{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11815", "2000-12-15", 106, 2, null, null, "PROUD ARAB AMERICAN HERITAGE", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S11815", "S11815", "[{\"name\": \"Spencer Abraham\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "146 Cong. Rec. S11815", "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[Page S11815]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                      PROUD ARAB AMERICAN HERITAGE\n\n  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I will comment briefly on a matter of\nrelevance both personally to me and to my State. Since the election, as\na consequence of my defeat, I have heard from a number of people from\nthe Arab American community, both in Michigan and across the United\nStates. As a Lebanese American myself, I have been very proud to be, at\nleast for the last several years, the only Arab American Member of this\nChamber.\n  A number of folks from that community expressed their disappointment\nin the results of the campaign. I take the floor today to thank so many\npeople who have been in touch, but also to make several points that I\nhope will be heard by members of the community, to be taken into\naccount as they consider the results of this election, as well as the\nfuture.\n  First, I note that in recent years I believe the Arab American\ncommunity has become a key part of the American political process. The\nparticipation of the community has continued to increase both in my\nState of Michigan as well as across the country. Not only are people\nvoting in greater numbers as a percentage of the community, and for\nmany taking the first step of participating in the elections, but their\nactivism in Michigan and other States has grown considerably. I take\ngreat pride in seeing that happen.\n  In addition, we have seen a number of Arab Americans rise to\nleadership positions at the local level of government all the way up to\nstatewide offices. In the Congress itself we have several Members of\nArab heritage on the House side who were elected in the most recent\ncampaigns.\n  Much of this progress, I think, has translated into progress on\nissues of importance to the Arab American community in the last 6\nyears. I have been proud during my term in the Senate to have worked on\nbehalf of a number of important issues relevant to the community. One\nhas been to see the travel ban to Lebanon lifted in 1997, which has\nopened more opportunities for better relations between the United\nStates and Lebanon, and also for more commercial activity between the\ntwo countries.\n  This Chamber passed a resolution decrying intolerance toward people\nof Islamic faith in this country, a much needed statement, I think, for\nthe Congress to make so we can be on record consistently as opposing\nintolerance toward people of any religious faith. We have supported\nimportant programs that have affected the Middle East. One that we have\nworked on in our office with Senator Feinstein and others is the Seeds\nof Peace Program, which I believe will have a long-term and positive\nimpact on the relationships between countries in the Middle East,\nincluding Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, as well as the\nPalestinians.\n  I think the potential for the future is even greater. I think it is\nvery likely in the area of public policy that the people from the Arab\nAmerican community will rise and play an ever active role and a greater\nrole, as they have done in other fields of endeavor. In America's\nbusiness community, we have many Arab American leaders today who are\nheading up important companies from one end of the country to the\nother. In sports and entertainment and the arts, we likewise have seen\nArab Americans excel. In education, the same is true. Indeed, the level\nof educational attainment by young people of Arab American background\ncontinues to be one of the most important components of the Arab\nAmerican ethnic communities' contribution to the United States.\n  I am very proud of my heritage. I have talked to many other Members\nof this Chamber about my background over the years. I am glad to have\nhelped in a small way--to have played a role in moving forward some of\nthe policy objectives I mentioned a few minutes ago. I hope, to some\nextent, that has helped encourage others in their own communities,\nStates, or even perhaps at the Federal level to do so, as well.\n  Recently in Dearborn, MI, home to the largest concentration of Arab\nAmericans in the United States, I was approached by a woman who had a\nyoung son in the seventh grade, saying how happy he was to know a\nSenator shared his Arab American heritage. I hope that in my brief\ncareer in the Senate maybe there are others who have similarly sparked\nan interest in government because they happen to be part of that same\ncommunity to which I belong.\n  My message is to praise the community, especially, but also to say to\nany who have harbored a sense of disappointment with the results of the\nelection, I hope that disappointment will not be long standing. It\ncertainly isn't the case for myself. I encourage people in the\ncommunity to continue to play an active role in politics. Obviously,\nour political process inevitably produces success and failure from\nelection to election.\n  For people new to the process, sometimes they misunderstand and treat\na setback as something that should discourage future involvement. I\nhope that across the Arab American community, and especially for those\nwho first got active in the political process with this election, that\nthey will continue to play an active role, even increase their\ninvolvement, and hopefully encourage others to do likewise. That would\nbe invaluable to the community, and certainly from my point of view, it\nwould be the preferable outcome.\n  My grandparents came a century ago from Lebanon, where they left\nbehind everything to risk their fortunes on America. As is the case\nwith people not just from the Arab American community but so many other\nimmigrant communities, they came here with very little in the way of\nmaterial possessions, but they came with a great deal of desire and\nenergy and the hope that by working hard and playing by the rules they\ncould make a contribution.\n  As I have said to the others on this floor in the past, they did not\nnecessarily come here assuming they would have a grandson who would be\nin the Senate, but they wanted to live in a country where that was\npossible. Indeed, that is what our country always will be. And I think\nit always will. I am proud to have had the opportunity to fulfill,\nprobably in the utmost way, the hopes that were brought here by my\ngrandparents when they arrived.\n  I think, as I look back on my service in the Senate, perhaps more\nthan anything else, will be the source of pride that I take with me as\nI leave the Chamber today.\n  Mr. President, I yield the floor.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.\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-PgS11815"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.4175079520791769, "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"}