solitary time--not one single occasion--where Bill Roth had
or I ever had even a negative inference asserted about the other guy.
We have a tradition in Delaware of not being very negative and
partisan. I can tell you with the single exception of one highly
contested political race, you never heard Tom Carper, you never heard
our sole Congressman and former Governor, Mike Castle, you never heard
in my State any of us criticizing the other. It has been a wonderful
State to represent.
Bill Roth set the pattern. He surrounded himself with people of
character such as himself, and that is something that should be strived
for.
Bill, as I said, was known on the Senate floor, known in the country
like few of us will be for the Fulbright scholarships, for the Roth
IRAs. Everybody knows that Bill Roth was a man who promoted savings. He
was a man who was tight with the taxpayers' money, which is a great
asset. We used to kid. Every once in a while we would go to a function
here in Washington and we would take a cab together. I remember once
Bill leaning in to talk to the cab driver.
I said: What are you doing?
He said: I gave him a dime tip and told him to vote Democrat.
He also had a sense of humor, which most people on the floor never
got a chance to see.
I don't know anybody who worked with Bill Roth who ever suggested
that you could not work with Bill Roth; that he would not weigh in.
One of the things I want to mention about Senator Roth, though--and I
am trying to move through this in the interests of time because I know
we have the State of the Union and I know matters are going to be
brought up today--is that one of the hallmarks of his career is he had
a real sense of proportion, a sense of proportion that is missing today
in much of public life. He fully understood that the Federal Government
was both dangerous and necessary, that it is of value and sometimes
part of the problem. He never had any trouble distinguishing between
when it should be proactive and when it should not be active at all. He
was not driven by ideology that blinded him to the needs of the people
of my State, the Nation, or blinded him to civil liberties and civil
rights.
He used to always surprise many of my Democratic colleagues because
Bill was always so conservative on tax policy. I hope I don't get my
friend from Utah in trouble, but one of the things about him is he is a
man of independence. I think it surprised some of my colleagues when he
voted against the constitutional amendment on the flag.
They said: Wait a minute, this guy is a conservative. It is because
he is a conservative, I might add, that he did vote against it. But it
would always surprise my colleagues on the Democratic caucus. They
would say: Wait a minute, Bill Roth is a strong proponent of Title IX.
That is the title that says you have to spread a proportionate amount
of money on women in sports and colleges and universities. Bill Roth
was very strong on women's rights.
To the chagrin of his colleagues and some of mine, he is in large
part a reason there is no drilling in ANWR. Bill Roth is a Republican
leader of the effort to see there was no drilling in ANWR. We have the
Tongass Forest in Alaska, which is multiple times the size of my State,
because of Bill Roth. Bill Roth had an environmental record that could
easily have been associated with a liberal Democrat. Bill Roth's views
on women's rights, civil rights, was moderate to liberal.
It always used to surprise people on this side of the aisle when they
would say, whoa, was that Bill Roth who just voted on this, that, or
the other thing?
Bill Roth was a complex man, a man who could not be pigeonholed or
characterized by a single label. But he was ultimately a practical guy,
a man who knew what he thought, what he believed, and very quietly and
unhesitatingly never, never ceased or backed off from what he thought
was a right thing to do.
On a personal note, like all of you in these cynical times--I would
like you all to know that Bill Roth was anything but cynical. Bill Roth
was not only an honorable man, Bill Roth was a noble man. The word
``nobility'' comes to mind, to me. When I learned of his death--and I
was caught off guard as I was asked by the press about it--the first
thing that came to mind was: He's a noble man. He's a noble man.
Let me explain what I mean by that. It is the way he dealt with
people. It is the way he acted. Name someone for me in contemporary
politics who was a winner of the Bronze Star and never once mentioned
it. You cannot find a single piece of campaign literature that I am
aware of. I never heard him speak of it. I never heard his campaign use
it. Who, today, would not be out there talking about having been the
recipient of a Bronze Star--to prove their patriotism, to prove their
bravery? Bill Roth never, never mentioned it.
This is a politician who was not afraid to use gimmicks. This is a
guy who rode an elephant to make a point, out here in front of the
Capitol. This is a guy who talked about the $3,000 toilet seats and
would hoist up toilet seats. He was a bit of a showman in that regard.
