[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 126 (Wednesday, August 5, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S6371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING RICHARD SCHWEIKER

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President. I rise today to remember Richard Schweiker, 
who passed away on July 31, 2015. Congressman, Senator, and Secretary 
of the Department of Health and Human Services Dick Schweiker honorably 
served his country in public office for more than two decades. Prior to 
his years of government service, he served his country in the Navy 
during World War II.
  As a Congressman from Pennsylvania's 13th District, he was the 
coauthor of a House Armed Services Committee proposal to end the 
military draft and make service voluntary and sponsored legislation to 
allow the government to give extra money to military service personnel 
if they showed they could reduce expenses. He also supported the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 along with 
legislation that created the Medicare and Medicaid Programs.
  As a Senator, he served on the Labor and Human Resources Committee, 
eventually becoming its ranking member. This committee is now known as 
the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on which I serve. 
Senator Schweiker was a strong supporter of public health initiatives, 
including the National Diabetes Mellitus Research and Education Act 
that authorized the National Commission on Diabetes to put together a 
plan to fight this disease. Dick Schweiker also worked to achieve 
compromise. In a 2000 Associated Press interview, he commented on that 
approach:

       I was a World War II veteran. Our primary objective was to 
     get things done and solve problems. The partisanship and 
     heated rhetoric that have taken over the political landscape 
     wasn't always in vogue.

  Dick Schweiker decided not to run for reelection in 1980 and worked 
to help elect Ronald Reagan that November. After the election, 
President Reagan appointed Schweiker as the Secretary of the Department 
of Health and Human Services. While in that position, he set up the 
Medicare prospective payment system in an effort to reduce costs rather 
than leaving them open-ended. He also continued to support funding for 
medical research and protected funding for the Head Start early 
childhood education program. He stepped down as Secretary in 1983. At 
that time, Senator Ted Kennedy said the following:

       Dick Schweiker has been a good friend and colleague for 
     many years. As secretary of HHS, he has too often been a 
     lonely voice of compassion and humanity.

  After leaving public service, Dick Schweiker spent 11 years as 
president of the American Council of Life Insurance before retiring. 
Today, we remember and thank Dick Schweiker for his service to 
Pennsylvania and the Nation. We send our thoughts and prayers to his 
family.

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