{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2000-12-15-pt1-PgS11834", "2000-12-15", 106, 2, null, null, "LEGISLATIVE SESSION", "SENATE", "SENATE", "SLEGISLATIVE", "S11834", "S11837", "[{\"name\": \"Frank R. Lautenberg\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "146 Cong. Rec. S11834", "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 S11834-S11837]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION\n\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will now\nresume legislative session.\n  The Senator from New Jersey.\n  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I suspect you are getting weary of\nissuing that statement.\n  Mr. President, just because I want to talk about 18 years of service\ndoesn't mean I have to take 18 hours to do it. I will try to\nconsolidate it.\n  I have been talking about things that meant so much to me in the\nSenate and about the honor given when one is elected to this office.\nToo often it is denigrated in the heat of battle for victory in\nelections and again criticism of government and the bureaucrats, and so\nforth. It gets to a point where I must say I am very defensive,\nparticularly for the staff who give so much of themselves to make\nthings happen.\n\n[[Page S11835]]\n\n  Part of the work we have done over these years has proven to be of\nbenefit. I hope I will be forgiven for taking some minutes to talk\nabout things that can happen. I am proud of the work I did on gun\nsafety, especially the law which takes guns away from domestic violence\noffenders who abuse their wives and their children. I am disappointed\nthat more wasn't done to close the gun show loophole which permits\npeople to buy weapons without any identification. I hope in the 107th\nCongress, with the new Members on both sides of the aisle, people who\ncome here with good credentials, with those who have been here in the\npast from the 106th Congress, we will pass that law.\n  Tobacco. Often when I am on an airplane, I am thanked by flight\nattendants and passengers for writing the ban on smoking in airplanes.\nIt was a move that changed our country's cultural attitude on smoking.\nThe tobacco industry has to understand that. I hope scientists have\nseen signs of understanding and cooperation that will lead them to work\nwith us, through the FAA, to try to come to some kind of reconciliation\nof the position they are in where smoking brings so much damage and\ncosts to our society. They are beginning to know that, and I hope they\ncome up with something to permit citizens to avoid the poisons, the\naddiction that results from cigarette smoking.\n  The Superfund is another program on which I worked fairly diligently\nfor a long time without success, so far, in terms of getting it\nreauthorized, as it should be with a tax income that has those\nresponsible, who could be responsible for that pollution, pay for the\ncleanups. We missed passing a bipartisan brownfields bill this year and\nhope that will take place next year.\n  As we have reviewed tonight, transportation is one of my deepest\ninterests. In working the bill to maintain our mass transit system,\nhighways, airports, and ports have been a top priority for me as\nchairman and ranking member of the Appropriations Transportation\nSubcommittee. I believe we will face a serious transportation crunch in\nthe future, as discussed, unless we develop high-speed rail wherever we\ncan throughout this country. That is why this passage of the High Speed\nRail Investment Act is so critical. And, once again, I thank the\nleaders for agreeing. I include the chairman of the Appropriations\nCommittee, Senator Stevens, and the ranking member, Senator Byrd, for\ntheir willingness to cooperate getting that Amtrak bill in place next\nyear.\n\n  Also, I am delighted to have served with our friend, Senator Connie\nMack from Florida, who is also in the process of retiring from the\nSenate. He and I worked very hard to get passage of a bill that\npunishes those who would commit terrorist acts and to help the victims\nof terrorism. We came to a conclusion, before we left on our last\nbreak, that we will have these people receive compensation directed at\nhaving those nations that support terrorism pay for it. We are trying\nto get an understanding that, no matter what you do, if you support\nterrorism or you commit an act of terrorism, you are going to have to\npay for it, and pay severely.\n  I am proud of the work, also, I was able to do on the Budget\nCommittee, especially the 1997 balanced budget agreement that laid the\nfoundation for some of the surpluses we are now enjoying. I must say,\nwhen I walked across the lawn with the President of the United States\nand watched him sign that bill, I thought it was a moment I only wished\nmy parents could have seen.\n  I have served with many great men and women in the Senate. I have\nrespect for all of them. I cannot name them all at this time, but I do\nwant to mention some of the special ones. I worked with great majority\nand minority leaders. When I came here in 1983, Senator Howard Baker\nwas the majority leader. I found him to be one of the most honorable\npeople I have met. His word was his bond, and he taught me some early\nlessons when I asked him for a letter confirming a statement he had\nmade to me, a promise he had made to me about a piece of legislation.