[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 110-111]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



           SENATOR KERREY'S DECISION TO NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, last week, to my regret, my good friend, 
Senator Bob Kerrey, announced that he will be leaving this Senate at 
the end of this year to return to private life. I'm sure my colleagues 
on both sides of the aisle will agree that his decision is a loss not 
only to Nebraskans, and to the Democratic party, but to the entire 
Senate.
  Over the years, Senator Kerrey has made us all laugh. More 
importantly, he has made us all think. He has challenged us to face the 
big questions of our time and to reach across party lines to find 
solutions.
  It has been said that some people seek public office to be someone; 
others seek office to do something. Clearly, Bob Kerrey is of the ``do 
something'' school.
  Before he ever came to the Senate, he had achieved more than almost 
anyone I know. A pharmacist by training, he has also been a Navy SEAL, 
a decorated war hero, a successful entrepreneur, and a popular 
governor--all by the time he was 44 years old.
  Perhaps even more impressive than his professional accomplishments, 
however, are his personal achievements.
  As we all know much of the story. Bob Kerrey was nearly killed 30 
years ago in Vietnam. On a moonless night, while he was leading a 
surprise attack on North Vietnamese snipers, an enemy grenade exploded 
on the ground beside him, shattering his right leg, badly wounding his 
right hand, and piercing much of his body with shrapnel. Days later, 
doctors were forced to amputate his injured leg just below the knee.
  For his sacrifice, Lieutenant Kerrey was awarded the Bronze Star, the 
Purple Heart, and the highest award our nation bestows for bravery, the 
Congressional Medal of Honor.
  He returned from Vietnam angry and disillusioned. What he endured in 
Vietnam, and what he saw later at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, 
where he spent nine months learning how to walk again, shook his 
faith--both in the war, and in the government that had sent him to it. 
It forced him to re- examine everything he had ever believed about his 
country. But slowly, out of his pain and anger and doubt, he began to 
acquire a new faith in this nation.
  Years ago, when he was Governor of Nebraska, he described that faith 
to a reporter. He said, ``There are . . . people who like to say, `You 
know all these subsidy programs we've got? They make people lazy.' And 
I like to jump right in their face and say, that is an absolute lie.'' 
Government help ``didn't make me lazy. It made me grateful.''
  It was the United States Government, he said, that fitted him with a 
prosthesis and taught him to walk again. It was the government that 
paid for the countless operations he needed.
  Later, it was the government that helped him open his first 
restaurant with his brother-in-law. And when that restaurant was 
destroyed in a tornado, it was the government--the people of the United 
States--that loaned them the money to rebuild.
  For 4 years as Nebraska's Governor, and for the last 11 years as a 
Member of this Senate, Bob Kerrey has fought to make sure the people of 
the United States, through their government, work for all Americans.
  He has fought to make health care more affordable and accessible. He 
has fought to give entrepreneurs the chance to turn their good ideas 
into profitable businesses. He has fought to make sure this Nation 
keeps its promises to veterans.
  He has fought tirelessly to preserve family farms and rural 
communities. As someone, like Senator Kerrey, who comes from a state 
that is made up mostly of small towns and rural communities, I am 
personally grateful to him for his insistence that rural America be 
treated fairly.
  But Senator Kerrey's greatest contribution to this Senate, and to 
this nation, may be the fact that he is not afraid to challenge 
conventional wisdom.
  In 1994, almost singlehandedly, he created and chaired the Bipartisan 
Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform. Conventional wisdom said, 
don't get involved with entitlements. You can't make anyone happy; you 
can only make enemies. But Bob Kerrey's personal experience told him 
that preserving Social Security and Medicare was worth taking a 
political risk.
  He has repeatedy opposed efforts to amend our Constitution to make 
flag-burning a crime. It is politically risky, even for a wounded war 
hero, to take such a position. But Senator Kerrey has taken that risk, 
time and time again, because--in his words, ``America is a beacon of 
hope for the people of this world who yearn for freedom from the 
despotism of repressive government. This hope is diluted when we advise 
others that we are frightened by flag burning.''
  He is a genuine patriot, and a genuine American hero.
  There is a story Senator Kerrey has told many times about a 
conversation he had with his mother 30 years ago. Doctors at the 
Philadelphia Naval Hospital had just amputated his leg. When he awoke 
from surgery, his mother was standing at his bedside. ``How much is 
left?'' he asked her. His mother responded, ``There's a lot left.'' As 
Senator Kerrey says, ``She wasn't talking about body parts. She was 
talking about here.'' She was talking about what was in his heart.
  He has said that he would like to focus now on his private life. As 
much

[[Page 111]]

as I regret his decision, I respect it. Public life offers great 
regards, but it also makes great demands--on the officeholder, and on 
his or her family.
  The only consolation in seeing Bob Kerrey leave this Senate will be 
watching what he does next with his remarkable life. There is still a 
lot left. I have no doubt he will continue to contribute in significant 
ways to our Nation. And until he goes, we will continue to look to him 
for unorthodox solutions and uncommon courage.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry, what is the business 
before the Senate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are in morning business, with Senators 
being allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes.

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