{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11826", "2000-12-15", 106, 2, null, null, "SERVING IN THE SENATE", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S11826", "S11827", "[{\"name\": \"Frank R. Lautenberg\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}, {\"name\": \"Trent Lott\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "146 Cong. Rec. S11826", "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 S11826-S11827]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                         SERVING IN THE SENATE\n\n  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I want to be sure before I go into my\nremarks that neither of the leaders, the majority leader or the\nDemocratic leader, is waiting for some floor time for some special\nthings they want to go ahead with because I hope not to cover every day\nof the 18 years I have served here.\n  But I do want to make some remarks about this moment in time --a\nmoment that I have kind of looked at with some amount of trepidation\nbecause this is the end for me, at the bottom of the ninth inning, and\nwe have a couple of things to do before it is pretty much all over.\n  I am probably speaking now for the last time in the U.S. Senate.\nAfter 18 years as a Member of this institution, some time ago I made a\nreluctant decision to step down--not to try again after three terms.\nAnd, to be perfectly honest, there are those moments when I look at\nthat decision not to run for a fourth term with considerable regret.\nThis has been an incredible experience--an experience that so few ever\nget to have and such a worthwhile thing to do.\n  While my friends, the Democratic leader and the Democratic whip, are\non the floor, I want to express to each one of them how deep my\nappreciation is for the cooperation and the ability to work together on\nissues of concern--not just for my State but for the country at large--\nand how helpful Senator Daschle, our leader, has been; and my good\nfriend Harry Reid from Nevada, the only State that really competes with\nNew Jersey in the hospitality of the gaming industry. I hope we will\ncontinue to do more business than Nevada.\n  In all seriousness, these are States that have a certain kinship that\nis not always easy to recognize because our coast is far larger than\ntheir coast, and sometimes we differ on issues but never on intent.\n  This is a job that has been the highlight of my life, next to my\nfamily--my children, my grandchildren, eight of them; the oldest is\nseven. I want to make sure they understood what their grandfather did\nwhen he was spending time in Washington. They are too young to really\nknow what the job is about. But they know who the President of the\nUnited States is. Some of them knew because the oldest one is seven.\nThere are eight of them, obviously, and one is just 2 months old. The\nlittle one could not understand what I have done. I was lucky and\nbrought all of them down for Father's Day. I was able to take them to\nthe White House and take some pictures with the President. They will\nlook at these pictures one day and say, OK, that is where our\ngrandfather spent his time when we didn't see much of him. I hope they\nwill feel the same kind of pride and love for country as I do.\n  This job, one of some 1,850 people who ever served in the Senate, is\nsuch an honor to have. It is such an exciting place to be. I look at my\ndesk now as a reminder of why I had this desk moved as my seniority\nimproved from the far corner next to where it is now. I brought it with\nme wherever I went. It was a fairly easy task. I don't want the\ncitizens to think I had people put to work for little reason; just a\ncouple of screws lift out of the floor and we move it over here.\n  When I think of my parents and what this country meant to my\ngrandparents when they brought my parents as little children to these\nshores, I open the desk. As everyone here knows but the public probably\ndoesn't, there is something one could call ``graffiti'' in these\ndesks--a signature, a carving, a writing in indelible ink that gives a\nname and the State that the individual represented. I never got\ndiscouraged about this job, but anytime I needed a little stimulation\nabout how important the work we were doing was outside of the\nlegislative routine, I looked in this desk and I seen ``Truman,\nMissouri.'' Harry Truman sat at this desk when he served in the Senate.\nIt is such an honor for me to be able to fill the seat, not the shoes,\nas they say.\n  Every day I came to work here was a privilege, even when the day\ndidn't turn out as one expected. The people of New Jersey sent me here\nto accomplish things that affected their lives and their families, and\nit is not easy to relinquish those duties. I hope they will believe\nthat Frank Lautenberg served them honestly and diligently. I will leave\nit to them to mark the report card to see how we did.\n  My service was a way for me to give something back. I had a\nsuccessful business career, and I spent 30 years doing that, but there\nwas something more that was needed as far as my life was concerned. I\nam so grateful my grandparents, in their wisdom in the earliest part of\nthe last century, decided to pack up bag and baggage--they didn't have\nmuch baggage, I can tell you that; all they had was the spirit and\ndesire to live free--and come to this country, my mother a year old\nfrom Russia, and my father 6 years old from Poland. They believed so\nmuch in America. They were so sensitive about things. For my\ngrandparents, whose native tongues were reflective of the country they\ncame from, anything but English was almost prohibited in the house.\nThey wanted to talk English. They wanted to speak the language that\ntheir friends and their neighbors believed should be used as Americans.\nNow we understand people can live in multiple cultures and continue to\ntreasure the language that they or their parents had before they came\nto America. In those days, any indication they could get that they were\ntruly Americans meant so much.