Arlen Specter: “I join the Senators from Wisconsin in praising the late Senator William Proxmire. Neither of the Senators currently…”

“I join the Senators from Wisconsin in praising the late Senator William Proxmire. Neither of the Senators currently representing Wisconsin was in the Chamber when Senator Proxmire was here. The distinguished senior Senator, Mr. Kohl, was elected in 1988, when Senator Proxmire retired. Senator Feingold was elected in 1992. I had the opportunity to serve 8 years with Senator Proxmire. He was a powerful figure. He sat in the last row on the extreme right-hand side, the seat now occupied by Senator Rockefeller. He was on the floor every day talking about genocide. He was the conscience of the Senate, the conscience of the Congress, the conscience of the country, really, the conscience of the world speaking on that subject every single day. He never missed a vote. I don't recollect exactly how many consecutive votes he had, but I think it was in the range of 17,000 that he never missed. He had a record for minimal expenditures on campaigns for his own reelection. I recollect the average figure was about $173. That figure sticks in my mind as to what he spent to be reelected. There is some variance on what it costs to be reelected today to the U.S. Senate, but he was a towering figure. There ought to be more Senators on the floor commenting about him. Even our senior Senator, Mr. Lott, was not elected until 1988 and Senator Gregg until 1992, so most of the Senators who are around today didn't have the advantage of working with Bill Proxmire.…”