But when it came to talking about himself, Bill Roth never did. He had
this sense of nobility about him.
The other thing I loved about Bill Roth, in an environment where--I
guess it has always been this case in politics--where money is king,
campaigns cost so much money--Bill Roth was the chairman of the Finance
Committee. Bill Roth could have raised more money than the Lord
Almighty. But he always used to drive his chiefs of staff crazy when he
wouldn't do what other people legally would do. He wouldn't call in the
heads of the corporation and the business community and others who had
great interest in what went on before the Finance Committee. He
wouldn't do it. Bill Roth had trouble raising money. He was
uncomfortable. I loved him for it. I loved the fact that he was
uncomfortable doing it.
The other thing that used to drive me crazy sometimes, to show you
how he was, I remember we had a little fight on the floor here about a
thing most people don't know much about but in Delaware it is a big
ticket item financially for the State--escheatment. Escheatment means
when somebody dies and leaves no heir and owns a security, under the
rules that exist now,
[[Page S23]]
that money reverts to the State of incorporation.
So let's say you owned 1,000 shares of stock of General Motors and
you passed away, you had no heirs, the estate was left--the State gets
the estate. But which State gets it? Historically it has been the State
where you are incorporated. So if General Motors is incorporated in
Delaware, even though its business is in Michigan, the money goes to
Delaware. That is a big amount in their budget.
There was a suit filed in the Supreme Court but the Supreme Court
said, no, it is OK to do it that way, but it is up to the Congress to
change it if they wanted to.
Mr. President, 78 Senators said let's change that, and 370-some
Congressmen said let's change that. I didn't think it was a good idea
to change it. I have a simple rule. I say it straightforward. I think I
never take personally the competition for highway funds or bridges or
programs. We all compete, each of our States, for that. I take it very
personally when my colleague or a colleague in the Senate decides to
take an action that would benefit his State only marginally, but would
do great damage to my State. I take that very personally.
Changing law on escheatment would have been marginally beneficial to
47 other States but a gigantic detriment to my State. So I went to
Daniel Patrick Moynihan; New York was affected by this. I went to my
friend, my friend who is no longer here, Al D'Amato--affectionately
referred to as pothole Al. And I went to my friend Senator Kennedy from
Massachusetts, and we said we are going to do what we can to see this
doesn't change.
I will tell you the end of the story. We ended up winning. Even
though over three-quarters of the Senate cosponsored the change and
more than that in the House, we ended up winning in the end of the day.
That was because our colleagues realized we took it personally, it
didn't affect their States very positively, and they in fact saw the
better part of valor here and were willing to help us.
I remember standing in the well of the Senate saying to Bill: Bill,
you are chairman of the Finance Committee. Let your colleagues know
this is important to you.
He said: I don't know. You tell them. You tell them.
He was even uncomfortable saying that. He was one of the most
powerful men in the Senate and he wouldn't say: Hey, look, Bennett,
this is important to me. Please help me. He wouldn't even do that.
Although he had all this power, the thing that was so beautiful about
him, he was uncomfortable with power. I think it is always healthy when
people are uncomfortable with wielding power. But he never hesitated to
wield it when he thought it was absolutely clear cut.
So this was a guy who was a noble man. I just watched him. I watched
him operate for over 28 years.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed for 3 more minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, there is a quotation engraved on the wall
at Union Station. It goes like this:
Be noble, and the nobleness that lies in other men sleeping
but never dead will rise in majesty to meet thine own.
Bill Roth also brought out the humility in those who worked with him
and those who were around him.
There is much more to say about him. I have said too much.
I apologize. I did not realize that time was controlled. My colleague
from Delaware, a cosponsor of this resolution, Senator Carper, would
like to speak. I ask whether my colleagues would object if Senator
Carper is able to proceed.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have already talked to the Senator from
Delaware. The junior Senator expects to speak 5 minutes, and I would
like to be recognized to speak very briefly about Senator Roth and then
introduce a bill. May I put that in the form of a unanimous consent
request?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I would like to be allowed to speak very
briefly about Senator Roth as well. I don't have a prepared statement.
