George Allen

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a lifetime commitment to law and order in the United States. On this day, March 1, 2001, Mr. David J. Karpowich of Springfield, VA, retires as a special agent with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, (NCIS), ending some 30 years of Federal law enforcement service. Mr. Karpowich began his service to his country in July 1971, as a member of the U.S. Army's Military Police Corps. Following a brief stint as a uniformed officer with the U.S. Capitol Police Force, Mr. Karpowich was appointed a special agent with the Naval Investigative Service, now known as the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, on July 14, 1975, and embarked on a career that would span more than 25 years. His history of assignments includes South Carolina, California, and in Washington, DC, as a field investigator, polygraph examiner, counterintelligence manager, and inspector. Among his many achievements with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Special Agent Karpowich will long be remembered for his contribution to its Polygraph Program. Under his responsible leadership, the NCIS Polygraph Program was considered among the finest within the Department of Defense, and he is credited with modernizing the program with new personnel, equipment and techniques. More recently, Special Agent Karpowich shared the wisdom of his experience with the On-Site Inspection Agency, (OSIA), as the senior NCIS representative to its Counterintelligence Staff and lastly as the Senior Inspector with the NCIS Headquarters Inspections Directorate, seeking to ensure efficiency and integrity within the Service. In closing, I wish to commend David Karpowich for his commitment to law enforcement and for his many years of outstanding service to our nation and, in particular, to the members of our armed services. I wish him and his wife, Connie, Godspeed in his retirement.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. I thank the Chair. Mr. President, Members of the Senate, it is my honor to read George Washington's Farewell Address. As a preface to reading this address, I would like to make a few remarks so that everyone gets the context of the Farewell Address of George Washington. In September of 1796, worn out by the burdens of the Presidency and attacks of political foes, George Washington announced his decision not to seek a third term. A student of history will see that Alexander Hamilton and James Madison left their fingerprints in helping President Washington compose this Farewell Address which is his political testament to the Nation. The Farewell Address, which was designed to inspire and guide future generations, set forth Washington's defense of his administration's record and embodied a classic statement of Federalist doctrine. Washington's principal concern was for the safety of the 8-year-old Constitution, and he believed the stability of the Republic was threatened by the forces of geographical sectionalism, political factionalism, and interference by foreign powers in the Nation's domestic affairs. George Washington did not publicly deliver his Farewell Address. It first appeared on September 19, 1796, in the Philadelphia Daily American Advertiser and then in papers throughout our country. On to the address entitled ``Washington's Farewell Address.'' Mr. ALLEN, at the rostrum, read the Farewell Address, as follows: To the people of the United States. Friends and Fellow Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. I beg you at the same time to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken without strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country--and that, in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country you will not disapprove my determination to retire. The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience, in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and, every day, the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my political life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me, still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise and as an instructive example in our annals, that, under circumstances in which the passions agitated in every direction were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently, want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it. Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me on an occasion like the present to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion. Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment. The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite movement that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any event, be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess, are the work of joint councils and joint efforts-- of common dangers, sufferings and successes. But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the Union of the whole. The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort--and what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious. While then every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value! they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same government, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its hands. In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations--northern and southern--Atlantic and western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourself too much against the jealousies and heart burnings which spring from these misrepresentations. They tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head. They have seen, in the negotiation by the executive--and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate--of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the general government and in the Atlantic states, unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi. They have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such they are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens? To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute. They must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances, in all times, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of government, better calculated than your former, for an intimate Union and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.--But the Constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power, and the right of the people to establish government, presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction; to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils, and modified by mutual interests. However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular opposition to its acknowledged authority but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretext. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions, that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country, that facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypotheses and opinion exposes to perpetual change from the endless variety of hypotheses and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable; liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is indeed little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of fraction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property. I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and, sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purpose of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it in the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, forments occasional riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true--and in governments of a monarchial cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent it bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume. It is important likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions of the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that the public opinion should be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering, also, that timely disbursements, to prepare for danger, frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties) ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all; religion and morality enjoin this conduct, and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt but, in the course of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachment for others should be excluded and that in place of them just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity, or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation's subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty of nations, has been the victim. So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducements or justifications. It leads also to concessions, to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained and by exciting jealously, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity gilding with the appearances of virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation. As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove, that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealously to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike for another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests. The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none or a very remote relation. Hence, she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence therefore it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation, when we may choose peace or war, as our interest guided by justice shall counsel. Why forgo the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world--so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it, for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. (I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy)--I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them. Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course--in order to give to trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another--that is must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character--that by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish--that they will control the usual current of the passions or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good, that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism--this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated. How far in the discharge of my official duties, I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have, at least, believed myself to be guided by them. In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 22d of April 1793 is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfuenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. After deliberate examination with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take--a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseverance and firmness. The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations. The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions and to progress, without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes. Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the midst of my fellow citizens the benign influence of good laws under a free government--the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors and dangers.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I rise to state that Americans need tax relief and I believe they need it now. Despite record economic growth for the last several years, and huge budgeted surpluses in the last few years and in the future, I think these surpluses simply represent overtaxation of the American taxpayers. Americans, in recent years, have been repeatedly denied tax relief despite these surpluses because there were not enough Senators to override the President's veto--the previous President's veto. Excessive taxation limits the individual freedom of hard-working Americans, their families, and their enterprises. I agree very much with the previous remarks made by the Senator from Arizona, Mr. Kyl, and the Senator from Missouri, Mr. Bond. The fact is, Americans are paying more in taxes as a proportion of the gross domestic product than at any time since World War II. In fact, for this fiscal year, the Federal Government will pull out $1 of every $5 in the economy--20 percent of the economy is being taken by the Federal Government, even though there is a non-Social Security budget surplus in this year that is going to top $125 billion, and it is going to exceed $3.1 trillion over the next decade. I believe we must assure that Americans can keep more of their hard- earned dollars in their pockets. Previously, the Senator from Connecticut paraphrased a song to slow down tax cuts in this surplus. I think there is a more apt country western song to reference this gold mine surplus that is created by the work of the taxpayers. What has been suggested by the opponents is that the Government gets the gold mines and the taxpayers get the shaft. I think the taxpayers deserve better. It is simply common sense that, rather than continuing down the path of excessive Government spending in Washington, Americans ought to be allowed more money to invest in their priorities for their families, for their homes: saving for retirement or the purchase of a computer for their children. It is common sense--trusting families, trusting people. They know better than the Federal Government about what they need and how to make their earnings work for themselves, their families, and their enterprises. Overall, for the economic success and jobs in America, I believe the Federal Reserve needs to rapidly reduce interest rates much more, and soon; we must pass tax relief soon to help bolster consumer confidence. When you look at these surpluses, I believe they ought to be handled the same way a well-managed business would handle surpluses. A business would first put funds into retirement or pension funds. Then they would look at their priorities as a company and invest in them. And then they would look for a dividend to the shareholders. As the Federal Government, I think we ought to look at it the same way a business would. Certainly a business would not be raiding, at times of surplus--or at any time for that matter--pension funds or retirement funds. That is why I think as a Government we need to protect Social Security. Put Social Security in a lockbox. Hopefully, with this spirit of bipartisanship, that will change and we can pass legislation necessary to protect Social Security so future retirement funds are not raided for more Government spending. The advantage of the Social Security lockbox is not only protection of retirement funds; it also helps pay down the national debt. Implementing the Social Security lockbox and allowing those surpluses to be used only for addressing the long-term solvency of Social Security helps us reduce the national debt, and we can effectively eliminate the publicly held debt in the next 10 years with that fiscal discipline. Then I believe we need to look at the non-Social