[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7869-7870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         RELATIVE TO THE DEATH OF THE HONORABLE E. JAMES ABDNOR

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent to proceed to S. Res. 475.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 475) relating to the death of the 
     Honorable E. James Abdnor, former United States Senator and 
     Congressman from the State of South Dakota.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize a former Member 
of this body and my long-time friend and mentor, Senator Jim Abdnor of 
South Dakota. Senator Abdnor passed away last Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 
in South Dakota in the company of friends and family.
  We are both products of the dusty short-grass country just west of 
the Missouri River on the plains of central South Dakota. Jim was a 
product of the active and civically-minded political culture of Lyman 
County and I was from next door Jones County. Despite these counties' 
sports rivalries over the years, Jim took me under his wing and 
introduced me to the American political process. If not for Jim Abdnor, 
I would not be standing here today.
  After a basketball game when I was a freshman in high school, Jim 
struck up a conversation with me that would change the course of my 
life. I went to work for Jim as a legislative assistant when he was a 
Senator and later at the Small Business Administration. When I first 
ran for office, Jim's guidance and support were invaluable to me.
  This past weekend, hundreds of South Dakotans came out to honor Jim 
Abdnor and remember his great love for them and his state. His funeral 
was held in a Lutheran church in the shadow of the State capital in 
Pierre, where Jim first served in statewide office as Lieutenant 
Governor. Jim was buried just outside of his small hometown of Kennebec 
near where his immigrant father first homesteaded.
  Mr. President, Jim leaves us with many legacies and I want to mention 
a few of them here today.
  First and foremost, Jim's was an American story. It started as the 
tale of an immigrant who boarded a ship for the United States not even 
knowing the English language but knowing he was heading for the land of 
opportunity. That immigrant, Jim's father Sam Abdelnour, wanted to 
escape the growing authoritarianism of his native Lebanon, for American 
freedom.
  Jim's story is also a frontier story. His father Sam settled in Lyman 
County, South Dakota. Sam Abdnor became a homesteader and planted corn 
and wheat. He also peddled his wares to the other farmers in the area 
and when Kennebec was organized as a town, Sam was one of the first 
people to establish a business on main street. Jim grew up learning how 
to balance the books in a small town store and knowing how to work the 
family farm. He learned financial responsibility and hard work and how 
one can climb the ladder of success in America.
  Jim's story is also a story of the land and farming. Some of us who 
knew Jim through politics may forget that before he was elected to 
Congress Jim had owned and run the family farm for three decades. Jim 
was very proud of the fact that he was good at representing South 
Dakota agriculture because he was an active farmer who did the planting 
and hauled his grain to the elevator in the fall. When he was in 
Congress, South Dakota was ranked as the most agricultural state in the 
Nation and Jim was the first farmer elected to Congress from South 
Dakota. Jim was proud of that correlation and he never forgot his 
farming roots.
  During the 1970s, when people were organizing sit-ins and teach-ins 
and other protests, Jim helped organize a ``beef-in.'' He brought 100 
West River ranchers to Washington, DC, to talk about farm issues. They 
set up pens of cattle on the Washington mall and met with agriculture 
officials. Jim didn't rest until these ranchers had their voices heard.
  Jim's story is also about water. We all live comfortably now with 
running water and hot showers, but that's not how Jim grew up. He grew 
up on his family's windy, dry-land farm in Lyman County. He lived 
through the droughts of the 1930s. He understood the importance of 
water. He never stopped working on the issues of water access--
including being a champion of the WEB water project in Walworth, 
Edmunds, and Brown counties in north central South Dakota that began in 
1983.
  The question of water was never far from Jim's mind and I think it 
had something to do with his heritage. That's certainly true of his 
Lyman County roots, which is where the humid Midwest begins to turn 
into the arid High Plains, but also of his roots in Lebanon, where 
water is also scarce. His family's home village of Ain Arab was founded 
because it was a watering hole. Ain Arab literally means ``spring'' or 
``well.'' More specifically, it means ``spring of the Arab.'' When they 
had enough water in Ain Arab they would grow wheat, just like the 
Abdnors would do out in Lyman County.
  Jim's is also a story about organizing. As soon as he came home from

[[Page 7870]]

