Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

Government Publishing Office U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Appropriations TRIBUTES TO HON. ARLEN SPECTER Arlen Specter U.S. SENATOR FROM PENNSYLVANIA TRIBUTES IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TONGRESS.#15 Arlen Specter ? Tributes Delivered in Congress Arlen Specter United States Senator 1981-2011 a ? Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing CONTENTS Biography............................................. v Farewell to the Senate................................ xi Proceedings in the Senate: Tributes by Senators: Akaka, Daniel K., of Hawaii.................... 12 Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee................. 3 Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado................ 21 Boxer, Barbara, of California.................. 23 Casey, Robert P., Jr., of Pennsylvania......... 15, 24 Cochran, Thad, of Mississippi.................. 19 Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota.................. 8 Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut........... 11 Durbin, Richard, of Illinois................... 11, 17 Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming................... 9 Harkin, Tom, of Iowa........................... 22 Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah....................... 13 Levin, Carl, of Michigan....................... 5 Murkowski, Lisa, of Alaska..................... 26 Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island.................... 5 Reid, Harry, of Nevada......................... 5, 7 Sessions, Jeff, of Alabama..................... 20 Udall, Mark, of Colorado....................... 22 Warner, Mark R., of Virginia................... 5 BIOGRAPHY Since first elected in 1980, Arlen Specter has brought rugged individualism and fierce independence learned from his youth on the Kansas plains to become a leading Senate moderate. His work as Philadelphia's tough district attorney gave him insights to write the Terrorist Prosecution Act, the Armed Career Criminal Act, and coauthor the Second Chance Act. His legal background and experience in constitutional law provided the skills to serve as Judiciary chairman during the confirmation hearings of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. In earlier confirmation hearings he had the courage to cross party lines in opposing Judge Bork and disagreeing with conventional wisdom in supporting Justice Thomas after dissecting the contradictory and highly charged testimony. As a consummate legislator, he has counseled compromise and conciliation in a Congress that has established new records for partisan discord. In foreign affairs, he has advocated dialogue and accommodation as an antidote to belligerency and saber rattling. Arlen Specter's five terms have made him the longest serving U.S. Senator in Pennsylvania's history. A voice of reason, his independence and balance have won endorsements from the AFL-CIO and high marks from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Americans for Tax Reform. Time magazine listed him among the Ten Best Senators in 2006. Knowlegis rated him the second most powerful Senator in 2006 behind only Majority Leader Bill Frist. A November 11, 2007 Philadelphia Inquirer editorial stated: ''Senator Arlen Specter has more clout than some sovereign nations.'' Senator Specter attributes his zeal for public service to his experience as a child when he saw the government mistreat his father, Harry Specter, who migrated to the United States from Russia in 1911. Private Specter, serving in World War I in the infantry, was seriously wounded in action in France's Argonne Forest. When the government broke its promise to pay World War I veterans a 00 bonus, the veterans marched on Washington. President Hoover called out the Army which fired on and killed veterans on the Mall in one of the blackest days in American history. As a metaphor, Senator Specter says he has been on his way to Washington ever since to get his father's bonus and since he hasn't gotten it yet, he's running for reelection. The incident over his father's bonus has made Arlen Specter a fierce advocate for veterans' benefits and the ''little guy'' in his battles with the Federal Government. From his immigrant parents, Arlen Specter learned work ethics the hard way. His father, Harry Specter, who was a peddler, took 5-year-old Arlen to small Kansas towns selling cantaloupes door to door with a small basket in hand. In his dad's junkyard in Russell, KS, 16-year-old Arlen Specter cut down oil derricks with an acetylene torch and loaded scrap iron into rail freight cars headed for the smelter. His credentials include votes for the line-item veto and a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. As a two-term Philadelphia district attorney, he fought for tough sentences for tough criminals and later, in the Senate, wrote groundbreaking legislation providing for life sentences for three-time recidivists on violent crimes. Since 1981, he has played a significant role in Supreme Court nomination hearings, for Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justices O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsberg, Breyer, and Judge Bork. Notwithstanding debilitating chemotherapy treatments in 2005, he stayed on the job as chairman of the Judiciary Committee to preside over historic Supreme Court confirmation hearings. His work on the Judiciary Committee has included writing significant legislation on dealing with constitutional law, civil rights, and privacy. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, he led the fight to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health from 2 billion to 0 billion to expand medical research to find cures for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other maladies. He has supported expanding health care for seniors and children and has proposed legislation to cover the almost 50 million Americans who do not have health insurance. Because Senator Specter is keenly aware of the importance of understanding the younger generation, he often visits and speaks at universities and high schools. He credits his parents, both immigrants, with emphasizing the importance of education which has enabled his brother, two sisters, and himself to share in the American dream. To empower others with access to education, he led the fight on the Appropriations Subcommittee to increase Federal spending by 138 percent and raise funding for scholarships and student loans. Constituent service and promoting Pennsylvania's economic interests have been the hallmarks of Senator Specter's Senate career. He maintained offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Erie, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and the Lehigh Valley to help residents of those areas who needed assistance to cut Washington's redtape. From his experience as a teenager working on a farm in Kansas, the State where he was born, Senator Specter has understood and worked on the problems of Pennsylvania's farmers from his position on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture. He frequently argues in the International Trade Commission to assist the steel industry from being deluged with unfair foreign imports. His proposed legislation, endorsed by both business and labor, would create a private right of action in Federal courts to stop subsidized or dumped products from being imported into the United States. He has supported the coal industry by promoting legislation for clean coal technology and securing 00 million for a Schuylkill County project to turn sludge into high octane, environmentally safe gasoline. Recognizing the long-term effects of global warming, he has cosponsored the Bingaman-Specter bill to reduce harm from carbon emissions. As chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the 104th Congress and a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Senator Specter traveled extensively meeting with world leaders including Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev; French President Francois Mitterrand; Israel's Prime Ministers Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Olmert; China's President Hu Jintao; Indian Prime Minister Singh; Pakistan's Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto, Mohammad Zia, and Pervez Musharraf; Jordan's Kings Hussein and