[Senate Document 110-24]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
110th Congress, 2nd Session ------------------- Senate Document 110-24
TRIBUTES TO HON. CHUCK HAGEL
Chuck Hagel
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA
TRIBUTES
IN THE CONGRESS OF
THE UNITED STATES
Chuck Hagel
Tributes
Delivered in Congress
Chuck Hagel
United States Senator
1997-2009
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2009
Compiled under the direction
of the
Joint Committee on Printing
CONTENTS
Biography.............................................
v
Farewell to the Senate................................
ix
Proceedings in the Senate:
Tributes by Senators:
Akaka, Daniel K., of Hawaii....................
8
Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee.................
3
Allard, Wayne, of Colorado.....................
21
Bingaman, Jeff, of New Mexico..................
8
Bunning, Jim, of Kentucky......................
7
Byrd, Robert C., of West Virginia..............
30
Coleman, Norm, of Minnesota....................
24
Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota..................
15
Corker, Bob, of Tennessee......................
15
Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut...........
11
Domenici, Pete V., of New Mexico...............
6
Dorgan, Byron L., of North Dakota..............
30
Durbin, Richard, of Illinois...................
12
Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming...................
28
Feingold, Russell D., of Wisconsin.............
6
Hutchison, Kay Bailey, of Texas................
9
Inouye, Daniel K., of Hawaii...................
26
Kerry, John F., of Massachusetts...............
16
Kyl, Jon, of Arizona...........................
23
Landrieu, Mary L., of Louisiana................
10
Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
32
Levin, Carl, of Michigan.......................
21
Lieberman, Joseph I., of Connecticut...........
10
Lugar, Richard G., of Indiana..................
26
McConnell, Mitch, of Kentucky..................
22
Nelson, E. Benjamin, of Nebraska...............
31
Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
20
Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
16
Salazar, Ken, of Colorado......................
5
Snowe, Olympia J., of Maine....................
33
Specter, Arlen, of Pennsylvania................
28
Warner, John, of Virginia......................
13
Webb, Jim, of Virginia.........................
10
BIOGRAPHY
Chuck Hagel, Nebraska's senior U.S. Senator, served two
terms in the U.S. Senate. Senator Hagel's duties included
membership on four Senate committees: Foreign Relations;
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Intelligence; and
Rules.
Chuck Hagel is the author of ``America: Our Next
Chapter,'' a straightforward examination of the current
state of our Nation that provides substantial proposals
for the challenges of the 21st century.
Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Hagel worked
in the private sector as the president of McCarthy & Co.,
an investment banking firm based in Omaha, NE, and served
as chairman of the board of American Information Systems
(AIS). Before joining McCarthy & Co., Hagel was president
and chief executive officer of the Private Sector Council
(PSC) in Washington, DC, deputy director and chief
operating officer of the 1990 Economic Summit of
Industrialized Nations (G-7 Summit) and president and
chief executive officer of the World USO.
In the mid-1980s, Hagel co-founded VANGUARD Cellular
Systems, Inc., a publicly traded corporation. In 1981,
President Ronald Reagan nominated Hagel to serve as Deputy
Administrator of the Veterans' Administration, a
nomination confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Hagel also served
as Deputy Commissioner General of the United States for
the 1982 World's Fair. From 1977 through 1980, Chuck Hagel
was manager of government affairs for the Firestone Tire &
Rubber Company in Washington, DC. From 1971 to 1977, he
was administrative assistant to Congressman John Y.
McCollister (R-Nebraska). Beginning in 1969, Hagel worked
as a newscaster and talk show host with radio stations
KBON and KLNG in Omaha, NE.
Chuck Hagel served in Vietnam with his brother Tom in
1968. They served side by side as infantry squad leaders
with the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry Division. Hagel earned
many military decorations and honors, including two Purple
Hearts.
