July 10, 1998

Mr. President, very briefly, I see my colleague from Ohio here, I want to add my voice to those who have spoken in praise of Senator Jeffords, the chairman of the committee, his staff, and the wonderful job they did in leading this piece of legislation and working with Senator Kennedy as the leading Democrat on our side.

What we witnessed today is a wonderful example of how the legislative process ought to work. It is hard to imagine taking on a piece of legislation that has a 5-year lifespan to it, a higher education bill that affects so many millions of Americans. We did this in one day in large measure because the committee worked very closely together, Mr. President. A lot of work went into trying to resolve issues as a committee. There were a couple we couldn't, so we left those to our colleagues, which is the way it should be here when you can't come to a final resolution.

That shows remarkable leadership on the part of the chairman and the ranking Democrat, that they can take a bill as complicated and as comprehensive as this, one as long in duration as this and bring it to the floor and, in the space of virtually 12 hours, provide the kind of unanimous--it may have been unanimous, I don't know what the vote was here--almost unanimous vote in support of the Higher Education Act for our Nation.

I want others to know that this is a good example of how we ought to work here. I hope others will heed this example.

For Dan Coats, who is not on the floor this evening, our colleague from Indiana, this will be the last higher education bill he will be involved in, as he made the decision to leave the U.S. Senate at the end of his term. Certainly, there will be other bills between now and when the session ends. I am certain Senator Coats feels a sense of pride, as he should, having played a major role in the last higher education bill he will be involved in in the U.S. Senate. I commend him for his efforts.

Let me join in commending staff: Mark Powden for his fine work, Susan Hattan, Scott Giles, Jenny Smulson, Corey Heyman.

Senator Kennedy's staff: Marianna Pierce did a wonderful job on the Democratic side working on this and keeping us well informed and trying to work out amendments during the committee process and on the floor.

Jennifer Kron and Jane Oates did a wonderful job, as did Townsend Lange from Senator Coats' staff. And you will all understand why I pay a special tribute to Suzanne Day of my office who does a fabulous job on these issues, and has for many, many years. She was joined this year by a new member of our staff who did a terrific job, Megan Murray, who is here with us on the floor this evening. I want to thank her, as well, for the tremendous effort she put into making this a successful bill.

So, Mr. President, I commend our colleagues, and staff particularly, for really doing a very, very fine job. And in these days of acrimony and partisanship and invective behavior, it is wonderful to know there are examples of where this institution shines and shows its best. It did so under the leadership of the distinguished Senator from Vermont and the Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.