[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6793-6802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   AUTHORIZING THE AWARD OF A CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL TO ROSA PARKS

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report S. 531.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 531) to authorize the President to award a gold 
     medal on behalf of the Congress to Rosa Parks in recognition 
     of her contributions to the Nation.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Madam President, I wish to express my appreciation to 
Senator Lott for bringing forward this unanimous consent agreement to 
discharge an important piece of legislation from the Banking Committee.
  I also thank the original cosponsors of this bill, Senators Sessions, 
Levin, Kennedy and Harkin for their support, along with 74 other 
colleagues who have cosponsored this bill.
  Our intent is to honor one of the most important figures in the 
American civil rights movement, Rosa Parks. This legislation would 
honor Mrs. Parks with a Congressional gold medal in recognition of her 
immense contributions to our nation over a lifetime committed to 
furthering civil rights in our nation.
  Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913. At age 2 
she moved to her grandparents' farm in Pine Level, Alabama with her 
mother, Leona McCauley, and younger brother, Sylvester. Her mother, a 
school teacher, taught her at home until, at age 11, she enrolled in 
the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls.
  The young Miss McCauley cleaned classrooms to pay her tuition, then 
moved on to attend Booker T. Washington High School. She was forced to 
leave that school to take care of her sick mother.
  In 1932 she married Raymond Parks. Mr. Parks, who was largely self-
taught, supported his wife, Rosa's, desire to finish high school and to 
attend Alabama State College, which she did.
  The couple settled in Montgomery, Alabama, where they were active in 
the local chapter of the NAACP and the Montgomery Voters League.
  Mrs. Parks worked to register African American voters and to fight 
the violence and injustice visited upon them under segregation.
  As Mrs. Parks put it, ``There were cases of flogging, peonage, 
murder, and rape.'' During this time the NAACP ``didn't seem to have 
too many successes. It was more a matter of trying to challenge the 
powers that be, and to let it be known that we did not wish to continue 
being second-class citizens.''
  Rosa Parks issued that challenge to the powers that be. And her brave 
act helped bring down the system of segregation in this country.
  The story has been told many times of how Mrs. Parks, employed as a 
seamstress in a local department store, boarded a Montgomery city bus 
on December 1, 1955. After a few stops, a number of white people got on 
the bus--too many to fit into the seats in the ``whites only'' section. 
Seeing a white man standing on his bus, the driver ordered Mrs. Parks 
and three other African Americans to give up their seats to him.
  The other three people moved, but Rosa Parks had had enough. As she 
reflected later, ``I kept thinking about my mother and my grandparents, 
and how strong they were. I knew there was a possibility of being 
mistreated, but an opportunity was being given to me to do what I had 
asked of others.''
  Mrs. Parks showed her strength by refusing to give up her seat. She 
was arrested, she was taken to jail and four days later she was 
convicted of disorderly conduct. Her crime? Refusing to be treated as a 
second class citizen.
  Even before this unjust conviction was handed down, indeed, the very 
day after Mrs. Parks' arrest, the response, born of righteous 
indignation, had begun. Mrs. Parks had set in motion events that would 
change the face of the United States forever.
  On December 2, the Women's Political Council distributed fliers 
throughout the community encouraging African Americans to boycott the 
Montgomery bus system on the day of Mrs. Parks' trial.
  A meeting was held at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, whose pastor was 
the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, jr. This meeting, held to plan 
the boycott, included the reverend Ralph Abernathy, Reverend King and 
Jo Ann Robinson of the Women's Political Council.
  The boycott was an astounding success, and on the day of Mrs. Parks' 
trial the Montgomery Improvement Association was formed with Dr. King 
as spokesman and president.
  The Montgomery Improvement Association took over management of the 
bus boycott, which was to last 381 days, and filed suit on behalf of 
those against whom the bus company had discriminated.
  In the face of widespread harassment, threats and even bombs, the 
brave people of the Montgomery Improvement Association, along with 
their supporters, kept up their boycott while their case made its way 
through the courts.
  Finally, on November 13, 1956, the Supreme Court held Montgomery's 
bus segregation unconstitutional. After a brief period of defiance the 
segregationists gave in, and the boycott ended.
  Of course this was far from the end of the battle for civil rights in 
America.

[[Page 6794]]

But it was an important event, spurring the civil rights movement to 
further action.
  Through marches, boycotts, civil disobedience and the power of their 
principles, members of the civil rights movement broke down the 
barriers of legal discrimination and established equality before the 
law as a reality for all Americans.
  Rosa Parks set these historic events in motion. Because of her faith, 
perseverance and quiet dignity, all Americans have been freed from the 
moral stain of segregation.
  But Rosa Parks paid a price for her principles. She was arrested. She 
lost her job. She could not find work. And she was constantly harassed.
  Fortunately for my state of Michigan, Mrs. Parks' bother, Sylvester, 
had resettled in Detroit, and the Parks family joined him there in 
1957.
  For over 40 years now, Michigan has been a particular beneficiary of 
Mrs. Parks' work on behalf of civil rights and her efforts to educate 
young people in particular.
  And this mother of the civil rights movement, as she is known 
throughout our nation, continues to be active in the struggle for 
equality and the empowerment of the disenfranchised.
  In 1965 she joined the staff of U.S. Representative John Conyers, 
where she worked until her retirement in 1988.
  After the death of her husband in 1987 she founded the Rosa and 
Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development.
  This non-profit organization helps young people achieve their full 
potential. Over 5,000 young people have participated in the Institute's 
``Pathways to Freedom'' tour, which traces parts of the Underground 
Railroad along which escaped slaves traveled to safety. The Institute 
also runs local programs offering summer school, tutoring programs and 
life-skills classes.
  Ms. Parks has received many awards in recognition of her efforts for 
racial harmony, including the Springarn Award, the NAACP's highest 
honor for civil rights contributions, the Presidential Medal of 
Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, and the first 
International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground 
Railroad Freedom Center.
  Throughout her long life, Rosa Parks has shown that one woman can 
make a real difference. She has shown all of us the power of conviction 
and quiet dignity in pursuit of justice and empowerment. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting legislation to bestow upon her the 
Congressional gold medal she so well deserves.
  Madam President, I was thinking about Rosa Parks as I came to the 
floor today. I remembered an incident that I briefly mentioned when we 
introduced this legislation, an incident of my own. It was the first I 
had heard of Rosa Parks, although her name wasn't specifically 
mentioned, or at least it did not register at the time. As an 
elementary schoolchild, probably around, I would guess, in 1962, 1963--
somewhere in the second, third, fourth grade--I remember the teacher in 
my classroom talking about this incident, this woman who would not move 
to the back of the bus, explaining it to us as one explains things to 
children who do not necessarily know history as well as they should at 
that age, explaining what it meant and why it had been so important.
  I was thinking about that today because I recognized at that moment 
I, as a second-grade student, first realized that everybody in the 
country was not always treated the same way. That is how that incident, 
Rosa Parks' contribution, touched my life. Later, obviously, as I moved 
along in school, I read more and watched the news a little and began to 
realize the magnitude of the civil rights struggle we as a nation had 
addressed, and so much of it was based on this event which Rosa Parks 
prompted in 1955.
  So, while all of us, I suppose, can see this in its national 
consequence, I am sure all of us, too, probably, have a more personal 
connection as well. That is mine. It is also, first, a connection that 
I share with my colleague from Michigan, who is about to speak on this 
as well. That is the connection of pride that we have that Rosa Parks 
is a Michiganian.
  While she may have been born and lived much of her life in another 
part of the country, we are awfully proud of the fact that most of the 
last 40 years she has lived in our State.
  Madam President, if you look at the list of those who have been 
recipients of congressional gold medals, most recently President and 
Mrs. Gerald Ford and such other honorees as Mother Teresa and the 
Little Rock Nine, Billy and Ruth Graham, it seems only fitting that 
Congress should now pass this legislation and add Rosa Parks to this 
list of Americans who have made such great contributions.


