[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 15, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6644-S6645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO THE LATE SENATOR JIM EXON OF NEBRASKA

 Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, with the passing of former Senator 
Jim Exon on Friday, a giant oak in the forest of public service has 
fallen. Political historians will remember him as a dominant force in 
Nebraska politics across nearly 3 decades, serving two terms as 
Governor and three as Senator. Those of us who were privileged to be 
his friend remember him, first and foremost, as a man of enormous 
decency, integrity, and common sense. We remember his quick mind; his 
slow, gravelly voice; his Midwestern directness and unpretentiousness.
  Here on the Senate floor, I am privileged to sit at the same desk 
that Senator Exon used during the last of his 18 years in the Senate. I 
inherited it upon his retirement in 1996, and I have always considered 
it a special honor to carry on where he left off.
  Of course, for people in Iowa, Jim Exon was a next-door neighbor. 
Over the years, Iowans got to know him well

[[Page S6645]]

as a stalwart friend of family farmers; as a tireless promoter of rural 
economic development; and, a time when the bioeconomy was in its 
infancy, as a true believer in the future of ethanol and other home-
grown, renewable sources of energy.
  Jim Exon was not just present at the creation of the ethanol 
industry, he was an important midwife of that industry. He took office 
as Governor in 1970, and in 1971 he created the Nebraska Ethanol Board. 
In the ensuing years of ethanol's infancy, it was Nebraska and Iowa 
that led the way in establishing this industry. At every step, Jim Exon 
was there as an advocate and champion.
  I will always remember my partnership with Senator Exon and Senator 
John Melcher of Montana on the 1985 farm bill. We fought long and hard 
to fend off attacks on safety-net programs for family farmers. Night 
after night, we kept the Senate in session into the early hours of the 
morning. And, thanks to Jim's leadership and sheer relentlessness, we 
carried the day.
  Throughout his political career, Jim Exon prided himself on reaching 
across party lines and forging bipartisan consensus. This is very much 
a Nebraska tradition, going back to the legendary George Norris, who 
founded the State's unicameral Legislature. Jim succeeded as a Democrat 
in an overwhelmingly Republican State because he knew how to reach out, 
how to unite people around shared interests. Senator Ben Nelson, a 
long-time friend and protege of Jim Exon, prides himself on continuing 
this tradition of bipartisanship and bridge-building.
  They didn't call him Big Jim for nothing. He was big physically, tall 
and imposing. He was big politically--the only Nebraskan since George 
Norris to win five consecutive statewide elections. And Jim was big-
hearted, a tough, relentless man, but also a compassionate person who 
cared deeply about other people and their wellbeing.
  As a public official, he was an old- fashioned fiscal conservative. 
He railed against what he called ``wild-eyed spenders.'' As Governor, 
he repeatedly vetoed the Legislature's spending bills, 141 vetoes in 
all. And, here in the Senate, he took on Republicans and Democrats 
alike who, in his eyes, were being reckless with the taxpayer's dollar.
  Senator Jim Exon has been lying in state in the Rotunda of the 
Nebraska Capitol. Funeral services will be held this afternoon at the 
same location. So, today, the Senate says farewell to a truly 
distinguished former member. Jim was a good friend to me, and he was 
much beloved in this body. Today, our thoughts are with him, his 
family, and the people of Nebraska. May Jim rest in peace.

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