[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 134 (Friday, November 19, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11588-S11593]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTES TO RETIRING SENATORS
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, while the Senate is holding in
abeyance for the final Omnibus appropriations bill that the House is
getting ready to file sometime tonight, I want to take the opportunity
to pay tribute to our retiring Senators: Tom Daschle, Fritz Hollings,
Don Nickles, John Breaux, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, John Edwards, Peter
Fitzgerald, Zell Miller, and Bob Graham.
I wish to make a speech about each one of these Senators who has
become a dear friend, in some cases, over the years, such as Fritz and
Peatsy Hollings, who took special interest in me as I came to the
Senate and made sure I got on his Commerce Committee, which has been
just an extraordinary experience with him as chairman, as well as with
the present chairman, John McCain.
Don Nickles, whom I have known over the 24 years he has been in the
Senate, for I was in the House at the time, has been a regular in our
Wednesday morning Senate prayer breakfast. He is a good friend.
John Breaux, the very mention of his name brings a twinkle to your
eye as you recall the wonderful good times and the great sense of humor
that John Breaux has. He is the most popular politician in the State of
Louisiana. He is going to be sorely missed as the dealmaker of the
Senate.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell has this wonderful new museum for Native
Americans which would not have happened--just a stone's throw from this
Capitol--had it not been for his leadership. There is, as you go
through this museum, a special display on the artwork of Ben. I commend
it to our colleagues.
Peter Fitzgerald is a very active member of our Commerce Committee,
who, in the comments by his colleague from Illinois, Senator Durbin,
today said it very well, could work so well with Members of both sides.
A southern icon, Senator Zell Miller, will go down in southern
history as one of the great progressive Governors of the new South. He
is one who has always extended wonderful courtesies to me.
I wish to say a special word about John Edwards, for he came to the
Senate in a seat that was already held by an incumbent Senator, and
they said it could not be done. They said a Democrat could not win in
North Carolina. Of course, John did and took the national stage by
storm.
I spent several days with him over the course of the past several
months in the campaign. I can tell you it was a wonderful inspiration
to see the amount of energy, focus, discipline, and intelligence he
brought not only as a Senator but as a candidate for Vice President of
this great country.
And then, of course, we all know the story of how on the very day
that John had to concede the election, along with our colleague, the
Senator from Massachusetts, his wife told him that she had breast
cancer. I want Elizabeth and John to know that our prayers are with
them and that we are all sharing a great deal of optimism about her
complete recovery.
I had the wonderful privilege of observing their three loving
children on the campaign trail--their daughter Kate, and then, of
course, the two young ones, Jack and Emma Claire, as they would bounce
with such boundless enthusiasm on that campaign plane.
There is a special part in my heart for Tom Daschle. We came to the
Congress together in 1978. Among the freshman class in the House of
Representatives that year, we knew Tom as ``Landslide'' Daschle. He won
his race for Congress by 14 votes. Of course, he says that was a big
percentage of the total vote in South Dakota at that time.
We saw him grow over the years into a great Democratic leader, both
minority and majority leader of the Senate, and we saw the pressure
that Tom was under.
Who here would not remember exactly where you were and what you were
doing on September 11, 2001. We were in a leadership meeting only a few
feet from here on the West Front of the Capitol watching the television
of the World Trade Center, and had tried to resume our meeting when
someone burst through the door and said: The Pentagon's been hit.
We leapt to the window looking west across the Mall in the southwest
direction of the Pentagon and saw the black smoke rising.
People went their separate ways. I leapt to a telephone to try to get
word to my wife because we had just moved into an apartment overlooking
the southwest corner of the Pentagon.
That day I remember so vividly seeing the Constitution at work,
because as I came back into the room and saw the people pouring out of
the majority leader's office, under the orders of the Capitol Police to
get out of the building, evacuate immediately, I saw the security
people of the Capitol Police take Tom in a different direction to an
undisclosed location where he, along with the rest of the congressional
leadership, was to be sequestered as a protection of this
constitutional government and its continuity.
Tom grew a lot in those ensuing days. That was in the morning,
sometime right after 10 on September 11. I remember that evening, as
dark fell, Members of the House and the Senate of all parties on the
east front steps of the U.S. Capitol holding hands and singing ``God
Bless America'' to demonstrate in what little way we could that those
who sought to strike us down were going to see the resolve and the
unity of the Government of the United States.
I could keep going on about Tom, but we heard his comments today. Of
course it is with a heavy heart that we see Tom leave this Chamber. It
is under circumstances that I hope we never see replicated.