Could I go for 1 minute between Senator Carper and Senator Specter?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleague, Senator
Biden, in offering this resolution commemorating Senator Roth. I thank
Senator Specter for his willingness to let me slip in ahead of him.
I recall any number of times visiting the Senate when I was Governor.
I have had the privilege of testifying before the Senate Finance
Committee that Senator Roth chaired. I remember revisiting him in his
office in the Hart Building from time to time.
It is not uncommon when you walk into the office of Senators that you
see their pictures on the wall. There were, I am sure, a few pictures
of Senator Roth and his family and others on the wall of his office. It
is less common to walk into a Senate office today as a person who
succeeded in a case where you ran against an incumbent, as I did
against Senator Roth, and find the photograph of the Senator who was
defeated, in this case in my race against Bill Roth.
We have a tradition in Delaware called ``Return Day.'' Every Thursday
a few days after the election of even numbered years, winners and
losers gather in our county seat in southern Delaware, Georgetown, DE,
and have a great breakfast at the Delaware Technical Community College.
Then the winners and losers ride together in a horse-drawn carriage
throughout the streets of Georgetown. Thousands of people come from all
over the State to cheer those who won. The town crier comes out on the
balcony of the White House in Georgetown in the circle and calls out
the results from the election 2 days earlier.
On that Thursday after the election in November of 2000, I rode in a
horse-drawn carriage with Senator Roth and members of his family, and
some members of my own family. It was an open-air carriage. It was a
beautiful day. I asked if he would like to stand. We stood. The driver
and the horses were ahead of us as we started down the parade route
sitting there with our hands on the seat behind the driver.
I said to him: Why don't we do something else? Let me hold your hand.
I held his hand up in the air as one does at the end of a prizefight
holding up the hand of a winner. We went through the entire parade that
day holding up the hand of the winner who won so many elections during
34 years as if there really wasn't a loser but only a winner in this
situation--a real winner. That picture of us holding hands is still in
my office today. It is a great picture. It tells a lot about the spirit
of politics in Delaware and about the respect for Senator Roth as well.
Senator Biden talked about some of the legislative accomplishments
and the work that Senator Roth did with respect to NATO and the
reorganization of the Federal Government.
While those issues are important and what he did legislatively with
respect to NATO and others is important, in Delaware, a State with
about 800,000 people, you also have an extraordinary opportunity to
help people with problems in their lives. For folks who are trying to
grapple with the IRS on issues that need to be resolved or on Social
Security issues and veterans issues, you can quite literally every year
change the course of about 1,000 or 2,000 families who come to your
office for help.
That day as we went through Georgetown, DE, on ``Return Day'' in the
parade, I am sure Senator Roth got bigger cheers than I did. They were
from Democrats and Republicans and Independents. In part, those cheers
were the result of the kind of staff he put around him. He hired
excellent people. They set the gold standard for constituent service in
our State. If you were a Democrat or Republican or Independent and you
called his office for help, you got it. They did a terrific job.
Bill Roth understood that we are servants of the people. They pay our
salaries. We have an obligation to give our very best effort. He made
sure that was what his staff provided--and he provided it during the 34
years he served in the Congress.
I said to him after the election: You set the gold standard. The
challenge for me and my staff is to try very hard
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to match that standard. Maybe eventually, through new technology and
training and services experience, we can even exceed it.
I have won statewide in Delaware 11 times. I have been fortunate 11
times. I have run against very good people but none more decent than
Bill Roth.
At his memorial service at the University of Delaware a week after
his death, we were joined by Senator Specter and others. Hundreds of
thousands of people came from all over our State. One of the speakers
said Bill Roth was a gentleman and a gentle man--a gentleman and a
gentle man. He treated his staff, the folks who work in the cafeteria
here, and the folks who run the elevators here with the same kind of
respect as with his colleagues and his peers. I doubt that you can
every day find that in a person who rises to the kind of power he
enjoyed in this city and in this country. It says a whole lot about the
man he was.
One of the persons who spoke at Senator Roth's memorial service was
his former chief of staff, John Duncan, who is now Assistant Secretary
of Legislative Affairs at the Department of the Treasury. I ask
unanimous consent that excerpts of the very eloquent comments of John
Duncan be printed in the Record. He said it certainly better than I
could. It is the kind of tribute that belongs in the Congressional
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Senator William V. Roth, Jr., Memorial Service, Clayton Hall, December
21, 2003
Today we celebrate a unique man whose legacy will live on
for us, our children and our grandchildren.
