CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE July 24, 2000 Bills to Address

July 24, 2000 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE 15855 I extend my warmest appreciation to all Seasons Hotel. We continued our walk up class and friction make our nation free in- who have organized and participated in this Newbury and Boylston Streets, miraculously deed. ceremony, the clergy, the officials, the without incurring major debt, and at noon, ‘‘Keep her faith in simple manhood, strong- speakers, the singers, the band, the color sat in silence, prayed and listened to the er than when she began, till she finds her full guard, the police, the Metropolitan District beautiful rehearsal music of the choir of fruition in the brotherhood of man.’’ Commissioner David Balfour and the dedica- Trinity Church in old Copley Square where I For this high honor, thanks be to Al- tion committee, and to all of you who have worshipped years ago, heard the wonderful mighty God and the people of Massachusetts. come from Maine to California, from the sermons of the rector, Dr. Theodore Ferris, f Berkshires to the Cape and Islands, and from and where my daughters were confirmed. I the Caribbean. shall always remember election night 1966 BREAST AND CERVICAL CANCER My association with Massachusetts began when I received my first congratulatory tele- TREATMENT ACT on Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941, when gram. It simply read: ‘‘Hallelujah’’ and was Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise signed Ted Ferris. I received a telegram from the United States today to express my strong support for Army ordering me to report to the 366th In- It has been said that this may well be the fantry Combat Regiment at Fort Devens, in first state courthouse named for an African- the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treat- Ayer, Massachusetts. It was to be the first American and perhaps the only one in Mas- ment Act and urge that it be brought time for me to set foot on Massachusetts sachusetts named for a living person. If true, to the Senate floor for a vote. soil. both are sad commentaries. It would be Sadly, breast and cervical cancer will I could not possibly have foreseen that shameful with all of the qualified and tal- afflict nearly 200,000 women this year, after the war I would have returned to Mas- ented African-American men and women in and take the lives of more than 45,000. this country, that it has taken 137 years sachusetts to study law at the Boston Uni- Women in every State and every com- versity School of Law, to practice law in since the Emancipation Proclamation to give such recognition. And as for the rec- munity in the country are today facing Roxbury and in Boston and to serve in public the daunting challenge of overcoming office. Nor could I have known that the peo- ognition of the living versus the dead, I, of ple of Massachusetts were to give me the course, vote for the living. these diseases. They are not strangers; In fact, in the present case, the new name greatest opportunities and challenges of my they are our sisters, mothers, aunts, of this building was approved by the Massa- life. and grandmothers. They are people we chusetts legislature on a budget bill to which This building and its location have special love and care about. it had been attached by Senate President meaning for me. In my law school days I Birmingham and Senate Minority Leader The statistics are disturbing. The lived a stone’s throw away, at 98 Chamber Lees, and signed into law by Governor family stories are sobering. But let us Street in the West End of Boston before I Cellucci on November 22, 1999. The Governor find hope in the strides that we have moved to Roxbury to live with my old Army is his wisdom, wanting to have an outdoor made so far. In 1991, Congress created buddy Al Brothers and his wife, Edith. I at- ceremony and being assured of perfect the Early Detection Program at the tended classes at Boston University Law weather, set the date for this dedication School at 11 Ashburton Place, a few blocks Centers for Disease Control and Pre- ceremony for June 20th, 2000. Of course, poli- vention, which provided low-income, up the hill from here and studied contract ticians always claim credit for things with and constitutional law on a bench in the which they had nothing whatsoever to do. So uninsured women with breast and cer- Boston Commons just behind the Robert with due respect, Governor Cellucci, I give vical cancer screening services. It was Gould Shaw Monument. I practically credit for the beautiful weather to Richard a positive first step toward ensuring boarded at Durgin Park, over there, near Winkleman, a dear friend who goes to church that every woman, regardless of her Faneuil Hall, where the servings of pot roast, every day of his life, and who has been pray- annual income and insurance situation, mashed potatoes and cornbread were gen- ing continually for good weather for today. could request a screening for breast erous and the price was right. During the interim between the passage and Later, after practicing law on Humbolt Av- and cervical cancer. I wholeheartedly the signing of the budget bill, when told that support the program, and I know many enue in Roxbury, I practiced law in Pem- this might be the first for a living person, berton Square across the street from the old my response was, ‘‘Well, you’d better hurry of my colleagues do as well. Boston Municipal Court just up the hill. It up or your record may stay in tact.’’ However, just as critical as guaran- was during those days that I practiced in the Today is not one to dwell on criticism of teeing universal access to cancer same probate, land and juvenile, now the the past no matter how valid that criticism screening is the need to provide treat- more civilly named family court, all now in may be. It is a day of joy, a day of celebra- ment options following a diagnosis of this new building. And, at first, to make a tion and a day of acknowledgement and ap- cancer. While the CDC Early Detection living, I searched many a title in the musty preciation for what has been accomplished. Program supplies participating women volumes upstairs in the office of the old Suf- It is also a day for a commitment to accel- folk County Registry of Deeds, Later, I erate our efforts for greater progress in the with an evaluation, it offers nothing in worked in the offices of the Boston Finance present and in the future. Massachusetts the way of treatment should that eval- Commission, just down the street from the Governors Michael Dukakis, William Weld uation reveal cancer. The very same Parker House, and still later, in the Office of and Paul Cellucci are to be commended for women who are not expected to pay for the Attorney General in the old bullfinch having appointed many highly-qualified a screening are somehow expected to State House, all within a short walking dis- women, African-Americans, Jews and rep- finance their own treatment program. tance of this new building. resentatives of other minorities to the judi- It simply does not make sense. My relationship with Boston has now come ciary and elsewhere in their administrations. full circle within the naming of this court- We must, therefore, draw a line from I trust that successor governors will con- A to B, from screening to treatment. house and my involvement in the restoration tinue that record including the appointment of another old Bullfinch Building built in of Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. The Breast and Cervical Cancer Treat- 1804 at the corner of Beacon and Park Like justice, appointments and recognition ment Act, a bill I am pleased to co- Streets. It was also in Boston close by, where should be racial and gender-blind, and I re- sponsor, does just that. It gives States my fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, inducted a spectfully urge other states across the coun- the option of offering Medicaid cov- young Boston University Divinity School try to follow the example set by this Gov- erage to women that participated in student named Martin Luther King. ernor, this legislative body, and the citizens the CDC Early Detection Program and In order to be on time for this ceremony, of Massachusetts. were diagnosed as having breast or cer- Anne and I came to Boston last Friday As we look to the future and the genera- morning, which enabled me to lunch at the tions to come who will avail themselves of vical cancer. In so doing, it provides a famous Doyle’s Pub in Jamaica Plains with equal justice under law in this gleaming much-needed complement to the Early some of the retired newspapermen of yester- symbol of civil society, let us all pledge to Detection Program. years. Having been married 21 years, and work for a nation in which barriers of race, We have broad bipartisan support in still being young lovers and on Saturday religion and ethnic origin do not stand in the the Senate to pass this bill. Nearly 80 Anne and I strolled hand-in-had Saturday way of achievement or recognition, a nation Senators have cosponsored it. The pro- through the historic Boston Commons, that continues to strike down the barriers gram was included in the President’s founded in 1634, and the beautiful Boston that make us weak and lives up to the noble fiscal year 2001 budget.

Load more