[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15440-15441]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   REMEMBERING SENATOR PAUL COVERDELL

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I rise this evening, along with my 
colleagues, as we talk about and remember and celebrate the life of 
Paul Coverdell. He was born in Des Moines, IA. He was a graduate of the 
University of Missouri. That is where I went to school. Paul Coverdell 
was a person who came to the Senate with a history of being a doer. He 
was a workhorse in this Senate.
  Early on, he demonstrated that he could be relied upon to take on the 
essential but unspectacular tasks for the good of the Senate and this 
Nation. He was rewarded for that when he was elected by his fellow 
Senators to be the Secretary of the Senate Republican Conference. I 
know something about that because he beat me. I could not have lost to 
a better man.
  He had his little mannerisms. He could put you in a box, put a cap on 
you, do a lot of things. But his quiet demeanor and lack of fuss in 
tackling whatever tasks were assigned to him belied his effectiveness.
  He served President Bush as Director of the Peace Corps. He was a man 
of peace. He served as leader of the Republican Party in the Georgia 
Senate for 15 years, from 1974 to 1989, skillfully guiding that body 
through some difficult but rewarding years.
  His leadership really surfaced when he came to the Senate. We have 
talked about him being a stalwart on national defense and on taxes, but 
I think he

[[Page 15441]]

had his best vision and his best grasp of this business in reforming 
public education because he always referred back to his vision for the 
next generation. The next generation was always on his mind. As a 
proponent of equal educational opportunities, he introduced sweeping 
education and tax reform bills. The list of his achievements in the 
Senate is substantial, indeed.
  Paul Coverdell holds a special place in our hearts as we say goodbye 
to a brother, a Member of this body, who has shown us the way in the 
tradition of the Senate. We are all better just for having known him.

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