[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, it was more than 40 years ago when two 
young prosecutors, one from the biggest city in Pennsylvania and one 
from a smaller town in rural Vermont, came together at an annual 
meeting of the National District Attorneys Association in Philadelphia. 
Little did Arlen Specter and I know then that we would spend 30 years 
working together in the United States Senate, building on our bond as 
former prosecutors, seeking to bridge the partisan divide, and striving 
to find common ground on some of the most contentious issues of our 
time.
  Arlen Specter's public service began during the Korean War. When 
elected to serve as Philadelphia's District Attorney, he led landmark 
prosecutions against public corruption and to rid his city's streets of 
some of the country's most hardened criminals. He was a prosecutor's 
prosecutor.
  Arlen Specter also was a Senator's Senator. He loved the 
Constitution, he loved and honored the institutions of our democracy, 
and he loved policymaking and the political process. As a Senator he 
tried to put the interests of the Nation and the Senate's special role 
in our system above partisanship while always representing and serving 
the people of Pennsylvania. He believed in aggressive oversight of 
government agencies, regardless of the administration's affiliation, 
from our bipartisan investigation of the shootout at Ruby Ridge, to the 
political firings of U.S. attorneys and the threats to civil liberties 
posed during the Bush administration. He reached across the aisle to 
partner with me to try to pass comprehensive asbestos legislation and 
we joined to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act during the Bush 
administration. He supported more transparency, in every branch of our 
government, to ensure the American people knew what their government 
was doing. He was a strong supporter of law enforcement and a vigorous 
and fair judicial system. And he joined with Tom Harkin to direct 
billions of dollars to the National Institutes of Health and cancer 
research.
  His work ethic and dedication were tested when he was first diagnosed 
with an advanced form of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2005. Through that 
ordeal, Arlen kept his humor, his spirit, and his rigorous work 
schedule. He served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 2005 and 
2006. I was the ranking Democratic member of the committee during those 
years and worked collaboratively to make my friend a success and 
ensured that we treated him fairly. During those years and those that 
followed, when it was my turn to chair the committee and his to lead 
the Republican members, we used to joke that we spoke to each other 
more often than we spoke to our wives, Marcelle and Joan.
  Arlen was a fighter. I never knew anyone who worked or fought harder. 
I think he hoped to fight through his disease one more time.
  The history books will note that Arlen Specter was the longest-
serving U.S. Senator in Pennsylvania history. History should remember 
Arlen Specter as a person who tried to do what he thought was best for 
the country and to challenge the ever more constricting litmus test of 
partisan politics. He represented Pennsylvania and served the Nation. 
Like the Republican Senators who have represented Vermont, Arlen is an 
example to all senators, of any party. He will be missed.

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