{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11812", "2000-12-15", 106, 2, null, null, "TRIBUTE TO SENATOR CHARLES ROBB", "SENATE", "SENATE", "TRIBUTETO", "S11812", "S11814", "[{\"name\": \"Thomas A. Daschle\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Harry Reid\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Paul D. Wellstone\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Charles S. Robb\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "146 Cong. Rec. S11812", "Congressional Record, Volume 146 Issue 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S11812-S11814]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                    TRIBUTE TO SENATOR CHARLES ROBB\n\n  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I congratulate Senator Robb on his\nremarks. I thank him very much for sharing them with all of us.\n  These past elections brought our caucus nine new members and we hope\nmany new opportunities to address America's priorities. But they also\nhanded us a great disappointment, the loss of our friend and colleague,\nChuck Robb.\n  I am appreciative of the opportunity that I had just now to listen to\nSenator Robb, maybe for the last time on this Senate floor. I had\nfeared he might leave without giving us a chance to thank him for his\nremarkable service to the Senate. It would have been like him to do so;\nhe is an enormously modest man.\n  In an editorial the day before the election, the Washington Post\nwrote:\n\n       Even in the final days of a nip-and-tuck campaign, Senator\n     Chuck Robb seems uncomfortable singing his own praises. While\n     some voters may find this quality refreshing, Senator Robb's\n     reluctance to tout his accomplishments hides them too\n     effectively in a tight race.\n\n  Chuck Robb's reluctance to promote himself--his commitment to sound\npolicies over sound bites--may have cost him reelection, but they have\nearned him the respect of his peers and this Nation.\n  In 12 years in this Senate--and for 8 years before that as Lieutenant\nGovernor and then Governor of Virginia--Chuck Robb rarely spoke about\nhimself. He has always been more comfortable speaking on behalf of\nothers--the people whose voices too often are not heard at all.\n\n  Today, on what we hope could be the last day of this Senate, I want\nto say just a few things about him that he will not say about himself,\njust to remind us what a good man--what a good man--with whom it has\nbeen our good fortune to work.\n  As we all recall, he was elected to the Senate in 1988, with the\nlargest vote total for any office in Virginia's history. It was the\nfirst time in 22 years that Virginia had not sent a Republican to the\nSenate.\n  He has spent his Senate career working for Virginia and for what he\ncalls the ``long-range, big picture, important issues'': national\nsecurity, a balanced budget, education, and civil rights--for all\nAmericans.\n  He is a member of the Finance Committee and the Joint Economic\nCommittee. He is the only Member of the Senate ever to serve\nsimultaneously on all three national security committees: Intelligence,\nArmed Services, and Foreign Relations.\n  He is a former member of the Budget and Commerce Committees, as well\nas the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, where he cochaired a task\nforce that declassified and released vast quantities of information on\nmissing U.S. service members.\n  Quietly, with little fanfare, he has provided a steady leadership\nthat has helped keep our Nation safe and move us forward.\n  He is a lifelong fiscal conservative.\n  In 1993, he voted for the deficit reduction plan that launched the\nstrongest economic recovery in our Nation's history. He remains an\nimportant part of the Senate's economic conscience, always reminding us\nthat our job isn't finished, that we must pay down our national debt.\n  He has been a tireless fighter for education, the chief sponsor of\nour proposal to help States and local school districts build and\nrenovate 6,000 schools.\n  He fought to reduce class sizes by hiring 100,000 teachers and to\nmake America's schools safer and stronger.\n  He helped create new partnerships to connect every school in America\nto the Internet.\n  He is as hard a worker as you will find in this body.\n  In 12 years as a Senator, incredibly, he has missed only 10 votes.\n\n[[Page S11813]]\n\n  As chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1991\nand 1992, Chuck Robb shattered fundraising records and ended his term\nwith the strongest majority for our party in 20 years.\n  He cares deeply about the values on which our party is founded. But\nthere are values he holds even more dearly than party loyalty. A\nreporter asked him recently who his political heroes are. He listed\ntwo. One was the late Bill Spong, another thoughtful, effective\nVirginian, who served one term in this Senate and was the first\nsouthern Senator from a State covered by the Voting Rights Act to vote\nfor the act.\n  He said his other political hero was a man we all knew, our friend,\nJohn Chafee, ``because he worried about women's health, poor children,\nand the environment, and reached across party lines to find\nsolutions.''