Stennis Says Senate Key Is Cooperation
In what may have been his final remarks on the Senate floor, Democrat John C. Stennis of Mississippi said Friday that in “thinking over the years that have passed so rapidly” he has concluded that the most needed quality in a lawmaker is the willingness to cooperate.
The end of the 100th Congress marks the end of Stennis’ Senate career, dating to 1947. He will remain a senator until the 101st Congress convenes in January.
At 87, he is the chamber’s oldest member, its president pro tempore and chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The senator, who lost a leg to cancer in 1983, spoke from his wheelchair stationed next to the mahogany desk he used for much of his career. The desk once belonged to Jefferson Davis.
Stennis hailed the teamwork displayed over the last two years by Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas.
“I believe these two have proved the necessity of cooperation,” Stennis said.
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