There has to be civility in this body. There has to be a mutual
respect. There has to be a respect for the truth. There has to be
respect for the dignity of individuals and their families. Have we lost
our compass? Have we lost our anchor? Have we lost our sense of human
beings?
This Senator can do something about that, as I have tried in the
past, by the way I conduct myself with regard to my relationship to
other Senators in wanting to treat others as I would like to be
treated. Now that the fractiousness and the divisiveness of this highly
partisan, highly ideological, rigid time of debate is behind us, it is
my hope this Senate can start to come together for the good of the
people, even as we approach another election time. It is for the sake
of the Nation that we must do this.
Bob Graham
I conclude my comments about my colleague from Florida, my mentor, my
friend of many years. It is hard to believe Bob Graham has been elected
to serve almost 40 years--38 years to be exact. From when he was first
elected to the State legislature in 1966, he has been in elected office
ever since--two terms in the State house, two terms in the State
senate, two terms as the Governor of Florida, where he had a
magnificent record, where he has put his stamp as one of Florida's
great Governors, starting programs to save the Florida Everglades, the
River of Grass, the Kissimmee River, and the Everglades restoration
that has now started that is an $8 million project shared half and half
between the State and the Federal Government. That is a great legacy
for Bob.
Then, of course, his three terms in the Senate, 10 years of which he
served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, the last 2 of which he
served as chairman of that committee. Of course, with that great
knowledge and expertise, in the course of the debates here, Bob has
given us great insight and wisdom.
Finally, some of his fellow Senators convinced him that he ought to
sit down and write a book and that book is entitled ``Intelligence
Matters.'' It is my hope that with other Senators on this floor that we
are going to be able to help Bob fulfill one of his dreams, which is
that in an intelligence service that has been decimated from time
to time as a result of the whims of appropriations, that a professional
core of
[[Page S11589]]
career intelligence officers can be enhanced by starting an ROTC for
intelligence officers.
We are going to try to get the appropriations to start that and to do
it at one of our Florida universities named for Bob Graham. Let that
little incubator show the way to see whether that is a system we can
adopt around the country to give an ample supply of officers who are
ready for service in the intelligence service.
So it is again with a heavy heart that I see my colleague, Senator
Graham, retire after a distinguished career. He will not be retiring as
a public servant, because whether it be from the position of a
university--and it is my understanding he will be going to Harvard for
a year at the Kennedy School--or whether it be back in our State
affiliated with several of our universities in Florida, Bob will be
rendering public service to the people of this country for some period
of time.
So for all of these names I have mentioned, in the great poem
``Ulysses,'' he says, ``I am a part of all that I have met,'' and I am
a part of all these great Senators. I am much richer for it and for
having been their friend.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
Tom Daschle
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, in these final working days of the 108th
Congress, as so many speakers before me have said, we are saying
farewell to a number of our retiring colleagues. I intend to speak
about a couple of them this evening and will have more to say about
some of the others tomorrow.
A most painful farewell will be to my good friend Senator Tom
Daschle. I do not know that I have heard a more heartfelt, soul-
searching, and inspirational speech about what a Senator should be,
ought to be, and must be than the speech given by our great leader
Senator Daschle earlier this evening.
As I sat and listened to that speech, especially when he talked about
Dick Reiners, my mind went back to 1978 when I was just a second-term
Congressman from the State of Iowa and I was asked to go campaign in
South Dakota for this young guy running for the House whose name was
Tom Daschle. His former employer, Senator Jim Abourezk, came to Iowa to
campaign for me and asked me to reciprocate. Because I had been active
in some farm issues and agricultural issues, he asked me to campaign in
South Dakota, and I did.
I struck up a friendship with Tom Daschle at that point that endures
to this day and will endure forever. So I would go out and campaign for
him and then he would come and campaign for me and I would campaign and
we would go back and forth from Iowa to South Dakota. Of course, we
shared a common border up at Sioux City. Much of Sioux Falls's
television comes into Iowa. Much of Sioux City's goes into South
Dakota. So we have shared kind of a common area there of constituents,
constituencies over all these years.
So it is a painful farewell to my good friend Tom Daschle. These
days, there are fewer and fewer bipartisan agreements in this body. But
I sense today that there was bipartisan agreement about Tom Daschle. We
respect his decency, his fairness, his courage and leadership, his
extraordinary capacity for hard work. I cannot imagine a more difficult
job in the Senate than being leader of the Democratic caucus. We have
all heard Will Rogers quip that he belonged to no organized party, he
was a Democrat.