As the representative of the Roth staff, I appreciate this
opportunity to honor the man who had such a significant
impact on our country and the lives of so many people.
Just a few weeks ago, the Senator was in Washington and
some of us got together for lunch. After an hour or so of
laughter and story telling we all returned to our jobs.
On my way back to the office, I couldn't help but reflect
on what a big influence Bill Roth has had on those of us who
worked with him over the years.
Some had started working for him as interns, others as
subject matter experts. Some were form Delaware and knew
about the Senator before they went to work for him. Others
were from outside Delaware and came to know the uniqueness of
this man only after they came within his orbit. All, in their
subsequent careers, had gone on to great success in business,
government and academia.
One participant at lunch that day was a very high ranking
official in the Commerce Department who had been the
Senator's top trade advisor. He had the best of jobs. He
traveled the world working on trade agreements that would
shape the future of our country in the world economy.
For twenty minutes in great animation he regaled us with
stories about the exciting thing he was doing. Listening, you
couldn't help but be envious that any job should be so
important and so much fun.
But at the end he paused and, in serious vein, told the
Senator ``This job is great. But the best job I ever had was
working for you.''
The reason I tell this story is that Bill Roth is known for
many accomplishments. But his biggest impact was on the lives
of the people who did things with him, many of whom are in
this hall today.
Whenever we reflect on the nature of a person's life we
experience an interesting problem. We want, in our
reflections, to capture ``who'' they were. But with every
effort to describe ``who'' they were we inevitably end up
describing ``what'' they were and the uniqueness we
experienced and are trying to express escapes us.
This difficulty in no way lessens the importance of what we
are doing here as we remember the life of Senator Roth. For
it is at the end of a person's life that the uniqueness that
God gave each of us becomes most apparent.
Though the uniqueness of individual personality will always
escape being captured in words, I am pleased to join with the
others on this stage to add my contribution to the
appreciation of this highly unusual man.
I'd like to start my remarks by focusing on some of the
ideas the Senator brought to his work and how they led to the
achievements we so much associate with him.
Though those ideas were many and varied they all focused on
the concerns and worries of regular people--the people, from
all walks of life, who work hard, pay their taxes, and care
for their families.
Senator Roth believed that government exists to serve the
people. He started first with his own office.
Over the years he employed a number of fine and talented
caseworkers that citizens could turn to when the bureaucracy
became overwhelming. It's difficult to travel very far in
Delaware without meeting a person assisted by his office or
seeing something he helped fund, from Amtrak, to the Dover
Air Force Base to land set aside for conservation.
One of his first legislative accomplishments was the
creation of a source book for citizens that catalogued
available grant and assistance programs. How could the
government serve the people, he reasoned, if the people had
no idea what was available to them?
Years later he authored the Government Performance and
Results Act which set performance standards for government
agencies and held managers accountable for results. It was
this program, you may remember, that Al Gore adopted as his
central task as Vice President.
Evidence that the IRS had slipped beyond the control of the
Congress and was in danger of becoming a rogue bureaucracy
was what prompted the Senator to conduct hearings on the IRS.
To understand the importance of what he did you need to
know, that at the time of his hearings, a congressional
commission to modernize the IRS had finished its work and
legislation implementing its recommendations had been
introduced.
That legislation, though, was going nowhere. The IRS
opposed it. The Treasury Department opposed it. President
Clinton opposed it. But within months of Senator Roth's
dramatic hearings the Congress passed the restructuring bill
and the President swiftly signed it. Reform that normally
takes years was accomplished in months--all because of the
determination and timely leadership of Bill Roth.
It was as Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee
that the Senator first disclosed his thinking that
competition, so much a force for good in the private sector,
might be useful in government administration.
The principle that competition ensures innovation and
lowest cost operations was first applied by the Senator to
government procurement where he was an ardent opponent of the
practice of sole-source contracting.
Later, in interesting and artful ways, the Senator would
apply this principle to other areas of government.
