[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 5744]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING PAUL COVERDELL

  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise today with a little bit of 
sadness in my voice, but also with a lot of happiness about an occasion 
that is going to be taking place in about 30 minutes at the University 
of Georgia in Athens, GA, where I had hoped to be today, but, 
unfortunately, the business of the Senate required us to stay here. 
Today at 2 o'clock there will be a dedication of the Paul Coverdell 
Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences at the University of Georgia 
in Athens. This building is going to be named for a man who was not 
only a close friend of mine, but he was a close political ally.
  He is a man who served in the Georgia Legislature for almost two 
decades and served in the U.S. Senate for 8 years, from 1992 to 2000, 
when, unfortunately, he died much too early as a result of a very 
sudden illness that he developed.
  Paul Coverdell was a man of great vision, one of the hardest working 
individuals I have ever known in my life, and a man who truly believed 
in what was best for his country. He was a man who served, not just in 
the Senate in Washington, but he also was a director of the Peace Corps 
under President George Herbert Walker Bush. Today, President Bush and 
Mrs. Bush are in Athens to be the keynote speakers at the dedication of 
this building.
  Paul Coverdell was a man who really took the Peace Corps to a 
different level. I was very pleased, along with a number of other 
Members of this body--particularly his close friend, Phil Gramm, the 
former Senator from Texas--and a number of other individuals who 
attended the dedication ceremony at the Old Executive Office Building 
in 2001, when President George W. Bush announced that we were naming 
the headquarters of the Peace Corps the Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps 
Headquarters Building.
  Paul had a great vision for biomedical science as well as research, 
so I think it is only fitting that today the building in Athens at the 
University of Georgia be named for him. Were it not for the hard work 
and the vision of another Member of this Senate, Senator Zell Miller, 
who succeeded Senator Coverdell, that probably would not have happened.
  While it is sad to think of the fact that Paul is no longer with us, 
for him to be remembered as he is being remembered today, once again, 
on the campus of the University of Georgia, which is my alma mater, 
gives me a great feeling about carrying on the life, the vision, and 
the hope that Paul Coverdell had for our country.
  His wife Nancy was very active in Paul's political life. She 
continues to be a very vivacious lady today. She happens to serve as 
the chairman of my military academy appointment committee, and does she 
ever do a terrific job. She is a great lady in and of herself, but Paul 
Coverdell was a special person.
  He rose very rapidly in the leadership of the Senate after his 
election. He became the secretary of the conference and served his 
conference well. He served not only his Republican colleagues well, but 
he was an individual who, on virtually every occasion when he worked on 
an issue, reached across the aisle to Members on the Democratic side to 
make sure they were included in the process, and that his ideas and his 
visions for a greater America would always be shared and there would be 
cooperation with the folks on both sides of the aisle.
  Today I stand with a little bit of a heavy heart but with a wonderful 
remembrance of a great friend, a man with whom I spent so much time, 
talking about not only politics. During the 8 years I served in the 
House, Paul was here in the Senate for most of those years. We had 
occasion to talk by telephone at least once a week. We made it a point 
to visit about things that were happening both in our State as well as 
here in Washington.
  He is a man with whom I also had the opportunity to talk about life 
and about how to not only set examples, as Paul did--and I have always 
subscribed to but have never reached the level that Paul did--but he is 
a man who also just gave you a great feeling about the direction in 
which our country was headed.
  When I had the opportunity to talk with Nancy Coverdell this morning, 
I expressed my significant disappointment in not being there today but, 
thank goodness, she being a wife of a former Member of the Senate, 
understood that our life up here is not controlled by our wishes and 
desires but oftentimes by people on both sides of the aisle. I am 
really pleased that we are once again honoring the name and the memory 
of Paul Coverdell with the dedication of this building on the campus of 
the University of Georgia today.
  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. LAUTENBERG. 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. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, there has been a fairly lively debate. 
I ask unanimous consent I have such time as needed to make my remarks, 
should my remarks run more than 10 minutes, under the morning business 
rules. I need possibly 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Thank you, Mr. President.

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