Security surpluses and, again, handle it the same way a well-run business would. What would a well-run business do with the nonretirement surpluses? They would address priorities, research and development, workforce training, maybe investment in ideas to be more competitive, or increase their market share. In the Federal Government, even after we save and protect the Social Security surpluses and pay down the national debt, the Federal Government still will be collecting $3.1 trillion more in taxes than is needed at the current levels of spending, on top of the current level of spending inflationary increases. So it is $3.1 trillion. That is over $10,000 of excess taxation of every man, woman, and child in this country. There are legitimate national responsibilities we need to address and in which we need to invest. We must provide that out of this $3.1 trillion surplus. There are new investments we need to consider in education. We must also act quickly, making sure we are improving the preparedness of our national defense and our Armed Forces. We need to invest in new technological and scientific research. We need to shore up the Medicare system, as well as investing in our national transportation infrastructure. But once we take care of these priority responsibilities in education, national defense, scientific research, and combating illegal drug trade, we should again operate as a business. Then what would a business do after you take care of priorities? They would declare a dividend. That is what I think we ought to do is declare a dividend for the shareholders, the owners of this Government who are the taxpayers of America. Surely, out of the $3.1 trillion surplus, I do not think the $1.6 trillion the Bush administration is proposing is an excessive amount to return to our taxpayers. It is a minimal amount we ought to be returning to the taxpayers. In fact, when you compare this proposal to previous major tax cuts, history shows we can dedicate even 50 percent of the current non-Social Security surplus to tax relief measures and still barely make a blip on the radar screen of our national economy. For example, in 1963 President Kennedy's tax cut reduced tax collections by 12 percent. That is this chart here, the Kennedy administration; it was 12.6 percent. The Reagan administration 1981 tax cut reduced tax collections by 18.7 percent--nearly 19 percent. The tax collections proposed by the Bush administration would return just over one-half of the excess tax collections to American taxpayers, and the tax collections would be reduced by 6.2 percent--much less than the Kennedy and much less than the Reagan administrations. In fact, according to the National Taxpayers' Union, as part of our gross domestic product, when you compare the Kennedy tax cut, it was 2 percent of the gross domestic product--the Bush proposal of taxes being reduced by $1.6 trillion is a mere 1.2 percent of the gross domestic product. You might recall the great growth in our economy in the 1960s was occasioned by the tax cuts of the Kennedy administration. So this is merely one-half of the revenue impact of the Kennedy tax cut. I say to my colleagues in the Senate, if we cannot cut taxes in the times of these surpluses, when will we be able to give tax relief and reduce the tax burden on the people of America? This is the time to make the Federal Tax Code more fair and less burdensome. This is the time to get rid of this illogical marriage penalty tax which imposes a penalty on men and women just because they are married. This is the time to eliminate the death tax which is a very unfair tax, especially on family farms and small businesses. This is the time to make sure that individuals and small business owners get 100-percent tax deductibility for health insurance. And there are many other things we can do. This is the time to act for the people of America. I hope my Senate colleagues will seize this opportunity to exercise fiscal discipline and restraint and realize that the owners of this country deserves tax relief, and they deserve it now. I thank the Chair. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I rise as a new Member of the Senate, having listened to the arguments back and forth for several weeks on the matter of John Ashcroft's nomination as Attorney General of the United States. As a new Member, some of the arguments made, various votes and so forth are of interest, and there is some hyperbole to it. But let me tell you that coming out of the real world and going through a campaign and listening to people in Virginia and elsewhere, I think if there is one message that the American people sent to our country's leaders last November, it was this: The politics of personal destruction in our country must end. Sadly, there are some leaders of organized interest groups who have already turned a deaf ear to that message, even as we in the Senate are working so hard to move America forward in a bi-partisan manner. Of course, I understand that some of my colleagues may disagree with the philosophy of our new President and his choice for Attorney General. However, when the Chief Executive picks his management team, unless there is an extraordinary reason that would dictate otherwise, this body should not stand in his way or obstruct. Political opportunism is not an appropriate rationale for withholding consent for a nominee. When I served as Governor of Virginia, I was fortunate to have a capable cabinet who assisted me in managing the day-to-day operation of state government and advancing the agenda I established. While both the House and Senate in Virginia are required to approve of the Governor's selections, they have always, without exception, afforded the Governor the ability to name the qualified individuals he recruits to lead the team. No matter how distasteful the views of the nominee might be to some on the other side of the aisle, except for a very very few legislators, Republicans and Democrats alike have continuously respectfully rallied to put the best interests of Virginia ahead of political chicanery and that has effectively enabled Virginia's Governors to do the job they were elected to do. The federal government should be no different and John Ashcroft deserves the support of the United States Senate for Attorney General. He has proven himself a caring and capable leader during his many years of public service. Elected by the people of Missouri five times, his is a long record of achievement for all of the people he has represented. It is incumbent on all of us to examine the totality of his record and to not be drawn to a single contorted, concocted blemish on a sterling 30-year record. As we proceed toward a vote on his nomination, we must understand what is in this man's heart, not what is displayed on the television screen in a 15-second distorted charge from heavily funded special interests. Mr. President, the people of the United States expect principled civil, debate here and in elections. In numerous elections all across the U.S. last year, voters rejected the politics of division. Virginians, like so many other Americans, want our country to heal itself and to move beyond scare tactics and personal destruction. We, here in the United States Senate, have the unique ability to prove to Americans that this noble goal is achievable. Let's move forward! I respectfully urge my colleagues to join together to rise to a higher plane and vote to confirm the honorable John Ashcroft as Attorney General of the United States.

Mr. ALLEN. I yield.