                         Privilege of the Floor

  Before I yield the floor, I ask unanimous consent that Meg Mehan, who 
is on my staff, be granted the privilege of the floor during 
consideration of this legislation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor for the 
Senator from Michigan.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, I thank my colleague from Michigan.
  Today, we will authorize the President of the United States to award 
the congressional gold medal to one of our Nation's greatest heroines, 
Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is the mother of the civil rights movement, and 
we are going to make this medal available and we are going to award 
this to her because of her extraordinary contributions to America.
  Forty-three years ago, in December of 1955, an unassuming woman by 
the name of Rosa Parks decided she would not give up her seat in the 
front of the bus and move to the back of the bus. It was not scheduled 
as a media event. It was not intended to be something which would spark 
a revolution. It, indeed, did spark an American revolution. It 
unleashed forces in this country, which are positive forces, which have 
added equal opportunity or fairer opportunity for African Americans and 
others who have been discriminated against for too many decades and 
centuries.
  It was the act of an American citizen who just made a simple, 
straightforward decision that she is entitled equally to sit on a bus 
with any other person. She is not going to take an inferior position to 
anybody. She seeks no advantage over anyone else, but she will not 
accept an inferior status any longer on a public bus in Alabama.
  The forces that set in motion have changed this Nation. It has 
changed this Nation for the better. It has forced us to confront 
centuries of discrimination against African Americans brought here as 
slaves and, even after slavery was abolished, too often treated as 
inferiors in a country that prides itself on treating all of its 
citizens equally and whose Constitution and Declaration of Independence 
held out a promise which had been thwarted and which was unfulfilled 
for our African American citizens.
  Her arrest for violating the city's segregation laws was the catalyst 
for the Montgomery bus boycott. Her stand on that December day in 1955 
was not an isolated incident but was actually part of a lifetime of 
struggle for equality and justice. Twelve years earlier, in 1943, Rosa 
Parks had been arrested for violating another one of the city's bus-
related segregation laws. That earlier law had required African 
Americans to pay their fares at the front of the bus, then get off the 
bus and then get on the bus at the back to reboard the bus. As it 
happened, the driver of the bus in 1955 was the same driver who was 
driving the bus in 1943. The rest is history.
  The boycott which Rosa Parks began was the beginning of an American 
revolution that elevated the status of African Americans and introduced 
to the world a young leader who would one day have a national holiday 
declared in his honor, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. The 
Congressional Medal of Honor is a fitting tribute to Rosa Parks, a 
gentle warrior who decided that she would no longer tolerate the 
humiliation and the demoralization of racial segregation.

[[Page 6795]]

  Rosa Parks, as my friend from Michigan said, is a resident of 
Michigan, and we are very proud of it. We hope that is acknowledged in 
the final bill which comes out of the Congress. We are trying to add 
that fact to the final bill because, as it happens, since 1957, Rosa 
Parks has been a Michiganian. She and her husband made the journey to 
Michigan in 1957 because of threats on their lives and persistent 
harassment by phone. That is what prompted her move to Detroit where 
Rosa Parks' brother resided.
  She continues to dedicate her life to advancing equal opportunity and 
to educating our youth about the past struggles for freedom, from 
slavery up to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
  In 1987, Rosa Parks and Elaine Eason Steele cofounded the Rosa and 
Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development. Its primary focus has 
been working with young people in Michigan and from across the country 
and the world as part of the ``Pathways to Freedom'' program. The 
pathways program traces history from the days of the underground 
railroad to the civil rights movement of the sixties and beyond. 
Through this institute, young people, ages 11 to 17, meet with national 
leaders and participate in a variety of educational and research 
projects. During the summer months in particular, many have the 
opportunity to travel across the country visiting historical sites.
  In recent years, the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-
Development has expanded to include an intergenerational mentoring and 
computer skills partnership program. This innovative program teams 
young people with elderly Americans. Generational and age barriers 
break down as young people help the elderly develop computer skills, 
while the elderly provide their unique and personalized recollections 
of their lives in American history. Each year, the institute matches 
hundreds of young people with elderly Americans. Since 1987, more than 
7,000 youth from around the world have participated in this program.
  With the work of her institute, we can truly say that in addition to 
having played a major role in shaping America's past and present, Rosa 
Parks is playing a major role in shaping America's future. With the 
dawn of a new millennium at hand, America must ensure that all of our 
youth are knowledgeable of one of the great national stories of our 
time and the struggle of African American individuals that finally 
forced us to honor the principles which founded this country and which 
had so long been rejected in the real world and in reality, even though 
they were promised on paper.
  The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development ``Pathway 
to Freedom'' programs preserve the memories of self-sacrifice that 
African Americans, and so many others, have made to this country's 
development as truly the land of the free.
  Madam President, this is great work which Rosa Parks continues to do. 
She continues to bless us, our Nation, our State with her presence, 
with her dignity, with her very direct, simple statement about 
equality. We hopefully will not just award her a medal one of these 
days, but we will also hopefully support the important work which she 
continues to do in her institute.
  We have come a long way in achieving Dr. King's dream and Rosa Parks' 
dream of justice and equality for all, but we still have a long ways to 
go. That is going to take a constant rededication to these goals and to 
the lifetime work of Rosa Parks and to the spirit of human rights which 
she so embodies and for which the name ``Rosa Parks'' stands.
  I am proud to join Senator Abraham and others, so many others, in 
this body and in the other body who have initiated this gold medal for 
her. We look forward to the day when we are actually able to present to 
one of the true champions of justice a gold medal which she so truly 
deserves.
  I yield the floor and again thank my friend from Michigan.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Madam President, I know there are other Members who have 
expressed an interest to speak on this issue, some of whom will be 
arriving back in Washington, if they have not already gotten here, on 
flights this afternoon. So we will, I know, be here for some time 
waiting to give them the opportunity to speak before our vote on this. 
But at this time, seeing none of them on the floor, I suggest the 
absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Knowing there are speakers on each side who hope to have 
a chance to speak, so we do not run the clock completely off during 
quorum calls, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask unanimous 
consent that the time of the quorum call be equally divided between 
both sides.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Madam President, I yield such time as he needs to the 
Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SESSIONS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hutchison). The Senator from Alabama is 
recognized.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Today is a special day for me. I remember a number of 
weeks ago when Senator Abraham and I discussed the possibility of 
awarding a congressional gold medal to Rosa Parks. It was an idea that 
we thought was a good one. I am glad to see it moving rapidly to 
fruition.
  I certainly believe the congressional gold medal is a very 
distinguished award that ought to be preserved for the most exceptional 
circumstances and persons. And I certainly believe that the person we 
will honor today has all the qualities for receiving the congressional 
gold medal.
  So I am pleased to honor a native Alabamian who, through her life and 
through her example, has touched both the heart and conscience of an 
entire Nation. I speak, of course, of Ms. Rosa Parks, a native of 
Tuskegee, AL, and a former resident of Montgomery, whose dignity in the 
face of discrimination helped spark a movement to ensure that all 
citizens were treated equally under the law.
  Equal treatment under the law is a fundamental pillar upon which our 
Republic rests. In fact, over the first 2 months of this year this 
Senate was engaged in a constitutional debate over the scope and 
meaning of this very concept.
  As legislators, we should work to strengthen the appreciation for 
this important fundamental governing principle by recognizing those who 
make extraordinary contributions towards ensuring that all American 
citizens have that opportunity, regardless of their race, sex, creed, 
or national origin, to enjoy the freedoms this country has to offer.
  Through her efforts, Ms. Parks has come to be a living embodiment of 
this principle, and it is entirely appropriate that Congress take this 
opportunity to acknowledge her contribution by authorizing the award of 
a congressional gold medal to her. Her courage, what we may call 
``gumption,'' resulted in historic change. Certainly there is still 
much to be done. True equality--the total elimination of discrimination 
and a real sense of ease and acceptance among the races--has not yet 
been fully achieved, but it is fair to say that in the history of this 
effort, the most dramatic and productive chapter was ignited by the 
lady we seek to honor today.
  Ms. Parks' story is well known but it bears repeating. She was born 
on February 4, 1913, in the small town of Tuskegee, AL, to Mr. James 
and Mrs. Leona McCauley. As a young child, she moved to Montgomery with 
her mother