\nSo I said: May I have a letter to that effect? He said: If you need a\nletter from me, we are all in trouble.\n  I was startled for a moment. But I could see then that Senator Howard\nBaker was a man of his word, as I have seen with other leaders on both\nsides.\n  Senator Robert Byrd was minority leader when I came; later in the\n1980s, Senator George Mitchell, Senator Bob Dole, distinguished leaders\nof our two parties. In the 1990s, I had the privilege to work under the\nstewardship of Senator Trent Lott and my good friend Senator Tom\nDaschle, among the very good people who served in leadership roles. It\nis not an easy place to manage. I don't know whether there is ever\ngoing to be a school of hard knocks that is going to teach people how\nto run the Senate. But I think it has to be learning under fire with an\noccasional singeing here and there.\n  As a long-time member of the Appropriations Committee, I served under\nterrific leadership: Senator Hatfield, Senator Stennis, Senator\nStevens, and Senator Byrd. I don't think anyone of either party would\nquibble with my opinion that our friend Senator Byrd has been one of\nthe great Senators in the history of this Republic.\n  I have served for almost 16 years on the Senate Environment and\nPublic Works Committee. That committee was led by extraordinary\nleadership, Senators such as Bob Stafford, Lloyd Bentsen, Quentin\nBurdick, John Chafee, Pat Moynihan; and Bob Smith has taken over the\nreins there. Max Baucus is the ranking member, and their leadership has\nbeen excellent. We worked hard to get things done. The funny thing is,\nit seemed that a spirit of bipartisanship just emerged without it being\nput into a record book or a program design. It just worked that way.\n\n  I served on the Budget Committee. I did see Senator Pete Domenici\nhere. I did that for 16 years. I worked with the best. Pete Domenici is\nan outstanding chairman. We disagree on some of the policy things, but\nI wanted Senator Domenici to know how much I respected his work as\nchairman of the Budget Committee. I finally got his attention.\n  Senator Domenici and I had some disagreements--we had many\nagreements. But above all, we maintained respect for one another. That\neven developed, if I might describe it, as affection for one another, a\nrespect for the turn our lives have taken and the problems we both\nwould like to solve in our society.\n  We had Jim Exon, Jim Sasser, Senator Stevens, we had some really good\npeople--Lawton Chiles--who worked to chair these committees. There are\nothers who left us with a memory of some greatness: People such as Ted\nKennedy, Pat Moynihan, fighters such as Howard Metzenbaum, Dale\nBumpers, statesmen such as Joe Biden, Lloyd Bentsen, and my colleague\nBill Bradley; and American heroes such as Danny Inouye, Bob Dole, Bob\nKerrey, and John Glenn--people who paid, in many cases, steep prices\nfor their service to country.\n  We worked with Presidents from both parties. Despite our differences,\nI was able to get things done with Presidents Reagan and Bush.\nParticularly with President Reagan, as I noted, I was able to get the\nlegislation in place that raised the legal drinking age to 21.\nPresident Bush signed my legislation to ban smoking on all domestic\nairlines. I don't know whether that says something about the old saw\nthat divided leadership in the various parts of government maybe\nproduces good results. I wish I could have tried it all my way, but it\ndid not get to work. But the system does work.\n  I cannot leave this place with any criticism of the place not working\nor so forth. Sometimes the work goes slower than you would like.\nSometimes it is more painful than you would like. But the fact is, this\ninstitution of government does work, and the people across the country\nhave to know that, even as we looked at this kind of torturous process\nthat followed the election we just completed. We are on to a new\nPresidency. We are on to the hope for the next century, for the next\nadministration at least, that America will be able to continue to\nenforce its leadership in the world, not only militarily or\nfunctionally, but morally as well.\n  So, Mr. President, it has been quite a go that I have had, to use the\nexpression. I worked very hard for my State. I love New Jersey. I was\nborn there. We have had Members in Congress there from both parties,\nand we worked together on a variety of joint Federal and\n\n[[Page S11836]]\n\nState matters such as transportation, health care, and welfare. We had\nGovernors such as Tom Kean, Jim Florio, and the present Governor\nChristine Todd Whitman. We were able to put politics aside and work\ntogether for the good of the people of the State of New Jersey. I am\ndeeply grateful to the people of New Jersey. I thank them for putting\ntheir trust in me by sending me to the U.S. Senate for three terms. I\nhope I have made good on their trust and did the job they elected me to\ndo.