Those independent, hard-headed habits flourish within our caucus. For
the last decade, Tom Daschle's amazing skills and unlimited patience
have brought us together as a team. That is an accomplishment of which
he can be very proud.
The President of the United States, it is said, has the persuasion of
power. But the leader of our Senate Democratic caucus has only the
power of persuasion. I cannot imagine anyone more persuasive than
Senator Tom Daschle. He has always been willing to talk with us,
accommodate us whenever possible, to do whatever it takes, however long
it takes, to forge a consensus and move us ahead. We are grateful. I am
grateful for his leadership, his diligence, for his grace that he has
unfailingly brought to this job as our leader. I cannot emphasize
enough this fairness and this underlying grace of this wonderful human
being. Unfailingly fair to all.
When Democrats were in the majority, Majority Leader Daschle was
respectful of the rights and the prerogatives of our Republican
minority. Conversely, as our minority leader, he has steadfastly
defended the rights and the prerogatives of the Democratic minority. In
the heat of a partisan campaign, some have labeled this
``obstructionism,'' but that characterization is incorrect. The duty of
the opposition party is present compelling alternatives, and to do so
fairly, forthrightly, and within the rules of the Senate. The duty of
the leader of our opposition is to protect the rights of the minority
so that our voice and our votes can be heard; so that we can speak out
and offer a different way, a different path. That is our duty as
opposition. Senator Daschle protected the rights of the minority, so
important in our country, not just in the Senate, but important for us
as a country.
If there is one thing that is pervasive in our Constitution and our
Bill of Rights, it is just that; it is the protection of the minority
so the minority can be heard. That is so the minority's voice and votes
will be counted. That is exactly what Senator Daschle has done. There
is not one hint of obstructionism. What he has done is to protect and
enhance the rights of the minority, and he did it with skill and
persistence, with fairness and with grace.
Over all these years of service with Tom Daschle in the House and in
the Senate, I have always respected how he fought and advocated for his
constituents in South Dakota. No one has fought harder in the House and
in the Senate for the revitalization of rural America than Tom Daschle.
No one has fought harder to bring health care and good schools and
economic opportunity to Indian country. No one has fought harder to
increase the income of family farmers and give them a fair shake in the
marketplace.
Another jewel in the crown of Tom Daschle's legacy is the emerging
ethanol industry in the United States. Since Tom arrived in Congress in
1978, he has been a relentless champion of ethanol. He mentioned that
in his farewell speech today. I know he was a relentless champion
because I was there, too, during those early years. People said those
of us who were advocating the expanded use of ethanol didn't have a
chance against big oil. But Senator Daschle persevered. He used the
1990 Clean Air Act to put in place policies that gave birth to the
ethanol industry in our country. He continued to promote tax incentives
and a renewable fuel standard to advance ethanol and to move our
country towards energy independence.
No doubt about it, Senator Daschle's leadership on ethanol brought us
to where we are today in the production of this renewable and clean
fuel in America. His leadership on ethanol will be greatly missed in
the future.
It has been a privilege to serve in this body with Tom Daschle. I
will miss him as a colleague. I will miss his leadership, that
fairness, that gentleness of nature, but that steely determination to
make sure that our views and our votes were counted; that steely
determination to make sure that people who live in small towns in rural
America are not forgotten, that their interests are protected here. I
will miss him as a friend. Oh, I am not going to lose contact with Tom
and Linda. My wife and I will continue to count them as good friends.
But I will miss him as a friend here in the Senate.
As Tom Daschle said today, he has always been an optimist. I have
never known Tom Daschle to ever utter a pessimistic word. For him the
sunrise was always better than the sunset. So the Sun rises on a new
chapter in Tom Daschle's life. That Sun is going to be bright. It is
going to be bright because of who Tom Daschle is, what he is. So there
are going to be some new days and important chapters ahead written in
the life of Tom Daschle. Both Ruth and I wish Tom and Linda and his
family the very best in the years ahead.
We will continue to look forward to his input into the political life
of America and into the common wheel that binds us as a country.
John Edwards
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I would also like to express my respect to
and
[[Page S11590]]
admiration for the retiring senior Senator from North Carolina, Senator
John Edwards, who also spoke earlier. We will miss his unique,
skillful, and persuasive voice in the debates here on the Senate floor.
Time and again we have seen his knack for taking complex arguments and
making them accessible and persuasive to ordinary people. Time and
again his skills have carried the day.
I fully understand the advice uttered by one of my Republican
colleagues one time, when he said, ``Never yield the floor to John
Edwards.''
