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[Page: S6651] GPO's PDF---
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The hour of 11:30 having arrived, the Senate will proceed to consideration of a resolution honoring the former President Ronald Wilson Reagan, which the clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 373) relative to the death of Ronald Wilson Reagan, a former President of the United States.
S. Res. 373
Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep regret the announcement of the death of the Honorable Ronald Wilson Reagan, a former President of the United States, and a former Governor of the State of California.
Resolved, That in recognition of his illustrious statesmanship, his leadership in national and world affairs, his distinguished public service to his State and his Nation, and as a mark of respect to one who has held such eminent public station in life, the Presiding Officer of the Senate appoint a committee to consist of all the Members of the Senate to attend the funeral of the former President.
Resolved, That the Senate hereby tender its deep sympathy to the members of the family of the former President in their sad bereavement.
Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the former President.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. By request, Senators are asked to vote from their desks.
The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, these past few days we have seen an extraordinary outpouring of affection for our 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan. In a few short hours, he will lie in state under the Capitol dome where dignitaries from around the world and citizens from across the country will pay their respects to the man from Dixon.
[Page: S6652] GPO's PDF
In his 1982 State of the Union address, President Reagan told the Nation: We don't have to turn to our history books for heroes; they are all around us. In life, Ronald Reagan was a hero to millions. To the freedom fighters in the Soviet Union, to his fellow citizens striving toward that American dream, Ronald Reagan told the world that we are meant to be free.
He was a man of faith and deeply held convictions. Like James Madison, Ronald Reagan believed that in the creation of our Republic was the hand of God. He believed our freedoms flow not from the State but from the Almighty. Our task was and remains to awaken in the people this essential truth.
I close with a story I believe captures Ronald Reagan's remarkable character, his courage, and his vision. It was 1997. From a news report was a story of an emigre.
Walking in Arm and Hammer Park near his home, Reagan was approached by an elderly tourist and his 12-year-old grandson, Ukranian emigres now living near Toledo, OH. They spoke with him for a moment and the grandfather snapped a picture of the boy sitting with the former president. An article about the encounter and the picture appeared first in the Toledo Blade and then in newspapers around the country. The other day, the grandfather recalled their meeting. We went to the park for a picnic with our friends, he said, and then he saw President Reagan. And we began to cheer him and said, Mr. President, thank you for everything you did for the Jewish people, for Soviet people, to destroy the Communist empire. And he said, yes, that is my job.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was raised in a small town. Part of him remained a small town citizen all of his life. Not in the self conscious way one thinks of a politician stumping on the campaign trail. Ronald Reagan's small town roots informed the way he viewed the body politic--what he believed people wanted from life, from each other and from government.
As he explained, when a person grows up in a small town,
You get to know people as individuals, not as blocs or members of special interest groups. You discover that, despite their differences, most people have a lot in common ..... [W]e all want freedom and liberty, peace, love and security, a good home, and a chance to worship God in our own way; we all want the chance to get ahead and make our children's lives better than our own. We all want the chance to work at a job of our own choosing and to be fairly rewarded for it.
Ronald Reagan believed that the government should serve the people. He believed that the strength of our economy came from the creativity, ingenuity and productivity of the individual, not from the plans and schemes of government bureaucrats or intellectual elites.
This view of America's economic success guided his economic policies here at home, and, in no small way, shaped his political policies abroad.
When Ronald Reagan became President, the American economy was in a shambles. Inflation was in the double digits. Interest rates were soaring. Americans had to wait in endless lines to pump overpriced gas. Real incomes had stagnated and the American worker was demoralized. In his 1989 ``Speaking My Mind'' collection of essays and speeches, Ronald Reagan reflected that:
Here we were, a country bursting with economic promise, and yet our political leadership had gone out of its way to frustrate America's natural economic strength. It made no sense. My attitude had always been--let the people flourish.
So, he set about slashing Federal income taxes and cutting burdensome regulations. It was his mission to free the American worker and unleash the American entrepreneur. When he came to office, the top marginal tax rate was 70 percent. By the time he left, it was a mere 28 percent. His sweeping tax reforms overhauled the tax code and removed 6 million taxpayers from the tax rolls.
At the same time, President Reagan gave Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker free reign to tighten the money supply and bring down inflation.
Together, these policies worked.
True to the President's forecast, as the economy grew, so, too, did tax revenues. Tax revenues increased faster than GDP. By 1990, the economy had grown by a third--or as the Wall Street Journal put it, ``roughly the size of Germany.'' Over the course of his presidency, the economy created 19 million jobs and the stock market hit a record high. America enjoyed the longest economic expansion up to that time.
Throughout, President Reagan was assailed for the growing deficit. In typical Washington fashion, he got the blame for adverse economic numbers, but never the credit for economic success. Contrary to his critics, however, the Federal deficit fell from 6.3 percent of GNP in fiscal year 1983 to 2.3 percent in 1988. The deficit actually shrank as a percentage of Gross National Product.
At the time, his policies were dubbed, ``Reaganomics.'' Now, they're considered common sense. President Reagan's guiding principle was simple, yet profound: government policies should grow the economy, not manage [or redistribute?] it. The impact of this idea was so great that, now, even the other side of the aisle speaks of targeted tax cuts and tax credits, and no longer openly campaigns to raise our taxes.
Indeed, President Clinton crystallized the Reagan Revolution when he declared, ``The era of big government is over.''
President Reagan believed in the dreams and dignity of the individual. As he said in his second inaugural address, ``There are no limits to growth and human progress, when men and women are free to follow their dreams.''
Ronald Reagan reminded the American people that economic liberty and human freedom are two sides of the same coin.
Some call it the Reagan Revolution. Others call it the Reagan Restoration. I prefer the latter term. The man from Dixon--lifeguard, radio announcer, actor, governor, father, adoring husband, and President of the United States--restored not only our confidence, but our fundamental understanding of the source of America's greatness: the American people.
Indeed, America was blessed to have such a President. Now he will enter the history books as one of our greatest. God bless Ronald Wilson Reagan. God bless America.
Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The question is on agreeing to the resolution.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Montana (Mr. Baucus) and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) are necessarily absent.
The result was announced--yeas 98, nays 0, as follows:
Akaka
Alexander
Allard
Allen
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Cantwell
Carper
Chafee
Chambliss
Clinton
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Conrad
Cornyn
Corzine
Craig
Crapo
Daschle
Dayton
DeWine
Dodd
Dole
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Fitzgerald
Frist
Graham (FL)
Graham (SC)
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Hollings
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Miller
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Nickles
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Santorum
Sarbanes
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Voinovich
Warner
Wyden
Baucus
Kerry
The resolution (S. Res. 373) was agreed to.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. WARNER. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
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