[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 157 (Wednesday, October 17, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13023-S13025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING VICE PRESIDENT ALBERT GORE, JR., AND THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL 
                        PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to S. Res. 349.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 349) honoring Vice President Albert 
     Gore, Jr., and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
     for receiving the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of 
     their efforts to promote understanding of the threats posed 
     by global warming.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be 
laid upon the table en bloc, and any statements relating to this matter 
be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 349 was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 349

       Whereas the Norwegian Nobel Committee selected Vice 
     President Albert Arnold (Al) Gore, Jr., and the 
     Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as Nobel 
     Peace Prize Laureates for 2007, acknowledging them ``for 
     their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge 
     about man-

[[Page S13024]]

     made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the 
     measures that are needed to counteract such change'';
       Whereas the Nobel Committee found that Vice President Gore 
     ``became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges 
     the world is facing'', and that his ``strong commitment . . . 
     has strengthened the struggle against climate change'';
       Whereas the IPCC, according to the Nobel Committee, is 
     composed of thousands of scientists and officials from more 
     than 100 countries, has sponsored research and scientific 
     collaboration over the last 2 decades and ``has created an 
     ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between 
     human activities and global warming''; and
       Whereas the Nobel Committee stated that Vice President Gore 
     ``is probably the single individual who has done most to 
     create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that 
     need to be adopted'' to combat global warming, Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate honors Vice President Albert 
     Arnold Gore, Jr., and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
     Change for receiving the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, in 
     recognition of their longstanding efforts to promote 
     understanding of the threats posed by global warming.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am so pleased to rise in support of this 
resolution. It has now passed, and it is very important that it has. It 
is to honor our former colleague, the Vice President of the United 
States, Al Gore.
  When I was first elected to the House of Representatives 25 years 
ago, I was placed on the Foreign Affairs Committee, which was 
wonderful. I loved it. Clement Zablocki from Wisconsin was the chairman 
of that committee. I have told people it was like going to school and 
not having to take the test. I was also put on the Science and 
Technology Committee. That was a wonderful committee. It opened my eyes 
to so many different things that I had not seen before and had not been 
exposed to before.
  The first day we met on that committee for organizational purposes, a 
young man came up to me and he said: I am Al Gore from Tennessee. He 
said: There is going to be a lot of activity here, people wanting to go 
to subcommittees. He said: Just wait. They have formed a new 
subcommittee. I am going to be the subcommittee chairman. Take my word 
for it. It is going to be the best subcommittee. Don't try to get on 
all those others. Get on mine.
  I did. I followed his suggestion. It was wonderful. I knew at that 
time that not only was he a very nice man--and I knew, of course, of 
him because of his father having been a U.S. Senator--but I came to 
learn what a brilliant man he is.
  We did such outstanding things on that subcommittee. We uncovered 
corruption within the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We held 
hearings on that. He got into, for the first time, looking at how 
people are affected who do shift work. Those people who come from 
manufacturing areas are aware of that, the people who work the 
graveyard shift, the swing shift. For Las Vegas it is very important 
because it is a 24-hour town. People work 24 hours, around the clock. 
He approached it from what does it do to the minds and the bodies of 
people who have had this shift work. It was a wonderful, enlightening 
hearing, not only for members of the committee but for the country.
  Also, he did, for the first time, public hearings on organ 
transplants. Remember, this was 25 years ago. I can remember it as if 
it was yesterday. He brought in before our subcommittee a little girl 
by the name of Jamie Fisk. I will never forget this little girl. Her 
color was the color of a light-colored lemon. She was so yellow. She 
was so jaundiced. This little girl was dying. She needed an organ 
transplant, a liver transplant, and this wasn't done much. But she was 
going to die. As a result of this hearing, she was able to get an organ 
transplant, a liver. I don't know what has happened to Jamie. The last 
time I checked a number of years ago, she was doing just fine, and I am 
confident she is. She was able to live as a result of this hearing held 
by Al Gore. It really paved the way for organ transplants and what we 
do with people who are on a waiting list to get these organ 
transplants.
  The former majority leader, Dr. Frist, was an organ transplant 
specialist. I talked to him on a number of occasions about the 
important work Al Gore did in that subcommittee.
  That was only the beginning. Al Gore came to the Senate. I can 
remember coming to him when I decided to run for the Senate. He came 
here 2 years before I did. He gave me great advice. He was very 
concerned about campaign spending laws that needed to be changed. He 
was totally supportive of McCain-Feingold and was a real leader and a 
leader in so many different respects as a Senator.
  President Bill Clinton, using such good judgment, chose him to be his 
Vice President. Prior to that, Al Gore ran for President, and I am 
happy to say the first time he ran for President, other than the 
Senators from Tennessee, I was the only Senator supporting him. I have 
never, ever regretted having done that. I think the world of this man. 
His wife Tipper, if there were an all-American boy, she is the all-
American girl. She is just what you would want your daughter to be 
like. I have a daughter, and I certainly hope she turns out like Tipper 
Gore.
  The Vice President and Senator Gore--I visited him in his office 
years ago. He had in his office a chart, and it was so unusual. It 
showed how global warming was taking place, what was happening in the 
environment, and it went way up into the ceiling. Way back then, 20 
years ago, he knew it was a problem. He knew that global warming was a 
problem.
  He is a man of humor. He is real family person. We all lived with him 
here when he took his little boy to a baseball game and his little boy 
darted in front of a car and was hit and almost killed. For me 
personally, he is my friend.
  What he has done for the State of Nevada is remarkable. Lake Tahoe. 
There are only two lakes in the world like Lake Tahoe: Alpine Glacial 
Lake, and the other one is in Russia--Lake Baikal. Lake Tahoe that we 
share with California is a wonderful lake. It is almost a mile deep. It 
was in a state of distress. I talked to Al Gore and said: We need to do 
a Presidential summit at Lake Tahoe, and we did. He and President 
Clinton came there 10 years ago and spent 2 days at Lake Tahoe. There 
was international coverage of what they were doing at Lake Tahoe to 
show that this wonder of nature was being destroyed. As a result of 
their having been there--they had 7 Cabinet officers who spent time 
with more than 1,000 people preparing them for the summit. I thought it 
would be a photo-op, and it certainly was more than that. It led to our 
turning around the environmental degradation of that great lake, and we 
have made progress. Since they came there, we have spent hundreds of 
millions of dollars on that lake, and it has been worth every penny of 
it.
  Mr. President, Al Gore has had a pretty good year. He won an Emmy, an 
Oscar, and now the Nobel Peace Prize. I, of course, know he got more 
votes than the person who beat him in the Presidential election. We not 
only know he got more votes, we know the tremendous problems they had 
in Florida. The Supreme Court made a decision. Even though I disagreed 
with the 5-to-4 decision, it was made by the Supreme Court. As hard as 
it was for me to accept it, the minute the Supreme Court made that 
decision, George Bush became my President. Think about how Al Gore felt 
about that. Al Gore had gotten more votes than the man the Supreme 
Court said would be President. How did Al Gore lead the country after 
that disappointment to him? He didn't whine or cry or ask for there to 
be a contest in the House of Representatives, which he was entitled to. 
He led the country in saying George Bush is the President.
  I say to you there wasn't a single rock thrown through a window and 
there were no demonstrations held; it was a changeover to George Bush 
being President. I give that to the greatness of Al Gore. He could have 
whined and cried and complained. He didn't do that. He set out, in 
spite of the fact that he was not President of the United States, to 
change the world. He has done that, earning an Emmy, an Oscar, and now 
the Nobel Peace Prize. It is one of the all-time great stories in 
history.
  I have to also say that Al Gore, this very serious man, is also very 
funny; he has a great sense of humor. When I was first elected minority 
leader, and then became the Democratic leader, he is one of the first 
people I called. What did he do? He said: How much time do you have? I 
said: All the time you want. I was on the telephone and he talked to me 
for more than 2 hours. I took notes. I still have those notes. He gave 
me such a good view of my job.