Over the last year and a half, people in my State of Iowa have gotten
to know John and his wonderful wife Elizabeth very well. As I have
often said, John Edwards was the only person to run for national office
as a Vice Presidential candidate who visited each one of Iowa's 99
counties. He has been all over our State, in our schools, in our coffee
shops, and in our living rooms. In fact, we have often said in Iowa if
it weren't for that southern accent, you would think John was born and
raised in Iowa.
I can say that we on the Democratic side, we Democrats in Iowa and
all over the country, are proud of his race to secure the nomination of
our party, which he did not get, which went to another of our
colleagues, Senator John Kerry. But we were proud of how John Edwards
sought that nomination. And we are doubly proud of his conduct as our
nominee for Vice President of the United States.
He always comes across as just folks, which is what you would expect
from a person raised in very modest circumstances, the first in his
family to go to college. That humble background was an enormous
strength for John Edwards. It is a strength we saw on that campaign
trail that allowed him to understand people and to communicate
powerfully with ordinary people. People responded in kind. All over
this country, people just plainly liked John Edwards. They trusted him
because he spoke to them in a language they understood.
But if Iowans and other Americans see just plain folks in John
Edwards on the campaign trail, Senators here have been privileged to
see a different side of him, hard at work in this Senate. He has only
been here one term. He surely made his mark. He made his mark first by
challenging an incumbent Senator, and took on the Jesse Helms machine
in North Carolina, and he beat it. That is no small feat in North
Carolina.
He made his mark here as lead cosponsor of the Patients' Bill of
Rights, along with Senators Kennedy and McCain. He managed the bill on
the floor. He was the lead negotiator in hammering out a bipartisan
consensus on the bill.
He made his mark by sponsoring and passionately advocating for a bill
to speed up the approval of generic drugs.
As I said in my State of Iowa, John Edwards made his mark and won
people's hearts with his big smile, his friendly manner, and his
boundless optimism.
He won our respect with a campaign that was always positive. Even
under provocation, even when stakes were the highest in the final weeks
of the campaign leading up to the caucuses, John never wavered from his
positive message of hope and opportunity for ordinary Americans.
We are proud of our colleague Senator Edwards, and we know we will
not hear the last of him as he leaves this body.
We say farewell to Senator John Edwards. I know and I hope and I
trust we will hear more from him in the future. We wish him the very
best. Of course, we all hope--and our prayers are with him and with
Elizabeth--for a full recovery for his wonderful wife Elizabeth. We
will miss them both here. But our friendship endures, and I know that
Senator Edwards, Elizabeth, and his family will be heavily involved in
the course of our political life and our Democratic Party in the
future.
I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Tom Daschle
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues in saying
thank you to a great senator, a great American, a wonderful leader, and
a dear friend, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota. In Hawaiian we say,
mahalo nui loa. ``Mahalo'' means thank you; ``nui'' means large; and
``loa'' means wide. It is used to convey profound and deep gratitude. I
want to say mahalo nui loa to Tom Daschle for his great service to our
country and to the Senate as an institution.
During his 26 years in the House and Senate, Tom Daschle has
epitomized the ideal that we can disagree without being disagreeable.
His prairie optimism and can-do attitude served his constituents well
and served our Democratic caucus well.
I have always marveled at the fact that despite his responsibilities
as majority leader and Democratic Leader, Tom Daschle always kept the
needs and interests of South Dakotans as his top priority. He never
lost sight of the people back home. Perhaps that is best reflected by
his annual ``unscheduled driving'' tour, when he drives across his home
state, visiting every county, with no staff and no schedule, just Tom,
stopping to visit his constituents and hear what is on their minds.
As Senator Daschle has said, these visits remind him of where he came
from, and why he came to Washington--to put the priorities of America
first. For that, and for so much more, I say mahalo nui loa, Tom
Daschle. Godspeed. God bless Tom and his wife Linda.
This comes from me and my wife Millie. Aloha.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, our colleague from Alabama was
generous enough to step aside and permit me to make a few remarks. I
deeply appreciate it.
I talked before about Tom Daschle. I also will discuss the rest of
our colleagues who are leaving the Senate.
When the 109th Congress convenes in January, nine of our current
colleagues will not be here. I take a few moments to pay tribute to
them. Collectively, our colleagues have served in the Senate for 144
years. We will miss them.
Fritz Hollings
First of all, Fritz Hollings, the most senior Member leaving the
Senate at this time, had a distinguished career in public service. It
started in 1942, the same year I joined the Army. After he graduated
from the Citadel and he received a commission from the U.S. Army, he
served as an officer in the North African and European campaigns in
World War II. He had a lot of time in combat. He got the Bronze Star
and seven campaign ribbons.
