[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 25 (Thursday, February 14, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S1050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING RICHARD DARMAN

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I was sad to learn that Richard Darman 
passed away last week. Mr. Darman was a good man, an outstanding public 
servant, and a great American. I liked him very much. Dick Darman was a 
graduate of Harvard and Harvard Business School whose career in 
Washington spanned two and a half decades. He served in five 
Presidential administrations and worked in six Cabinet departments and 
the White House.
  Mr. Darman was a player in many of the important events of the last 
quarter of the 20th Century. While serving in the Justice Department, 
he helped arrange the plea bargain that eased Vice President Spiro T. 
Agnew out of office. Along with his boss, Attorney General Elliot 
Richardson, he was a victim of the infamous Saturday Night Massacre of 
the Watergate era. He served in the Reagan administration, eventually 
rising to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, where he 
helped formulate the economic policies of the Reagan revolution and 
helped negotiate the 1986 Tax Reform Act. And he served as Director of 
the Office of Management and Budget in the administration of the first 
President Bush.
  It was during the 1990 budget summit that I really came to know and 
respect Mr. Darman. I quickly learned that Budget Director Darman was a 
pragmatist and a realist, who was opposed to budget gimmicks and simple 
and easy solutions to our Nation's fiscal woes. Concerned about a 
decade of devastating budget deficits he called for serious, realistic 
steps to get our Nation's budget under control. And he was not opposed 
to working with Democrats in seeking those solutions. As a result, we 
were able to craft the landmark 1990 deficit-reduction plan--a deal 
between a Republican-controlled White House and a Democratic Congress 
that marked a high point of bipartisan cooperation. This budget 
agreement helped reverse a decade of budget deficits and gave the 
economy a boost that lasted for more than a decade. Along with 
President Clinton's 1993 budget agreement, it helped lay the groundwork 
for the fiscal balance and economic growth of the 1990s.
  This incredibly successful budget agreement, unfortunately, destroyed 
Mr. Darman's career in government. This man of deep integrity and 
incredible intelligence was eventually forced out of Government because 
too many people in his own political party had ideological differences 
with the contents of the 1990 budget agreement.
  Mr. President, I extend my most heartfelt condolences to his wife 
Kathleen and his three sons and all of his family and friends. I am so 
pleased and proud to consider myself as one of the latter.

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