[[Page S13025]]

  I want everyone within the sound of my voice to understand what an 
extraordinary man he is and how much good he has done. I have watched 
his progress from the days we spent together on the subcommittee and 
the committee in the House, and we talked about the environment. This 
Nobel Peace Prize is a reflection of the man and his accomplishments.
  Is there anyone who doubts today that global warming is real? I don't 
think so. If they do, they are in a very distinct minority. Global 
warming is here and we must act. Listen to what Vice President Gore 
says regarding the challenge. He says we must have optimism. He said:

       We sometimes emphasize the danger in a crisis without 
     focusing on the opportunities that are there. We should feel 
     a great sense of urgency because it is the most dangerous 
     crisis we have ever faced, by far. But it also provides us 
     with opportunities to do a lot of things we ought to be doing 
     for other reasons anyway. And to solve this crisis, we can 
     develop a shared sense of moral purpose.

  Does that depict what a great man he is? Al Gore looks at this 
optimistically, saying these are things we should have been doing, but 
we are not doing it, so let's work together to fight the scourge facing 
our world.
  On behalf of our former colleague and my friend, Vice President Al 
Gore, I am so pleased to support this resolution. More important than 
passing this resolution, which has happened, I hope all my colleagues 
will honor his cause and moral purpose to continue the fight to reverse 
the threat of global warming and leave an Earth to our children and 
grandchildren that is safe, clean, and livable.

                          ____________________