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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 22, 2004

SCHUMER: $5 MILLION FOR MOYNIHAN INSTITUTE AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PASSES CONGRESS

Schumer's $5 million appropriation request for Global Affairs institute at Syracuse University was approved as part of the newly passed omnibus appropriations report; Institute would create endowment in name of former Senator Moynihan

Schumer: Funds can hire more professors, purchase more equipment, and fund construction at SU's Maxwell School

US Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that his effort to secure $5 million for the new state-of-the-art global affairs institute at Syracuse University in the name of late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan has passed Congress. The money was approved as part of the omnibus appropriations report passed by the Senate today and previously passed by the House. The report now awaits the President's signature.

"It was a long drive, but we finally got the ball to the goal line and $5 million is headed to SU for the Moynihan Institute," Schumer said. "I can't think of a better way to honor Pat's memory and legacy. He was a great thinker, a great leader, and a great Senator for all of us, and Syracuse is just the place to host this center in his name."

The new institute will help the Maxwell School's Global Affairs Institute carry on the public and intellectual tradition of Senator Moynihan by funding visiting scholars and international leaders, and supporting scholarship in impoverished nations. Schumer, who introduced the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Global Affairs Institute Act into the Senate, said the federal money will help the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs fund residencies of visiting scholars and international leaders, support scholarship and training in impoverished countries, and pay for construction to expand the facilities of the School. The measure will also designate the existing Global Affairs Institute (GAI) at the Maxwell School as the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Global Affairs Institute.

Schumer said the Maxwell School is the ideal site to carry on Senator Moynihan's work because of its commitment to studying diverse cultures, economies, and political systems. "We really think this endowment is going to take an institute that was already top-notch and shoot it straight to the top," Schumer said. "The Maxwell School's Global Affairs Institute is just the kind of center of learning Pat relished, and the additional professors and programs that we're going to bring will make GAI a destination for anyone who wants to follow in Pat's footsteps."

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a one-time junior faculty member at the Maxwell School from 1959 to 1961, was elected to the United States Senate in 1976 where he served four terms. He retired from the Senate in 2000 renowned as a foreign affairs expert. The Almanac of American Politics once described him as "the nation's best thinker among politicians since Lincoln and its best politician among thinkers since Jefferson."

The Maxwell School's Global Affairs Institute was established in 1993 to extend, integrate, and focus the Maxwell School's commitment to exploring current international and global concerns. The Institute organizes conferences, credit bearing seminars, and workshops, and provides research fellowships and internship opportunities to graduate students.

Schumer thanked Senator John Warner from Virginia, a close friend of Senator Moynihan's, and Congressman Jim Walsh, for their help in securing support for the legislation. Schumer also wished to thank Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, Ranking Member Robert Byrd, Chairman of the Labor-HHS Appropriaitons Subcommittee Arlen Specter, and Ranking Member of the Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Tom Harkin for making the honor possible. The Senate language, part of the Senate Labor-HHS appropriations bill that passed unanimously, officially designates the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Global Affairs Institute at the Maxwell School of Public Policy at Syracuse University, and creates an endowment for the Institute with $10 million authorized for it.

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