Senator Hagel has served on the board of trustees at
Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust and as chairman
of the $240 million Agent Orange Settlement Fund. His
participation in civic, educational, and charitable
organizations has included board of directors, Greater
Omaha Chamber of Commerce; chairman, 10th Anniversary
Vietnam Veterans Memorial; board of directors and national
advisory committee of the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial; board of directors of the Arlington National
Cemetery Historical Society; chairman of the board of No
Greater Love, Inc.; USO's World Board of Governors; and
the World USO chairman's advisory council. He is a life
member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars,
Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans,
and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Among the institutions for which Senator Hagel serves as
a board or advisory committee member are the Institute of
Politics at Harvard University; International Republican
Institute; the German Marshall Fund's Trade and Poverty
Forum; director emeritus, the Eisenhower World Affairs
Institute; the Private Sector Council; the Ripon Society;
the American Red Cross; Bread for the World; and the
Council on Foreign Relations. Chuck Hagel is a trustee at
Bellevue University and Hastings College. He is co-
chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Corporate
Council, and chairman of the Congressional Study Group on
Germany.
Senator Hagel is the subject of a 2006 book by
University of Nebraska professor Charlyne Berens entitled,
``Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward.''
Senator Hagel has received the 2008 Aspen Strategy Group
Leadership Award; 2008 Congressional Award from the
Paralyzed Veterans of America; the University of Nebraska
at Omaha's 2006 Alumni Award for Excellence in Public
Service; 2006 Don Wagner Leadership Award; 2004 Edmund S.
Muskie Distinguished Public Service Award; the Boy Scouts
of America's Good Scout Award; the National Parent Teacher
Association's Outstanding Child Advocacy Award and the
Committee for Education Funding's Special Recognition
Award; the European Institute's Transatlantic Leadership
Award; and numerous others.
Among other honors Senator Hagel has received are the
Commander's Cross With Star of the Order of Merit of the
Republic of Poland; the first annual Cordell Hull Award;
the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger
Association; the Vietnam Veterans of America Legislator of
the Year Award; the 82d Airborne Division Association's
Recognition for the ``National Airborne Day'' Senate
Resolution; membership in the Consumers for World Trade
Hall of Fame; the Center for the Study of the Presidency's
Distinguished Service Medal; the American Farm Bureau
Federation's Golden Plow Award; the Friend of the Farm
Bureau Award; the Distinguished Alumni Award from the
University of Nebraska at Omaha; an honorary doctorate of
public service degree from the College of William and
Mary; an honorary doctor of laws degree from Creighton
University; an honorary doctorate of commerce from
Bellevue University; the Secretary of Defense's Medal for
Outstanding Civic Achievement, the first World USO
Leadership Award; the University of Nebraska-Kearney
George W. Norris Distinguished Lecturer Award; and the
Small Business Administration's Nebraska Veterans Advocate
of the Year Award.
A fourth generation Nebraskan, Chuck Hagel was born in
North Platte, NE, on October 4, 1946. He graduated from
St. Bonaventure High School, Columbus, NE; the Brown
Institute for Radio and Television, Minneapolis, MN; and
the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Senator Hagel and his
wife, Lilibet, have two children, daughter Allyn, 18, and
son Ziller, 16.
Farewell to the Senate
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Mr. HAGEL. On January 7, 1997, I took an oath of office
in the Senate, an oath to the Constitution, and I became
the 1,841st person who has ever served in the Senate. That
number struck me that day because I recognized, once
again--and soon to come to truly appreciate over a 12-year
period in this body--how few people have had the
opportunity, the privilege, the honor to serve in the
Senate.
Less than 2,000 Americans in the history of our country
have served in the Senate. That does not make us better.
That does not mean we are smarter or in any way more
privileged. But it does reflect upon the kind of
responsibility that we have in this body and the
expectations that are placed on each of us, as should be
the case, for our service.