Abdullah; and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Strongly agreeing with Moshe Dayan's famous statement that we make peace with our enemies not our friends, he has met with Syria's Presidents Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad; the Palestinian Authority's Chairman Yasser Arafat; Iraq's President Saddam Hussein; Cuba's President Fidel Castro; Libya's Leader Muammar Qadhafi; and Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. From these meetings and his studies of foreign affairs since his undergraduate days at the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in political science and international relations, Senator Specter has been a forceful advocate for aggressive diplomacy to solve international conflicts. He wrote, with staffer Chris Bradish, an article for the Washington Quarterly (Winter 2006-2007), outlining a blueprint for diplomatic initiatives in the Mideast with emphasis on bilateral negotiations with Iran and Syria. Similarly, he has urged bilateral, as well as multilateral, negotiations with North Korea. Early in his Senate career in 1982, he was among the first to call for a U.S./U.S.S.R. summit in a resolution which passed the Senate 90 to 8. He participated extensively with the Senate observers at the Geneva Arms Reduction talks in the 1980s and led the fight for the broad interpretation of the ABM Treaty. Senator Specter consistently supported appropriations to fight global AIDS and promoted worldwide support for underdeveloped countries including free trade agreements. Arlen Specter was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980 and served five terms. In 2005, Senator Specter became Pennsylvania's longest serving U.S. Senator. He was a senior member of the Senate Judiciary, Appropriations, and Veterans Affairs Committees. Senator Specter was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee since he came to the Senate. As such, he played an instrumental role in many of the Senate's most important issues, including the confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito to serve as Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Senator Specter also shepherded through the Judiciary Committee legislation on asbestos litigation reform to absolve what the Supreme Court once called an ''elephantine mass'' clogging our judicial system. Senator Specter has worked in a bipartisan fashion to reauthorize key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, an important tool in the U.S. war on terror. He has also authored legislation to help consumers better protect the privacy of their personal information in the face of recurrent data security breaches across the country. On the Judiciary Committee, Senator Specter built on his foundation as a lawyer and former district attorney. He was the author of the Armed Career Criminal Act, which has been praised for its long prison terms for repeat offenders, and the Terrorist Prosecution Act, which authorizes criminal actions in U.S. courts for assaulting, maiming, or murdering Americans anywhere in the world. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Specter was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. This subcommittee oversees Federal funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control, educational programs like Head Start, Pell grants, and GEAR-UP, and worker safety programs. Under his leadership, funding for education has increased by more than 130 percent. Senator Specter was also instrumental in doubling the budget for NIH, which has made major advances in curing Parkinson's, cancer, heart disease, and delaying the onset of Alzheimer's. Finally, Senator Specter is a strong proponent of stem cell research for the purposes of discovering knowledge that may lead to cures for these same ailments. Strengthening our Nation's security has been a longstanding priority of Senator Specter's. Thirty days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Senator Specter drafted the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. While serving as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the 104th Congress, he authored the bill creating the Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency, marking the only reform legislation to emerge from the Iran-Contra affair. Senator Specter continues his strong advocacy for veterans, a passion born from the first veteran he ever knew, his father, Harry Specter, who was wounded in World War I. As a former chairman of the Veterans Committee, he pushed for just treatment for veterans and increased benefits. Working closely with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Senator Specter oversaw the opening of four new veterans outpatient clinics in Fayette, Northampton, Venango, and Warren Counties and passed legislation to create a new veterans cemetery in Southeastern Pennsylvania. A frequent visitor to all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, Senator Specter places constituent service high on his priorities and has been instrumental on the Appropriations Committee in promoting Pennsylvania's interests in agriculture, high-technology, steel, coal, tourism, mass transit, highways, and military installations. In addition to tackling the major legislative business before the Senate, Senator Specter also engaged in a personal battle with Stage IV-B Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer in 2005 and 2008. In both cases he underwent nearly 5 months of chemotherapy, but still maintained all of his senatorial duties, including chairing hearings, voting, and brokering important legislative initiatives. In July 2008, Senator Specter received his last chemotherapy treatment and has since received a clean bill of health. Senator Specter was born to immigrant parents in Wichita, KS, and grew up in the small town of Russell, KS. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He began his career in public service as an assistant Philadelphia district attorney. While serving in that position, he was named assistant counsel on the Warren Commission investigation into President Kennedy's assassination. Two years later, Senator Specter was elected district attorney of Philadelphia at the age of 35. Senator Specter lives in Philadelphia with his wife Joan. They have two sons, Shanin and Steve, and four grandchildren, Silvi, Perri, Lilli, and Hatti. Farewell to the Senate Tuesday, December 21, 2010 Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, this is not a farewell address but, rather, a closing argument to a jury of my colleagues and the American people outlining my views on how the Senate and, with it, the Federal Government arrived at its current condition of partisan gridlock, and my suggestions on where we go from here on that pressing problem and the key issues of national and international importance. To make a final floor statement is a challenge. The Washington Post noted the poor attendance at my colleagues' farewell speeches earlier this month. That is really not surprising since there is hardly anyone ever on the Senate floor. The days of lively debate with many Members on the floor are long gone. Abuse of the Senate rules has pretty much stripped Senators of the right to offer amendments. The modern filibuster requires only a threat and no talking. So the Senate's activity for more than a decade has been the virtual continuous drone of a quorum call. But that is not the way it was when Senator Chris Dodd and I were privileged to enter the world's greatest deliberative body 30 years ago. Senators on both sides of the aisle engaged in collegial debate and found ways to find common ground on the Nation's pressing problems. When I attended my first Republican moderates luncheon, I met Mark Hatfield, John Chafee, Ted Stevens, Mac Mathias, Bob Stafford, Bob Packwood, Chuck Percy, Bill Cohen, Warren Rudman, Alan Simpson, Jack Danforth, John Warner, Nancy Kassebaum, Slade Gorton, and I found my colleague John Heinz there. That is a far cry from later years when the moderates could fit into a telephone booth. On the other side of the aisle, I found many Democratic Senators willing to move to the center to craft legislation Date(s) Held: 2010-12-21, 2010-11-30, 2010-12-08, 2010-12-10, 2010-12-15, 2010-12-16, 2010-12-19, 2010-12-21, 2010-12-22 111th Congress, 2nd Session GPO Document Source: CHRG-111shrg64816 Superintendents of Documents ID: Y 4.AP 6/2 Related Items:

Government Publishing Office U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Appropriations TRIBUTES TO HON. ARLEN SPECTER Arlen Specter U.S. SENATOR FROM PENNSYLVANIA TRIBUTES IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TONGRESS.#15 Arlen Specter ? Tributes Delivered in Congress Arlen Specter United States Senator 1981-2011 a ? Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing CONTENTS Biography............................................. v Farewell to the Senate................................ xi Proceedings in the Senate: Tributes by Senators: Akaka, Daniel K., of Hawaii.................... 12 Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee................. 3 Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado................ 21 Boxer, Barbara, of California.................. 23 Casey, Robert P., Jr., of Pennsylvania......... 15, 24 Cochran, Thad, of Mississippi.................. 19 Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota.................. 8 Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut........... 11 Durbin, Richard, of Illinois................... 11, 17 Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming................... 9 Harkin, Tom, of Iowa........................... 22 Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah....................... 13 Levin, Carl, of Michigan....................... 5 Murkowski, Lisa, of Alaska..................... 26 Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island.................... 5 Reid, Harry, of Nevada......................... 5, 7 Sessions, Jeff, of Alabama..................... 20 Udall, Mark, of Colorado....................... 22 Warner, Mark R., of Virginia................... 5 BIOGRAPHY Since first elected in 1980, Arlen Specter has brought rugged individualism and fierce independence learned from his youth on the Kansas plains to become a leading Senate moderate. His work as Philadelphia's tough district attorney gave him insights to write the Terrorist Prosecution Act, the Armed Career Criminal Act, and coauthor the Second Chance Act. His legal background and experience in constitutional law provided the skills to serve as Judiciary chairman during the confirmation hearings of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. In earlier confirmation hearings he had the courage to cross party lines in opposing Judge Bork and disagreeing with conventional wisdom in supporting Justice Thomas after dissecting the contradictory and highly charged testimony. As a consummate legislator, he has counseled compromise and conciliation in a Congress that has established new records for partisan discord. In foreign affairs, he has advocated dialogue and accommodation as an antidote to belligerency and saber rattling. Arlen Specter's five terms have made him the longest serving U.S. Senator in Pennsylvania's history. A voice of reason, his independence and balance have won endorsements from the AFL-CIO and high marks from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the Americans for Tax Reform. Time magazine listed him among the Ten Best Senators in 2006. Knowlegis rated him the second most powerful Senator in 2006 behind only Majority Leader Bill Frist. A November 11, 2007 Philadelphia Inquirer editorial stated: ''Senator Arlen Specter has more clout than some sovereign nations.'' Senator Specter attributes his zeal for public service to his experience as a child when he saw the government mistreat his father, Harry Specter, who migrated to the United States from Russia in 1911. Private Specter, serving in World War I in the infantry, was seriously wounded in action in France's Argonne Forest. When the government broke its promise to pay World War I veterans a 00 bonus, the veterans marched on Washington. President Hoover called out the Army which fired on and killed veterans on the Mall in one of the blackest days in American history. As a metaphor, Senator Specter says he has been on his way to Washington ever since to get his father's bonus and since he hasn't gotten it yet, he's running for reelection. The incident over his father's bonus has made Arlen Specter a fierce advocate for veterans' benefits and the ''little guy'' in his battles with the Federal Government. From his immigrant parents, Arlen Specter learned work ethics the hard way. His father, Harry Specter, who was a peddler, took 5-year-old Arlen to small Kansas towns selling cantaloupes door to door with a small basket in hand. In his dad's junkyard in Russell, KS, 16-year-old Arlen Specter cut down oil derricks with an acetylene torch and loaded scrap iron into rail freight cars headed for the smelter. His credentials include votes for the line-item veto and a constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. As a two-term Philadelphia district attorney, he fought for tough sentences for tough criminals and later, in the Senate, wrote groundbreaking legislation providing for life sentences for three-time recidivists on violent crimes. Since 1981, he has played a significant role in Supreme Court nomination hearings, for Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justices O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsberg, Breyer, and Judge Bork. Notwithstanding debilitating chemotherapy treatments in 2005, he stayed on the job as chairman of the Judiciary Committee to preside over historic Supreme Court confirmation hearings. His work on the Judiciary Committee has included writing significant legislation on dealing with constitutional law, civil rights, and privacy. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, he led the fight to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health from 2 billion to 0 billion to expand medical research to find cures for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other maladies. He has supported expanding health care for seniors and children and has proposed legislation to cover the almost 50 million Americans who do not have health insurance. Because Senator Specter is keenly aware of the importance of understanding the younger generation, he often visits and speaks at universities and high schools. He credits his parents, both immigrants, with emphasizing the importance of education which has enabled his brother, two sisters, and himself to share in the American dream. To empower others with access to education, he led the fight on the Appropriations Subcommittee to increase Federal spending by 138 percent and raise funding for scholarships and student loans. Constituent service and promoting Pennsylvania's economic interests have been the hallmarks of Senator Specter's Senate career. He maintained offices in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Erie, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and the Lehigh Valley to help residents of those areas who needed assistance to cut Washington's redtape. From his experience as a teenager working on a farm in Kansas, the State where he was born, Senator Specter has understood and worked on the problems of Pennsylvania's farmers from his position on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture. He frequently argues in the International Trade Commission to assist the steel industry from being deluged with unfair foreign imports. His proposed legislation, endorsed by both business and labor, would create a private right of action in Federal courts to stop subsidized or dumped products from being imported into the United States. He has supported the coal industry by promoting legislation for clean coal technology and securing 00 million for a Schuylkill County project to turn sludge into high octane, environmentally safe gasoline. Recognizing the long-term effects of global warming, he has cosponsored the Bingaman-Specter bill to reduce harm from carbon emissions. As chairman of the Intelligence Committee in the 104th Congress and a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Senator Specter traveled extensively meeting with world leaders including Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev; French President Francois Mitterrand; Israel's Prime Ministers Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Olmert; China's President Hu Jintao; Indian Prime Minister Singh; Pakistan's Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto, Mohammad Zia, and Pervez Musharraf; Jordan's Kings Hussein and