congressional_record: CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11824
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| granule_id | date | congress | session | volume | issue | title | chamber | granule_class | sub_granule_class | page_start | page_end | speakers | bills | citation | full_text |
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| CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11824 | 2000-12-15 | 106 | 2 | WRAPPING UP THE SESSION | SENATE | SENATE | ALLOTHER | S11824 | S11825 | [{"name": "Patrick J. Leahy", "role": "speaking"}] | 146 Cong. Rec. S11824 | Congressional Record, Volume 146 Issue 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000) [Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)] [Senate] [Pages S11824-S11825] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] WRAPPING UP THE SESSION Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, you know I think the world of all my colleagues. The distinguished Chair right now is one of my best friends in the Senate and one who deserves congratulations on--actually, they didn't have to have an election in his State; he wins by so much. I love being with him, as I do my dear friend from Nevada, the deputy Democratic whip. But I hope that neither of my colleagues takes it at all personally when I say I would probably rather be at home with my family at this time of the year. But then I suspect they would, too. I hope this means we are soon to wrap things up, possibly this evening or Sunday or Monday or sometime. We seem to be in a situation where wrapping up the session is like wrapping up the Presidential election this year. I am beginning to feel a little bit like a hanging chad of some sort. I thought of some of the other terms that have been used, but I am afraid sometime somebody might pull that out of context and I will be reminded that I will not be forgiven for what I may say because of my Irish nature. Let us hope we can wrap it up. I say that also for the sake of the President-elect and the leadership, both Republican and Democrat, in the Senate. All of us have a lot of work to do before January 3 when the Senate comes back into session with a number of new Senators and in a unique situation of a 50-50 Senate. Governor Bush and former Secretary Cheney need time to work with the Republicans in the Senate and the House as they put together their administration. Of course, I hope and expect they will also be in contact with those of us on this side of the aisle. There is a lot facing this Nation, and we have to work on that. VISIT TO IRELAND I was privileged this week to spend 48 hours out of the country with some other Members of the Senate and the House accompanying President Clinton on a visit to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was remarkable to see how people reacted to the President. He was accompanied by one of our Senators-elect, in this case the Senator- elect from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, although I think she was there more in her capacity as First Lady. It was interesting to see the reaction of the people in Ireland, both in the Republic and in Northern Ireland, both in the Catholic community and the Protestant community. The President was greeted as he should be, as a hero in Ireland because more than any President perhaps since John Fitzgerald Kennedy, he has shown a real interest in Ireland. He has become personally and intimately involved in trying to stop the sectarian damage, carnage, killings, and murders in Northern Ireland. He sent our distinguished former colleague and former majority leader of the Senate, George Mitchell, on countless trips to Northern Ireland helping to broker the peace agreement which became known as the Good Friday accords. Whether it was standing in the small town on the northern border of the Republic of Ireland, bordering Northern Ireland, a town of just a few thousand people but where 50,000 to 60,000 people from the whole area came and stood in the cold, the rain, and the fog for hour after hour waiting for the President and those accompanying him to arrive, and then giving him a hero's welcome and not wanting him to leave. I saw the faces of those people. I saw the children who looked out to him with hope in their eyes. I saw the older people who said he sought to bring prosperity to this area because he helped us stop the fighting that goes back and forth across the border. He has brought hope for our children and grandchildren. I saw the same thing in Northern Ireland in Belfast the next day where those who had been sworn enemies a few years ago were joining in meetings with the President, encouraging him to stay involved and asking him to please come back even after his Presidency. It had to be an emotional time for President Clinton, but it was very much for the people there. I talked with several who again told me he brought hope for them and [[Page S11825]] brought an understanding that their children could live in a world they had not known, a world where they could go to school, where they would not be defined by their religion but defined by who they are. What an improvement that was and how grateful I am for the opportunity to have been there, not just as an Irish American but one who holds deeply our sense of freedom, our sense of democracy, and our sense that people do not get excluded because of their religious faith or their ethnic background or who their parents were but are included because they are human beings and because they have intrinsic worth. ____________________ |