He teamed-up with his friend and colleague Joe Biden to
expand NATO's membership and mission. Because of their
successful work, there are choices available for dealing with
international hot-spots and freedom and security are more
than just a dream for millions of people.
In the area of transportation, the Senator's vigorous
support of Amtrak, the Wilmington Trolley, and alternative
fuels was based on his belief that we are better off with
alternative modes of transportation and energy.
The Senator was best known for his work on tax policy. He
though that every person who wanted a job should have one.
While he never thought we would ever be free from the
business cycle, it upset him that the tax code--something we
did control--discouraged the creation of jobs. The best thing
to do, he reasoned, was to change the tax code in a way that
encouraged people to work, save and invest.
That was the principle behind the Roth-Kemp tax cuts.
Radical at the time, today the connection between low
marginal tax rates and jobs is conventional wisdom, not only
in America, but a good part of the world.
With tax policy moving in the direction of lower rates, the
Senator turned his attention to changing retirement policy
from income maintenance to asset ownership. He used his
committee leadership positions to develop savings accounts as
part of the Civil Service Retirement system and then created
the highly popular Roth IRA.
As you can tell from the variety of things I've mentioned,
Bill Roth was driven by big ideas and left a legacy of big
accomplishments.
Success in Washington, though, doesn't just happen on its
own. Anyone who knows the nature of public life can tell you
that having a vision of a preferred future is not enough for
success.
Abraham Lincoln, in one of his State of the Union Messages
to the Congress, summarized it best when he wrote, ``it is
not `can any of us imagine better?' but, `can we all do
better?' ''
There are as many visions of the future as there are
Members of Congress. The central task and art of political
leadership is gaining the consent of a majority of Members to
do the things that need to be done.
You can't get that consent, though, if don't know how to
work with your colleagues. Just as Bill Roth had a core set
of beliefs that guided him in what he did, the Senator had a
firm set of ideas about the conduct of business.
The Congress can be a complicated and difficult place in
which to act. The rules are complex. People are
unpredictable, emotions run high and the best of human nature
is often absent.
The legislative process can too easily become a game in
which each political party tries to score points at the
expense of the other. Relationships can too easily descend
into acrimony and bitterness.
Senator Roth avoided all that. To him, the conduct of
politics came down to a set of straightforward activities:
Express . . . Discuss . . . Persuade . . . Negotiate . . .
Compromise. It was primarily through these activities that he
gained consent and advanced his goals.
His basic technique was to carefully craft an initial
proposal that reflected common interests. He'd then bring the
Committee together and would not let anyone leave the
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room until they reached agreement. His goal was agreement by
consent. And nobody knew how to build consensus like Bill
Roth.
He preferred persuasion to voting. But if the Senator
needed votes, he knew how to get them. He knew when to
negotiate. He knew how to compromise while remaining true to
his principles. And, most importantly from the standpoint of
his colleagues, he could be counted on to defend the products
of joint decision.
I learned a secret from Bill Roth. In politics, as in life
itself, means and ends are the same. To the Senator, how
things were done was as important as what was done.
To him political power flowed from treating each colleague
in a way that, as a group, they would never lose the ability
to do things together. That understanding served him well
and, in large measure, accounted for his success.
To the Senator the purpose of our political institutions is
to move us forward as a nation, and keep us together as
individuals.
Though he was a Republican and proud of his party's
heritage, Bill Roth did not see the world in partisan terms.
There is a nice irony here, because the ideas Bill Roth
worked for have transformed the Republican Party.
Bill Roth felt that any important undertaking had to be
done in a bipartisan manner. He had many friends on the other
side of the aisle.
One of his closest friends was Joe Biden. The attentiveness
and courtesies they showed each other convinced me that there
was, in reality, a third political party that might best be
called the Delaware Party.
As Senator Biden has often observed, Bill Roth led, but he
led quietly. He didn't hog the spotlight, intimidate or run
roughshod over his colleagues. In advancing his interests,
Bill Roth rarely played hard bill. It was not in his
personality to do so.
But if he had to, he could. I remember one time when he
did.
The Senate was considering an extension of unemployment
benefits. The legislation had been written in a way that
excluded Delaware and some other states under the notion that
their economies weren't suffering enough and didn't need the
help.