Mr. ALLEN. I thank the Chair. I commend the articulate, knowledgeable, and eloquent Senator from Alabama for his remarks on a variety of issues.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. Tomorrow the Senate will resume debate on the Ashcroft nomination at 9 a.m. under the order. Closing remarks will be made throughout the morning. Senators should be aware that a vote on confirmation will occur at 1:45 p.m. Following the final confirmation of the President's Cabinet, the Senate is expected to adjourn in an effort to accommodate those participating in the party retreats taking place tomorrow afternoon and into the weekend.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until the hour of 9 a.m. on Thursday, February 1. I further ask consent that on Thursday, immediately following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then resume consideration of the nomination of John Ashcroft to be Attorney General, as under the previous order.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order, following the remarks by the Senator from Florida, Mr. Graham.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, I rise today to address the appointment of Roger L. Gregory to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the pending approval process of the Senate. Judge Gregory was appointed to the bench during the congressional recess in December. He was sworn into office last Thursday, on January 18, 2001, in Charlottesville, VA. To many, this recess appointment was unacceptable because the President had nominated Judge Gregory last summer and he was never considered by the Senate or the Judiciary Committee before adjournment sine die. There are Senators who understandably believe that promises and understandings have been breached concerning recess appointments. However, it is my belief that in Roger Gregory, the Fourth Circuit-- and, indeed, America--has a well-respected and honorable jurist who will administer justice with integrity and dignity. He will, in my judgment, decide cases based upon and in adherence to duly adopted laws and the Constitution. I respectfully urge my colleagues and the administration to join me in supporting Judge Gregory. I want to share with you my observations, and let you all know a bit more about Roger Gregory, the man. Judge Gregory is a testament to what can be achieved in America through hard work and personal determination. He is the first person in his family to finish high school. He went on to graduate summa cum laude from Virginia State University, where his mother had once worked as a maid. He received his juris doctorate degree--his law degree--from the University of Michigan and later taught at Virginia State as an adjunct professor. Before his investiture as a judge, as a founding partner of the firm of Wilder & Gregory, Judge Gregory was a highly respected litigator representing mostly corporate and municipal clients in his hometown of Richmond, VA. Last week, Roger Gregory became the first African American to be seated on the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals. He has been active in many civic and community affairs. He and I both served together on the Board of the Historic Riverfront Foundation in Richmond. He has served for many years on the board of directors of the Christian Children's Fund, the Richmond Renaissance Foundation, and the Black History Museum, among others. In 1983, Commonwealth Magazine named Roger Gregory as one of ``Virginia's Top 25 Best and Brightest.'' In 1997, he was a recipient of the National Conference of Christians and Jews Award. He has an AV rating in Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest combined legal ability and general recommendation rating given to lawyers. He has been a leader of the Old Dominion Bar Association, having served as President from 1990 through 1992. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to personally sit down and talk with and kind of interview Judge Gregory. I am truly impressed and comfortable with his judicial philosophy. Judge Gregory understands that the judicial branch is not the legislative branch. He believes in the rule of law and stated that he would adhere to precedents established by the Fourth Circuit and the Supreme Court to guide his decisions. During our conversation, Judge Gregory told me that he does not believe justice is what he called, ``result oriented,'' and instead, he believes the ``administration of justice is a process.'' He was firm in his conviction that his charge as a judge is to ``follow the rule of law and not participate in an activist court; as result-oriented judges are very dangerous.'' Moreover, Judge Gregory articulated to me an appreciation of the rights, prerogatives, and powers reserved to the States in our Federal system. In particular, Judge Gregory believes the States have broad powers to regulate and pass laws, and that unless the law is clearly repugnant and violates established constitutional principles, he believes the laws enacted by legislators should be upheld and respected by the courts. Mr. President, and fellow Senators, I am cognizant that this body has the prerogative of ``advice and consent'' and could deny Judge Gregory a permanent appointment. No one should mistake my support of Judge Gregory's confirmation with approval of the manner in which the former President handled this nomination. At the time this nomination was first sent to the Senate last summer, I pledged to consider the nominee on his merits but took exception to the lateness of the nomination. It seemed to me the timing was calculated to accomplish a short-term political objective more than to achieve confirmation of a judge, and I felt that Mr. Gregory deserved better treatment. Whatever the motive, the tardiness of the former President's action put the Senate in an impossible position. And the recess appointment has only compounded the harm. Still, we must act in the best interest of the judiciary and the country. I ask my colleagues today to recognize that no good for our judiciary or our country can be achieved by now striking back at the former President. Let us rise above this procedural aggravation and act in a statesmen- like manner. Mr. President, I submit to you and to my colleagues that Judge Roger L. Gregory is an exemplary citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He has a sense of the properly restrained role of the judiciary and is eminently qualified to serve with distinction. Mr. President, I respectfully ask my colleagues to hold the requisite hearing, after which I believe you will share my positive impression of Judge Roger Gregory, and thereafter confirm him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.

Mr. ALLEN

Mr. ALLEN. I thank the Chair.