\n  I welcome John Corzine, who is going to take this seat in the 107th\nCongress. He is a terrific fellow. He is going to do an excellent job,\nin my view. I was pleased to work with him in the election and, as a\nmatter of fact, through these past couple of weeks as well, to see if I\ncould be of help to him as he gets himself established, ready to take\non the assignments of the Senate as Senator from New Jersey.\n  I also extend my thanks to President Bill Clinton and Vice President\nAl Gore. Their leadership in the past 8 years has resulted in\nunprecedented growth and prosperity for our country. For that I am\ngrateful. Their leadership also helped us solve some of the problems\nthat beset the world, whether it was in Kosovo or Ireland, where\ndivision and torment and violence existed for so many years. It is\nworking its way slowly to a peaceful coexistence between the parties\nthere. President Clinton deserves enormous credit for that and our\nintervention in Kosovo to stop the killing and abuse of people there.\n  We look at the Clinton years as years of good government, of good\naccomplishment, to say President Clinton and Vice President Gore will\nbe remembered for the good things they brought to this country.\n  I thank my staff, perhaps the most loyal anyone could have, and many\nof them are here tonight and have stayed with me, as they say, to the\nend. Many of them have their own concerns, their own families, their\nown futures, their own careers to look after, but they stuck by, and we\ncontinued to get things accomplished--even this, though it is my last\nactive day as a Senator, though I will be a Senator until January 3. My\nstaff and I are showing we are still fighting to get things done.\n  I was pleased with the outcome for Amtrak. Our people have worked\nlong hours with great energy. They are talented, professional, bright,\nskilled people who are totally committed to our common view of public\nservice. Whether it was in my personal office, State offices, Budget or\nAppropriations Committees, my people made enormous contributions day in\nand day out, and my service has been enriched and made more effective\nby their contribution.\n  I have had some great people on the staff over the years who have\ndedicated their time and energy to advance our agenda. They have been\noutstanding public servants, anonymously serving the public interest,\nnot elected but just as dedicated as anyone who has been elected to\noffice.\n  I want to take a few minutes to name for the Record people such as\nEve Lubalin, my first legislative director, who served for many years\nas my chief of staff and campaign manager as well. She worked on so\nmany of our accomplishments in 17 years in my office.\n  Mitchell Oster worked on my 1982 campaign and later was my\nlegislative director. He was an excellent, smart, aggressive staffer.\n  A friend of mine who worked with me as a press secretary and State\ndirector is Jim McQueeny.\n  James Carville and Paul Begala managed my campaign in 1988. I hope\nthat was part of the propulsion that led them to the lofty positions\nthey had in campaign logistics and successes.\n  Karin Elkis has been on my staff since 1983.\n  Bruce King is the staff director of the Senate Budget Committee.\n  Sandy Lurie, my current chief of staff, has been on the staff for 10\nyears and has been involved in so many of my initiatives.\n  Maggie Moran is my State director.\n  Dan Katz, my outstanding legislative director, has helped me with so\nmany public health issues.\n  Tom Dosh has worked for me for 18 years, skillfully running the\nadministrative and financial management side of all my offices.\n  And my long-time assistant Eleanor Popeck has worked for me for over\n35 years. She was with me as an assistant when I ran ADP and has worked\nin my Washington office and Newark office as well. She is an\noutstanding public servant. Her contributions have been significant.\n  Peter Rogoff has worked with me on the Appropriations Transportation\nSubcommittee for over 10 years and has assisted me with so many major\ntransportation accomplishments.\n  There are many others over the years, and I wish I had time to\nmention them all. That would be disagreeable with some of the people in\nthe Chamber. I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record a list of\nmy key staffers over the years.\n  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in\nthe Record, as follows:\n\n              Staff Since January 1999 and Other Key Staff\n\n       Amy Abraham, Jeff Acconzo, Sharon Anderson, Nisha Antony,\n     Claudia Arko, Renee Ashe, Bill Ayala, John Bang, Lisa\n     Baranello, Frederic Baron.\n       Karyn Barr, Gabrielle Batkin, Steve Benson, Maggie\n     Bierwith, Patrick Bogenberger, Natalie Broadnax, Dana\n     Brookes, Aaron Brusch, Scott Campbell, Cathy Carpino.\n       Rock Chueng, Sally Cluthe, Todd Coleman, Bill Crawley,\n     Debbie Curto, Christy Davis, Sallie Derr, Nicole Di Lella,\n     Tom Dosh, Andrea Edwards.\n       Karin Elkis, Val Ellicott, Rob Elliott, Ron Eritano, Jim\n     Esquea, Kyra Fischbeck, Alex Formuzis, Alison Fox, Lorenzo\n     Goco, Lisa Haage.\n       Heidi Hess, Melissa Holsinger, David Hoover, Louis Imhof,\n     Dan Katz, Bruce King, Lisa Konwinski, Peter Kurdock, Lou\n     Januzzi, Andrew Larkin.