Thomas Foley: “first, as we are about to end the 106th Congress, let me commend the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pease) for his great…”

“first, as we are about to end the 106th Congress, let me commend the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pease) for his great job of conducting the chair in so many situations. And I see we are joined on the floor today by Brian Kerns, his successor-elect, who will be sworn into this fine body in just a few weeks. I come from West Palm Beach, Florida; and I am proud of the fact that I am a Floridian. I am proud of the fact that Palm Beach County is my hometown. The last 5 weeks have been a difficult time for our community, for our State, and our Nation. There have been a lot of negative characteristics put upon my county by some suggesting we are a backwater community where we disrespect the rights of individuals, where we denied people the right to vote, where we denied people going to the polls. I take strong exception to some of those comments. Tonight we will hear from our two contestants in the Presidential election of 2000. I pray that both rise to the occasion that is necessary for the job that they sought, and that is to begin the healing of this Nation. Those that question the legitimacy of this election are only fanning the flames of discontent and will create a divide amongst us. We are all concerned and confused about the allegations being charged in Florida.…”