In 1948 he was elected to the South Carolina House of
Representatives. Ten years later, and still only 36, Fritz Hollings was
elected Governor of South Carolina. As Governor, he showed his
fearlessness and independence as a progressive southern Democrat,
especially when he integrated Clemson University.
In 1966, Fritz was elected to the Senate. I don't have time to list
all of the things he has done in 30 years in the Senate or 56 years in
public office, but early in his Senate career Fritz focused on poverty
and hunger that gripped the rural South and urban areas of the country.
In 1968, he embarked on his now famous hunger tours. In 1970, he wrote
about what he saw in a highly acclaimed book entitled ``The Case
Against Hunger: A Demand for a National Policy.'' What a wonderful
program that was.
He followed up by coauthoring a bill that created the special
supplemental food program for Women, Infants and Children. We call it
WIC.
In 1972, continuing this very active campaign of writing legislation,
he wrote the National Coastal Zone Management Act, the Nation's first
land use law designed to protect coastal wetlands. He played a pivotal
role in establishing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Ocean Dumping
Act, and the Fishery Conservation Management Act.
Perhaps he is best known for his tireless fight for fair trade and
being a true fiscal conservative. Who can forget Gramm-Rudman-Hollings.
I served with him many years on the Committee on the Budget and I can
attest to his determination to put our Nation on the pay-as-you-go path
rather than burdening future generations with escalating Federal
deficits and debt.
On a parochial note, I thank the Senator from South Carolina on
behalf of the people of New Jersey. After September 11, he made our
ports safer by helping to get security funding for our
[[Page S11591]]
ports. Fritz Hollings gallantly laid out an inspiring vision for the
future of passenger rail service in our country. Through it all, Fritz
Hollings has always been a southern gentleman and a Senator's Senator.
Fritz's remarks in committee and his speeches in the Senate have
always been worth listening to even if some of us had difficulty
deciphering them. He has been a true original and the Senate will be
poorer for his departure.
I know he wants to spend more time with his beloved Peatsy, his four
children, and his seven grandchildren.
Fritz, we will miss you. I never stop being surprised when Fritz
Hollings recalls things he did 20 or 40 years ago and recall them with
fairly precise detail. He always has colorful language--except in
places like the Senate--that attract attention and yet he completes his
serious mission with humor, candor, and courage.
I ask unanimous consent a press release entitled ``38 Years in the
Senate, 38 of His Greatest Hits'' be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2004]
38 Years in the Senate, 38 of His Greatest Hits
Washington, DC.--In 38 years in the U.S. Senate, Fritz
Hollings has compiled one of the most remarkable legislative
records of any Senator in the last century. From his first
days in office to his last, he has written legislation that
has changed America. Following are 38 ways the nation will
remember him:
1. Started the Women Infants Children (WIC) program, one of
the most successful government health care measures ever
undertaken. It has reduced infant mortality, low birth rates,
and premature births. Today, WIC provides nutritional
counseling and access to health services for low-income women
and children in 10,000 nationwide clinics. Impetus for the
program came from Senator Hollings' 1970 book ``The Case
Against Hunger.''
2. Championed the Community Health Center Program to bring
medical care to low-income Americans. In 1969, South Carolina
opened one of the first community health centers in the
nation, and today the centers nationally provide primary and
preventive health services for 10 million patients in under-
served communities.
3. Initiated the nationwide breast and cervical cancer
screening program. Begun in 1990 as a project in South
Carolina and five other states, the program quickly expanded
to a highly successful national effort. Through the years,
Senator Hollings also has led efforts to significantly boost
funds for cancer research and to double the National
Institutes of Health's budget.
4. The father of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
Standards, Senator Hollings wrote the law in 1975 forcing
automakers to build more fuel efficient cars. Thirty years
later, CAFE standards save more than 3 million barrels of oil
per day.
5. Authored the Aviation Security Act, immediately after
September 11th. It created the Transportation Security
Administration and set up the screening system now underway
for airport passengers. Always a strong believer in the need
for security, Senator Hollings knew the aviation system, and
America's economy, would not recover without government's
help. He authored the legislation at age 80.
6. Authored the Maritime Security Act, also immediately
following September 11th. Concerned for many years that ports
and borders were the weak link in America's security system,
he pushed the legislation through--the first ever aimed at
increasing security at America's ports.
7. The father of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), he established the agency in just his
fourth year in office. He did it at a time when the ocean was
not the popular topic it is today. In 2000, he created the
U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, to help Congress determine
the future of the nation's oceans.