\n  So they came and worked hard, with no education. My father went to\nthe sixth grade only; he had to help his parents. But they never\ndreamed their children would have the opportunities that were so robust\nand so fulfilling.\n  I spent 30 years in the computer business, running a company called\nADP, Automatic Data Processing. The company started with two boyhood\nfriends of mine. We started without any money of our own, without any\noutside financing. The company today has 33,000 people and is one of\nAmerica's best performing companies in terms of its products and the\nstock market's response.\n  I got there because this government was there to render service to\nour people. The one thing that bothers me when we get into political\ncampaigns and speeches are made on the stump and people talk about the\ngovernment and how small it ought to be and why it is too big and the\nloaded bureaucracies, I can't stand it. Honest to goodness, I work with\nthe people who populate this place day in and day out--not the Senators\nexclusively but those who work here on both sides, Democrat and\nRepublican. I see how diligent they are in trying to get their day's\nwork done and how committed they are in the service of the people. I\nrespect them. Of course, those whom I have gotten to know in my office,\nI love them as well. One develops a respect and almost a reverence for\npeople who will come in and go to work at 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock in the\nmorning and stay; if we stay until 2 o'clock in the morning, they stay\nuntil 2 o'clock in the morning. For many years, until very recently,\nthere was never any compensation for overtime; that was considered part\nof the job. For those in the management of the office, and the\nleadership position among the staff, there is still nothing like\novertime. They do it because they feel the responsibility. It has made\nan enormous difference in the way we conduct ourselves.\n\n  Mr. President, the bottom line view that I bring is one that has\ndeveloped as a result of the opportunities that were afforded me. I\nknow I probably have said it too many times, but I ask my colleagues to\nindulge me once again when I talk about my family.\n  My father died a very young man, at age 43. I had enlisted in the\nArmy and\n\n[[Page S11827]]\n\nwas given the benefit of the GI bill. The GI bill made the difference\nin my life, enabling me to use the knowledge and programs I studied and\nlearned to start a business that became an industry. It is the\ncomputing industry, as contrasted to the computer industry, the\nhardware industry. To me it was a great example of the way government\ncan empower individuals and families to improve their lives.\n  It is a lesson I will never forget. The education I got through the\nGI bill set the foundation for me to build that business. When I look\nat what happened with ADP and the number of people it has put together,\n33,000 employees, processing paychecks for 33 million people across our\ncountry and others.\n  When I was finishing my 30th year in business, I thought there were\nother things I ought to try to do to help pay back what I thought was a\nunique opportunity. I wanted to make sure that it continued to exist\nfor others, as well. I came to the Senate. I ran in 1982 and was\nelected then. I brought what was a fairly unique perspective because\nthere weren't, at that time, as there are now, so many businesspeople\nwho came from not having had an elective office experience but came in\nfresh from the business to the Senate.\n  When I got here, my goals were to try again to permit people to think\nindependently, to make sure that the rights and the freedoms we enjoyed\nwould be protected, to make sure there would be an opportunity for\nthose who could learn without having, necessarily, the financing to do\nit. That is what the GI bill taught me. It has been my hope that people\nwould understand that these opportunities must continue to exist. That\nis why we have these discussions about investing in education, making\nsure children have the appropriate nutrition, and that people can count\non getting their health protected when they have a problem, or at least\nmaking certain as they grow and mature that they know they don't have\nto worry about an illness wiping out not only their assets but also\ndemolishing their health.\n\n  Just so everybody knows, I am going to take some time here.\nTherefore, it may take a little time for me to do the whole story. I\nsee the majority leader either looking at me so anxious to hear the\nwhole story that he wanted to ask me what it was.\n  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, if the distinguished Senator from New Jersey\nwould yield, perhaps that is a good point. Yes, I would like to hear\nthe story uninterrupted. If the Senator would allow us to do a little\nbit of leadership business--one of which, or both of which I know the\nSenator would be very interested in--I ask, with the agreement of the\nSenator from New Jersey, that his statement appear in the Record as if\nuninterrupted, and the exchange with Senator Daschle, our colloquy,\nappear after his remarks.\n  Mr. LAUTENBERG. I am happy to cooperate because I have a sense that\nthe subject to be included in their remarks is one with which I have\nintense fascination.\n  I am happy to yield to the distinguished leaders.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is it the majority leader's intention the\nSenator from New Jersey will hold the floor, following the business?\n  Mr. LOTT. That would be my request.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Yes.\n  Mr. LOTT. I yield to Senator Daschle.\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-PgS11826"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 20.707468036562204, "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"}