[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 67 (Monday, May 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5046-S5048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         IN MEMORY OF JACK KEMP

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I come to the floor to celebrate the life of 
a great American, Jack Kemp.
  Jack Kemp was many things to many different people. Probably everyone 
knows the basics about Jack. He was a football player, a Member of 
Congress, a Cabinet Secretary, and a Vice Presidential nominee. Perhaps 
he was best known as the coauthor of the Kemp-Roth tax cuts that were 
the basis of the Reagan economic plan that brought progress out of 
prosperity and stagflation.
  Today's Wall Street Journal said about Kemp:

       He was among the most important Congressmen in U.S. 
     history. He wasn't powerful because he held a mighty post, 
     and he never served in the House majority. He helped to 
     transform the Republican Party though he was never its 
     Presidential standard-bearer. His influence sprang from the 
     power of his ideas, and from the sincerity and enthusiasm 
     with which he spread them.

  To millions of Americans, he was much more than a football player, 
Congressman, and candidate. For minorities who suffered from 
discrimination, Jack was an olive branch from a party that too often 
ignored them. As a quarterback and as leader of the football players 
union, he championed the cause of African-American ball players and 
fought against segregation. For the poor struggling to rise above their 
circumstances in the inner city, Jack was hope for a better future. He 
proposed empowering tenets in public housing, offering vouchers for 
housing and education. For hard-working families who wanted more 
freedom from Government, Jack was a crusader for their cause. He 
believed everyone, especially those in inner cities, should have an 
opportunity to participate in our economy. His idea of enterprise zones 
has expanded and developed into many different areas of providing 
opportunities for those caught in circumstances in which they would 
otherwise have none.
  Jack was all these things and more. Today Jack serves as a role 
model, I believe, for the future of our party. Known as the happy 
warrior, Jack always focused on the positive.
  Don't get me wrong, Jack never shied away from a fight, and I know 
that in a couple instances. He called out his fellow party members for 
protectionism and anti-immigration efforts, believing they were wrong 
for this country and for the opportunities we seek. No matter how big 
the adversary, whether it was a linebacker or a powerful committee 
chair, Jack was a fearless fighter. But as a happy warrior, Jack 
understood the power of the positive.
  Today's Washington Post carried an article by Michael Gershon in 
which he said:

       Opportunity, [Kemp] argued, is the most important measure 
     of economic justice; capitalism is perfected by the broadest 
     possible distribution of capital; and economic freedom and 
     political freedom are inseparable.

  Jack was well known for saying:

       The best way to oppose a bad idea is to replace it with a 
     good one.

  You see, Jack was more about solutions than party labels. It is that 
pragmatism and willingness to work across the aisle to solve problems 
that all of us would be well advised to embrace today. As a self-
described bleeding heart conservative, there are so many examples of 
Jack Kemp doing that. Jack worked across the aisle on some of the most 
important issues of our time, from civil rights to safe housing for all 
families. It was Jack who, along with the esteemed Dr. Benjamin Hooks, 
brought to the national stage the scourge of lead paint poisoning which 
was afflicting children and families in many of our cities, 
particularly older ones. Exposure to lead, particularly by young 
children, was causing learning disabilities, behavioral problems, 
slowing growth, and possibly causing seizures, coma and, in some 
serious instances, death.
  Jack Kemp and Dr. Hooks gave this avoidable tragedy a face and a very 
powerful voice. Thanks to their advocacy, Senator Mikulski and I 
launched a $50 million initiative to remove exposed paint in targeted 
neighborhoods. What started as an idea and a mission is now a more than 
$300 million program that has helped countless children and their 
families. But this is just one example of the ideas that Jack, with his 
tireless advocacy, turned into action to improve the lives of the most 
vulnerable and needy in our country. Jack's extraordinary life has made 
a lasting impact on the generations of conservatives he inspired, on 
the Republican Party, on the national debate, but, most importantly, on 
the countless lives and communities which have benefited from his 
powerful ideas being put into action.
  To Joanne and the rest of the Kemp family, Linda and my thoughts and 
prayers are with you. We shall always remember and treasure the memory 
of Jack Kemp and the great contributions he made.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record a copy of the Wall 
Street Journal piece entitled ``Capitalist for the Common Man'' and the 
Washington Post column by Michael Gershon entitled ``Head and Heart.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       [From the Washington Post]

                 Head and Heart: Remembering Jack Kemp

                          (By Michael Gerson)

