[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8518]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM DAUSTER

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have two words for Bill Dauster: Thank 
you.
  Thank you, Bill Dauster, for your brilliant mind and unwearying 
service to the U.S. Senate, to the American people, and to America's 
most noble ideals.
  Thank you for your good humor, and thank you for your endless supply 
of good ideas.
  The Senate is going to miss you.
  In Steven Spielberg's Movie ``Lincoln,'' with Daniel Day-Lewis, there 
is a scene in which President Lincoln is talking with Congressman 
Thaddeus Stephens of Pennsylvania, played by Tommy Lee Jones.
  Thaddeus Stephens was one of the most righteous, uncompromising 
abolitionists in all of American history--and thank goodness for him.
  In the movie, he tells President Lincoln that there is no use in 
appealing to the moral decency of slaveholders and their allies to end 
slavery and racial discrimination.
  The reason, he says, is that ``the inner compass that should direct 
the soul toward justice has ossified''--become utterly useless--
``through tolerating the evil of slavery.''
  President Lincoln's reply was so wise. He said, ``A compass, I learnt 
when I was surveying, . . . it'll point you True North from where you'e 
standing, but it's got no advice about the swamps and desert and chasm 
that you'll encounter along the way.''
  He went on to say,``If in pursuit of your destination, you plunge 
ahead, heedless of obstacles, and achieve nothing more than to sink in 
a swamp, what's the use of knowing True North?''
  There is a lesson in that story for all of us.
  Passing laws in our democracy requires more than passion and more 
than clever speeches.
  Passing laws requires legislative skill. It requires mastery of 
parliamentary procedure and arcane rules. That is how we avoid the 
``swamps and desert and chasms'' that President Lincoln spoke of.
  Bill Dauster knows more about the rules of the Senate than probably 
anyone since Senator Robert C. Byrd. That has made him something of a 
legend in the Senate, on both sides of the aisle.
  But what makes him even more admirable is the reason that Bill 
Dauster has mastered the mechanics of lawmaking.
  Bill has worked for a lot of big names in American politics, but it 
is dignity and justice and fairness for the little guy that has always 
driven him.
  In 30-plus years, he left the Senate only twice, for brief stretches. 
Once was to be President Bill Clinton's deputy assistant for economic 
policy during the golden years of a budget surplus. The other time was 
in 1998 and 1999, to work on the Presidential exploratory committee of 
Senator Paul Wellstone.
  Paul Wellstone used to say: ``I didn't come to the Senate to fight 
for the Rockefellers. They have enough lobbyists. I'm here to fight for 
the little feller.''
  That could be Bill Dauster's motto too.
  Bill Dauster has the rare sort of vision in which no one is 
invisible, no one is so small that they are undeserving of respect.
  Bill isn't the only dedicated public servant in his family. His 
equally brilliant wife, Ellen Weintraub, has served as a commissioner 
on the Federal Election Commission since 2002.
  They are the parents of three grown children, Matthew, Natanya, and 
Emma.
  We thank the entire Dauster-Weintraub family for sharing Bill with 
us.
  Somehow, even with the obligations of work and family, Bill has found 
the time to be something of a Talmudic scholar.
  So let me end with this thought, from the ancient Taludic sage, Rabbi 
Tarfon, who wrote, ``Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's 
grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not 
obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon 
it.''
  For 30 years, Bill Dauster has helped this Senate pass laws that have 
made life more just and more merciful for untold multitudes, in America 
and around the world. Although he is leaving the Senate, I know he will 
never abandon that work.

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