[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6] [Senate] [Pages 8925-8926] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING FORMER SENATOR R. VANCE HARTKE Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, I am pleased to submit for the Record a statement in honor of one of our former colleagues, Senator R. Vance Hartke, (D-Indiana), who served in this body from 1959 to 1976. The statement is written by a good friend of mine, former Congressman Bob Mrazek, who worked for Senator Hartke from 1969 to 1971. Congressman Mrazek was thoughtful enough to submit this in honor of the Senator's 80th birthday, which takes place later this month. We wish him the best. I ask that the statement be printed in the Record. The statement follows. [[Page 8926]] Tribute to Former Senator R. Vance Hartke (By Hon. Bob Mrazek) It was my privilege to serve on the staff of former U.S. Senator R. Vance Hartke (D-Indiana), from 1969 to 1971. These were tumultuous times for the United States in the bitter aftermath of the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As the Vietnam War continued to cause deep divisions in the nation's social and political fabric, I was proud to witness Senator Hartke's courageous opposition to that war, which he began at great personal cost in 1965. Throughout his 18 years of service as a U.S. Senator, Vance Hartke demonstrated absolute fearlessness and political courage in taking principled stands on the most important issues facing the nation, often at the risk of prematurely ending his career. His prodigious legislative achievements undoubtedly distinguish Vance Hartke as one of the greatest Senators of the 20th century. From his contributions to creating the Head Start program and Medicare to the Guaranteed Student Loan Program and the International Executive Service Corps, Senator Hartke was a leader who made America and the world a better, more humane place. I am honored to call this legendary legislator my friend. In what I believe is a long overdue tribute, I would like to present the highlights of a career that continues to have a positive impact on our country and the entire world. Senator Hartke is credited by the definitive book on the Great Society, Guns or Butter, with being one of six Senators who passed Medicare, the crown jewel of the Great Society. He is often called the ``Father of Medicare.'' The Jeffersonville Evening News wrote that he was, ``instrumental in gaining passage of more legislation to benefit the elderly than any other senator.'' Vance Hartke created his own Peace Corps, the International Executive Service Corps still going strong after 30 years, with activities all over the world. The U.S. ``business peace corps'' has been emulated in 23 developed countries in the world, with 35,000 business leaders participating, with each replicated version also having outreach to every developing country in the world. His successful passage of the Kidney Dialysis Amendment saved 500,000 lives and continues to save lives today, earning him the following observation by Richard Margolis: ``We can measure our greatness in compassion, too.'' Perhaps this quote best represents Hartke's legacy. During his 18 years in the U.S. Senate, Hartke spearheaded the passage of every major educational bill, among them, the Guaranteed Student Loan Act and the Adult Education Act, which are still going strong today. He has a perfect voting record as rated by the National Education Association. As a matter of personal conscience, he broke with President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 to oppose the war in Vietnam at a time when fewer than 300 Americans had been killed. Senator Hartke was a Civil Rights champion--even in the face of death threats to his family in Indiana from the Ku Klux Klan. Ralph Nader said of Hartke, ``He was the most consistently effective advocate of the consumer in the Senate.'' Ed Lewis, the well-known Indiana lawyer who died in 1996, called him ``a visionary, an environmentalist before people knew how to spell the word.'' The national environmental community honored him with a ``Special Tribute'' at the 1997 Clinton-Gore Environmental Inaugural Ball. Senator Hartke was a candidate for President of the United States in 1972. In summation, this prodigious record of achievement represents not only a tremendous contribution to the people he represented for 18 years in Indiana, but to every citizen of this nation who has benefitted from the legacy he created for us. S. Res. 68 Whereas millions of women and girls living under Taliban rule in Afghanistan are denied their basic human rights; Whereas according to the Department of State and international human rights organizations, the Taliban continues to commit widespread and well-documented human rights abuses, in gross violation of internationally accepted norms; Whereas, according to the United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices (hereafter ``1998 State Department Human Rights Report''), violence against women in Afghanistan occurs frequently, including beatings, rapes, forced marriages, disappearances, kidnapings, and killings; Whereas women and girls under Taliban rule are generally barred from working, going to school, leaving their homes without an immediate male family member as chaperone, and visiting doctors, hospitals or clinics; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, gender restrictions by the Taliban continue to interfere with the delivery of humanitarian assistance to women and girls in Afghanistan; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, under Taliban rule women are forced to don a head-to- toe garment known as a burqa, which has only a mesh screen for vision, and many women found in public not wearing a burqa, or wearing a burqa that does not properly cover the ankles, are beaten by Taliban militiamen; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, some poor women under Taliban rule cannot afford the cost of a burqa and thus are forced to remain at home or risk beatings if they go outside the home without one; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, the lack of a burqa has resulted in the inability of some women under Taliban rule to get necessary medical care because they cannot leave home; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, women under Taliban rule reportedly have been beaten if their shoe heels click when they walk; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, under Taliban rule women in homes must not be visible from the street, and houses with female occupants must have their windows painted over; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, under Taliban rule women are not allowed to drive, and taxi drivers reportedly have been beaten if they take unescorted women as passengers; Whereas according to the 1998 State Department Human Rights Report, women under Taliban rule are forbidden to enter mosques or other places of worship; and Whereas women and girls of all ages under Taliban rule have suffered needlessly and even died from curable illness because they have been turned away from health care facilities because of their gender: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that-- (1) the President should instruct the United States Representative to the United Nations to use all appropriate means to prevent any Taliban-led government in Afghanistan from obtaining the seat in the United Nations General Assembly reserved for Afghanistan so long as gross violations of internationally recognized human rights against women and girls persist; and (2) the United States should refuse to recognize any government in Afghanistan which is not taking actions to achieve the following goals in Afghanistan: (A) The effective participation of women in all civil, economic, and social life. (B) The right of women to work. (C) The right of women and girls to an education without discrimination and the reopening of schools to women and girls at all levels of education. (D) The freedom of movement of women and girls. (E) Equal access of women and girls to health facilities. (F) Equal access of women and girls to humanitarian aid. ____________________