college, he started organizing Republicans in Lyman County and became 
head of the Lyman County Young Republicans. He helped organize and 
found the Elks lodge in Pierre in 1953. He joined every organization he 
could and he brought as many people into community affairs and politics 
and civic organizations as he could.
  Jim also pushed other people to organize. He liked to tell the story 
of the people in Faith, SD, who wanted a new grandstand at their rodeo 
grounds. They took one look at the Federal regulations involved with 
some grant program and promptly did everything themselves, raising all 
the money they needed from local sources and fundraisers and did it at 
10 percent of the cost. They put in 4,000 hours of their own time and 
made it happen themselves and Jim appreciated that. He liked 
communities working together to solve their own problems.
  During the 1970s, when tensions in the Middle East worsened, Jim 
called for his fellow Arab-Americans to become more involved in the 
political process. He opposed what he saw as their tendency toward 
isolation and self-segregation. He said his ethnic compatriots should 
``get out and mix.'' ``They should become more involved,'' he said, 
``become part of the community.'' Jim never stopped believing in the 
importance of being involved and working with others to make life 
better.
  This is why Jim had so many friends. He never stopped working to meet 
people and bring them together around issues and simply to socialize. A 
friend of mine says that he doesn't think anyone in the State of South 
Dakota has ever attended more weddings, graduations, ceremonial 
dinners, or basketball, baseball, and football games than Jim.
  As someone from the wide open plains who wanted groups of people to 
come together to solve problems on their own, Jim was always resisting 
Federal encroachment on local control. As the son of a small 
businessman, Jim was sensitive to the growing encroachment of Federal 
regulations and how much this encroachment cost small businesses. For 
many years, Jim was especially incensed about OSHA mandating rules for 
small stores on South Dakota main streets. In the 1970s, Jim also had a 
big fight with OSHA because it was trying to mandate that South Dakota 
wheat farmers maintain porta-potties in the fields, which a practicing 
wheat farmer from Lyman County, South Dakota knew was the definition of 
absurd.
  As a small businessman and farmer, Jim was always worried about the 
bottom line and he constantly tried to apply these concerns in the area 
of the Federal budget. Jim was sounding the alarm bell in the 1970s 
when the Federal Government spent less than $400 billion a year, which 
today seems laughably small given our current state of affairs. Back 
then, he was attacking deficits of $70 billion. He was also adamantly 
opposed to the Federal Government bailing out New York City in the 
1970s because he said it would set a bad precedent. He attacked a 
Federal debt ceiling limit of $500 billion as being highly 
irresponsible. He criticized the fact that each American owed $2,000 
because of the Federal Government's debt. Jim liked to quote the editor 
of the Freeman Courier, who asked ``how can it be that a government 
which is unable to balance its own budget and lives far beyond its 
means, has the authority to tell a businessman'' how to run his 
business.
  Jim wasn't afraid to make hard votes to fix our problems, votes that 
probably cost him his Senate seat. But Jim Abdnor had the moral courage 
to make the tough decisions.
  Mr. President, Jim Abdnor leaves us with a critical reminder. He 
embodied the American dream. He was the son of a poor Lebanese peddler 
who built a successful business and raised a great family, including a 
son who ascended the heights of American politics and became a U.S. 
Senator. Jim Abdnor shows how hard work and diligence can pay off.
  On this occasion of remembrance and during this time of honoring my 
good friend Jim Abdnor, I hope we can remember our solemn duty to 
protect the American dream that the Abdnor family represented.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, 
the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon 
the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 475) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 475

       Whereas James Abdnor was born in Kennebec, South Dakota, on 
     February 13, 1923, and was the son of an immigrant from 
     Lebanon who peddled and homesteaded in Lyman County, South 
     Dakota;
       Whereas James Abdnor enlisted in the United States Army 
     during World War II, farmed in Kennebec after graduating from 
     the University of Nebraska in 1945, and later taught and 
     coached in neighboring Presho;
       Whereas James Abdnor served as Chairman of the Lyman County 
     Young Republicans in 1950, Chairman of the State Young 
     Republicans from 1950 to 1952, and Farm Chairman of the Young 
     Republican National Federation from 1953 to 1955;
       Whereas James Abdnor served as the First Assistant Chief 
     Clerk of the South Dakota House of Representatives during the 
     legislative sessions of 1951, 1953, and 1955;
       Whereas James Abdnor was elected to the South Dakota Senate 
     in 1956, where he served until his election as the 30th 
     Lieutenant Governor of the State of South Dakota, a position 
     he served in from 1969 through 1971;
       Whereas James Abdnor was elected to the United States House 
     of Representatives for the 93rd United States Congress in 
     1972 and served a total of 4 consecutive terms, representing 
     the Second Congressional District of South Dakota;
       Whereas James Abdnor served on the Committee on Public 
     Works of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
     Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives, and the 
     Select Committee on Aging of the House of Representatives;
       Whereas James Abdnor was elected to the United States 
     Senate for the 97th United States Congress in 1980 and was 
     appointed Chairman of 3 subcommittees on his first day, 
     including the Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and 
     General Government of the Committee on Appropriations of the 
     Senate, the Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee 
     on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the 
     Subcommittee on Agriculture and Transportation of the Joint 
     Economic Committee;
       Whereas James Abdnor was appointed Vice Chairman of the 
     Joint Economic Committee and served on the Committee on 
     Indian Affairs of the Senate;
       Whereas James Abdnor was a voice for the rural United 
     States in Congress, where he advocated for family farms and 
     small business, rural water systems and electrification, a 
     balanced budget, and small-town values;
       Whereas James Abdnor was appointed by President Ronald 
     Reagan to serve as the Administrator of the United States 
     Small Business Administration from 1987 to 1989 following his 
     service in the United States Congress;
       Whereas James Abdnor will be remembered for his humble 
     service to his constituents, dedication to the youth of South 
     Dakota, and defining influence on South Dakota politics; and
       Whereas the hallmarks of James Abdnor's public service were 
     his integrity, kindness, respect for the common man, and love 
     for South Dakota: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) the Senate expresses profound sorrow and deep regret 
     regarding the death of the Honorable James Abdnor, former 
     member of the United States Senate and House of 
     Representatives for the State of South Dakota, on May 16, 
     2012;
       (2) the Senate respectfully requests that the Secretary of 
     the Senate communicate this resolution to the House of 
     Representatives and transmit an enrolled copy of this 
     resolution to the family of the deceased; and
       (3) when the Senate adjourns today, the Senate stand 
     adjourned as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
     Honorable James Abdnor.

                          ____________________