[[Page 6796]]

who was a local schoolteacher. Like many southern cities, the 
Montgomery of Ms. Parks' youth was a segregated city with numerous laws 
mandating the separate and unequal treatment of people based solely 
upon the color of their skin. These laws were discriminatory in their 
intent and divisive, unfair, and humiliating in application. But for 
years Ms. Parks had suffered with them, until that fateful day of 
December 1, 1955, when her pride and dignity would not allow her to 
obey them anymore.
  On this day, Ms. Parks, a 42-year-old seamstress, boarded a city bus 
after a long, hard day at work. Like other public accommodations, this 
bus contained separate sections for white passengers and black 
passengers. White passengers were allocated to the front rows. The 
black passengers were given the back rows. This bus was particularly 
crowded that evening.
  At one of the stops, a white passenger boarded and the bus driver, 
seeing Ms. Parks, requested that she give up her seat and move to the 
back of the bus, even though this meant that she would be forced to 
stand for the rest of the trip. Ms. Parks refused to give up her seat 
and was arrested for disobeying the bus driver's order.
  With her act of civic defiance, Ms. Parks set off a chain of events 
that have led some to refer to her as the mother of the civil rights 
movement. Her arrest led to the Montgomery bus boycott, an organized 
movement led by a young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr., who had 
begun preaching at the historic Baptist church located on Montgomery's 
Dexter Avenue. The bus boycott lasted 382 days, and its impact directly 
led to the integration of bus lines, while the attention generated 
helped lift Dr. King to national prominence. Ultimately, the U.S. 
Supreme Court was asked to rule on the constitutionality of the 
Montgomery law which Ms. Parks had defied, and the Supreme Court struck 
it down.
  This powerful image, that of a hard-working American ordered to the 
back of the bus just because of her race, was a catalytic event. It was 
the spark that caused a nation to stop accepting things as they had 
been and focused everyone on the fundamental issue--whether we could 
continue as a segregated society.
  As a result of the movement Ms. Parks helped start, today's 
Montgomery is a quite different city from the one of her youth. Today 
the citizens of Montgomery look with a great deal of historical pride 
upon the church that once heard the sermons of Dr. King. Montgomery is 
the home of the Civil Rights Memorial, a striking monument of black 
granite and cascading water which memorializes the individuals who gave 
their lives in pursuit of equal justice.
  Today's Montgomery is a city in which its history as the capital of 
the Confederacy and its history as the birthplace of the civil rights 
movement are both recognized and reconciled. And soon Troy State 
University of Montgomery will become the home of the Rosa Parks Library 
and Museum, built on the very spot upon which Ms. Parks was arrested in 
1955, the old Empire Theater. I will briefly describe this important 
project.
  Troy State University, Montgomery, is an important university of over 
3,400 full-time students. They are in the midst of constructing a 
50,000-square-foot library and museum on the land they own which 
includes the exact location where Ms. Parks was arrested in 1955. When 
completed, this museum will include a 3,700-square-foot permanent 
exhibit focusing on the commemoration of the Montgomery civil rights 
movement. This project memorializes an historic event that changed the 
city of Montgomery for the better, and I look forward to offering any 
support I can to aid in its completion.
  Ms. Parks' efforts helped spark the dynamic social changes which have 
made it possible for this kind of recognition to be supported by 
Montgomerians and Alabamians. But, in fact, Ms. Parks' contributions 
may extend beyond even the borders of our Nation. In his book ``Bus 
Ride to Justice,'' Mr. Fred Gray, who gained fame while in his twenties 
as Ms. Parks' attorney in the bus desegregation case and one of the 
early African American attorneys in Alabama--he was a lead attorney in 
many of Alabama's other famous civil rights cases--wrote--and I do not 
believe it is an exaggeration--these words:

       Little did we know that we had set in motion a force that 
     would ripple through Alabama, the South, and the Nation, and 
     even the world. But from the vantage point of almost 40 years 
     later, there is a direct correlation between what we started 
     in Montgomery and what has subsequently happened in China, 
     eastern Europe, South Africa and, even more recently, in 
     Russia. While it is inaccurate to say that we all sat down 
     and deliberately planned a movement that would echo and 
     reverberate around the world, we did work around the clock, 
     planning strategy and creating an atmosphere that gave 
     strength, courage, faith and hope to people of all races, 
     creeds, colors and religions around the world. And it all 
     started on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, with Rosa Parks on 
     December 1, 1955.

