Tribute to Former President Ronald Reagan

TRIBUTE TO FORMER PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, over the past few days, more than 100,000 Americans have stood in line in California for 12 hours or even more to pay their respects to President Ronald Reagan. This great show of respect and affection will be repeated during the coming days in Washington.

This overwhelming outpouring cannot be explained by merely citing the traits for which he was so well-known-his likability, his wit and optimism, his courage when attacked by a would-be assassin's bullet or, at the end of his life, by a devastating disease, or even his skills as the Great Communicator. Americans are standing in line because of President Reagan's ideas and the principles and convictions that gave those ideas their power: The God-given right to freedom, responsibility for one's own actions, and charity toward others-the very ideas that are the foundation of this great Nation were the foundation of President Reagan's character.

President Reagan became President at a time when the world had begun to question the strength of that foundation. It was a time when freedom, balanced by personal responsibility and justified by charity, was in danger of becoming just one of the many ways in which human society could be organized. Rather than appease or accommodate communism, he confronted it and exposed its moral bankruptcy.

President Reagan emboldened freedom-loving people everywhere-those behind the Iron Curtain and those in danger of being enveloped by it-and gave them faith and strength. He believed, as he said in his first inaugural address, that no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. He was right.

President Reagan became President at a time when America had begun to question its place in the world and the values upon which this great Nation was built. He opened the gate of the American spirit. He tore down the wall of doubt.

Ronald Reagan was a great communicator because he had something great to communicate. He was the right man for his time; and now he belongs to all time.

He will be missed, but President Reagan's ideas will always be part of the American experience.

Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.