8. Authored the National Coastal Zone Management Act of
1972, which established federal policy for protecting coastal
areas. It also authorized grants to states to establish and
operate coastal zone management programs.
9. A friend of marine mammals, he wrote the legislation in
1972 to protect whales, dolphins, sea otters, and other
mammals. It became the model for other countries.
10. Authored the Ocean Dumping Act of 1976, which extended
federal authority over previously unregulated dumping of
pollutants in the ocean. It banned dumping by U.S. vessels,
or vessels sailing from a U.S. port.
11. Wrote the Oil Spill Bill in 1990, following the
disaster of the Exxon Valdez. Senator Hollings led the Senate
investigation of the oil spill, and pushed the legislation
requiring more effective clean-up, and forced oil companies
to use double-hull ships, which are less likely to have a
spill.
12. At the forefront of promoting American technology, he
created the Advanced Technology Program in the Commerce
Department, which invests in high-risk research projects that
promise big payoffs and widespread benefits to the nation.
13. Co-authored Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, the landmark
legislation that broke budget gridlock in the mid-`80s. By
making automatic spending cuts, it reversed 20 years of
increased federal spending and cut tens of billions from the
budget deficit.
14. Was the first Senator to decry the practice of looting
Social Security, and made truth in budget reporting a
priority. In 1990, his legislation required that the
President and Congress, when reporting a budget, do not count
Social Security surpluses to mask the true size of the
deficit.
15. Has been the voice for fiscal sanity on the Senate
floor for three decades, but too often the lone voice.
Twenty-two years ago, he was the first to offer a budget
freeze, and has offered them many times since. He has slammed
tax-cutting Republicans for voodoo economics. He promised he
would jump off the Capitol Dome if ever there was a balanced
budget, but because too few listened to the only original
member of the Senate Budget Committee, the country has a $600
billion deficit, and Senator Hollings retires without
jumping.
16. The Senate's loudest voice on trade issues, he opposed
NAFTA, GATT, and trade deals with China and Africa--all of
which have sent massive jobs overseas. Time has proven him
right. He opposed giving the President fast-track negotiating
authority, constantly reminding his colleagues of Article 1,
Section 8 of the Constitution: ``Congress shall have power to
regulate commerce with Foreign Nations.''
17. Textile's best friend in the Senate, he has pressured
every President since Lyndon Johnson to protect the industry
so important to South Carolina.
18. Created the Manufacturing Extension Partnership
Centers, in 1988 to help small manufacturers survive and
grow. Now with 350 locations around the country, they
annually help almost 20,000 companies. In honor of the
Senator, federal legislation was passed to rename them the
Hollings Centers.
19. A friend of the consumer, he created a competitive
telecommunications industry through the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, the first major rewrite of the Communications
Act of 1934. He fought to ensure it provided new services to
consumers at affordable rates.
20. Strengthened on-line privacy and gave Internet users
control over their own personal data with legislation he
authored in 2000 and 2002.
21. Gave millions of Americans freedom from telemarketers,
by co-authoring the do-not-call list law in 2002, and the law
that banned computer voiced telephone calls and restricted
junk faxes in 1991. Calling it ``telephone terrorism''
Senator Hollings has given tens of millions of Americans
quiet evenings at home.
22. Reined in the cable TV monopolies, as the driving force
in the early 1990s for the Cable and Consumer Protections
Act. Persistent service and rate abuses by TV cable companies
around the country prompted Senator Hollings to lead the
charge in giving the Federal Communications Commission
authority to regulate basic cable TV rates and set minimum
service standards.
23. Authored the 1990 Children's TV Act, requiring stations
to carry educational programming for children and limiting
the amount of commercials aired during children's
programming.
24. Wrote laws to drug-test transportation employees and
military enlistees. By requiring mandatory random drug and
alcohol testing for safety-sensitive transportation
employees, he has made America's roads safer. The law has
allowed the military to confront drug abuse in uniform and
has significantly increased overall readiness.
25. Was one of the first to re-build America's defense in
the '80s, authoring amendments in the 1980 budget that
provided the first significant increase in defense spending
in the post-Vietnam era.
26. Saved the Department of Education through budget
amendments, after Ronald Reagan took office with the express
purpose of abolishing the Department. In the mid-1990s he
stopped House Republicans from radically cutting student loan
programs.
27. Authored energy conservation standards for federal
buildings, during the 1970 energy crisis, resulting in
millions of dollars of savings for taxpayers.
