Honoring the life of Claiborne Pell, distinguished former Senator from the State of Rhode Island.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 50) honoring the life of Claiborne Pell, distinguished former Senator from the State of Rhode Island.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on House Resolution 50 into the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today to honor the life and numerous accomplishments of former Senator Claiborne Pell. As a six-term United States Senator from Rhode Island and the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, he was a strong voice in educational policy, international policy,

and the arts. Sadly, Senator Pell passed away on the first of this year at the age of 90.

Born in 1918, Senator Pell committed himself to public service throughout his life. He served in the United States Coast Guard during World War II and later in the Coast Guard Reserves.

Returning to civilian life, Senator Pell worked in the Foreign Service in Czechoslovakia, in Italy, and right here in Washington, DC. Elected to the United States Senate from the State of Rhode Island in 1960, Claiborne Pell quickly became a leading spokesman in both international and domestic policy.

Senator Pell campaigned ardently for human rights, speaking out against genocide occurring around the world. As a supporter of the issue of diplomacy and law over military force, he advocated against the use of nuclear weapons.

While in the Senate, Claiborne Pell sponsored the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965, which helped create the Amtrak system that more than 25 million people ride each year. Senator Pell also sponsored legislation creating the National Endowment For the Arts and the National Endowment For the Humanities, entities which play a vital role in developing and supporting the arts and historical preservation.

Perhaps the accomplishment for which Claiborne Pell is best known is the creation of the Pell Grant. He was the architect of the 1972 Basic Education Opportunity grants, which were later renamed in his honor by the U.S. Congress.

Senator Pell often remarked that he had been inspired to help students pay for college by the provisions in the GI bill, which had meant a great deal to him as a veteran whose comrades were propelled to succeed by its educational provisions.

Pell Grants, which have helped more than 54 million low and middle income students attend college, have changed the face of American education, opening doors for millions of Americans, including a great number of our colleagues and friends and families and community members. Among all that he had accomplished during his time on Capitol Hill, Senator Pell often called these grants his greatest achievement.

A consummate gentleman renowned for his integrity, Claiborne Pell was respected and loved by his colleagues in Congress as well as his constituents at home in Rhode Island. On this day I would like to commemorate Senator Pell's empowering work and recognize his numerous accomplishments. He is an inspiration to us all and an example of how one person can make a difference.

Senator Pell had a profound understanding of what truly makes this Nation great. In Senator Pell's words, and I quote, ``The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox nor the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.''

His legacy left the United States stronger. His life's work opened the doors of educational opportunity wider than they had ever been opened before. He is an example of the great character of our people.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution honoring this great Senator who did so much to help Americans who might otherwise not be able to attend college, pursue higher education, and reach for new heights.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize a new Member of Congress who served on the staff of the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where Claiborne Pell was Chair, and I wish to yield the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Gerry Connolly, up to 4 minutes.

I have no further speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I am so happy to hear Congressman Dreier make those kind remarks. As I listened to him, it reminded me of 2 years ago when I was chosen by members of the Democratic Caucus to be the chairman of the Higher Education Committee, and one of the first things that I did was to invite presidents and chancellors of different universities throughout our land to come into our office and tell us about what they consider to be the priorities that they had on higher education.

I am pleased to say that the chancellor from California, Cal State system, came by to visit me. He pointed out that through the association of presidents and chancellors that there was no question that the highest priority that they had for the 110th Congress was that we do something about increasing the amount of Federal investment in Pell Grants.

I am pleased to say that we heard the message and we did something about it, and that we have, in this Congress, the 110th, and we pledge in the 111th Congress, to continue paying attention to the need for funding for Pell Grants. Because if we are to address the affordability and the accessibility of higher education for many of the children of working families, it requires that additional Federal investment as we now talk about the Pell Grants.

With that, I urge everyone to vote ``yes'' on this suspension bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

I thank my colleague from Texas, and I rise in support of the resolution today.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise to pay tribute to one of the most gifted and gracious legislators who has ever served in the United States Congress, a man whose life's work influenced education, culture and diplomacy for generations of Americans. He was also a man with whom I had the great pleasure of working during my 10 years serving on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Claiborne de Borda Pell may best be known for his effort to create a national college tuition grant program, which now bears his name, but Senator Pell was also instrumental in establishing the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities and pushing for critical new investments in our Nation's railroad system.

As my colleagues know, Senator Pell died early Friday, January 2, at his home in Newport, Rhode Island. He was first elected to the United States Senate in 1960 and served six terms, becoming the State's longest-serving Senator. Senator Pell came from a political family that had five members serve in the House or Senate, including his great- great-granduncle George M. Dallas, who was a Senator from Pennsylvania in the 1830s and Vice President under James K. Polk in the 1840s. Senator Pell's version of his family genealogy always insisted, when you visited his home, that Dallas, Texas, was named for this distinguished forebear.

Senator Pell's father, Herbert Claiborne Pell, served one term here in the House, representing a portion of New York. Ironically, he always opposed the Federal role in education, an idea with which Senator Claiborne Pell broke courageously when he came here to the United States Congress.

After being elected in 1960, Senator Pell sponsored the preparation of a statistical report that became the basis

for the bill creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant that eventually produced financial aid for 54 million low- and middle-income Americans to have the opportunity to attend college. That grants program, of course, was renamed in honor of Senator Pell in 1980.

In the early 1960s, Senator Pell also had a role in the North American passenger railroad renaissance. He foresaw the potential for a resurgence in the railroad system, which inspired him to draft the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965, recommending that the Federal Government pump a half a billion dollars into rail transportation in the busy Northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, DC. He further accelerated that construction, realizing how important the magnitude of this project was, and increased the overall investment to $1 billion. It was from this initiative that the modern Amtrak system emerged.

