Speech #890162933

I would like to present this article for the perusal of my colleagues as a tribute to their membership in the "do plenty" 89th Congress. The article follows: CONGRESS TAKES ON a NEW Loox Without any question. the session of Congress that now is coming to a close will go into the recordbooks as one of the most productive in modern times. Even a brief list of the major legislation that It passed is impressive: sweeping exise tax reductions. a revolutionary medicare program attached to a broad liberalization of social security pension benefits. new Federal funds for elementary schools. high schools. and colleges. the Appalachia program. voting rights. legislation for Negroes. immigration reform. tougher controls over pollution of streams and the atmosphere. Two things have accounted for this sudden explosion of congressional productivity. One was the waning power of the conservative coalition that for years had managed to block legislation that It opposed without being able to pass measures of its own.