\n  Reaching across party lines, being willing to work and look in new\nplaces for new solutions--that is something Senator Robb has done his\nentire life.\n\n  He grew up in a Republican family. He is a founder and past chairman\nof the centrist Democratic Leadership Committee, and one of the\noriginal architects for what we now know and call ``the third way'' in\npolitics.\n  His ground-breaking ideas on the changing economy, new models of\ngoverning, and other ideas helped transform political thinking--not\nonly in this country but in England and in nations all over the world.\n  Quietly, modestly, throughout his career, he has tried to reach\nhonest, bipartisan compromise on an array of issues.\n  Here in the Senate, he has worked closely with his colleague, Senator\nWarner, on issues of importance to Virginia and our national security.\n  As a member of our caucus' Centrist Coalition, he has helped us all\ntry to find a middle ground.\n  I would be sorry to see Chuck Robb leave the Senate at any time. The\nfact that he is leaving now--when we so desperately need people who are\nable to see beyond the usual party divisions--makes his leaving doubly\nsad.\n  Chuck Robb only lost one other political contest in his life, when he\nran for senior class president at the University of Wisconsin at\nMadison. Speaking about that loss later to a reporter, he said it gave\nhim something important. As he put it: ``I needed a little taking down.\nAnybody who goes too long without some setback in life tends to lose an\nimportant perspective.''\n  One of the things Chuck Robb came to understand about himself back\nthen was how much he loved this Nation and how much he felt he owed it.\n  It was that sense of patriotism that compelled him to enter the\nMarines after graduating from college. It was that sense of patriotism,\ntoo, that made him volunteer to go to Vietnam. He didn't have to go; he\ncould have served stateside. In fact, the Pentagon brass would have\npreferred it. They worried about what might happen if a President's\nson-in-law were taken captive and used to extract concessions from the\nUnited States. But Chuck Robb insisted.\n  In April of 1968, 2 months after the Tet offensive, he landed in\nVietnam, commander of an infantry company. Two weeks later, he was in\ncombat.\n  In Vietnam, he earned the Bronze Star with the Combat V, the\nVietnamese Cross of Gallantry with the Silver Star, and the rank of\nmajor.\n  Most people who knew him, including his extraordinary wife Lynda,\nexpected Major Robb to make a career of the military. And he did remain\nin the Marine Reserves for a long period of time, all the way until\n1991, serving a total of 34 years in uniform.\n  But he also found another way to serve his Nation.\n  In 1977, the people of Virginia chose Chuck Robb as their Lieutenant\nGovernor--the only Democrat elected that year to statewide office. Four\nyears later, they made him Virginia's 64th Governor--the first\nVirginian Democrat elected Governor in 16 years.\n  As Governor, he championed many of the same causes he would later\nfight for in this Chamber. He invested $1 billion in Virginia's\nschools--without raising taxes.\n  He fought for civil rights.\n  As President, his father-in-law, Lyndon Johnson, appointed the first\nAfrican American to the U.S. Supreme Court--Thurgood Marshall.\n  As Governor, Chuck Robb appointed the first African American to the\nVirginia Supreme Court, as well.\n  He signed the legislation adding Martin Luther King's name to a State\nholiday that had formerly honored only Confederate Civil War heroes.\n  His fellow Governors recognized his exceptional talents. He served as\nchairman of the Southern Governors' Association and the Democratic\nGovernors' Association.\n  He chaired the Education Commission of the States and the Council of\nState Governments.\n  Even during the toughest political fights of his life, Chuck Robb did\nnot like to tell people these things about himself.\n  When others praised him for his accomplishments, he was always quick\nto say that it was ``we'' who deserved the praise, not ``he.''\n  His genuine modesty is one of the things that makes Chuck Robb a\nSenator's Senator.\n  Another is his courage to fight for principle, even when he knows it\nwill cost him politically. Chuck Robb has done that over and over and\nover again in this Chamber.\n  One instance I will always remember came last March when he stood on\nthis floor and explained--in a deeply personal, eloquent way--why he\nopposed amending our Constitution to make flag burning a crime.\n  As someone who saw too many good men die for what our flag\nrepresents, he said he felt a sense of revulsion when he saw the flag\ntreated disrespectfully.\n  But--in Senator Robb's words--``they died for liberty and tolerance,\nfor Justice and equality. They died for that which can never burn. They\ndied for ideals that can only be desecrated by our failure to defend\nthem.''\n  Someone once asked Senator Robb why he took such politically risky\nstands--especially in an election year.\n  He said that--because he had been in combat--``I thought that I could\nspeak out on some issues with less concern about the downside than some\nother Senators might have to think about.''