Throughout four decades in public life, Pat Moynihan has built a richly-deserved legacy as one of our most prescient and gifted leaders. He is both Renaissance man and someone who understands New York City's "mean streets;" - a product of New York's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood but also of Tufts, Harvard and the London School of Economics. He has served his country as a statesman and a scholar, an author and an ambassador, a counselor in four consecutive presidential administrations, both Democratic and Republican, and for 22 years, as Senator from the Empire state. Ultimately, he is a man dedicated to people, rather than party or politics.
I consider myself fortunate - and it has been an honor I will continue to cherish - to have been given the opportunity to work beside Pat and learn from him during the 12 years our tenures in the Senate, and on the Environmental and Public Works Committee (EPW), overlapped. And while Pat has accomplished so much spanning the realms of foreign and domestic policy - I would like to take this time to honor his record on this committee, where he has served with distinction since he was first elected in 1977.
More than anyone I know, Senator Moynihan influences the present with a profound understanding of the past and a prophetic view of the future. Through innovative thinking and firm leadership, he has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to preserving the beauty and purity of our environment so that the solace our ancestors found in nature may also be discovered by our descendants. This, and a skill for working across party lines, has allowed him to exert an influence that has dramatically improved the quality of American lives.
In what may be his crowning environmental and public works achievement, he was chief author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). The genius of this law is that, for the first time, it integrated transportation and environmental policy, with a eye toward maintaining both the infrastructure and nature, to improving both our working and our leisure lives.
The legislation redirected Federal surface transportation policy to include not only highway construction but maintenance, and also a broad array of new transportation approaches: programs to beautify our roadways, to acquire scenic and historic sites, and to establish pedestrian and bicycle facilities by utilizing abandoned railway corridors. The flexibility of the bill permitted closer coordination between transportation and clean-air programs in a deliberate effort to avoid past conflicts between the two goals.
ISTEA also gave states greater flexibility to solve their particular transportation needs, recognizing that different parts of the country have opposing priorities. In some states new capacity may be at the top of the list, while in others greater highway maintenance takes precedence. ISTEA permitted each state to use its discretion to better manage its transportation demands while making the most of its federal funds. The reforms initiated by the Senator Moynihan in ISTEA were so successful they were continued and enhanced in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, TEA-21, which was enacted in the last Congress.
There are many examples of Senator Moynihan's visionary leadership, but I will mention just three more. From his first days on the EPW Committee, Senator Moynihan has shown an extraordinary gift to perceive problems before they catch the public eye. He and his New York colleague, the late Senator Jacob Javits, were the first Senators to respond to the Love Canal crisis, calling for a swift state and national response to help the families cope with a hazard that existed, literally, in their backyards. His empathy for the victims of Love Canal and his commitment to protecting others from similar tragedies led to his close involvement in the development of the Superfund program.
Senator Moynihan must also be recognized as the originator of acid rain legislation. As early as 1979, he foresaw the potential consequences of acid rain on our forests and streams and rigorously fought to address the problem. While the legislation underwent changes in conference, Senator Moynihan's bill eventually emerged as an important 10-year research program that ultimately became one of the Federal government's largest scientific studies outside of NASA. His work on acid rain became the foundation for strong Clean Air Act legislation on this issue. Through the years he has continued to play a prominent role in protecting air quality in New York and throughout the nation.
Finally, Senator Moynihan has long held a deep appreciation for the beauty, grandeur and historical meaning of public buildings and their role in our daily lives. He led the effort to transform Pennsylvania Avenue from a neglected slum into a boulevard that rivals any of the great capitals of Europe. He played an instrumental role in the renovation of the exquisite building that is Union Station in Washington D.C., and the incomparable Penn Station in Manhattan, and remains an active member of the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Reagents. The return to quality architecture in government buildings is in significant part testimony to his understanding that public buildings must better represent the aims and aspirations of our nation. It is safe to say, no other Senator in the last half century has had a more enduring impact on preserving our heritage through public buildings.
Senator Moynihan and his life's work, on the Environment and Public Works Committee and in all aspects of his illustrious career, have touched my life and the lives of all Americans in profound ways. I know his departure will be deeply felt, particularly by me for whom he has been more than a mentor: a guiding light, a great teacher, and an inspiration. I wish him all the best.