S5638 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE April 25, 1995

We must do more and focus more attention on the intelligence resources

that may help detect potential terrorist attacks before they can be consummated. We should take up and pass

President Clinton’s anti-terrorism proposals. We should determine what additional tools the FBI and other law enforcement agencies may need to carry

out their missions.

We should examine proposals for improved visa tracking of overseas visitors to the United States, so that those

who overstay their visa time cannot

simply vanish into society without a

trace. We should take steps to alter our

asylum procedures, so that those legitimately seeking political refuge can

be admitted, while those using asylum

backlogs as a pretext are not allowed

to stay indefinitely, but let us remember, as well, that this tragedy was not

the work of overseas terrorists, but of

Americans, people who enjoyed the

great freedom our Nation offers.

We have become accustomed to seeing terrorist attacks in other parts of

the world—Bosnia, the Middle East,

Europe, and Latin America. Americans

have seen hundreds of smoke-stained

people streaming out of the World

Trade Center Buildings in New York

City. In response, we have been quick

to explain that the causes are nationalism, or religious fanaticism, or some

other belief system with which Americans have nothing in common.

Americans have always been quick to

seek reasons to explain what happens

in the world around them. But there

are events so monstrous, so evil, that

they cannot be explained away. No

human reasons can account for the

minds that could conceive, or the

hands that could carry out, this deed.

Nevertheless, it is natural and

healthy for each of us to question and

try to understand how this could have

happened, and to think—beyond laws—

about what we as a society might do to

reverse the trends of violence and intolerance in America.

It is imperative that we find ways for

Americans from diverse backgrounds

with sometimes very divergent points

of view to live harmoniously.

The first step toward that goal is for

us to talk to each other. We must find

better ways to do that. We must restore civility to private, and especially

public, discourse. We should not permit

our political or racial or ethnic or

other differences to blind us to each

other’s truths.

If we listen to one another, we are

likely to find our differences are not as

great as some of the intemperate rhetoric makes them appear. We are likely

to remember that what divides us is

much less important than what unites

us as a nation. We will never eliminate

all our differences, but we will learn

that we can live with them.

Each of us—as parents, neighbors,

teachers, elected officials, candidates

for office, journalists—has an affirmative responsibility to promote that

kind of environment.

The bombing in Oklahoma City is the

result of evil, misguided people. We do

not yet know what their motivation

was; we can only speculate. But we can

ask ourselves if our increasingly hateful public discourse is falling on ears

receptive to hate, if it is providing a

context for hands ready to undertake

hateful acts.

No one believes that the actions of

any man are the fault of the speech of

anther, but people are inspired and uplifted by words and ideas. We saw that

at the memorial service in Oklahoma

City. Words and ideas can and do inspire and uplift. But they can mislead

and delude. All of us who speak and act

in the public arena have an obligation

to bear that in mind, for every time we

speak, in effect, we are making a

choice about what kind of environment

we promote. The privilege of serving

our community carries with it the obligation not to damage that community.

Americans now can and must do what

earlier generations of Americans have

done. We must mourn with the families

of victims and pray for all the shattered lives and hopes. We must identify

changes in the law that have the promise of making us safer. And we must

continue to live our lives, saddened by

the enormous loss, but rededicated to

the social contract that binds us together and allows all of us from different backgrounds, with different

ideas, to live together in peace.

CONDEMNING THE BOMBING IN

OKLAHOMA CITY

fThe PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs.

HUTCHISON). Under the previous order,

the hour of 12 noon having arrived, the

Senate will now proceed to consideration of Senate Resolution 110, which

the clerk will report. Under the previous order, the Senate will proceed to

vote on the resolution. The clerk will

report.

The assistant legislative clerk read

as follows:

A resolution (S. Res. 110) expressing the

sense of the Senate condemning the bombing

in Oklahoma City.

The Senate proceeded to consider the

resolution.

Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, I

ask for the yeas and nays.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a

sufficient second?

There is a sufficient second.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The

question is on agreeing to the resolution. The clerk will call the roll.

The legislative clerk called the roll.

Mr. LOTT. I announce that the Senator from Oregon [Mr. HATFIELD] and

the Senator from Vermont [Mr. JEFFORDS] are necessarily absent.

Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Iowa [Mr. HARKIN] is necessarily absent.

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.

INHOFE). Are there any other Senators

in the Chamber desiring to vote?

The result was announced—yeas 97,

nays 0, as follows:

[Rollcall Vote No. 133 Leg.]

YEAS—97

Abraham

Akaka

Ashcroft

Baucus

Bennett

Biden

Bingaman

Bond

Boxer

Bradley

Breaux

Brown

Bryan

Bumpers

Burns

Byrd

Campbell

Chafee

Coats

Cochran

Cohen

Conrad

Coverdell

Craig

D’Amato

Daschle

DeWine

Dodd

Dole

Domenici

Dorgan

Exon

Faircloth

Feingold

Feinstein

Ford

Frist

Glenn

Gorton

Graham

Gramm

Grams

Grassley

Gregg

Hatch

Heflin

Helms

Hollings

Hutchison

Inhofe

Inouye

Johnston

Kassebaum

Kempthorne

Kennedy

Kerrey

Kerry

Kohl

Kyl

Lautenberg

Leahy

Levin

Lieberman

Lott

Lugar

Mack

McCain

McConnell

Mikulski

Moseley-Braun

Moynihan

Murkowski

Murray

Nickles

Nunn

Packwood

Pell

Pressler

Pryor

Reid

Robb

Rockefeller

Roth

Santorum

Sarbanes

Shelby

Simon

Simpson

Smith

Snowe

Specter

Stevens

Thomas

Thompson

Thurmond

Warner

Wellstone

NOT VOTING—3

Harkin Hatfield Jeffords

So the resolution (S. Res. 110) was

agreed to.

The preamble was agreed to.

The resolution, with its preamble, is

as follows:

[Senate Resolution 110 was not available for printing. It will appear in a future issue of the R

fECORD.]

RECESS UNTIL 2:15 P.M.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under

the previous order, the Senate will now

stand in recess until the hour of 2:15

p.m.

Thereupon, the Senate, at 12:37 p.m.,

recessed until 2:16 p.m., whereupon, the

Senate reassembled when called to

order by the Presiding Officer [Mr.

K

COMMONSENSE PRODUCT LIABILYL

ITY AND LEGAL REFORM ACT

].

fThe PRESIDING OFFICER. The

clerk will report pending business.

The legislative clerk read as follows:

A bill (H.R. 956) to establish legal standards and procedures for product liability litigation, and for other purposes.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the bill.

Pending:

Gorton amendment No. 596, in the nature

of a substitute.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.

Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I suggest

the absence of a quorum.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The

clerk will call the roll.

The legislative clerk proceeded to

call the roll.