[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 24280-24281]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      TRIBUTE TO RETIRING SENATORS

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I want to talk about three colleagues that 
are retiring. There are five, actually, but I will get to them later. I 
don't want to do it all at once tonight. I will speak about three of 
them: Senators Richard Bryan, Bob Kerrey, and Frank Lautenberg. Later I 
will talk about Connie Mack and Senator Pat Moynihan, who have also 
made decisions to retire from the Senate. They will be casting their 
last votes as Members of the Senate in the next three days. I want to 
take a few minutes in these remaining hours to pay tribute to these 
three individuals who will be leaving the Congress at the end of this 
session.
  All three of these individuals have served with great distinction in 
this body. All have made a mark on our Nation for which this country 
will be grateful for generations to come. All will be missed by those 
of us who will remain in this body, not to mention by the people of 
their respective States and people across this country.
  Let me first speak, if I may, about my good friend Dick Bryan of 
Nevada. Few, if any, of our colleagues have come to this institution 
having already achieved as much distinction in public service as Dick 
Bryan.
  Long before he set foot on the floor of this U.S. Senate, he had 
accomplished a great deal for the people of his beloved State of 
Nevada. He is the first person in the history of that State to have 
served as Attorney General, Governor, and then U.S. Senator.
  Senator Bryan did not come to the Senate to sit on passed laurels and 
achievements. He did what he has done in every position of public trust 
he has ever held, even going back to his term as the president of his 
eighth great class at Park Elementary School; he went to work on behalf 
of the people he was elected to represent.
  He went to work for consumers. As the former chairman of the Consumer 
Affairs Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee, Senator Bryan 
successfully fought to have airbags installed in all automobiles sold 
in the United States. Some viewed this as a highly risky cause to 
champion as a politician--promoting airbags. It is thought that a 
Senator should avoid at all costs having his or her name associated 
with something like airbags.
  But Senator Bryan was not deterred. And today, thanks to him, 
hundreds of lives are saved every year by a feature that is now 
standard issue in American automobiles. Every day, when tens of 
millions of Americans drive to work, school, or the store, they can 
thank Dick Bryan for making sure that their trip will be a safer one 
than it otherwise would have been.
  Senator Bryan also worked with a large coalition of children's 
advocates to enact new protections for Internet privacy. He led the 
fight to strengthen the laws governing the credit reporting industry, 
which is so crucial to the ability of virtually every American to 
obtain a home, a car, and a loan for any other modern necessity. And he 
took the lead in crafting legislation to reduce telemarketing fraud, 
which preys on so many elderly and other vulnerable citizens.
  Aside from his record as a consumer advocate, Dick Bryan is perhaps 
best known for his work on behalf of his state and its residents. We 
are all familiar with the tenacity with which he and his colleague 
Senator Reid have worked to prevent the Nevada Test Site at Yucca 
Mountain from being designated as an interim storage facility for the 
nation's nuclear waste. I have myself known the unique pleasure of 
being visited by Senator Bryan and Senator Reid about this matter.
  I have also admired Senator Bryan's efforts to protect Nevada's 
lands, particularly in the southern part of the state. Because of his 
efforts, all proceeds from the sale of lands in that part of the state 
must be spent within the state. That's a plan that no other state 
enjoys, and it is a tribute to Dick Bryan's legislative skills.
  I would be remiss if I failed to mention the important work that 
Senator Bryan has performed as a member of the Senate Ethics Committee 
and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
  These are important and sensitive committees on which to serve. It is 
a

[[Page 24281]]

reflection of the high esteem in which he is held by his colleagues 
that he served on these committees--and did so, I might add, with 
discretion and with distinction.
  In sum, Mr. President, Richard Bryan has spent his two terms in the 
Senate working hard and working effectively--for consumers, for his 
constituents, for a stronger intelligence-gathering function by the 
United States, and for a stronger United States Senate. He has been an 
outstanding leader and a good friend. We wish him, his wife Bonnie, 
their children and grandchildren well as they begin the next phase of 
their life together.

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