I first thank the people of Nebraska for the privilege I
have been given to serve in this body for 12 years. I
thank my staff not for their service to me but for their
service to this country. I thank my colleagues,
Republicans and Democrats, from whom I have learned so
much over these 12 years. In particular, I thank Senators
Lugar and Biden, from whom I have learned much in serving
with them on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for
the last 12 years. They have been patient with me, have
helped me, as well as their staffs.
The two leaders of this body--Senators Reid and
McConnell--I wish to thank. I have had privileged
relationships with each. Senator McConnell and I have
grown to have a very close relationship, friendship, and I
very much value that relationship. I thank Senator
McConnell for his many courtesies over the years, as I do
Senator Reid. These two men are charged with great
responsibilities, and especially over the last 2 years
during as difficult a Congress certainly that I have
served in, and I suspect most of my colleagues have served
in. They have done a remarkably good and effective job.
Certainly, I thank my family for this privilege and
their support and their guidance. They, too, have been
privileged and enriched and enhanced by being part of this
experience over the last 12 years.
These last 12 years have been years of global
reorientation and historic events. As I have represented
Nebraskans during these turbulent times, I have formed
judgments and drawn conclusions about America's future.
The strength of any country is its people.
Constitutions, governments, public and private
institutions are important, for they form the structure of
a society, the boundaries of social behavior. But it is
the people, the individuals, who make the difference in
life and in the world.
Americans possess a generous spirit and uncommon decency
predicated on faith and family, hard work, fair play, and
belief in a better tomorrow. The challenges that face
America today and in the future are not just American
challenges but global challenges. Everything we do or
don't do has global implications, just as everything that
happens around the world has implications for us here in
our country.
The Senate is a unique institution. It is unique among
all governing bodies of the world. It is imperfect. It is
slow. It is tedious. Sometimes it is maddening, certainly
frustrating. But the brilliance of our forefathers
understood completely and carefully--how, I don't know--
that the world would at some point come together with a
great confluence of complications. The need to have a body
whose main responsibility would be to take the longer
view--the longer view of legislation, the longer view of
actions, the longer view of alliances, of relationships,
of all our policies--was its primary focus. Tough
questions--questions about consequences of actions,
consequences of inaction--that is the essence of the
Senate.
The many lessons I have learned in the 12 years I have
been here reinforced my belief in our country but also
reinforced my belief in these institutions and, in
particular, the Congress of the United States, for the
essence of public confidence is transparency and
accountability. That is our institutional responsibility.
It is our individual responsibility. And a free people
know the facts. If free people are living in a world where
there is transparency, where there is accountability, that
society will prosper. It will fix its problems, and it
will deal with its injustices. Oversight--which we hear
much about these days, especially in light of the
financial crisis we are in today--oversight and
accountability are critical components of our
responsibilities.
Article I of the Constitution is about the Congress. We
are a co-equal branch of government. If there is anything
I have learned in the 12 years I have been here, it is the
importance of sharing, participating in the governance of
our country, being part of that governance, helping make
decisions with the President and the executive branch. The
Constitution established three co-equal branches of
government: the legislative, the executive, and the
judicial--but anytime there becomes an imbalance in
governance in a republic and one of those three becomes
too powerful and the other too weak or one too weak, there
will be a consequence, there will be a reaction, and it
will not tilt in favor of an accountable, transparent,
open, effective government. So it is like all things in
life: We strive for balance. We strive for balance of
governance. And the Founders of the Constitution of this
great Republic have that as much the central focus as any
one part of our government.
I believe this institution of Congress will be tested
more over the next few years. We need a strong President.
We need a strong executive branch. For it is the President
and the executive branch that we charge to carry out the
policies that are made and shaped on behalf of the
American people in the Congress of the United States. They
must have the flexibility, they must have the authority to
carry those out but not without the active participation
and partnership of the Congress of the United States. In
my opinion, over the last few years, we have allowed that
to drift, and I believe it has cost our country dearly.
