October 2, 2002 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S9787 I am confident you will keep up with anything. They just said do not do it two things. No. 1, if you are going to what we are up to, and, if you dis- again. debate the Senator from North Caro- approve of anything we are doing, I ex- The next time I was on the floor of lina, come prepared with the facts. No. pect you will call us. We will look for- the U.S. Senate, and the first time I 2, understand that his reach goes far ward to receiving your advice. really spoke spontaneously on the beyond North Carolina. Let me say good-bye in an official floor, was to my friend JESSE HELMS. I It did even then as a new U.S. Sen- sort of way to your tenure here in the remember he was a junior Senator with ator, a freshman U.S. Senate. I quoted Washingtonian Maga- immense experience. He had been an Senator, the Senator from North zine which recognized JESSE HELMS as administrative assistant to one of the Carolina, walked on this floor. From ‘‘The Nicest Senator.’’ leading Senators in the U.S. Senate. He the day he arrived, he had an impact. I I yield the floor. knew the place. He knew the system. do not think that can be said of any- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- He was standing at the desk, if I recol- one, I say to Senator HELMS, in our ator from Nevada. lect, in that quadrant in the back. He class. We had a big class. There were, I think, 13 new Members that year. Far f was on the floor. There was another Senator from Kentucky named Marlow and away, the man who stood out was EXTENSION OF MORNING Cook who was standing on the floor. He the Senator from North Carolina. He BUSINESS was moving what is the most thankless has stood out every day since then. Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have an job in the U.S. Senate for any Senator It is no surprise to anyone here the order for morning business until 11:30. other than being on the D.C. Com- Senator from North Carolina, Senator The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is mittee; that is, he had the responsi- HELMS, and I have not always seen eye correct. bility of moving the legislative appro- to eye. We come from different polit- Mr. REID. There appears to be a priations bill. ical points on the spectrum. We have number of people who wish to speak for I walked onto the floor to see what had some heated debates. The Senator Senator HELMS, and we are happy was going on. I was literally walking advocated some positions I would fight about that. We also want to make sure through. We had a committee meeting to my dying day to defeat as he would we have our half hour from 11 a.m. which had ended. I walked over to see things I proposed which he feels in until 11:30. I think it would be in every- what the state of play was. I was aware principle are not the way to go. One of the magic things about this one’s best interest to extend morning of the junior Senator from North Caro- place I learned from Senators with business until 12:30—an additional lina. My seat used to be in the very whom Senator HELMS and I served hour—and equally divided between back corner. I walked onto the floor when we first got here—Senators such both sides. I ask unanimous consent through that door, walked across, and as Goldwater, Humphrey, and Ken- that be the case. stopped where the junior Senator from nedy—is you can have serious disagree- The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there North Carolina was. There was a heat- ments on this floor about the direction objection? Without objection, it is so ed debate going on between the junior ordered. of this Nation, but that is no excuse to Senator from North Carolina—Sam be personally disagreeable. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- Ervin was the senior Senator—and ator from Delaware. I can remember—as my friend from Marlow Cook, the Senator from Ken- North Carolina can, as can my friend Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, this is a tucky. It was about either staff pay or happy day in the Senate. We are here from New Mexico, who came the same Senators’ pay, or whatever it was, and year, and as can the Senator from to talk about our buddy, JESSE HELMS. the Senator from North Carolina, as It is a sad day in that we talk about Alaska, who was here before us—the usual, was making a very compelling day when Hubert Humphrey walked on JESSE HELMS leaving. Other than the case as to why we should be basically Senator from Alaska, there is no one the floor literally dying, and we not paying anything. watched Barry Goldwater walk up to who has served longer with JESSE I am only kidding, JESSE. It was him, embrace him, and put his arms HELMS than I have. We came here dur- close to that. around him in that well, and both of ing the same election cycle, and we I stood there on the floor, and as I them cried. These were men of opposite came here the same day. We started off have done many times in my 30-year sides of the political spectrum of the with a rocky start. I was a 30-year-old career in the U.S. Senate, I did not lis- day—two leading figures in American kid who had only been in this Senate ten to the admonition I am told you politics representing the left and the once before in my life. That was when used to be given by the Speaker of the right, and they stood in that well and I came on the floor of the U.S. Senate House, Sam Rayburn. I am told in his embraced. They embraced in an emo- while spending a weekend at George- board-of-education way he used to say tional moment no one could misunder- town University. Back in those days, to new Members of the House back in stand the meaning of. It was real. It you didn’t have all the guards and all the 1950s, If you can say nothing, say was genuine. It was deep. the security. I came in Saturday morn- nothing; if you can nod, don’t speak; if It is, in my view, the unique and, I ing. I was mesmerized by this magnifi- you don’t have to nod, don’t do any- think, single most endearing feature of cent place. I walked in the back doors. thing or something to that effect, this body, the U.S. Senate. They were open. I walked right meaning keep your mouth shut. If we serve here long enough, and if through. The Senate had been in on I have often broken that rule, unfor- we are smart enough, we understand Saturday. I was unaware it had been in tunately. I stood there listening to this that it is not appropriate to question session. By the time I got here, it had debate, and I spoke up. I made the mis- the motivation of a Senator for what gone out of session. I literally walked take of taking on the Senator from he or she is proposing. It is totally ap- onto the floor of the Senate. I was ab- North Carolina. propriate to question their judgment. solutely, as kids used to say, blown He won’t remember this. It is totally appropriate to question away. I stood there in awe. I literally The result was I ended up with a whether they are right. It is totally ap- stood at that door. I walked up there. black-box editorial—literally, an edi- propriate to disagree. But it is inappro- No one was here. I stood where the Pre- torial on the front page of the New priate to question the motivation of a siding Officer was. The next thing I Hampshire Manchester Union Leader Senator because the men and women knew, this guy grabbed me by the with a big black box around it, which who come here are men and women of shoulder and put me under arrest. He used to be done by Mr. Loeb in those honor. They come here because they was a Capitol policeman. He took me days, talking about the audacity of the care deeply about the fate of their Na- downstairs. young Senator from Delaware taking tion. They care deeply about specific Most people do not know there is a on the point being made by the Senator issues, and some intensely on some Capitol police office in the basement of from North Carolina. That was my first issues. the Capitol. He took me down there, encounter of debating the Senator. It The thing that I think the Senator and he was going to arrest me for tres- warranted me a front-page article in from North Carolina embodies most is passing. He realized I was just a college the Manchester Union Leader that was that tradition that no matter how in- kid who was in awe. They didn’t do not flattering at all, which taught me tensely you disagree on the issue, the VerDate Sep 04 2002 01:31 Oct 03, 2002 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G02OC6.016 S02PT1 S9788 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 2, 2002 Senator from North Carolina, speaking the privilege to serve with JESSE up And, yes, I will miss his warmth.