[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 27131-27132]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    RETIREMENT OF SENATOR BOB KERREY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, last January we were told that Senator Bob 
Kerrey was going to retire from the Senate this year. I remember saying 
to him that I wished it were not so, but knowing Bob as well as I did, 
I understood the reasons.
  Bob Kerrey has been an invaluable Member of this body. He has 
advocated for improvements in education. He has worked in a bipartisan 
way to reform Medicare and has been willing to speak up about the 
things necessary to reform it. He has helped to improve the lives of 
farmers in Nebraska. And he has been a forceful voice on America's role 
throughout the world.
  But I understand and respect his desire to fulfill those spiritual 
needs that are often ignored in politics and to focus more on his 
personal and family life. As a proud father and grandfather, I, too, 
want to spend time with family. So we can all respect and appreciate 
his decision, though we are going to miss his candor, his wit, and his 
strong advocacy for families and children in the Senate. I will miss 
one who was willing to stand up on the most explosive issues of our 
time and speak out forthrightly, whether popular or not.
  He served this country well as a member of the elite Navy Seals in 
Vietnam, was Governor of Nebraska, and a U.S. Senator for two terms.
  I once heard him refer to it modestly as ``whatever,'' but the 
``whatever'' was the Congressional Medal of Honor he earned for service 
in Vietnam. It is a testament to his strength in the face of adversity 
and intense love he has for this country. It is a call he brought with 
him to the Senate.
  A photograph I took once sticks in my mind. It was of Bob Kerrey at 
the Inaugural, standing--suit, tie, overcoat, hat--and around his neck 
was something that very few Americans ever got to wear, the 
Congressional Medal of Honor. It is not something about which any of us 
ever heard Bob brag. But it has been my experience that people who win 
the Congressional Medal of Honor are really never the people who do 
brag.
  I thought that here, in these extraordinary times of our Nation's 
history, every 4 years the Inauguration of a President, what Bob was 
saying was: I am standing up as an American saying how proud we are of 
this democracy as we go forward with our form of government--a 
government and a country he risked his life to defend.
  What has he accomplished at this short time? Vice chairman of the 
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence where he protected and defended 
our national security interests and fought for issues from encryption 
to better intelligence. As cochairman of the IRS restructuring 
committee, Bob spearheaded reform legislation designed to improve the 
relationships between taxpayers and the IRS, something that affects 
every single American. On the Agriculture Committee, he and I fought 
hard to protect family farmers in our Nation. Even if we had regional 
differences which might divide us, his advocacy was always so strong, 
you had to listen.
  His next move is north, actually getting a little closer to my home, 
where he is going to become president of the New School University in 
New York. The New School has a reputation for intellectual freedom and 
innovation, the belief that education can be used as a tool to produce 
positive changes in society. There cannot be a better leader for the 
New School. This really is a case where the Senate's loss is the New 
School's gain.
  I first met Bob Kerrey when he was running for the Senate and I went 
out to Nebraska as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee to 
campaign for him along with the Senator from Nebraska, Mr. Jim Exon. 
When we went out--Bob Kerrey probably won't mind me mentioning this--we 
were using Willie Nelson's airplane. Bob Kerrey was the former Governor 
of Nebraska, extremely popular, well known, running for the U.S. 
Senate; Jim Exon, then the senior Senator of Nebraska, former Governor; 
and of course in farm country, I was there wearing my hat as chairman 
of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
  We flew up to a small town in Nebraska in Willie Nelson's airplane. 
The tail insignia was well known. When we got off that airplane, a huge 
crowd was gathered. We thought: Boy, this is it: Former Governor 
Kerrey, Senator Jim Exon, Chairman Patrick Leahy. Man, no wonder they 
turned out.
  As we got off the plane, they kept looking and kept looking, until 
finally it was obvious we were all off the plane. There was a look of 
disappointment in the crowd. Finally, somebody expressed the 
disappointment: Where's Willie Nelson? I thought you guys had Willie 
Nelson with you.
  But, notwithstanding the fact that I was partially responsible for 
disappointing the crowd, Bob Kerrey's abilities and brilliance were so 
well known in Nebraska that he survived my campaigning for him and he 
won that seat resoundingly and served his second term. We have been 
friends ever since.
  I admire him as I have admired few people in my public career. I hate 
to see him go.
  As I said, I was saddened to learn that Bob Kerrey was retiring from 
the Senate this year. Bob Kerrey has been an invaluable Member of this 
body, advocating for improvements in education, working to reform 
Medicare, and helping to improve the lives of farmers in Nebraska. But 
I understand and respect his desire to fulfill spiritual needs that are 
often ignored in politics and to focus more on his personal and family 
life. As a proud father and grandfather, I know what it's like to long 
to spend time with family. We can all respect and appreciate his 
decision, though we will miss his candor, his wit, and his strong 
advocacy for families and children in the Senate.
  Bob Kerrey has served his country well as a member of the elite Navy 
SEALs in Vietnam, as Governor of Nebraska, and as a United States 
Senator for two terms. Though I once heard him refer to it modestly as 
``whatever,'' the Congressional Medal of Honor he earned for service in 
Vietnam is a testament to his strength in the face of adversity and an 
intense love for this country, qualities he has brought with him to the 
Senate.
  In this body, he has accomplished a great deal in a short time. As 
the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Bob 
continued to protect and defend our national security interests, 
fighting for strong encryption measures. As a co-chairman of the IRS 
Restructuring Committee, Bob spearheaded reform legislation designed to 
improve the relationship between taxpayers and the IRS. On the 
Agriculture Committee, Bob and I fought hard together to protect family 
farmers in our Nation. Though regional

[[Page 27132]]

differences sometimes divided us, I respected Bob's strong advocacy for 
farmers in Nebraska.
  Bob's next move is north, where he will plan to become president of 
New School University in New York. The New School has a reputation for 
intellectual freedom, innovation and the belief that education can be 
used as a tool to produce positive changes in society. I could not 
think of a better leader for the New School. The Senate's loss is their 
gain.

                          ____________________