A.General-Pro


(3) Senator Ernest Hollings, February 23, 1978 (S 2099-2103)
 Mr. HoLLINGs. Madama President, I only have a few moments. At a little after 12 I have to try to make another appointment. But I will try to get into some of the questions raised by my distinguished f riend from Alabama.
 We have been indulgent-a better word, perhaps, is respectful-of the Senator from Alabama, recognizing his capability of once getting wrought up being able to wreck a process, and in the U.S. Senate we do not want to "wrought" him up, and I do not think he should be.
 He has been my f riend and I have tremendous respect for lhm. But I find that under the rule now, unwritten, that we sort of just let himalone and let him talk himself out, and a lot of things go unchallenged.
 To get specific, when the Senator was on his feet, hie questioned the idea of visitation. He questioned that idea of visiting Panama. He said, "What you ought to do, Senator, is read the treaty. You don't have to go down there if you want to make up your mind about the conitents, and the interest, and whether the United States is protected sufficiently. A visit is not in order. What is really in order is to sit and read the treaties."7
 Now, that is what we have to do. That is a very intelligent approach, before we take a position, we ought to read what we are taking a position on.
 Of course, the distinguished Senator from Alabama did not do that with his hearings. He did not wait for a written treaty.
 The Senator from Alabama, long before the treaties could be raised, was objecting, and that was his privilege. That was his privilege, under the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to raise certain questions and start his objecting to a document that had yet to be drawn.
 So do not criticize others who were trying not only to read the document, but go see the parties and the country and learn something about a people. One of the most significant things in the entire treaty ratification process is an understanding of the country we have built, as well as the canal we have built.
 Now, in July, and I think it was July 15 of this past year, the U.S. Senate, Madam President, passed a resolution unanimously, Senate Resolution 221, on July 15, directing the appointment of Senators to visit certain countries, including Panama and South America, to study the economic and security interests of this Nation in Panamna and in those other countries.
 Now, why criticize me for making a trip when the Senate directs me to go?
 The Senator is on the floor all the time, and I am sure that that never would have passed if he really objected to it. So I went, not willy-nilly and wandering for a place to flit around and land upon; but, on the contrary, at the solemn direction of the U.S. Senate, with a bipartisan
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