Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
Sept. 9, 2004
GARRETT LEE SMITH MEMORIAL ACT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, let me congratulate but mostly thank my friend and colleague from Oregon. We would not be here tonight without him. It is true many people worked on this bill, but he is the one who got us here. No one but my friend knows how many people he talked to and what he had to go through to get us to this point. I think everyone on this floor knows it could not have been done without our colleague. He did it. He did something that no one else could have done.
Our friend, my friend, suffered the worst tragedy-he and his wife Sharon-that any couple, any family can suffer; that is, to lose a child. They took that tragedy and resolved that they would do something so other families would not suffer as they have suffered.
I say to my friend that neither he nor anyone else in this Chamber will ever know what families will be spared because of the action taken by the House and Senate and because of his hard work.
But the one thing we do know is, there will be many families who will be spared what he and Sharon fought through. For that, we all should say thank you. There will be many children out there who will not lose their lives, many families who will not suffer.
This bill is a wonderful, living tribute to their son Garrett Smith. If we do our job, not only this year, not only this moment, but in the years ahead in properly funding this, it will remain year after year after year a wonderful living tribute to him. It will remain also a living tribute to all the young children who have lost their lives over the years.
I thank my colleague. On behalf of all the people and families who will be spared and all the children whose lives will be saved-and we will never know who they are-he has done something that is very wonderful. He has taken his sorrow and grief, taken the position God has given him and the people of his State have given him and has made something wonderful out of it. It is, in fact, a wonderful tribute to his son, a tribute to the love he has for his son.
I yield the floor.