I have also learned this lesson: Bipartisan consensus is
the only way a democracy will work. No party has a corner
on all the virtues, nor all the answers. A country of 300
million free people, who have every right to express
themselves, question their leaders, question their
government, at the end of the day must somehow find some
accommodation, some consensus to govern and thereby
address the issues and challenges and problems that face
our country. Without that bipartisan consensus, we end up
in the underbrush of political paralysis. Much of what we
have seen in the last 2 years has been, unfortunately,
political paralysis. We all have to take some
responsibility for that. Bipartisan consensus--that has to
be the focus of leadership in any institution.
I have learned also that a free press is indispensable
to a free people. As frustrating as we all know, in this
business, the press can be--sometimes we believe we are
treated unfairly, and maybe sometimes we are--there is no
substitute in a democracy for a free press. A free press
is the indispensable element for a free people.
I have learned too that power corrupts. Lord Acton had
it right: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts
absolutely. That doesn't mean we are a nation or a body or
an institution of corrupt people or bad people, but the
more authority that is concentrated in too small a space
is going to end up with not an effect that is in the best
interests of a free people. Concentrations of power in the
hands of a few is dangerous to a democracy. We all who
exercise some power as national leaders must be mindful of
this reality and stay vigilant.
The next President, who will assume as big an inventory
of challenges and problems as any President, in my
opinion, since Franklin Roosevelt on March 4, 1933, must
immediately reach to the Congress to make the Congress a
partner, and regardless of who the new President is, he
must also reach to the American people and begin building
a consensus of governance in this country. There will be
differences. There will be strong debates. There must be
and should be. But in the end, we must reach some
objective, some end point, and that is to fix a problem.
We did that last night on the floor of the Senate--not
that what we passed in this Economic Stabilization Act
will fix all the problems; it won't. But it is important
that America, our markets, the world bring back some
confidence in our governance, in our systems, thereby
bringing all that does flow from that confidence in a
market system, the elements of commerce and trade and the
possibilities to build a better life.
This next President will be faced with those challenges.
So will this next Congress. I believe that will occur, not
just because the American people expect it and demand it,
but they deserve it. I don't think the next President or
the next Congress will fail. There is no perfect solution,
no easy answer, but that is why we have leaders. That is
why we have governments.
I wish to go back to accountability for a moment because
that is such an elemental part of anyone's life. We are
all accountable in life. In our personal lives, private
lives, public lives, we are all accountable to someone.
I would like to read a very short statement. As a matter
of fact, I had this hanging in my reception room in my
office. This was a handwritten statement that was found in
the coat pocket of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was
found at the cleaners. This was a note he wrote in his
hand on June 6, 1944, the beginning of the Normandy
invasion, the invasion of Europe. We all recall that was
D-day. This is what then-General Eisenhower, who was the
commanding general, wrote in the event that D-day was a
failure:
Our landings have failed and I have withdrawn the
troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was
based upon the best information available. The troops, the
air, and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to
duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the
attempt, it is mine alone.
Now, that is accountability. That is accountability.
This one simple, honest, handwritten statement should be
as much a guiding point for all of us in public office as
any one thing.
I have also learned over the last 12 years that
democracy actually does work. As raw as it is, it works.
We in politics, we in government, government itself, the
institution of government only reflects society. Politics
reflects society. We respond. We react in a democracy. But
the countervailing pressures, the countervailing dynamics,
the countervailing debates and philosophies and opinions
and positions balance the wheel in a remarkable way. I am
not nearly wise enough to understand it all. I have
observed it. I have participated in it up close for 12
years. It works. It works. That is why transparency is so
important, so the American people can see it, and feel it,
and understand it, and be part of it.
We live in an imperfect world. There are no perfect
solutions. We are all imperfect people. But institutions
are important because within the imperfect world and in
the process of trying to make a better world--maybe
someday a perfect world--the process is important because
it gets us to where we want to be. It is a highway. It is
a process. We do that well here, as well as anywhere in
the world. We are always striving to make it better.
