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Congressional Record—Senate S11262 S11262 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 9, 2009 COLLAPSE OF THE BERLIN WALL of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Em- I think of Ed and Marybeth Mr. KYL. Mr. President, on this 20th bassy in Tehran. Still, the White House Edmondson, whose son Eric was the anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s col- failed to use the opportunity to make victim of a traumatic brain injury in lapse, I would like to say a few words the moral case for freedom over totali- Iraq. Ed quit his job, his wife gave hers about the Cold War and the lessons we tarian oppression. In a message to the up, and they moved in the house to should take from it. White House, demonstrators could be take care of Eric and his wife and little It is often said that President Ronald heard chanting: ‘‘Either you’re with baby. That is their life, their commit- Reagan won the Cold War without fir- them, or you’re with us.’’ ment to them. ing a shot, and that is true. Unfortu- The President’s decision on how to I tell you these stories this week as nately, the current administration respond should be easy: the administra- we celebrate Veterans Day because I seems to have forgotten the over- tion should stand with democracy and believe these caregivers deserve some- use this opportunity to underline the arching lesson of President Reagan’s thing special from us, from the Amer- moral failings of Iran’s dictatorship. legacy. ican people, and from our government. Anthony Dolan, chief speechwriter Reagan’s predecessor had urged That is why I picked up a bill intro- for President Reagan, wrote in the Americans to abandon their inordinate duced by Senator Hillary Clinton that Wall Street Journal today: fear of communism, but Reagan was provides a helping hand for caregivers Reagan spoke formally and repeatedly of such as those I have just described. determined to infuse U.S. foreign pol- deploying against criminal regimes the one icy with a sense of moral clarity, which It isn’t a lot, but it could make a big weapon they fear more than military or eco- difference. It says we will offer them had been lost during the 1970s. The nomic sanction: The publicly spoken truth Reagan administration championed the about their moral absurdity, their ontolog- the very basics in training so that cause of democracy activists in Russia ical weakness—their own oppressed people. these home caregivers, these family and Eastern Europe, and it did not shy Moral clarity helped Ronald Reagan caregivers, know what to do—how to away from highlighting the Soviet bring down Soviet totalitarianism dur- change dressings on wounds, how to ad- Union’s complete denial of personal ing the 1980s, and it can help us bring minister an intravenous formula or freedom. freedom to Iran today. prescription, how to give an injection, In 1982, when the United States was The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- how to move a patient from a bed to a mired in its worst recession since pore. The Senator from Illinois. chair and back again. It provides also a monthly stipend for World War II, President Reagan defied f the pessimism of the day, and he pre- them—not a lot of money but some- VETERANS DAY dicted: thing to help them get by because, for The march of freedom and democracy Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this most of them, this is their life, this which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the morning, I woke up in Chicago, got veteran they are working for every day ash heap of history as it has left other tyr- dressed, came downstairs, met a staff- to keep alive and as comfortable and annies which stifle the freedom and muzzle er, went off to a breakfast, out to the happy as that person can be. It gives the self-expression of their people. airport, and then here to work in them 2 weeks of respite so they can Roughly a year later, he called the Washington on Capitol Hill. It was a take off and put themselves back to- Soviet Union what it so obviously was, fairly normal day for Members of the gether after all of the stress and strain, an ‘‘evil empire.’’ The ‘‘evil empire’’ Senate and Congress. We move about fiscally and mentally, of caring for this speech drew criticism from many of and don’t think twice about restric- person they love. Reagan’s domestic political opponents, tions on our movement or problems I was so glad that DANNY AKAKA, who and it greatly angered the Kremlin. that we might have in getting from is chairman of the Senate Veterans’ But it also galvanized Soviet dissidents place to place except for traffic, per- Committee, not only considered this who were encouraged that a U.S. Presi- haps a delayed airplane. But for 6,800 bill but made it his own, added good dent had been bold enough to denounce veterans, they woke up this morning in things to it and reported it out of his the moral bankruptcy of communism. a hospital bed at home or went from committee and brings it to the floor One particular Soviet dissident, that bed to a wheelchair and will stay where it sits on our calendar of busi- Natan Sharansky, found Reagan’s in that house today and every day. ness, a bill to help veterans caregivers, speech deeply inspiring. Sharansky There are 6,800 seriously disabled vet- some 7,000 veterans caregivers who give read about it in the pages of Pravda, erans who are not in veterans hospitals each day to these veterans we treasure the Soviet propaganda newspaper, or in nursing homes but at home—at so much for their service to our coun- while he was imprisoned in a gulag home with someone who loves them try. prison camp on the Siberian border. very much. Sadly, this bill has been sitting on Years later, Sharansky described his Yesterday, in Chicago, I had a press the calendar for weeks because one reaction to the speech and the reaction conference with a young man named Senator objects to it. That is the way of his fellow prisoners: Yuriy Zmysly. Yuriy Zmysly is a vet- the Senate works—one Senator. This Tapping on walls, word of Reagan’s provo- eran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, who Senator’s objection has held up this cation quickly spread throughout the prison. came home, and during the course of a bill and held up our effort to provide a We dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the surgery at a Veterans Hospital, after helping hand to these veterans care- leader of the free world had spoken the he was home, had a serious complica- givers. I would say to that Senator or truth—a truth that burned inside the heart tion—a denial of oxygen to his brain— any Senator, if you object to it, vote of each and every one of us. and he has become a quadriplegic. against it. If you want to offer an Mr. President, this past June, when Yuriy has no family, but he had a de- amendment, offer an amendment. But prodemocracy rallies broke out in Iran voted and loving young woman in his for the thousands of people who give following a fraudulent election, I hoped life—Aimee. After he faced quadri- this care, who sacrifice so much each the current administration would fol- plegia, Aimee said she wanted to marry day for these veterans who gave our low President Reagan’s example of him. So Aimee married Yuriy during country so much, we owe them a vote. American leadership and offer strong his struggle with this health issue and I hope this week, even this short week support for the Iranians who took to now has given her life to him every before Veterans Day, we can move this the streets and risked their lives to op- day, every minute, every hour. She is a bill for veterans caregivers across pose a tyrannical regime. But the caregiver who is there for her husband, America, to give them a helping hand. President’s statement at the time, ex- a veteran. f pressing ‘‘deep concerns about the elec- Mr. President, repeat that story 6,800 tion,’’ lacked the moral fortitude the times, and you will find husbands and HONORING COACH DAN CALLAHAN world has come to expect from Amer- wives, parents, brothers and sisters, Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise ica, the world’s standard bearer of free- who are giving their lives every single today to honor an outstanding person dom and democracy. day to disabled veterans who are at in Illinois. His name is Dan Callahan. New antigovernment protests began home surviving because of the love and He is the head baseball coach at South- last week to mark the 30th anniversary concern of people like Aimee Zmysly. ern Illinois University. I have known VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:40 Jan 30, 2010 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD09\S09NO9.REC S09NO9 mmaher on DSK69SOYB1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE.
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