Senator Roth's view was that Delaware's unemployed deserved
to be treated just as well as the unemployed in other states.
The states that benefited from the legislation had the votes
to get it passed, but it was unclear whether they would break
a filibuster.
I remember Senator Roth calling me from the Senate floor
with a fire in his voice that I had never heard before and
would never have occasion to hear again. He instructed me to
locate a multi-volume history of the state of Delaware. I
knew immediately that he and Senator Biden were prepared to
read the entire history of Delaware to the U.S. Senate, if
they had to, in order to stop this unfair treatment.
After a short but tense period of time the leadership
backed off. The legislation was altered to include the
unemployed from all states and passed by unanimous consent.
When the standoff was over, the Senator returned from the
floor. The history of Delaware went back to the library. And
I developed a new appreciation for the use of history in the
development of public policy.
The Senator's personality was creative and fun-loving. He
was always game for the unusual. He had a live elephant at a
press conference when he was fighting to get attention for
his tax cut proposals.
He hung spare parts from a Christmas tree to dramatize
military procurement practices that were over-charging the
taxpayer.
And on the first anniversary of the Roth-Kemp tax cuts, he
wanted to celebrate everyone getting a bigger piece of the
economic pie. So he had prepared and served a giant baked
apple pie--a pie so large that it qualified for the Guinness
Book of World Records.
And as everyone in Delaware knew, the Senator campaigned
with a Saint Bernard. He told me about the Saint Bernard
once. He said it was his secret weapon.
People might resist a politician he told me, but nobody
could resist a dog--especially if that dog was a big and
happy Saint Bernard.
But even if parents could resist the dog, children
couldn't. When the children came so did their parents. And
there he'd be with his ``HI, I'm Bill Roth'' button ready to
greet and converse.
Hokey by some people's standards, but, when he told me that
story, I knew why he became Delaware's longest-serving
statewide lawmaker.
The Senator's love of his dogs was legendary in Delaware.
But it wasn't as well known in Washington until a prominent
local magazine did a profile on the Senator in which he
listed his dog Sweet Pea as his closest advisor.
When people talk about Bill Roth as an individual one hears
words like ``kind . . . shy . . . gracious . . . thoughtful .
. . considerate . . . humble . . . respectful.''
These words accurately reflect Bill Roth's personality. But
they need to be leavened with some additional qualities. Bill
Roth was a demanding leader. You couldn't do what he did in
Washington without focused drive and ambition.
Bill Roth came to Washington with grand purposes. As with
all big efforts there were setbacks, disappointments and
failures. But they never stopped him or even slowed him down.
Senator Roth had great expectations and desired to do well.
They were expectations he put on himself and the
organization. And they came, I think, at least to some degree
from Delaware's special role in America's founding and its
long history of quality political leadership.
No matter what he was working on or where he was in the
world, Delaware was never far from his mind. When crafting
important trade and tax legislation, he always considered its
effects on Delaware products and businesses. When traveling
abroad he pressed his hosts to open their borders to products
from Delaware.
Poultry was always prominent in those discussions. The
efficiency of the industry was astonishing to him. That
Delaware poultry could be grown, processed and shipped to
markets in foreign lands at prices competitive with local
producers had a big impact on his thinking about trade and
his confidence in America's ability to compete in a global
economy.
It was important to the Senator that he employ the best
talent. He insisted that everyone who worked for him have a
clear understanding of what was expected at work and that
they have the resources to do their jobs.
But the important element that stood out in Bill Roth's
office was the way he treated his employees. He did not use
and discard people. He cared about each of us as individuals.
His interest went beyond the workplace to family and career.
Though he was a very busy man pursuing important
objectives, he always had time--time to counsel, time to
celebrate and time to console.
He brought out the best in his employees and launched them
on their careers and took great satisfaction in everyone's
achievements.
This is very unusual. It is in our families that we expect
to be cared about for who we are. By treating his employees
as individuals and caring about their personal success,
Senator Roth made each of us a part of his family.
I'd like to close my remarks by relating a small incident
that I think says a lot about Bill Roth and his chosen
profession of politics.
One day Neil Messick, the person who preceded me in my job,
drove the Senator to a meeting. They parked in a large garage
and went to their destination. When they returned to the
garage Neil realized he had forgotten where he had parked the
car.