  For her courage, for her role in changing Alabama, the South, the 
Nation, and the world for the better, our Nation owes a great debt of 
thanks to Rosa Parks. I hope that this body will extend its thanks and 
recognition to her by awarding her the congressional gold medal.
  Madam President, I thank you for this time and for being able to 
share these remarks. I also thank Senator Abraham for his skill and 
work in helping us move this award forward. I think it is a fitting and 
appropriate thing to do. I have enjoyed working with him on quite a 
number of other issues. No one in the Senate is more respected by me 
than the Senator from Michigan.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Alabama for 
his work on this legislation as well as many other things which he does 
here. But particularly for how hard he worked on this, as has his 
staff, to help us move this forward, I express my appreciation to him 
as well.
  I ask unanimous consent that Senator Gregg of New Hampshire be added 
as a cosponsor to this legislation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ABRAHAM. Madam President, on our side I am not aware specifically 
of any other Member who wishes to speak. I do know that the Senator 
from California is here and there may be others coming. We do have some 
time left. We will temporarily reserve the remainder of our time, but 
if others who wish to speak from either side of the aisle are here, we 
will be glad to offer that. At this point, I will reserve the remainder 
of my time. The Senator from Alabama may stay for a minute. I am not 
sure. If necessary, I will come back down. I want to make clear to the 
Presiding Officer that anyone who wishes to speak may draw from that 
time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. So noted.
  Mr. BYRD. Madam President, I am proud to join my colleagues from 
Michigan, Senators Abraham and Levin, in sponsoring S. 531, legislation 
authorizing the presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal to Mrs. Rosa 
Parks.
  As we approach the 21st century, it is only fitting that the Senate 
take this moment to recognize the efforts of Rosa Parks, who, on 
December 1, 1955, proved that one person can make a difference in the 
world in which we live. By refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, 
an act which put her in violation of the segregation laws then in place 
in her community, Mrs. Parks sparked a series of events that have 
helped to shape this nation's path.
  For refusing to acquiesce to the systematic degradation placed upon 
her and other black-Americans, Rosa Parks was arrested. But rather than 
accept the status quo, this quiet lady from Montgomery, Alabama, chose 
to challenge the segregation order by seeking redress in our federal 
courts. During the court battle, Mrs. Parks was harassed, threatened, 
and even lost her job as a seamstress at a local department store. In 
the end, though, Rosa Parks won her battle when the U.S. Supreme Court 
ruled segregation unconstitutional, thus vindicating her simple, but 
monumental, pursuit of justice and equality.
  Madam President, the actions of Rosa Parks were not staged for the 
television cameras. They were not part of

[[Page 6797]]

a grand scheme to create a test case. On the contrary, they were the 
actions of a single individual determined to preserve her dignity as 
best she could. They were the actions of a simple lady who, at that 
moment in her life, decided that enough was enough.
  It is fitting, then, that the Senate should award the Congressional 
Gold Medal to Rosa Parks, the highest award that the Congress can 
bestow on a private citizen, in recognition of her courage and her 
lifelong commitment to the Jeffersonian ideal that ``all men are 
created equal.''
  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, this legislation conveys our Nation's 
respect to one of its foremost civil rights pioneers.
  The Congressional Gold Medal is no common accolade, but Rosa Parks is 
no common woman. Her achievements are indeed most uncommon; they are 
nothing short of extraordinary.
  None of us of sufficient age to remember the year 1955 will ever 
forget Ms. Parks' courage in refusing to give up her seat to a white 
man who wanted it.
  What makes Ms. Parks' courage so uncommon was its manner: the type of 
action we usually associate with greatness in the civil rights movement 
might involve a speech, a march, a coalition . . . . Ms. Parks' courage 
was quiet, determined and resolute, but it had the volume of a great 
speech, the force of a mass march, and the power to coalesce that would 
lead to historic Supreme Court decisions abrogating segregation, and 
passage of the seminal Civil Rights Act of 1964.
  It has been said of our extraordinary figures that their heroic 
actions, as the years pass, begin to appear more accepted and less 
controversial. This is because, as leaders, great men and women have 
little company, but as their revolutionary ideas gather strength, they 
also gather adherents. This medal will help remind us, and generations 
to come, that at the time Ms. Parks refused to move from her seat on 
the bus, her act of defiance was anything but common.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, Rosa Parks is an enduring symbol of 
freedom, dignity, and courage for our time and for all time, and she 
eminently deserves this Congressional Gold Medal.
  Her momentous decision to quietly and peacefully defy her community's 
segregation laws nearly half a century ago was a defining moment for 
the entire civil rights movement in the United States and in many other 
lands as well. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Mrs. Parks 
was a 42 year old seamstress returning home on a city bus after a long 
and tiring day at work. She refused to give up her seat and move to the 
back of the bus as the law required, and America would never be the 
same again.
  Because of her quiet, simple, eloquent act of courage, she was 
arrested and fined. As news of her arrest spread, thousands of African 
Americans in the city quickly rallied to her cause, and four days 
later, on December 5, 1955, the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott was 
launched.
  It took a year, but the Supreme Court declared the Montgomery 
segregation law unconstitutional. On December 21, 1956, thanks to her 
unyielding demand for equal justice, Rosa Parks and the African 
Americans of Montgomery were free to ride on the city buses as full and 
equal citizens.
  The Montgomery Bus Boycott touched the conscience of the nation, and 
focused the attention of citizens across America on the evils of 
segregation, discrimination, and the notorious Jim Crow laws. The power 
and justice of the civil rights movement could not be denied. In the 
decade that followed, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 
the Voting Rights Act of 1964, and America took giant steps toward 
fulfilling the promise of equal justice under law and full 
constitutional rights for all Americans.
  For her historic act of peaceful civil disobedience, Rosa Parks is 
often called the ``Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.'' She changed 
the course of America history, and made us a stronger, better, and 
freer nation. All Americans owe her a deep debt of gratitude for 
bringing us closer to our ideals, and I am proud to support this bill 
to award her the Congressional Gold Medal.
  Mr. KERRY. Madam President, I am pleased to speak today as a co-
sponsor of legislation to award a gold medal to Rosa Parks in 
recognition of her historic contributions to the civil rights movement 
and to our country.
  The word hero is one of the most overused words in our national 
vernacular, a term that should be reserved for those rare people whose 
incredible acts of courage in the face of tremendous adversity and long 
odds inspire us all. Surely it can be said, though, that one of the 
true living heroes in our country is the mother of the civil rights 
movement, Rosa Parks.
  No one would deny that America is a better place today because, on 
December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks sat down on a bus 
in Montgomery, Alabama and insisted that she would not be moved. To 
those of us who were children in these years watching the news on black 
and white television sets, entranced by the grainy images and the 
reassuring voice of Walter Cronkite, it is difficult to express the 
singular act of courage expressed in Rosa Parks' determination--her 
absolute resolve--to make a stand in a part of our nation we knew was 
home to Bull Connor and his snarling police dogs, George Wallace and 
his promise of ``segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and 
segregation forever,'' and men like Orval Faubus who pledged to stand 
in schoolhouse doors from Little Rock to Selma to prevent us all from 
living as one America, undivided by race.
  In one incredible moment, Rosa Parks set forth a wave of activism all 
across America and captured the essence of the better half of the 
American spirit--proud, courageous, defiant against injustice--and 
Americans followed her lead. 42,000 African Americans boycotted 
Montgomery's buses for 381 days until the bus segregation laws in 
Alabama were changed on December 21, 1956.
  The changes that Rosa Parks made possible in America transcended the 
realm, even, of our public laws--they literally changed a way of life. 
Because Rosa Parks stood firm against injustice, she not only joined 
with Martin Luther King, Jr. in ending the era of Jim Crowe, she helped 
usher in an age in America when Thurgood Marshall could serve on the 
highest court of the land; an America where John Lewis and so many 
others who marched for freedom could serve in the United States 
Congress; and an America in which we could all, living, working, and 
hoping together, envision a future--still ahead--when a still-better, 
still-stronger America heals itself of all the scars of racism and 
bigotry.
  Future generations of Americans need to know that this country 
considers Rosa Parks a hero. It should be known that we recognized Ms. 
Parks' contributions to our country--and that we hoped that for years 
to come--in our homes, our schools, in our cities and on our village 
greens--we wanted all Americans to learn and to remember what Rosa 
Parks struggled to make true for our nation.
  As we all join together as a Senate united in our deep respect for 
Rosa Parks, let us remember also that we can do more for this leader 
than give her a gold medal--we can make her work our own--in the House, 
in the Senate, and in our lives every day. We can all summon--at the 
edge of the twenty-first century--the best of our own spirit to wipe 
away the hatred, the bigotry, and the intolerance that remains in 
America--and we can dedicate ourselves to building a better America in 
Rosa Parks' image. That effort, too, will be a part of Rosa Parks' 
legacy in the United States, and that monument will endure long after 
any medal has lost its shine.
  Madam President, I urge the United States Senate to contemplate that 
challenge on this special day in the United States of America, as we 
honor Rosa Parks--but also as we ask ourselves how we can fulfill her 
promise and finally create Rosa Parks' America.
  Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, the Congressional Gold Medal is among 
the