28. Led the efforts to fund innovative law enforcement
programs, such as Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
that put more than 100,000 police officers on the streets in
13,000 communities across the country.
29. To prevent crime that has hit American schools, he
steered through the Senate his Safe Schools Initiative,
putting police officers on patrol in schools nationwide.
30. Authored legislation to nail criminals involved in
church burnings, by strengthening federal authority to
prosecute them.
31. For the first time in American history, he got the full
Congress to give its highest honor, the Congressional Gold
Medal, to a farmer, gas attendant, maid, and preacher for the
hardships they faced in desegregating South Carolina's
schools. The medals were presented in 2004, the 50th
anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.
32. Champion for American Embassies across the world, he
fought hard to ensure government preserves their historic
significance.
33. The longest serving junior Senator in American history,
he served 36 years as a
[[Page S11592]]
junior Senator before becoming South Carolina's Senior
Senator at age 81 in 2003.
34. As governor of South Carolina from 1959-1963, he was
the first modern southern governor to bring about economic
and social progress. He started South Carolina's technical
education system that now trains 235,000 students annually;
balanced the state's budget for the first time in 65 years;
obtained the state's first AAA bond rating; traveled 200,000
miles around the world to bring industry to South Carolina;
and peacefully integrated Clemson University while other
southern governors resisted the civil rights movement.
35. Was the Senator with no poll in his pocket, He gave
unforgettable floor speeches, where he spoke his mind and
told the truth. No one dared debate him, because they'd lose.
36. He brought different points of view to complex
situations and identified solutions long before others
recognized there were even problems.
37. Though many of his favorite bills never passed, he
never stopped pushing for what he believed, He is still
calling for tax hikes to pay for the War on Terrorism;
legislation to protect children from violence on television;
and a constitutional amendment permitting limits on campaign
expenditures, preventing wealthy candidates and their friends
from buying elections.
38. He leaves at the top of his game, writing meaningful
legislation for America and working for his constituents
until his last day in office.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. It is amazing to see how many things Fritz Hollings
has touched in his life. Once again, he will be sorely missed.
John Breaux
Another dear friend from the south, John Breaux, senior Senator from
Louisiana, probably the Senate's consummate deal maker. I don't think
anyone in this Chamber has ever worked harder to bring the two parties
together on taxes, on health care, and especially our two biggest
entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare.
He is the logical choice to chair the National Bipartisan Commission
on the Future of Medicare and the cochair of the National Commission on
Retirement Policy. He has always been an effective champion for
Louisiana's oil and gas, agriculture, and tourism industries, which is
why his constituents have sent him to Washington with 60, 70, or even
80 percent of the vote. He was only 28 when he first won a seat in the
House in 1972. With 14 years in the House and 18 years in the Senate,
he spent more than half of his entire life as a Member of Congress
doing the public's mission.
We will miss his Cajun humor, his legislative savvy, and his tireless
dedication of bringing Republicans and Democrats together for the good
of all America.
Bob Graham
Another esteemed colleague from the South, Senator Bob Graham, the
senior Senator from Florida, is clearly one of the State's most popular
elected officials. He won two terms as State representative, two terms
as a State senator, two terms as a Governor, three terms as a U.S.
Senator, with a 9-9 record. For a short time he put his hat in the ring
in the recent Presidential race. He had a 9-9 record of elections
dating back 38 years.
Like Senator Breaux, Bob Graham has worked diligently to forge
bipartisan solutions to the most pressing problems. He is a fiscal
conservative, dedicated to strengthening and improving Social Security
and Medicare. Bob Graham is the author of a comprehensive, bipartisan
plan to restore the Everglades, a plan that created an unprecedented
partnership among Federal, State, and local governments and private
industries to reverse the damage done by fragile ``River of Grass''
decades of dredging, dumping, and destruction. He has fought hard to
protect Florida's coastline from oil and gas exploration.
One of the things that made Bob Graham so popular has been his
determination to spend time working side by side with people he
represents. Over 30 years he has worked 400 workdays. On those
workdays--and most have seen him in costume--he has worked as a police
officer, railroad engineer, construction worker, fisherman, garbage
man. I don't think I would have taken all the jobs he did, but he did
them wonderfully and endeared himself to his constituents. He was a
factory worker, busboy, teacher. If Bob does not want to retire, I am
sure he will be able to find some kind of work. He is experienced in so
many fields.
John Edwards
The senior Senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, has streaked
across the political firmament like a shooting star. Six years ago, he
was a trial lawyer who won a Senate seat in his first try at elected
office and 2 weeks ago he was very nearly elected Vice President.
