Negotiators Salute Retiring Sen. Long

House and Senate tax-overhaul negotiators took a few moments over the weekend to pay tribute to Sen. Russell B. Long, a dominant force in congressional tax policy for decades.

As the conferees were about to approve landmark legislation late Saturday night that would revise the federal tax code, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), leader of the negotiations, noted that this was Long’s last major bargaining session.

The Louisiana Democrat is retiring at the end of the year after a 38-year career in the Senate. He was chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee for nearly 15 years and has been a member of the panel for 30 years.

Long lost the committee chairmanship when Republicans gained control of the Senate in 1981.

“Sen. Long has signed more conference documents in creating the tax code than any individual in the history of this republic,” Rostenkowski said.

Rostenkowski’s tribute to Long as the premier tax writer in Congress prompted a one-minute standing ovation from the conferees, congressional aides and lobbyists in attendance.

Long, who has always fought to help his home state’s oil interests, said: “There’ll be some things in this bill that I’ll have to tell people in Louisiana I’m very sorry about. I wish I could have had it otherwise. But there are a great number of things here that I’m going to be bragging about along with many others.”