\n  I don't know if he was right in that calculation.\n  I do know this: On this day in 1791, the Bill of Rights was ratified\nwhen Virginia approved it.\n  One reason it has never once been weakened--in all these years--is\nthe brave and principled stand of Virginia's Senator, Chuck Robb.\n  There are many things about the next Senate which I look forward to.\n  I deeply regret, however, that Chuck Robb will not be with us. His\ndeparture is a loss not only for our caucus but for this entire Senate\nand for our Nation.\n  Our Senate family will also deeply miss Lynda Johnson Robb, who is\nhere today.\n  She has given so much to our Nation throughout her life. And she\ncontinues to serve America as the National Chair of Reading is\nFUNdamental, and as Vice Chairman of America's Promise, the national\nservice partnership.\n  Last week, Chuck and Lynda celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary.\nI'm sure I speak for all of us when I say we wish them belated\ncongratulations--and best wishes on their future endeavors.\n  In that same interview in which Senator Robb listed his political\nheroes, he was also asked: What is your most inspirational quotation?\n  He cited the words of Teddy Roosevelt:\n\n       The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the\n     arena--whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood . . .\n     who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions--and\n     spends himself on a worthy cause--who at best, if he wins,\n     knows the thrill of high achievement--and if he fails, at\n     least he fails while daring greatly--so that his place will\n     never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither\n     victory, nor defeat.\n\n  Throughout his career, Chuck Robb has lived up to those words.\n  He has been in the arena.\n  He has fought for worthy causes.\n  And he has inspired us all to be better Senators.\n  I am proud to call him a friend. We will all miss him.\n  Let me also take this opportunity to say thank you, and best wishes,\nto our other fellow Senators who will not be rejoining us next year: On\nour side of the aisle: Senator Dick Bryan, Senator Bob Kerrey, Senator\nFrank Lautenberg, and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.\n\n[[Page S11814]]\n\n  And our friends across the aisle. . . . Senators Abraham, Ashcroft,\nGorton, Grams, Mack, and Roth.\n  It's an honor to have served with all of them. I wish them well in\nall of their future pursuits.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.\n  Mr. REID. Mr. President, on behalf of all the Democratic Senators, I\nexpress our appreciation for the kind words about our friend Chuck\nRobb. I sent him a note after the election, and he, of course, in his\ntypical fashion responded. But I so much appreciate the Democratic\nleader covering his extraordinary life. One thing the leader didn't\nmention is that he is really a son of the West. He was born in Arizona.\nOf course, he went to high school in Fairfax and did a great job there.\n  One reason I so admire Chuck Robb--and the leader touched upon that--\nis his military record. I have not served in the U.S. military. I look\nat Chuck Robb with so much admiration. He went to the jungles of\nVietnam. He didn't have to go, but he did. Not only did he go there,\nbut he served in combat and was given a medal for valor. That says it\nall about Chuck Robb.\n  Chuck Robb's service for the 12 years he has been in the Senate has\nbeen one of valor. We have asked him to take credit for things he did,\nand he would not take credit. We have asked him to come forward on\nissues in which maybe he just had some tangential involvement. He said:\nNo, that is not my legislation; I am not going to do it.\n  He is a man of great integrity. As the leader indicated, he doesn't\npromote himself. Of course, he doesn't do that.\n  But the thing I admire about Chuck Robb more than any other--more\nthan his public service and more than his military record--is how he\ntreats and talks to his family. He has three daughters and a wonderful\nwife.\n  With a heavy heart, I look at Chuck Robb here on the Senate floor for\none of the last times. My life is better because of Chuck Robb. He has\nmade me look better personally. He is a man of great integrity and a\nman of character. I will never forget the things he has done for me\npersonally.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.\n  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I would like to thank Senator Robb. He\nis truly one of the most honorable individuals I have ever met in my\nlife. I thank him.\n  I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.\n  Mr. ROBB. Mr. President, I will just take one minute to thank my\nfriends and colleagues for their eloquent and very greatly appreciated\nwords. I have never been very good at showing emotion. I am not very\ngood at saying thank you. But I want you to know that your words, your\nfriendship, your leadership and your example have always been\nappreciated well beyond my ability to express it.\n  Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11812"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 10.265612043440342, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}