       Some deaths make the world feel old, like they have stolen 
     a part of youth itself. Normally this applies to those who 
     die in their prime. But Jack Kemp's prime was supernaturally 
     long. It is difficult to imagine his bounding arrivals, his 
     shaken-gravel voice, his juice and joy, all stilled and 
     ended. But there it is.
       Generations of young conservatives--most of us no longer 
     young--were drawn into Jack's orbit (I worked for him briefly 
     in the 1990s as a speech-writer). We were attracted, in one 
     way or another, to Jack's ``bleeding-heart conservatism,'' 
     with its mix of economic opportunity, social inclusion and 
     ebullience. We came to love Jack's gracious wife, Joanne, and 
     his accomplished children. We hoped and expected that Jack 
     would become president of the United States. In the end, he 
     lacked the consuming focus that quest requires. But in his 
     passion for ideas--and in the affection he inspired--Jack was 
     the most influential modern Republican who never became 
     president.
       Jack believed that ideas--not interests or political deals 
     or public passions--rule the world. In this sense, he 
     strangely resembled idealists such as Hegel or Marx, who 
     discerned hidden, powerful currents beneath the surface of 
     history. For Jack, that force was liberal democratic values'' 
     (small ``l'' and small ``d,'' as he invariably added). 
     Economic freedom, in his view, provides the poor with a hope 
     beyond the dreams of socialism or large ``L'' Liberalism--the 
     hope of becoming wealthy themselves. Opportunity, he argued, 
     is the most important measure of economic justice; capitalism 
     is perfected by the broadest possible distribution of 
     capital; and economic freedom and political freedom are 
     inseparable.
       This belief in the power of ideas removed all rancor from 
     Jack's political approach. Everyone fell into one of two 
     categories: convert or potential convert. He seemed to 
     believe that if he had just an hour--better yet,

[[Page S5047]]

     three hours--with anyone, he could change their mind by the 
     force of his ideas. So he gave nearly everyone the benefit of 
     the doubt. He assumed goodwill on the part of his opponents. 
     And he became the rarest kind of public figure--a conviction 
     politician who was also a peacemaker.
       The direction of Jack's career was set by two events. In 
     the 1960s, he saw the American civil rights movement from the 
     perspective of sports. As a quarterback and leader of the 
     American Football League players union, he stood up for 
     African American teammates victimized by segregation on their 
     travels. The experience left a deeply rooted impatience with 
     bigotry.
       For this reason, Jack criticized the failures of urban 
     liberalism--the high-rise horrors of the projects, the 
     economic desolation of the inner city, the schools that 
     betray minority students without consequence. He became the 
     nation's leading advocate for educational vouchers, housing 
     vouchers and enterprise zones--applications of his philosophy 
     of freedom to the needs of the poor. But Jack was nothing if 
     not consistent. The same impulse led him to assert that the 
     party of Lincoln would never be healthy or complete without 
     the support of African Americans--and to oppose outbreaks of 
     anti-immigrant sentiment among Republicans, often at 
     political cost to himself.
       The second event that shaped Jack's career was a stroke of 
     intellectual lightning in the 1970s that became known as 
     supply-side economics. Jack was an amateur economist of broad 
     reading, convinced he knew exactly the way the world works. 
     National wealth depends on productivity, which depends on low 
     tax rates that reward work, enterprise and investment. So as 
     a backbench congressman, he proposed 30 percent across-the-
     board tax reductions, persuaded Ronald Reagan to embrace 
     them, and helped spur decades of prosperity. Some dispute 
     this version of economic history. Yet few would recommend a 
     return to the 70 percent tax rates and stagflation of America 
     before Jack Kemp.
       Jack's ideals and priorities never really changed over the 
     years, as a congressman, as a Cabinet secretary, as a vice 
     presidential nominee. This is a contrast to many Republicans, 
     and former Republicans, who will leave no mark beyond the 
     vague, unpleasant memory of their opportunism. Even in Jack's 
     absence, we know precisely what he would say: You can't 
     divide wealth you don't create. Don't punish the rich, enable 
     everyone to become rich. Value the dreams and contributions 
     of immigrants. Be a happy warrior, not an angry one. And let 
     me tell you about the gold standard.
       But as much as we need it, we won't hear that voice again. 
     It left a massive silence when the bleeding heart stopped.
                                  ____


                     [From the Wall Street Journal]