[[Page 6798]]

most distinguished honors that Congress can bestow on individuals in 
recognition of their work or accomplishments. Since 1776, this award, 
initially reserved for military leaders, has also been given to such 
diverse individuals as Sir Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh and 
Mother Teresa.
  Rosa Parks is not a military hero, not a head of state, explorer or 
adventurer.
  On December 1, 1955, she was a seamstress on her way to work, who 
took a seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. For that simple 
action of sitting on a bus, she was arrested, sent to jail, and 
convicted of what city laws called a crime and lost her job.
  Rosa Parks is a living example of how an extraordinary person, 
engaged in the ordinary matters of life, can change the world.
  The day that Ms. Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white man 
symbolizes the beginning of the modern civil rights movement. Her 
arrest for violating the city's segregation laws was the catalyst for a 
mass boycott of the city's buses, whose rider ship had been 70 percent 
black. The boycott led to the national prominence of the Rev. Martin 
Luther King Jr. and to a Supreme Court order declaring Montgomery 
County's segregated seating laws unconstitutional.
  Ms. Parks, known now as the ``first lady of civil rights,'' later 
said, ``I felt just resigned to give what I could to protest against 
the way I was being treated.''
  Rosa Parks had been involved in the civil rights movement years 
before the bus incident and her efforts continued long afterward. She 
was one of the first female members of the Montgomery Chapter of the 
NAACP, she joined the Montgomery Voters League and encouraged blacks to 
register to vote.
  Despite her civil rights work, Rosa Parks on that historic day 
actually followed the degrading rules that reserved the first ten seats 
were reserved for ``whites only.'' If those rows filled up, blacks were 
supposed to move even further back. Parks, who was sitting just beyond 
the 10th row, refused to move and the arrest, the conviction and the 
winning appeal followed. All she had asked for was the basic respect 
and simple dignity of not being forced to give up her seat to a white 
man.
  Rosa Parks actions and her determination to preserve her dignity 
spread throughout the nation and sparked the end of segregation in the 
South. She hasn't stopped since.
  In 1957, she moved to Detroit where she worked for nonviolent social 
change with Martin Luther King Jr's Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference. She worked for Congressman John Conyers and in 1987 she 
founded an institute to provide leadership and career training to black 
youth. Forty-four years after that historic day in Montgomery, she 
continues to speak out on civil rights issues.
  We have heard the ``first lady of civil rights'' story over and over 
again throughout the years and it will own a permanent place in our 
history books. But we need to keep listening and reminding ourselves of 
the extraordinary courage and determination that this working woman had 
to win the most basic rights that everyone in our nation deserves. She 
serves as a model and inspiration for what each of us can do in our 
everyday lives toward greater respect, dignity and kindness among 
humankind.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in bestowing the Congressional Gold 
Medal to ``the mother of the freedom movement.''
  Mr. ROBB. Madam President, last week I offered a few comments on two 
great civil rights leaders, Ms. Rosa Parks and Mr. Oliver W. Hill.
  Today, as we are on the verge of passing S. 531, legislation to award 
a Congressional Gold Medal to Ms. Rosa Parks, I want to speak again 
just briefly.
  As I noted last week, our Nation owes Ms. Parks an immense debt of 
gratitude. It is gratifying to me that we have been able to move this 
legislation so quickly, and I think the great speed with which the 
Senate is acting is testimony in itself to our admiration of Ms. Parks.
  No matter how eloquent our words or how eloquent we believe them to 
be, words can never match the simple act of this courageous woman. Ms. 
Parks herself has become a symbol for the courage and righteousness of 
the civil rights movement. When we think of her action, we cannot help 
but think of the consequences --an historic bus boycott by 40,000 
people, a decade of principled protests, and legal and legislative 
victories that helped make America more free.
  Ms. Parks, an unassuming seamstress who stood up to segregation by 
sitting down in the front seat of a city bus in Montgomery, AL, now 
stands like a giant in the history of the 20th century.
  I thank our colleagues and the leadership for their support for 
passing S. 531 today. While we still face too long a journey to end 
discrimination, Rosa Parks and thousands of individual acts of courage 
have made us more free and have inspired the rest of us to carry on in 
our own efforts.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  Mr. BAYH. Madam President, I rise today to express my support for 
awarding Mrs. Rosa Parks a Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of 
her contributions to the nation.
  On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks got on a 
bus--a quiet, proud woman, bound unfairly by the laws of our country 
and the limits of her surroundings. But by the time the police took her 
off that bus, she was bound only by the strength of her will, a will 
that refused to be moved.
  Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus.
  Somewhere, in the brief moment that separates a spoken objection from 
an act of protest, Rosa Parks emerged as the ``first lady of civil 
rights,'' and the ``mother of the freedom movement.'' We look at this 
woman's accomplishment and we salute her for the civil rights movement 
she helped set in motion. We look back now, and we applaud the 
monumental force which is still a vital part of our society today.
  Back in the 1950's, in a small city, on an ordinary bus, she had 
neither titles nor honorifics. She was just Rosa Parks--and ``just'' 
Rosa Parks refused to let others limit what she was supposed to do. Her 
act was defined, not by its violence, but rather by its non-violent 
challenge towards a violent system.
  Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus.
  If our country's history has taught us anything, it is that small 
decisions of action can change our world. If Rosa Parks has taught us 
anything, it is that the courageous action of one individual can be 
more powerful than the shouted declaration of a crowd.
  Thus, I am honored today to join with my colleagues in honoring this 
great American whose courage, dignity, and character have continued to 
serve as an inspiration for the quiet but heroic actions that shape our 
world.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is recognized.
  Mrs. BOXER. Thank you, Madam President.
  Madam President, how much time remains on the Democratic side?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Eighteen minutes.
  Mrs. BOXER. Thank you very much.
  Madam President, I ask for as much time as I might consume--not 
expecting to consume more than about 5 or 10 minutes.
  Madam President, this is a good day for the Senate. I am very proud 
to be a cosponsor of S. 531, and I want to thank my colleagues, 
Senators Abraham, Levin, Sessions, Kennedy and Harkin, for working on 
this important and historic legislation and making sure that it was 
brought to the floor of the Senate.
  Today I expect that we will move forward unanimously--this is my 
expectation--in the effort to award Rosa Parks a Congressional Gold 
Medal which will celebrate her leadership to ensure that all of us are 
treated equally in this country, the greatest of all countries in the 
world, the United States of America.
  I urge the House to move forward with their bill. I understand they 
have many, many cosponsors, so we ought to take care of this soon.