Abdullah; and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Strongly agreeing with Moshe Dayan's famous statement that we make peace with our enemies not our friends, he has met with Syria's Presidents Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad; the Palestinian Authority's Chairman Yasser Arafat; Iraq's President Saddam Hussein; Cuba's President Fidel Castro; Libya's Leader Muammar Qadhafi; and Venezuela President Hugo Chavez. From these meetings and his studies of foreign affairs since his undergraduate days at the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in political science and international relations, Senator Specter has been a forceful advocate for aggressive diplomacy to solve international conflicts. He wrote, with staffer Chris Bradish, an article for the Washington Quarterly (Winter 2006-2007), outlining a blueprint for diplomatic initiatives in the Mideast with emphasis on bilateral negotiations with Iran and Syria. Similarly, he has urged bilateral, as well as multilateral, negotiations with North Korea. Early in his Senate career in 1982, he was among the first to call for a U.S./U.S.S.R. summit in a resolution which passed the Senate 90 to 8. He participated extensively with the Senate observers at the Geneva Arms Reduction talks in the 1980s and led the fight for the broad interpretation of the ABM Treaty. Senator Specter consistently supported appropriations to fight global AIDS and promoted worldwide support for underdeveloped countries including free trade agreements. Arlen Specter was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980 and served five terms. In 2005, Senator Specter became Pennsylvania's longest serving U.S. Senator. He was a senior member of the Senate Judiciary, Appropriations, and Veterans Affairs Committees. Senator Specter was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee since he came to the Senate. As such, he played an instrumental role in many of the Senate's most important issues, including the confirmations of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito to serve as Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Senator Specter also shepherded through the Judiciary Committee legislation on asbestos litigation reform to absolve what the Supreme Court once called an ''elephantine mass'' clogging our judicial system. Senator Specter has worked in a bipartisan fashion to reauthorize key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act, an important tool in the U.S. war on terror. He has also authored legislation to help consumers better protect the privacy of their personal information in the face of recurrent data security breaches across the country. On the Judiciary Committee, Senator Specter built on his foundation as a lawyer and former district attorney. He was the author of the Armed Career Criminal Act, which has been praised for its long prison terms for repeat offenders, and the Terrorist Prosecution Act, which authorizes criminal actions in U.S. courts for assaulting, maiming, or murdering Americans anywhere in the world. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Specter was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. This subcommittee oversees Federal funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control, educational programs like Head Start, Pell grants, and GEAR-UP, and worker safety programs. Under his leadership, funding for education has increased by more than 130 percent. Senator Specter was also instrumental in doubling the budget for NIH, which has made major advances in curing Parkinson's, cancer, heart disease, and delaying the onset of Alzheimer's. Finally, Senator Specter is a strong proponent of stem cell research for the purposes of discovering knowledge that may lead to cures for these same ailments. Strengthening our Nation's security has been a longstanding priority of Senator Specter's. Thirty days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Senator Specter drafted the legislation that established the Department of Homeland Security. While serving as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the 104th Congress, he authored the bill creating the Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency, marking the only reform legislation to emerge from the Iran-Contra affair. Senator Specter continues his strong advocacy for veterans, a passion born from the first veteran he ever knew, his father, Harry Specter, who was wounded in World War I. As a former chairman of the Veterans Committee, he pushed for just treatment for veterans and increased benefits. Working closely with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Senator Specter oversaw the opening of four new veterans outpatient clinics in Fayette, Northampton, Venango, and Warren Counties and passed legislation to create a new veterans cemetery in Southeastern Pennsylvania. A frequent visitor to all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, Senator Specter places constituent service high on his priorities and has been instrumental on the Appropriations Committee in promoting Pennsylvania's interests in agriculture, high-technology, steel, coal, tourism, mass transit, highways, and military installations. In addition to tackling the major legislative business before the Senate, Senator Specter also engaged in a personal battle with Stage IV-B Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer in 2005 and 2008. In both cases he underwent nearly 5 months of chemotherapy, but still maintained all of his senatorial duties, including chairing hearings, voting, and brokering important legislative initiatives. In July 2008, Senator Specter received his last chemotherapy treatment and has since received a clean bill of health. Senator Specter was born to immigrant parents in Wichita, KS, and grew up in the small town of Russell, KS. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. He began his career in public service as an assistant Philadelphia district attorney. While serving in that position, he was named assistant counsel on the Warren Commission investigation into President Kennedy's assassination. Two years later, Senator Specter was elected district attorney of Philadelphia at the age of 35. Senator Specter lives in Philadelphia with his wife Joan. They have two sons, Shanin and Steve, and four grandchildren, Silvi, Perri, Lilli, and Hatti. Farewell to the Senate Tuesday, December 21, 2010 Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, this is not a farewell address but, rather, a closing argument to a jury of my colleagues and the American people outlining my views on how the Senate and, with it, the Federal Government arrived at its current condition of partisan gridlock, and my suggestions on where we go from here on that pressing problem and the key issues of national and international importance. To make a final floor statement is a challenge. The Washington Post noted the poor attendance at my colleagues' farewell speeches earlier this month. That is really not surprising since there is hardly anyone ever on the Senate floor. The days of lively debate with many Members on the floor are long gone. Abuse of the Senate rules has pretty much stripped Senators of the right to offer amendments. The modern filibuster requires only a threat and no talking. So the Senate's activity for more than a decade has been the virtual continuous drone of a quorum call. But that is not the way it was when Senator Chris Dodd and I were privileged to enter the world's greatest deliberative body 30 years ago. Senators on both sides of the aisle engaged in collegial debate and found ways to find common ground on the Nation's pressing problems. When I attended my first Republican moderates luncheon, I met Mark Hatfield, John Chafee, Ted Stevens, Mac Mathias, Bob Stafford, Bob Packwood, Chuck Percy, Bill Cohen, Warren Rudman, Alan Simpson, Jack Danforth, John Warner, Nancy Kassebaum, Slade Gorton, and I found my colleague John Heinz there. That is a far cry from later years when the moderates could fit into a telephone booth. On the other side of the aisle, I found many Democratic Senators willing to move to the center to craft legislation Date(s) Held: 2010-12-21, 2010-11-30, 2010-12-08, 2010-12-10, 2010-12-15, 2010-12-16, 2010-12-19, 2010-12-21, 2010-12-22 111th Congress, 2nd Session GPO Document Source: CHRG-111shrg64816 Superintendents of Documents ID: Y 4.AP 6/2 Related Items:

This research compared three clinical preparedness domains, communication ability, social comfort, and clinical confidence, between US-born and non-US born radiation sciences students. The aim of the study was to determine if there were perceived differences in clinical preparedness between them. Student's place of birth was found to be an influencing factor in each of the clinical preparedness domains. Informing faculty, clinical instructors, and hospital staff of the perceived differences in clinical education preparedness among non-US born students may serve as a catalyst for instructional change. Educators can then formulate instructional strategies to better prepare non-US born students.

Government Publishing Office U.S. Congress Senate Congressional Committee TRIBUTES TO HON. EVAN BAYH Evan Bayh U.S. SENATOR FROM INDIANA TRIBUTES IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TONGRESS.#15 ? [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] T4800.001 Evan Bayh ? Tributes Delivered in Congress Evan Bayh United States Senator 1999-2011 a ? Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing CONTENTS Biography............................................. v Farewell to the Senate................................ vii Proceedings in the Senate: Tributes by Senators: Akaka, Daniel K., of Hawaii.................... 12 Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee................. 3 Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota.................. 7 Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut........... 11 Durbin, Richard, of Illinois................... 11 Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming................... 9 Harkin, Tom, of Iowa........................... 14 Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah....................... 13 Landrieu, Mary L., of Louisiana................ 7 Levin, Carl, of Michigan....................... 8 Murkowski, Lisa, of Alaska..................... 18 Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island.................... 5 Reid, Harry, of Nevada......................... 5, 6 Snowe, Olympia J., of Maine.................... 16 Warner, Mark R., of Virginia................... 5 BIOGRAPHY U.S. Senator Evan Bayh is focused on providing hard- working Hoosier families with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed today. From his work to help stimulate the economy by creating jobs and growing small businesses to his fight to keep a college education within the reach of all Hoosiers, Senator Bayh continues to break through the partisan gridlock of Washington to help more Hoosiers make a better life for themselves and their children. His commitment to making real progress instead of participating in political showdowns has set Senator Bayh apart as a leader on a wide range of important issues facing the Nation. Elected to his second term in November 2004, Senator Bayh has proven he is ''more concerned with reflecting what he believes is right for Indiana citizens than with playing to the Beltway crowd,'' says the Indianapolis Star. His signature legislative efforts are aimed at strengthening our national security, creating more jobs through the growth of small businesses, protecting American workers from unfair trade practices, encouraging responsible fatherhood, and providing tax-relief for families struggling with the rising costs of college, retirement, and the long-term care of a loved one. Senator Bayh has taken the lead in providing our troops with the armored vehicles they need and has visited Iraq and Afghanistan several times for a firsthand look at the progress on the ground. He has also led the fight to cut through the mire of bureaucracy to ensure our Nation's wounded soldiers receive the high quality care they need and deserve. Evan Bayh served on six Senate Committees: Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, for which he was the chairman of the Subcommittee on International Trade and Finance; Armed Services, for which he was the chairman on Readiness and Management Support; Energy and Natural Resources; the Select Committee on Intelligence; Small Business and Entrepreneurship; and the Special Committee on Aging. While some have been content to let partisanship continue to threaten progress on the Nation's most pressing issues, Evan Bayh has continued to look for ways to build consensus and do what's right for Americans. In January 2005, he spearheaded the creation of the Third Way, an organization focused on commonsense legislative solutions on issues that would otherwise remain bogged down in political turf wars. Senator Bayh also served for more than 4 years as chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, which offers support to elected officials and community leaders who take a progressive approach to the issues facing the country. Before his election to the Senate, Evan Bayh was elected in 1988 to the first of two terms as Governor of Indiana, where he established the State as one of the strongest, most financially secure economies in the Nation. ''Mr. Bayh's record,'' reported the Wall Street Journal in 1992, ''is one of a genuinely fiscally conservative Democrat.'' Stressing fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, job creation, and lean government, Bayh's list of achievements include 8 years without raising taxes; the greatest single tax cut and largest budget surplus in State history; national leadership in moving people from welfare to work; more dollars for schools every year; high academic standards and new college opportunities for all, including low-income students; more than 350,000 new jobs; tougher laws on crime; and improved environmental quality. Evan Bayh was born in Shirkieville, IN. He graduated with honors in business economics from Indiana University in 1978, and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1981. After clerking for a Federal court judge and entering private law practice in Indianapolis, he was elected Indiana's secretary of state in 1986, the first of his five statewide victories. Senator Bayh counts as his most important role and greatest responsibility a position he assumed in November 1995: proud father of twin sons Beau and Nick Date(s) Held: 2010-12-15, 2010-11-30, 2010-12-08, 2010-12-10, 2010-12-14, 2010-12-15, 2010-12-16, 2010-12-20, 2010-12-22 111th Congress, 2nd Session GPO Document Source: CHRG-111shrg64800 Related Items:

Government Publishing Office U.S. Congress Senate Congressional Committee TRIBUTES TO HON. GEORGE S. LeMIEUX George S. LeMieux U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA TRIBUTES IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TONGRESS.#15 ? George S. LeMieux ? Tributes Delivered in Congress George S. LeMieux United States Senator 2009-2011 a ? Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing CONTENTS Biography............................................. v Farewell to the Senate................................ vii Proceedings in the Senate: Tributes by Senators: Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee................. 3 Bunning, Jim, of Kentucky...................... 12 Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota.................. 5 Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut........... 8 Durbin, Richard, of Illinois................... 8 Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming................... 6 Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah....................... 11 McConnell, Mitch, of Kentucky.................. 9 Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island.................... 5 Reid, Harry, of Nevada......................... 4 Warner, Mark R., of Virginia................... 5 BIOGRAPHY Senator George Stephen LeMieux was born in Fort Lauderdale, FL, on May 21, 1969, the only child of George and Karen LeMieux, a building contractor and secretary to the company. He grew up in Coral Springs, FL, and graduated in 1987 from Coral Springs High School. George LeMieux graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1991 from Emory University, where he majored in political science. He was selected by his peers to address the graduating class as senior class orator. While earning his college degree, he interned for Congressman E. Clay Shaw, Jr. and U.S. Senator Connie Mack III. After college, George LeMieux went on to earn his J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1994. At Georgetown he received the Vincent G. Panati Award as the graduate with the highest GPA in criminal law courses. After law school, he joined Gunster, a prominent Florida law firm, resident in the firm's Ft. Lauderdale office. George LeMieux and his wife, the former Meike Sigrid Detassis, are the parents of four children: George Maximilian, Taylor Franz, Chase Karlyle, and Madeleine Meike. Max, Taylor, and Chase were born in Tallahassee, FL. Madeleine was born in Washington, DC, while George LeMieux served in the Senate. Inspired by President Ronald Reagan, George LeMieux became active in Republican Party politics at a young age, culminating in his election as chairman of the Broward County Republican Party in 2000. In 2002 George LeMieux resigned his position with the Republican Party to serve as deputy attorney general for the State of Florida. During his time in the attorney general's office, George LeMieux helped lead an agency of more than 400 attorneys. In 2004, on behalf of the people of Florida, he successfully argued a death penalty case, Florida v. Nixon, before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he obtained a unanimous reversal of the decision by the Supreme Court of Florida. In 2006 George LeMieux managed a successful gubernatorial campaign and in 2007 became chief of staff to Governor Charlie Crist. In his year serving as chief of staff, he oversaw the executive office of the Governor including the Governor's legislative agenda, policy initiatives, and the management of the agencies that reported to the Governor. In 2008 George returned to the Gunster law firm and was selected by his colleagues to serve as chairman of the firm. In summer 2009, he was called back into public service when Senator Mel Martinez retired before the end of his term. On September 10, 2010 George LeMieux was sworn in as Florida's 34th U.S. Senator, and at the age of 41, was the youngest U.S. Senator then serving. During his time in the Senate, George LeMieux was an active member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Commerce Committee, and the Special Committee on Aging. In the Senate, he made the debt and deficit his primary focus. He introduced a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and opposed wasteful earmark spending, helping to lead the effort to ban all earmarks in the 111th Congress. While in the Senate, George LeMieux proposed the ''2007 Solution,'' a plan to eliminate the deficit by 2013 and cut the national debt nearly in half by 2020. He also saw several of his legislative priorities signed into law, including Medicare antifraud legislation, an export promotion act, tax relief and lending assistance for small businesses, and elimination of the monopoly given to rating agencies to determine the creditworthiness of securities. George LeMieux also successfully offered an