Senator Pell also possessed a keen interest in the arts and was the author of the National Foundation of Arts and Humanities Act of 1965. That legislation paved the way for the National Endowment for the Arts, which makes Federal grants to artists and art organizations, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is federally funded and dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, public programs in the humanities and projects exhibiting artistic excellence. Senator Pell's vision almost single-handedly revived the arts and humanities in myriad communities in the United States.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, on a personal note, I had the privilege of working with Senator Pell during his tenure as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where I served on committee staff. Senator Pell was a gracious and thoughtful man. He met with any and all constituents who requested a meeting, and he did so always on time.

As a former Foreign Service Officer and Coast Guard serviceman, he was a strong and passionate voice for the men and women who serve our country abroad and in the Coast Guard all of his distinguished career. He had his eccentricities, but they did not characterize the man. What characterized Claiborne Pell, Mr. Speaker, was a sense of duty and his devotion to his country, his citizens, his high moral principles and, despite his wealth, his desire to spread opportunity to the average man and woman of this country.

His loss will be a source of grief for me personally and all who knew him.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H. Res. 50, a resolution honoring the life of Claiborne Pell, the distinguished former Senator from Rhode Island. While I never had the privilege and pleasure of working with Senator Pell, I know the Senator was a force to be reckoned with and have seen the impact of his 37 years in the Senate in a number of areas I have worked on with the Education and Labor Committee. Senator Pell was a dedicated public servant who served our country during a time of war in the United States Coast Guard and had a career in the Foreign Service prior to being elected to serve the people of Rhode Island in the United States Senate in 1960.

Senator Pell was instrumental in creating the Basic Education Opportunity Grant program, later renamed the Pell Grant Program, in his honor.

This program was inspired by the GI Bill, which had helped World War II veterans pay for educational expenses after the war. The Federal Pell Grant has become the cornerstone of every financial aid package for America's neediest students.

Since the creation of the Pell Grant, the Federal Government has distributed approximately 108 million grants to help lower income students achieve their goals of a college education. During the past 8 years, Pell Grant funding has increased by 86 percent, supporting a 28 percent increase in the number of students who have benefited from this program. Additionally, Congress strengthened this vital program during the last Congress through the Higher Education Opportunity Act. These important reforms allow students who want to accelerate their studies to receive a Pell Grant year round, expanded eligibility for the Pell Grant to students whose mother or father made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our Nation, and included a sensible limit on the number of Pell Grants one student could receive over their educational career.

While many of us know Senator Pell for his work on creating the Pell Grant, he also sponsored legislation to create the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Amtrak rail system. Senator Pell's interests were not purely domestic. He made important contributions in foreign affairs as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and later as a United States delegate to the United Nations.

I know that I speak for all of our colleagues in offering great praise to Senator Pell in honoring him and expressing condolences to his family as we remember his many contributions to our great Nation.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I had a speaker arrive after I had already yielded my time back.

I would ask unanimous consent to reclaim my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished Member from California (Mr. Dreier).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Claiborne Pell, the great former Senator from Rhode Island. Senator Pell's life was defined by service, from the Coast Guard, to the Foreign Service, to 36 years in the United States Senate. He was a model statesman, willing to listen and compromise but never straying from his commitment to fairness and equality.

Senator Pell has left a long list of achievements, but his greatest legacy is the Pell grant, which has opened the doors to college for over 50 million students. He also introduced legislation to create the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was an ardent environmentalist, working to protect oceans from nuclear testing.

Those are just a few of Senator Pell's many accomplishments. I would like to turn for a moment to some personal observations. I had the great privilege of working for Senator Pell when I was a member of the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1987 to 1989. He was a man of both grace and principle. He rarely spoke a word in anger, but he didn't retreat from tough issues. He was a gentle soul with a kind word for most. But it would be a grave mistake for anyone to interpret his gentle disposition as a sign of weakness. He was passionate about the issues he cared about and relentless in pursuing them.

He was insistent that the United States play a leading role in the world. He believed strongly in attempting to resolve international conflicts through negotiation and diplomacy before resorting to the use of force. His approach may have fallen out of political fashion for a time, but the passage of time has shown the wisdom of his counsel.

We have entered an age that is often dominated by 20-second sound bites and partisan political combat. Senator Pell would not have felt as comfortable in this new political environment, nor should he. Rather, we would do better to return to the more, deliberate and gentle ways he brought to the Senate. We have a lot to learn from his example. I will miss him, but our Nation is certainly stronger and better as a result of the life he lived and the legacy he left behind.

I thank my good friend from Pennsylvania and my friend from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I wasn't planning to speak about Senator Pell until I heard the very thoughtful remarks of our new colleague on the other side of the aisle, and I was thinking when he mentioned the term ``eccentricities'' not defining Claiborne Pell, it immediately brought to mind one of my first opportunities to have an exposure to an elected leader. I was in the 1970s an undergraduate in college in California, and we had, as a speaker on our campus, Senator Claiborne Pell, who was flying in. I was charged with the task, Mr. Speaker, of actually picking him up at Los Angeles International Airport.

I will never forget when he arrived, and looking like the New England gentleman that he was, he came to Los Angeles wearing a hat, carrying a great big overcoat, and someone confronted him at the airport. I was reminded, when my friend was just speaking about the fact that he would meet and talk to everyone, I had a car waiting, and he stopped and spoke at length with this gentleman there.

Then, just a very few years later, Mr. Speaker, I was very privileged to be able to have the opportunity to be elected to serve here in the Congress, and I reminded Senator Pell of my first introduction to him just a few years before when I was an undergraduate, and he recounted very fondly his visit then. And I had a chance, during that period of time, to develop a friendship with him and work with him on a number of issues.

So I rise in strong support of this resolution. He was a great public servant and a fascinating human being, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.