[[Page 6799]]

  The last time I saw Rosa Parks, she was getting on in years, just as 
we all do. It would be important to allow her this one more reward for 
her bravery, for her courage, and recognize that she is an inspiration 
to every single one of us regardless of our race or religion, 
regardless of what we look like, regardless of whether we have a 
disability or not. We all find ourselves in the situation where we are 
not treated equally. And for ensuring that African Americans will be 
treated equally, Rosa Parks took a giant step forward for all of us.
  I shudder to think of where our country would be were it not for the 
pioneers in the civil rights movement. We have seen in the world and we 
see every day what happens when people turn on people for no reason 
other than the status of their birth. It makes no sense. It goes 
against God. But it happens.
  For us to take time out particularly now to honor Rosa Parks is very, 
very fitting. Where would we have been as a society if Mrs. Parks had 
agreed when the bus driver turned around, and said, ``You get up and 
give your seat'' to a white person on December 1, 1955? We don't have 
to speculate, because Rosa Parks had the courage to say no.
  At the time she was 42 years old. She was coming back from work. She 
was tired. She worked hard, and she thought to herself--I am sure 
because I am sure she had thought it many times--``Am I worth so little 
as a human being that I can't have the dignity to have a seat on a 
bus?''
  Senator Abraham was talking about the first time he heard about Rosa 
Parks. We all have our experiences when we are in the presence of 
greatness and how it feels. It is very humbling to meet someone like 
that. She could have been beaten, injured, or killed for a very simple 
premise that she had an equal right to sit on a bus.
  When I was a little girl--and I will not give away how old I was--I 
was in a southern State where my mother was recuperating from an 
illness. I was very unaware of any of these laws that said black people 
have to go on the back of the bus. I didn't know anything about it. I 
was young. I was having fun. I found myself in a situation with my 
mother in a bus. And I was sitting down kind of towards the front, 
about the middle of the bus. An elderly woman came in who happened to 
be African American. She was carrying a lot of packages. She was frail. 
I did what I was always taught to do. I stood up. I said, ``Here, 
ma'am. Please sit down.'' My mother was sitting next to me on the bus. 
She let me do this. She knew. And this woman said, ``No, thank you.'' I 
didn't understand.
  I said, ``No. Really. Please sit down. I want you to sit down.'' She 
said, ``No. No, thank you.'' And she proceeded down. And my mother told 
me. She leaned over, and she said, ``She can't sit there.'' I said, 
``Why?'' ``Because she is minority, she can't sit there.''
  I didn't know quite what to do. I mean I was not quite a teen. But I 
knew this was absolutely wrong because of everything that I was taught 
as a child in my loving family.
  I just said to my mother, ``Well, I am not going to sit down. I will 
just stand up.'' I went toward the back and held on and stood up, and 
for whatever it was worth--nothing, probably, but to me at least what I 
did was not totally helpless. It occurred to me as a youngster, this 
makes no sense at all.
  The thought that it took Rosa Parks to turn it around is amazing to 
me. It shows you how institutions of discrimination are so inculcated 
in society that it takes that kind of bravery to turn it around.
  What is the message of all of this when we give Rosa Parks this 
medal? It is, of course, to remember these times, because if we don't 
remember the past, we are bound to repeat it. Everybody said that it is 
true. But it is also a message to our young people, and to all of us 
who live pretty good lives--that we should have a little bit of courage 
in our lives, that when we see something wrong, if we hear something 
that is offensive, that is hurtful, it is real easy to turn the other 
way. And we hear it all the time. We always say, ``Well, I don't want 
to really not be liked by everyone. I don't want to say anything. They 
will think I am `politically correct'.'' I hate that term, because I 
don't get that term. It is either right or it is wrong. It is not 
``politically'' anything. It is right or it is wrong. If it is wrong, 
we need to do something. We may not have the courage of Rosa Parks. Not 
all of us are born with that. But there are things that we can do.
  Mrs. Parks' quiet strength and defiance helped commence one of the 
most profound social movements in American history. Imagine just 
saying, ``No. I will not give up. I have a right to be treated 
equally.'' She helped precipitate the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took 
a long time. But we came around.
  That is why this country is so great, because we do the right thing.
  There she was, a woman of 42 years old, well respected, and had a lot 
to lose by acting out in this way. But she did it.
  She also refused to take ``Black Only'' escalators, and often avoided 
riding the bus home from work because of the constant harassment and 
the segregated seating arrangement.
  Finally, she acted. Her arrest was a call to action for the African 
American residents in Montgomery, AL, who were determined to fight 
segregation and win.
  That boycott lasted 382 days, and it involved 42,000 boycotters. It 
cost the bus company a lot of profit.
  Then, in 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Montgomery 
segregation law was illegal and ordered the desegregation of buses.
  That was the first of many victories for those in the civil rights 
movement.
  When you see Mrs. Parks, you will see a fragile person. You look in 
her eyes, and you try to imagine what it was like for her to do what 
she did. But you see a strength in those eyes. She kept the community 
glued together for the common goal of equality, and she changed this 
Nation for the better forever.
  This is what she said when someone asked her how she would like to be 
known. She said, ``I would like to be known as a person who is 
concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all 
people.''
  Her actions made sure that this Nation does offer freedom, equality, 
justice, and prosperity to all people if they work hard for it.
  Our courts ensure that people are free from discrimination. When we 
see it here, we cry out about it with one voice, whether it is against 
people for the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their 
disability, or their religion. It is all part of what it means to be an 
American, it seems to me, to fight for equality for all our people. 
That is what makes us a better country. It makes us a more prosperous 
nation.
  In closing, I will read part of the preamble to the Constitution. The 
great thing about our country is we don't put our Constitution on a 
back shelf. We try to make it real. There are a lot of nations in the 
world that have good constitutions but they don't enforce them.

       WE THE PEOPLE of the United States, in Order to form a more 
     perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic 
     Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the 
     general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to 
     ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this 
     CONSTITUTION. . . .

  ``[D]omestic Tranquility.'' It is not tranquil if we are hurting one 
another, if we discriminate against one another.
  ``[E]stablish Justice.'' We have no justice if people can't sit down 
on the bus or can't go to a school simply because of the color of their 
skin or because of a disability.
  ``[P]romote the general Welfare.'' You can't have a society where 
everyone is moving forward if we discriminate against people.
  This Constitution is a magnificent document, and Rosa Parks, with her 
action, made that Constitution a living document. The Supreme Court 
looked at what was going on and they said that was wrong; it is 
unconstitutional to harm people, to discriminate against people, 
because of the status of their birth. So we continue to fight for civil 
rights. These fights come in many different ways. I think it is pretty 
simple. It is what Mrs. Parks said:


[[Page 6800]]

       I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about 
     freedom, equality, justice and prosperity for all people.