amendment to the resolution of ratification to the New START Treaty with Russia, requiring the President to seek negotiations with Russia to secure and reduce tactical nuclear weapons in a verifiable manner. For his efforts, George LeMieux received several recognitions including the Spirit of Enterprise Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Tax Fighter Award by the National Tax Limitation Committee, the Friend of the Family Award by the Christian Family Coalition, the Guardian of Small Business Award by the National Federation of Independent Business, and twice received the Taxpayer Hero Award by Citizens Against Government Waste. In his farewell speech to the U.S. Senate, George LeMieux described his service in the Senate as the ''honor of his life,'' and quoting President Theodore Roosevelt, said serving in the Senate allowed him to enjoy one of the greatest gifts life has to offer, the opportunity to ''work hard at work worth doing.'' Farewell to the Senate Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Mr. LeMIEUX. Madam President, I rise to pay tribute to the body with which I have had the privilege of serving for the past 15 months. Being a U.S. Senator, representing 18\1/2\ million Floridians, has been the privilege of my lifetime, and now that privilege is coming to an end. As I stand on the floor of the Senate to address my colleagues this one last time, I am both humbled and grateful, humbled by this tremendous institution, by its work, and by the statesmen I have had the opportunity to serve with, who I knew only from afar but now am grateful that I can call those same men and women my colleagues. No endeavor worth doing is done alone. And my time here is no exception. In the past 16 months, I have asked the folks who worked with me to try to get 6 years of service out of that time, and they have worked tirelessly to achieve that goal. My chief of staff Kerry Feehery, my deputy chief of staff Vivian Myrtetus, my State director Carlos Curbelo, Ben Moncrief, Michael Zehy, Ken Lundberg, Melissa Hernandez, Maureen Jaeger, Danielle Joos, Brian Walsh, Frank Walker, Spencer Wayne, Vennia Francois, Victor Cervino, Taylor Booth, and many others have made our time here worthwhile, and I thank all of them. I especially thank Vivian and Maureen who left their families and gave up precious time with their children to come to Washington to support me in these efforts. I am also thankful to the people who work in our State office. Time and time again when I travel around Florida I am greeted by people who have received such a warm reception from the men and women who serve us in Florida and help people deal with problems with the Federal Government. I am grateful for their work. Senator McConnell has provided me with opportunities beyond my expectations. He is a great leader, and I am grateful to him. Senators Alexander, Burr, Cornyn, Kyl, McCain, Corker, and many others have taken me under their wings and mentored me, and I am appreciative of them. Chairmen Rockefeller and Levin, we have had the opportunity to do great work together in your committees. I thank you for that. Senators Cantwell, Klobuchar, Landrieu, Whitehouse, and Baucus, we have worked together in a commonsense way to pass legislation that is good for the American people, and I am appreciative of your efforts. Senator Mel Martinez, who ably held the seat before me, has been generous in his advice and counsel. Senator Nelson and his wife Grace have been warm and welcomed Meike and me to Washington. I am thankful for your courtesy. I thank Governor Crist. He has afforded me tremendous opportunities for public service, and I am grateful. I want to say a special thank you to my parents. My grandfather, in 1951, drove his 1949 Pontiac from Waterbury, CT, to Fort Lauderdale, FL, with his wife and five kids piled in the back. He didn't know anybody. He didn't have a job. But he went there to make a better life for his family. He worked in the trades, in construction. He built houses and he taught my father the same thing. And as my father worked in the hot Florida sun, his ambition for his son was that he would one day get to work in air-conditioning. I have achieved that goal and so much more because of their sacrifice. Mom and Dad didn't go to college but they sent me to college and law school, and I will be forever grateful for what they have done for me. My most heartfelt appreciation goes to my wife Meike. When I learned of this appointment, I met her at the door of our home in Tallahassee and she was crying. She was not just crying because she was happy; she was crying because she was worried. At the time we had three small sons Date(s) Held: 2010-12-07, 2010-11-30, 2010-12-08, 2010-12-10, 2010-12-15, 2010-12-16, 2010-12-17, 2010-12-19, 2010-12-20 111th Congress, 2nd Session GPO Document Source: CHRG-111shrg64813 Related Items:

Lilia Luciano @lilialuciano BREAKING: This is the moment just minutes ago when Mohsen Madawi a Columbia University student was apprehended by HSI agents in the middle of his appointment to become a U.S. citizen. He is a Palestinian-born green card holder. Video was taken by his friend ⁦ @ChrisHelali ⁩

1Hampstead Mystery

By Arthur J. Rees and John R. Watson

A murder whodunit... <br />Location:</b> Hampstead, England. <br /><b>Victim:</b> Sir Horace Fewbanks, a distinguished High Court judge. Cause of death: gun shot wound. <br /><b>Investigator:</b> Private Detective Crewe, a wealthy bachelor who has taken up crime detection as a hobby, because it provides intellectual challenges more satisfying even than playing twelve simultaneous boards against Russian chess champion Turgieff. <br /><b>His sidekick:</b> Joe is a fourteen year old Cockney boy, whom Crewe saved from a life of crime by hiring him as a messenger-boy and shadower. <br /><b>Other whodunit elements:</b> clues galore, suspects in abundance, an inquest, a trial, and an elegant resolution. (Summary by Maikki)

2Shrieking Pit

By Arthur J. Rees

The Shrieking Pit is one of Arthur Rees's earlier works, and is a good old fashioned murder mystery story. Grant Colwyn, a private detective, is holidaying in East Anglia when he notices a young man at a nearby table behaving peculiarly. The young man later leaves the hotel without paying his bill, and turns up in a nearby hamlet in the Norfolk marshes where he takes lodgings at the village inn. The next day, another guest at the inn is found dead, and the young man is missing. Can Colwyn sort out the mystery and prove the young man's innocence one way or the the other? (Summary by Kevin Green)

3Mystery of the Downs

By Arthur J. Rees and John R. Watson

"The storm had descended swiftly, sweeping in suddenly from the sea, driving across the downs to the hills at high speed, blotting out the faint rays of a crescent moon and hiding the country-side beneath a pall of blackness, which was forked at intervals by flashes of lightning." - Book's opening sentence

4Hand in the Dark

By Arthur J. Rees

An ancient English country house with a storied and bloody history is the setting for this intriguing mystery. It is the autumn of 1918. The War to End All Wars is still raging in Europe, but in this peaceful setting a bored young wife hosts a party for friends from London, including war workers, servicemen, and a famous explorer and expert on jewels. Hours later she is dead of a gunshot wound, an heirloom pearl necklace is missing, and Scotland Yard is homing in on possibly the wrong suspect. Can the famous private detective Mr. Colwyn bring the murderer to justice? - Summary by Jacquerie

5Moon Rock

By Arthur J. Rees

Robert Turold has a monomania - An English title which had fallen into abeyance hundreds of years ago. Just when he was about to stake his claim, he is killed, and his daughter is the suspect. She too disappears under mysterious circumstances after Robert confides to his relatives that his daughter is illegitimate. Who killed Robert Turold? What hold did his manservant Thalassa had over him? - Summary by Yoganandh T