He took a guess at the right floor but he chose wrong. Neil
was new to the job and worried about the kind of impression
he must be making on his new employer.
After some initial wandering around Neil turned to the
Senator and said ``You wait here and I'll go find the car.''
The Senator, who had already sized-up the situation, said
``Neil you've already lost the car, you're not going to lose
me, too.'' And off they went in laughter to find the car.
This little incident says a lot about the Senator's quick
humor and his desire to put people at ease. But it also says
something about the nature of the political experience
itself.
Politicians enter the public realism alone but they never
travel it alone. They travel it with the family who supports
them at home, the voters and friends who support them in the
state, and the staff who support them at work.
Bill Roth made the journey with the support of all of you.
He was a good man doing a tough job--a job he loved. You were
the source of his energy.
The Senator confided in me one time that he viewed himself
as a plodder. That self-assessment was accurate. But he was a
plodder with a vision.
As your Congressional delegation can attest, success, as a
legislator, requires the sustained and focused activity of
small steps over a long period of time. And, with each step,
elected representatives face unique and difficult challenges.
But, as Bill Roth's life has shown, if you have a vision,
stay on course, and are attentive to relationships, then
small steps lead to big accomplishments.
Last January, during a graduation ceremony at the
University of Delaware, the Senator was described as a
dedicated public servant, an esteemed leader on foreign
policy, an acknowledged leader of reform, and a respected
environmentalist. This is ``what'' Bill Roth was.
Later, in that same ceremony, a former employee and long
time political advisor, Pete Hayward, used a different
terminology to describe the Senator: ``caring employer,
patient teacher, supportive mentor, and trusted friend.''
This is ``who'' Bill Roth was.
Today we bring both together--what he did and who he was--
and can appreciate the full measure of the man.
Thank you.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I will not take a great deal of time. I
don't need to because all that needs to be said about Bill Roth has
been said.
My wife and I had the privilege of going with Bill and his wife to
Romania. We traveled with them to other countries throughout Europe
talking about NATO and other issues. In that process, we became well
acquainted with two of America's finest public servants. But on that
occasion, they became two of our best friends.
[[Page S26]]
I join with all of the people from Delaware and all of the colleagues
in the Senate in paying tribute to Bill Roth, saying goodbye to him for
his service, and extending my warmest sympathy and condolences to Jane
for the loss of her husband as well as recognition of her service to
this country. What a remarkable couple. America, as well as the State
of Delaware, has been very well served for their willingness to
participate in the public arena.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I join my colleagues in paying tribute to
Senator Roth. I had the privilege of working with Bill Roth in the
Senate for some 20 years.
On the route from Washington to Philadelphia I frequently road with
Bill Roth as far as Wilmington. Frequently when I would catch the train
in Philadelphia, I would see him board in Wilmington. During the course
of 20 years, we had very many long and fascinating discussions.
Bill Roth was an outstanding Senator. He served in the House of
Representatives in advance of coming to the Senate and was a native of
the State of Montana. He was Harvard Law School educated. He was
chairman of the Finance Committee. He had very deep insight into
finances and taxes. He was a coauthor of the famous Roth-Kemp bill or
Kemp-Roth bill--it depends on whether you accentuate the House or the
Senate--with very substantial tax cuts in the early days of the Reagan
administration. He later served as chairman of the Finance Committee,
known for the Roth IRAs, so people could set aside funds and make a
real contribution to the Nation.
My wife and I had the occasion to attend the memorial service for
Senator Roth in Wilmington recently. As noted, his wife Jane is a very
distinguished judge of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the
circuit which covers Pennsylvania as well as Delaware and also New
Jersey.
When Senator Roth finished his term at about his 80th birthday, it
marked a very outstanding contribution to the Senate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there further debate on the pending
resolution?
The resolution (S. Res. 284) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
Mr. SPECTER. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SPECTER. I ask unanimous consent the next remarks be in morning
business under the introduction of legislation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania is recognized.
Mr. SPECTER. I thank the Chair.
(The remarks of Mr. Specter pertaining to the introduction of S. 2008
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills
and Joint Resolutions.'')
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________