  Very simple. But I think we ought to look at that and give everything 
we do here the Rosa Parks test: Are we doing the right thing for the 
people of this great Nation? She deserves this congressional medal, 
this gold medal.
  I am very proud, Madam President, to have the opportunity to be here 
and make a few comments. I reserve the remainder of my time, and I 
suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative assistant proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I am delighted to see the Senate take up 
this bill--and I suspect we will pass this bill unanimously--honoring 
the courage and leadership of Rosa Parks. She played a significant role 
in moving this country toward recognition of human dignity and 
protection of civil rights of all our citizens.
  As we move forward in unanimity to call for a medal to recognize Rosa 
Parks' contribution to our history, I hope all of the sponsors and 
supporters of this bill will also take at least a moment to consider 
not only the progress we made but the distance we have yet to travel.
  I hope, among other things, the Senate will honor Rosa Parks and all 
that the civil rights movement in this country has accomplished by 
moving forward with the nomination of Bill Lann Lee to head the Civil 
Rights Division at the Department of Justice. Action on this matter is 
long overdue.
  Bill Lann Lee is the first Asian American to be nominated to head the 
Civil Rights Division in its history, 42-year history. He is currently 
serving as the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights as he 
has for almost 16 months. He has done an impressive job enforcing our 
Nation's civil rights laws.
  He was originally nominated in July 1997. Despite his excellent 
credentials and legal record, some chose to demagogue his nomination 
and turn it into a symbolic vote against the President.
  Six former Assistant Attorneys General for Civil Rights, from the 
Eisenhower through the Bush administrations, wrote to the Judiciary 
Committee in support of his nomination: Harold Tyler, Burke Marshall, 
Stephen J. Pollak, J. Stanley Pottinger, Drew Days, and John R. Dunne. 
But he has still not come before the Senate.
  He was renominated in January 1998, but the committee went all of 
last session without reporting his nomination. He was renominated again 
for the third time last month. It is past time to do the right and 
honorable thing, and report this qualified nominee to the Senate.
  I hope, Madam President, that the Senate will be allowed to vote on 
Bill Lann Lee and not just leave him bottled up in a committee where a 
small minority of the Senate can vote. After 29 months and three 
sessions of Congress, bring it before the Senate of the United States, 
so that all Senators--Republican and Democrat alike--can either vote 
for him or vote against him. Let all Senators state to the country 
whether this extraordinary person is going to be allowed to serve in 
the position for which he has been nominated or whether we will tell 
this outstanding Asian American that the doors of the Senate are closed 
to him.
  That is the question. Do we open the doors to this outstanding Asian 
American or do we close the doors? Right now they are closed. Let's 
have them open.
  Civil Rights is about human dignity and opportunity. Bill Lann Lee's 
nomination ought to have the opportunity for an up or down vote on the 
Senate floor. He should no longer be forced to ride in the back on the 
nominations bus but be given the fair vote that he deserves.
  After looking at Bill Lee's record, I knew he was a man who could 
effectively lead the Civil Rights Division, enforce the law and resolve 
disputes. Prior to his tenure at the Department of Justice, he had been 
involved in approximately 200 cases in his 23 years of law practice, of 
which he settled all but six of them. This is strong evidence that Mr. 
Lee is a problem solver and practical in his approach to the law. No 
one who has taken the time thoroughly to review his record could call 
him an idealogue. I knew Bill Lee would be reasonable and practical in 
his approach to the job, and that he would be a top-notch enforcer of 
the nation's civil rights laws. All of this has proven true.
  Over the past several months, Bill Lee has been acting head of the 
Civil Rights Division the way it should be run. Here in Washington, 
where we have a lot of show horses, Bill Lee is a work horse--a 
dedicated public servant who is working hard to help solve some of our 
nation's most difficult problems. He is solving problems every day in 
big and small cases, which are settled or brought to trial by his 
remarkable team of attorneys in the Division.
  During his tenure, the Civil Rights Division has resolved several 
hate crimes cases, including: In Idaho, six men pleaded guilty to 
engaging in a series of racially motivated attacks on Mexican-American 
men, women and children, some as young as 9-years-old; in Arizona, 
three members of a skinhead group pleaded guilty to burning a cross in 
the front yard of an African-American woman; and in Texas, a man 
pleaded guilty to entering a Jewish temple and firing several gun shots 
while shouting anti-Semitic slurs.
  The Division has also been vigorously enforcing our criminal 
statutes, including: indictments against three people in Arkansas 
charged with church burning; guilty pleas by 16 Puerto Rico 
correctional officers who beat 22 inmates and then tried to cover it 
up; cases arising from Mexican women and girls, some as young as 14, 
being lured to the U.S. and then being forced into prostitution; and 
guilty pleas from 18 defendants who forced 60 deaf Mexican nationals to 
sell trinkets on the streets of New York. Out of concerns about slavery 
continuing in the U.S., Bill Lee has created a Worker Exploitation Task 
Force to coordinate enforcement efforts with the Department of Labor. I 
commend Mr. Lee for putting the spotlight on these shameful crimes.
  Other significant cases which the Civil Rights Division has handled 
over the past year include the following: several long-standing school 
desegregation cases were settled or their consent decrees were 
terminated, including cases in Kansas City, Kansas; San Juan County, 
Utah; and Indianapolis, Indiana. Japanese-Latin Americans who were 
deported and interned in the United States during World War II also 
received compensation last year. Lawsuits in Ohio and Washington, D.C. 
were settled to allow women better access to women's health clinics.
  This record indicates that Bill Lee has been running the Division the 
way it should be run. Over the past year, we have seen the strong and 
steady work of the Division -- solid achievements and effective law 
enforcement. I had high expectations for Bill Lee when he was nominated 
and I have not been disappointed. He is doing a terrific job, and I 
know that he will keep up the good work.
  Given his outstanding work as Acting Assistant Attorney General for 
Civil Rights, I urge the Committee and the Senate to take up his 
nomination and accord him the dignity of a Senate vote. I am confident 
that in a fair vote on his nomination Bill Lann Lee will be confirmed 
by the United States Senate as the Assistant Attorney General for Civil 
Rights. He should no longer be relegated to second class status as an 
Acting Assistant Attorney General. He should be confirmed and serve out 
his term with the full measure of dignity accorded to all other 
Assistant Attorneys General in charge of Civil Rights during our 
history.
  When Bill Lee appeared before the Committee for his confirmation 
hearing in 1997, he testified candidly about his views, his work and 
his values. He articulated to us that he understands that as the 
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division his client is 
the United States and all of its people. He told us poignantly about 
why

[[Page 6801]]

he became a person who has dedicated his life to equal justice for all 
when he spoke of the treatment that his parents received as immigrants. 
Mr. Lee told us how in spite of his father's personal treatment and 
experiences, William Lee remained a fierce American patriot, 
volunteered to serve in the United States Army Air Corps in World War 
II and never lost his belief in America.
  He inspired his son just as Bill Lee now inspires his own children 
and countless others across the land. They are the kind of heroes that 
we honor and respect as fellow Americans. Mr. Lee told us:

       My father is my hero, but I confess that I found it 
     difficult for many years to appreciate his unflinching 
     patriotism in the face of daily indignities. In my youth, I 
     did not understand how he could remain so deeply grateful to 
     a country where he and my mother faced so much intolerance. 
     But I began to appreciate that the vision he had of being an 
     American was a vision so compelling that he could set aside 
     the momentary ugliness. He knew that the basic American tenet 
     of equality of opportunity is the bedrock of our society.