                     Capitalist for the Common Man

       The scene was a low-rent Manhattan auditorium, circa 1978. 
     A young Congressman from Buffalo with a raspy voice and rapid 
     delivery was debating a liberal from central casting about 
     the necessity of tax-cutting to stimulate economic growth and 
     spread prosperity. Here, we thought, was something exciting: 
     A politician who could speak about the benefits of capitalism 
     for the average American. The crowd was mainly hostile, but 
     then Jack Kemp never did confine his free-market evangelizing 
     only to the believers.
       Kemp, who died Saturday at age 73, was among the most 
     important Congressmen in U.S. history. He wasn't powerful 
     because he held a mighty post, and he never served in the 
     House majority. He helped to transform the Republican Party 
     though he was never its Presidential standard bearer. His 
     influence sprang from the power of his ideas, and from the 
     sincerity and enthusiasm with which he spread them.
       A celebrated pro quarterback, Kemp was an unlikely 
     intellectual. Yet amid the economic troubles of the 1970s, he 
     immersed himself in the details of fiscal and monetary 
     policy. Along with a handful of others, many of whom wrote 
     for this newspaper, Kemp became a champion for the classical 
     economic ideas that challenged the Keynesian orthodoxy of 
     that time. He also had to mount an insurgency inside the 
     Republican Party, which for decades had been dominated by 
     budget-balancers who saw their fate mainly as moderating and 
     paying for liberal excess.
       Along with Senator William Roth of Delaware, Kemp proposed 
     a 30% across-the-board tax cut. Though the Democrats who ran 
     Congress, combined with Old Guard Republicans to defeat it 
     during the Carter Presidency, a GOP candidate by the name of 
     Ronald Reagan liked what he saw. Reagan largely adopted Kemp-
     Roth as his own, campaigned on it in 1980; and the proposal 
     eventually became the basis for the 25% income-tax cuts that 
     finally took effect in 1983 and became the most successful 
     domestic policy achievement of the modern era. The Kemp-
     Reagan policy mix of lower taxes to lift incentives, sound 
     money to break inflation, and regulatory relief to unleash 
     entrepreneurs became the foundation for the prosperity of the 
     1980s and 1990s.
        . . . and could speak to the concerns of union members. 
     His athletic career exposed him to men of different races and 
     creeds, and he developed the conviction that economic liberty 
     was even more vital for the poorest Americans than for the 
     affluent.
       Importantly, however, and unlike many of today's 
     Republicans, Kemp's populism was inclusive. Across his 
     career, he ventured into neighborhoods where Republicans too 
     rarely tread. His policy innovations included enterprise 
     zones; public-housing vouchers and a free-trade pact for all 
     of North America. Also like Reagan, he believed that 
     immigrants made America stronger and more vibrant. His 
     religious faith was strong but never censorious. Kemp's 
     loquacious optimism was contagious, even if he did sometimes 
     get carried away.
       One historic imponderable is what might have happened if 
     Reagan had chosen Kemp as his running mate in 1980. The idea 
     had support among the Reagan brain trust, but the Gipper went 
     with the allegedly safer pick of George H.W. Bush as a way to 
     unite the GOP. Mr. Bush had famously described Kemp-Roth as 
     ``voodoo economics,'' but Reagan's success made Mr. Bush the 
     front-runner when he defeated Kemp for the GOP Presidential 
     nod in 1988. Mr. Bush went on to repudiate Reaganomics with 
     his tax increase of 1990 and made himself a one-term 
     President. He also passed over Kemp as a running mate in 
     1988, and by the time Bob Dole selected Kemp in 1996 as his 
     vice presidential nominee, the GOP ticket was already doomed.
       Kemp's ideas and legacy continue to be relevant for today's 
     Republicans, even if few of them seem to recognize it. The 
     financial meltdown and recession have given President Obama a 
     chance to revive a policy mix of higher spending and taxes, 
     intrusive regulation and easy money. If those policies don't 
     result in a sustainable expansion--and history argues that 
     they won't--then Americans will again be looking for other 
     ideas.
       Republicans will need to be ready with Kempian proposals to 
     address middle-class economic anxieties and revive broadly 
     shared prosperity. The GOP also needs a rhetoric and a 
     demeanor that invite all Americans to its cause. The Kemp-
     Reagan Message was rooted in ideas but it also appealed 
     broadly across ages and incomes because of. . . .

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I join my colleagues in mourning the passing 
of Jack Kemp last Saturday.
  Jack was ever the quarterback, leading, inspiring, and winning 
frequently, it seemed, by sheer optimism and will. In my mind, Jack had 
three core political beliefs which he consistently promoted throughout 
his career. First, he was a pure free market enthusiast. He believed in 
Adam Smith's invisible hand and worked tirelessly to convince everyone 
else about the benefits of supply-side economics.
  His many legislative achievements promoting growth through lower 
taxes and less regulation are a testament to his indefatigable efforts. 
Jack understood that free market theory also encompassed support for 
what he called ``the least of these,'' a reference to the subjects of 
``The Good Shepherd.'' He was the original compassionate conservative, 
making sure always to provide a helping hand to the less fortunate.
  His work to expand housing opportunity as HUD Secretary and outreach 
to minorities and the poor resulted in a political appeal far beyond 
his conservative roots. Finally, Jack was a passionate advocate for 
human rights, freedom, democracy, and the military strength to support 
America's national security requirements. Peace through strength was 
Jack's mantra.
  Three weeks ago, I visited with Natan Sharansky in Israel. Jack had 
introduced me to Sharansky more than 20 years ago, after he had gotten 
out of the Soviet gulag. I told him Jack was ill. He asked me to convey 
his best wishes. When I left a message on Jack's phone, I asked his 
office to confirm he had gotten it. A couple days later, Jack himself 
called back, clearly touched by the concern of an old friend half the 
world away. I will always treasure this last conversation with Jack. He 
was still fighting.
  We will miss Jack: gregarious, indomitable, earnest, always positive. 
He loved being with his family. He was very proud of his children. He 
relied on and was supported by his extraordinarily gracious wife of 51 
years, Joanne.
  Similar to sports, politics can be a great leveler, even of those who 
seem larger than life. But whether he won or lost, Jack always kept the 
faith. And so it was in the last battle of his life.
  Jack Kemp, No. 15, thank you for your service, your leadership, and 
friendship. May God bless you and your family.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.

[[Page S5048]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Kerry and Mr. Lugar pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 962 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements 
on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Florida is 
recognized.

                          ____________________