SENATE-Monday, May 19, 1986

SENATE-Monday, May 19, 1986

11188 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE May 19, 1986 SENATE-Monday, May 19, 1986 The Senate met at 12 noon and was As previously agreed to some time dom of movement, the freedom of reli­ called to order by the President pro ago, we will be in adjournment for the gion. tempore [Mr. THURMOND]. Memorial Day recess until Monday, Mrs. Bonner is getting ready to leave June 2. That will start effective the the United States, to return to her PRAYER close of business Wednesday, May 21. husband and their life in internal The Chaplain, the Reverend Rich­ On June 2, we will convene at 2 p.m. exile. Mrs. Bonner has whiffed the ard C. Halverson, D.D., offered the fol­ rather th~.m 12 noon. We will do that winds of freedom, she has exulted in lowing prayer: by consent. the homely pleasures of family life in Let us pray. It is still our intention to call up the American suburbia; she has bathed in God be merciful unto us, and bless tax reform bill very early upon our the warmth and beauty of a Caribbean us; and cause his face to shine upon return. I met with the Budget Com­ beach; she has lived in an open and us; that thy way may be known upon mittee chairman hoping we could ex­ democratic society. earth, thy saving health among all na­ pedite consideration of a 303 wavier It is ironic, that just as she was pre­ tions. Let the people praise thee, 0 request so we would be prepared to paring to return to a closed life in the God; let all the people praise thee. 0 let start on the tax bill, if not on Monday, closed city of Gorky, Anatoly Shchar­ the nations be glad and sing for joy; June 2, on Tuesday, June 3, or no later ansky, the recently freed Soviet dissi­ for thou shall judge the people right­ than Wednesday, June 4. dent, was beginning his first trip to eously and govern the nations upon There will also probably be pending the United States. For those of us who earth.-Psalms 67:1-4. at that time the President's veto of had the pleasure and honor to meet God of mercy, so easily we become the resolution of disapproval of the with Mr. Shcharansky, his joy at being spiritually disoriented. We drift with­ Saudi arms sale. I am not certain when free was patently obvious, even after a out an anchor. Losing our magnetic that veto will occur, but that will be grueling schedule. north we wander without direction pending, I assume, when we return, But at the same time, he made it and purpose. Help us return to Thee 0 unless disposed of before we leave. very clear that while enjoying his new God that we may connect with our I would suggest to my colleagues life in Israel, he will relentlessly cam­ spiritual and moral roots. For the sake that June 2 is also the first day of paign for the right of the 400,000 of our stewardship as national leaders public televising of Senate proceed­ Soviet Jews who wish to emigrate, and and for Your glory. Amen. ings. We will, as I said, begin on that for the thousands of dissidents who day at 2 o'clock. remain in Soviet prison camps. RECOGNITION OF THE Mrs. Bonner, Mr. Shcharansky, and MAJORITY LEADER YELENA BONNER'S CALL FOR all Soviets held against their will, want PEACE something as basic as a house and as The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The awesome as freedom and peace. able majority leader, Senator DoLE, is Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, yesterday As Mrs. Bonner wrote: recognized. the Washington Post's Outlook sec­ I want a house. I don't want war. Ameri­ tion ran an article written by Yelena cans want a house, too. Americans don't Bonner, Soviet dissident and wife of want war. SCHEDULE Andrei Sakharov. Her message was Mr.·DOLE. Mr. President, under the simple and straightforward: Americans . Mr. President, I ask unanimous con­ standing order, the leaders will have want peace. They want the freedom to sent to include the text of Mrs. Bon­ 10 minutes each, followed by special live in their own homes, raise their ner's remarks in the RECORD. orders in favor of Senators HAWKINS, families, pursue their careers. They do There being no objection, the re­ MATTINGLY, and PROXMIRE-the distin­ not want war. They want peace. marks were ordered to be printed in guished Senator from South Carolina, Yelena Bonner, who has been in the the RECORD, as follows: Senator THURMOND, is scheduled to de­ West for the past 5 months being AMERICANs DoN'T WANT WAR-THEY WANT liver the Hawkins special order-and treated for medical problems, recog­ HOUSES, WITH YARDS, AND So Do I routine morning business not to nized two overriding American charac­ (By Yelena Bonner> extend beyond the hour of 1 p.m., teristics-the desire for privacy and in­ <Yelena Bonner plans to leave the United with Senators permitted to speak dependence. These are traits the States Saturday to return to the Soviet therein for not more than 5 minutes Soviet system does not accommodate. Union and life in internal exile with her each. As she points out, at the age of 63, husband and fellow dissident, Andrei Sak­ Following routine morning business, she has never had a house, and prob­ harov.> the Senate will resume consideration ably never will: I am convinced that Americans want of S. 2180, the Federal Fire Prevention peace. I don't know about Am.erica-I'm not My dream, my own house, is unattainable a specialist, like the schoolchildren who and Control Act. No votes will occur for me and my family-that is for my hus­ travel around the world on peace missions prior to the hour of 3 p.m., and no band and myself, as unattainable as Heaven and can explain everything about rockets votes will occur after the hour of 6 on Earth. and so on. But while I am not as competent p.m. today. Why so unattainable? Because she to judge, I maintain that Americans do not There will be a number of votes, I and her husband had the audacity to want war. would assume, on Tuesday and challenge the Soviet Government, to What Americans want is a house. No Wednesday. We hope to begin consid­ speak out against its abuses, and to matter their place on the social ladder, their eration of H.R. 4515, the supplemental dare to ask to leave. But even if they salary, capital, inheritance, winnings in the appropriations bill later today or early hadn't, the opportunity for something lottery or on the stock market (for me with my lack of education in these matters it is tomorrow. There will be votes on that as basic as owning your own home in almost one and the same, even though I do throughout Tuesday and we could be the Soviet Union is as rare as a 5-per­ know that people win more frequently-and asked to remain in late on Tuesday or cent mortgage rate in the United lose more frequently!-playing the stock Wednesday to complete action on the States. But then, so are other basics, market than the lottery), they want a house supplemental. like the freedom of speech, the free- of their own. e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. May 19, 1986 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-SENATE 11189 They want a house and the ground it Then there was the army. I guess there Long, hot hours on the white, hot sand; stands on, and a surrounding bit of land. was a time when my "house" was a compart­ the sea-light blue, dark blue, turquoise. That's all. Some own a tiny house, like a toy ment in the hospital train, where I was head The bay is small-even with my ailing legs I cottage, and the only soil is in their flower nurse. The war ended, and many people managed to wander all the way to its left boxes; others have lots of bedrooms, baths, shared my room with me, like girl friends in point one day, and to its right on another. I and extensive lawns. The desire to own a Leningrad after the evacuation was over. will always remember that arc, a smooth house is not a class ambition; it encompasses Later, we had a room in a communal apart­ edge of sand, and the sea, which doesn't upper, middle, upper-middle, or lower­ ment-my first husband, two children, my roar, but whispers, babbles. I'm afraid of income groups, and is an expression of a na­ mother, and I; often we had friends staying tional trait, a desire for privacy. the night. There were 48 people in one lapsing into sentimentality <I think I al­ Even one of New York's homeless, hud­ apartment, and one toilet. ready have, in fact), but I've never seen dling in a blanket over a grating, will be in­ Later in Moscow, we had two rooms in the such a sea ... it has such tranquility. sulted if you invade his privacy. A house is apartment where my mother, the children Perhaps I have grown more tranquil here. the symbol of independence, not even a ma­ and I lived, and then we were joined by my I am grateful that I was invited to that terial one, but some sort of combined spirit­ son-in-law, and then by Sakharov.

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