John Edwards, like Tom Daschle, was the first person in his family to
graduate from college. His father worked in the textile mills. His
mother held several jobs, working in a post office, running a furniture
refinishing business. After he graduated from the University of North
Carolina Law School, he put his formidable legal skill to work for
ordinary people as a trial attorney. He was good at it. In 1997, he won
the largest personal injury verdict in North Carolina history, $25
million, for a 9-year old girl injured by a swimming pool drain the
manufacturer knew was faulty.
John proved if there is injury or damage, take it to a jury of your
peers. Let them make the judgment regarding careless operation of a
piece of machinery or automobile. The damage is incalculable in terms
of a monetary value. So John Edwards did what he ought to do. He
protected those who had recourse for terrible damages that they
incurred.
John knew what it was like for that little girl's parents I just
talked about because he and his wife lost their 16-year-old son. His
name was Wade. He died in a car accident.
When he got to the Senate, John continued to fight for working-class
Americans, and despite being a freshman Member, he was a principal
author of a Patients' Bill of Rights bill which passed the Senate in
June of 2001.
He also fought hard for his constituents, securing more than $250
million in disaster funds following Hurricane Floyd in September 1999.
I don't know what the future holds for John. One looks at that face,
and sees such a young man. He is only 51 years old, and to me that is
like a child. But somehow or other I do not think we have seen the last
of him.
Of course, his first task is to help his wife Elizabeth get through
her bout with breast cancer. We send our prayers to both of them, for
her quick and complete recovery. He and Elizabeth have the good wishes
and prayers of each and every one of us here in the Senate.
Mr. President, I will talk about a couple of my friends on the
Republican side.
Don Nickles
I have had my differences with Don Nickles. We both have served on
the Budget Committee, and it is hard to believe that he, at his tender
age, has been here for 24 years. He is still so youthful looking. As a
matter of fact, the two Senators from Oklahoma at one point in time did
not equal the age of one of the Senators from South Carolina. They are
both very young. But he was so young when he came here in 1981. He was
barely 32.
On the subject of age, if I might digress, after 30 years of business
I never dreamed I was going to be here 24 years, Lord willing. And for
my friends on the Republican side, don't count me out at the end of 24
years.
I worked with Don Nickles for many years on the Budget Committee. He
has been a passionate, articulate spokesman for conservative causes,
but he has always been a good opponent, a gracious opponent. The Senate
is going to miss his energy and his knowledge.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Another friend from the other side of the aisle is Ben Nighthorse
Campbell, the senior Senator from Colorado. He is one of the true
originals in the Senate. He is one of 44 chiefs of the Northern
Cheyenne Tribe. He served our country in Korea. He is a renowned
jewelry designer, athlete, trainer of champion quarter horses. He
participated in the 1964 Olympics as a member of the U.S. Olympic judo
team.
He was elected to the Colorado State legislature in 1982, serving for
4 years before coming to Washington. He has livened up the place with
his string ties, beautiful jewelry, and his Harley Davidson
motorcycles. And he has been our conscience when it comes to meeting
our treaty obligations to Native Americans.
Peter Fitzgerald
Peter Fitzgerald, the junior Senator from Illinois, like me, came to
the
[[Page S11593]]
Senate after a good business career. He has been here only for one term
but in those 6 years he established a solid reputation as an
independent Member, committed to doing what he thinks is right, even if
it puts him at odds with other members of his party.
He and I serve on the Governmental Affairs Committee, and I have been
impressed by his willingness to hold hearings on scandals and
malfeasance in the mutual fund and insurance industries. Perhaps
because of his business background, he understands the importance of
effective oversight by the Federal Government.
I regret he is leaving. He has been a gentleman, and it is too bad
that we do not have more like Peter Fitzgerald. He is a wonderful
person to work with. He has got a ready smile, and he is a gentleman at
all times.
I close my remarks by noting that these men have made remarkable
contributions to our society, and all Americans should be grateful. I
would tell those who are retiring, I retired 4 years ago, and I did not
like it. So here I am. Perhaps there is hope for any of them who want
to rejoin. If you want to come back, I am here to tell you it can be
done. Just make sure that you get to keep your seniority.
Mr. President, I yield the floor and thank my colleagues for their
indulgence while I made my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, let me say--this is probably the first and
only time I have ever said this--I have been listening carefully to my
friend from New Jersey, and I agree with everything he said.
I have had a chance to talk a little bit about some of these people
who are retiring, and at some length about Senator Nickles, and I
certainly appreciate the Senator's remarks about him.
____________________