  I know that Bill Lann Lee has remained true to all that his father 
taught him and I hope that the ``momentary ugliness'' of people 
opposing his nomination based on an ideological litmus test, and of 
people distorting his achievements and beliefs, and of some succumbing 
to narrow partisanship, will not be his reward for a career of good 
works. Such treatment drives good people from public service and 
distorts the role of the Senate.
  I have often referred to the Senate as acting at its best when it 
serves as the conscience of the nation. In this case, I am afraid that 
the Senate may show no conscience. I call on the Senate's Republican 
leadership to end their targeting of Bill Lann Lee and to work with us 
to bring this nomination to the floor without obstruction so that the 
Senate may vote and we may confirm a fine person to lead the Civil 
Rights Division into the next century. Racial discrimination, and 
harmful discrimination in all its forms--remains one of the most vexing 
unsolved problems of our society. Let the Senate rise to this occasion 
to unite the nation.
  Bill Lann Lee is highly educated and highly skilled. He could have 
spent his career in the comfort and affluence of any one of the 
nation's top law firms. Yet he chose to spend his career on the front 
lines, helping to open the doors of opportunity to those who struggle 
in our society. And now some decry his lifetime of advocacy for civil 
rights by arguing that a civil rights advocate should not head the 
Civil Rights Division. The chief enforcement officer for our civil 
rights should be someone who believes in our civil rights laws.
  Bill Lee's skills, his experience, the compelling personal journey 
that he and his family have traveled, his commitment to full 
opportunity for all Americans--these qualities appeal to the best in 
us. Let us affirm the best in us. Let us confirm--or at least allow the 
Senate to vote on the confirmation of this good man. We need Bill Lann 
Lee's proven problem-solving abilities in these difficult times.
  If the Senate is allowed to decide, I believe he will be confirmed 
and will move this country forward to a time when discrimination will 
subside and affirmative action is no longer needed; a time when each 
child-- girl or boy, black or white, rich or poor, urban or rural, 
regardless of national or ethnic origin and regardless of sexual 
orientation or disability--shall have a fair and equal opportunity to 
live the American dream.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BUNNING. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BUNNING. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the engrossment and third 
reading of the bill.
  The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, and was 
read the third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the 
question is, Shall the bill pass?
  The yeas and nays have been ordered.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Utah (Mr. Bennett), the 
Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Frist), the Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. 
Gregg), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Jeffords), the Senator from 
Arizona (Mr. McCain), and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby) are 
necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), the 
Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry), the Senator from New Jersey 
(Mr. Lautenberg), the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski), the Senator 
from Rhode Island (Mr. Reed), the Senator from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes), 
and the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Torricelli) are necessarily 
absent.
  I also announce that the Senator from New York (Mr. Moynihan) is 
absent due to surgery.
  I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from New 
York (Mr. Moynihan) and the Senator from Rhode Island (Mr. Reed) would 
each vote ``aye.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Fitzgerald). Are there any other Senators 
in the Chamber who desire to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 86, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 88 Leg.]

                                YEAS--86

     Abraham
     Akaka
     Allard
     Ashcroft
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bryan
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Chafee
     Cleland
     Cochran
     Collins
     Conrad
     Coverdell
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Edwards
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Gorton
     Graham
     Gramm
     Grams
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Helms
     Hollings
     Hutchinson
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerrey
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     Mack
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nickles
     Reid
     Robb
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Roth
     Santorum
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Smith (NH)
     Smith (OR)
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thomas
     Thompson
     Thurmond
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wellstone
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--14

     Bennett
     Biden
     Frist
     Gregg
     Jeffords
     Kerry
     Lautenberg
     McCain
     Mikulski
     Moynihan
     Reed
     Sarbanes
     Shelby
     Torricelli
  The bill (S. 531) was passed, as follows:

                                 S. 531

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       The Congress finds that--
       (1) Rosa Parks was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, 
     Alabama, the first child of James and Leona (Edwards) 
     McCauley;
       (2) Rosa Parks is honored as the ``first lady of civil 
     rights'' and the ``mother of the freedom movement'', and her 
     quiet dignity ignited the most significant social movement in 
     the history of the United States;
       (3) Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, in 
     Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a 
     bus to a white man, and her stand for equal rights became 
     legendary;
       (4) news of Rosa Parks' arrest resulted in 42,000 African 
     Americans boycotting Montgomery buses for 381 days, beginning 
     on December 5, 1955, until the bus segregation laws were 
     changed on December 21, 1956;
       (5) the United States Supreme Court ruled on November 13, 
     1956, that the Montgomery segregation law was 
     unconstitutional, and on December 20, 1956, Montgomery 
     officials were ordered to desegregate buses;
       (6) the civil rights movement led to the Civil Rights Act 
     of 1964, which broke down the barriers of legal 
     discrimination against African Americans and made equality 
     before the law a reality for all Americans;
       (7) Rosa Parks is the recipient of many awards and 
     accolades for her efforts on behalf of racial harmony, 
     including the Springarn Award, the NAACP's highest honor for 
     civil rights contributions, the Presidential Medal of 
     Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, and the first 
     International Freedom Conductor Award from the National 
     Underground Railroad Freedom Center;

[[Page 6802]]

       (8) Rosa Parks has dedicated her life to the cause of 
     universal human rights and truly embodies the love of 
     humanity and freedom;
       (9) Rosa Parks was the first woman to join the Montgomery 
     chapter of the NAACP, was an active volunteer for the 
     Montgomery Voters League, and in 1987, cofounded the Rosa and 
     Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development;
       (10) Rosa Parks, by her quiet courage, symbolizes all that 
     is vital about nonviolent protest, as she endured threats of 
     death and persisted as an advocate for the simple, basic 
     lessons she taught the Nation and from which the Nation has 
     benefited immeasurably; and
       (11) Rosa Parks, who has resided in the State of Michigan 
     since 1957, has become a living icon for freedom in America.

     SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

       (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized 
     to award to Rosa Parks, on behalf of the Congress, a gold 
     medal of appropriate design honoring Rosa Parks in 
     recognition of her contributions to the Nation.
       (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award 
     referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury 
     (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') 
     shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 
     inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

     SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

       The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of 
     the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2, under such 
     regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, and at a price 
     sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, 
     materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and 
     the cost of the gold medal.

     SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

       The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals 
     for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

     SEC. 5. FUNDING.

       (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to 
     be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise 
     Fund an amount not to exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of 
     the medals authorized by this Act.
       (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of 
     duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in 
     the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I 
move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

                          ____________________