\n       Vanessa Lawson, Josh Lease, Steve Leraris, Mada Liebman,\n     Julie Lloyd, Ruth Lodder, Eve Lubalin, Sander Lurie, Amy\n     Maron, Colleen Mason.\n       Denise Matthews, Katie Melone, Melissa Miller, Maggie\n     Moran, Courtenay Morris, Marty Morris, John Mruz, Sue Nelson,\n     Mark Nevins, Liz O'Donoghue.\n       Tony Orza, Deborah Perugini, Blenda Pinto, Lisa Plevin,\n     Michael Pock, Ellie Popeck, Peter Rogoff, Mike Rose, Nadine\n     Rosenbaum, Jon Rosenwasser.\n       Nikki Roy, Peter Saharko, Laurie Saroff, Dawn Savarese,\n     Jack Schnirman, Paul Seltman, Jeff Siegel, Retha Sherrod,\n     Tralonne Shorter, Lisa Singleton.\n       Monica Slater Stokes, Arvind Swamy, Beth Tarczynski, Keith\n     Totaro, Kathy Unzicker-Byrd, Chip Unruh, Raj Wadhwani,\n     Barbara Wallace, Mitch Warren, Sharon Waxman, Ted Zegers.\n\n  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Finally, Mr. President, this is not a day without\nemotion. Eighteen years of my life have been spent here, 18 of the most\nsatisfying years one could imagine. Couple that with some 3 years in\nthe Army, and I have served the Government for 20 years.\n  I have enjoyed it all. It has been an incredible learning experience\nfor me, but I owe a special thanks to four people: My four children,\nEllen, Nan, Lisa, and Josh. I asked them in the early stages what they\nthought about my running for office. I was chairman of a very large\ncompany, and life was pretty good. They all agreed that it was\nsomething I ought to do. We did not realize at the time what kind of an\ninterference with normal family life it would be. It has taken lots of\ntime away from our enjoyment of doing things together.\n  I came to the Senate because I love them so dearly that I wanted to\nmake sure their lives would be safer and fuller. How was that to be\naccomplished? It was not by earning more assets and resources. I knew\nmy children and my grandchildren could never be as safe as I would like\nthem to be unless everybody's children were as safe as they should be\nby getting rid of violence in the streets, in the communities, in the\nneighborhoods, in the schools.\n  How does one do that? I could not single my kids out and say, OK,\nlet's make sure they are safe and protected. No, I had to say all\npeople's children have to be safe and protected, and that is what I\nhave tried to do here.\n  That was my inspiration. That outlined the goals I set for myself.\nThat is why I wanted to raise the drinking age, lower the blood alcohol\ncontent, get guns out of people's houses, reduce smoking in public\nareas, make sure toxic chemicals were known throughout the communities\nin the Right To Know Act, and make sure terrorists did not run freely\nthrough our society or through the world chasing American citizens,\nabusing them, killing them.\n  I tried. I have not accomplished all of those things, but a lot of\nthem have been accomplished. I wanted the highways to be safer and the\nskyways to be\n\n[[Page S11837]]\n\nsafer because of the belief I had that people around the country would\nshare my view on that.\n  Now the pictures are off the wall, the furniture is moved out, the\nday is closing for the end of my Senate service. I will acknowledge\nthat it was more than skills and knowledge that brought me here. Some\nof that was the pure good fortune of the people of New Jersey electing\nme the first time I went out to run for office. They did not know me\nfrom anybody else, but they looked at the record my company had and how\nwe built it from nothing to something important. They looked at my\nservice as commissioner of the Port Authority of New Jersey and New\nYork that controls the bridges, tunnels, terminals, and buildings in\nNew York that was an appointed post. People looked at me and said:\nWell, we don't know this guy, but it looks like he has done some things\ncorrectly. They saw pictures of my family. They know how devoted I am\nto them. I also was chairman of one of the largest charities of the\nworld for 3 years. They entrusted me with this seat, the New Jersey\nseat, that I occupied for 18 years. I always refrain from calling it\n``my seat'' because it is not; I filled it for a while.\n  In closing, I thank the occupant of the chair for the opportunities\nwe have had to share common goals and for his decency in reviewing\nthose with me and having an open mind on many of the issues. I thank my\nfriend from Nevada who stands as the guardsman of the floor in his\nassignment for the Democrats as the whip, and I note the respect I felt\nfor him when I saw how arduously he worked to protect his State from\nbecoming a nuclear dump, even when we struggled to find a place to put\nthat material --and we do have to find a place. The fact of the matter\nis, if we defend the interests of our States in concert with the\ninterests of our country, we will have done our jobs correctly.\n  I hope the legacy I leave will create a brighter future for the\npeople who sent me here, for my eight wonderful grandchildren, and for\nall of those I took the oath to serve.\n  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-PgS11834"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.41768886148929596, "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"}