I occasionally think about this great Republic, how it
was formed, when it was formed. A couple of fairly recent
things come to mind. When we think of less than 100 years
ago, women in America could not vote. Less than 100 years
ago, women did not have the right to vote. But we
addressed that. We fixed that. We fixed it through
amendment XIX in our Constitution.
Up until the mid-1960s, did anyone really believe that
an African American had any hope or possibility to be a
nominee for President of the United States, maybe even be
President some day? The Voting Rights Act and the Civil
Rights Act of the mid-sixties changed that. We know the
system can work.
These are defining times. We are living through a global
reorientation. One of the great responsibilities this body
will have, the next President will have, we all will have,
is to reintroduce America to the world. The world does not
know who we are. Part of that is our fault. Part of that
is not our fault. There are 6.5 billion people in the
world, and 40 percent of those 6.5 billion are under the
age of 19 years old. Most people alive today were not
alive at the end of World War II. This can be done. It
must be done. America is a great country because we are a
good people.
I wish to take my last minute in my comments today to
read from a poem I have distributed to friends and staff
for 30 years. I do not know the author of this poem, and I
never have. I never found out who the author of this poem
is. I have put it on a piece of glass and have distributed
hundreds and hundreds of copies to people I have worked
with over the years in different things I have done.
I end my remarks, Mr. President, this way this
afternoon, by reciting this poem entitled ``The Man in the
Glass'' because it reflects on each of us but, most
poignantly, it reflects on each of us who has
responsibility to serve the public and be accountable and
honest:
The Man in the Glass
When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.
For it isn't your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass.
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.
You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you're a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.
He's the fellow to please--never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear to the end.
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.
You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you've cheated the man in the glass.
?
TRIBUTES
TO
CHUCK HAGEL
Proceedings in the Senate
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, Senator Pete Domenici, who
is retiring from the Senate this year after serving since
1972, once said to me that we don't say goodbye in the
Senate very well. As a matter of fact, we don't say hello
very well either. We have a little orientation program,
but we abruptly arrive and leave. We leave in the midst of
a lot of turmoil and discussion with very little time to
say goodbye. Yet in between that arrival and leaving, we
have very intense personal relationships. We virtually
live with each other. We see each other often for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We see each other more than
we see our families. So when there is a time for saying
goodbye, we look for ways to say it a little better.
There are five Members of our body, all of them
Republicans, who have announced their retirement for this
year. While I won't be speaking at length about them here
today, I want to recognize their service. I will do it in
the traditional way in the Senate, which is to start with
seniority. By ``seniority,'' I mean from the time I have
known them. ...
Chuck Hagel of Nebraska is like the rest of us Senators.
We are all accidents. None of us could have guessed we
would be here. It is hard to plan your way into the Senate
because we come from all different directions.
Senator Hagel, who is Nebraska's senior Senator, is
retiring after only two terms in the Senate, but he has
had a full life so far, starting a business or helping to
start one that became a public company. While we have a
great many patriots in the Senate, men who are honored for
their service in the military--such as Congressional Medal
of Honor winner, Senator Inouye; Senator Stevens, who flew
the first plane to land in Beijing after World War II
ended; Senator McCain, whose story is well known, while he
never discusses it--Senator Hagel's heroism and service
serving side by side with his brother in Vietnam is one of
the most fascinating, heroic stories of any Member of the
Senate.
With that sort of independent background, you can
imagine he brought to this body a sense of independence, a
great knowledge of the world. Along with Senator Lugar on
this side of the aisle, he understands the world better
than almost anyone, and he works hard at it. He has been
independent in his views, willing to criticize those he
thought were wrong, including those in his own party. He
has recently written an excellent book about the future of
our party. We will miss Senator Hagel. ...
I say to all five of those Senators, we will miss them.
We are grateful for their service. I know people must look
at the Senate in many different ways.
Let me conclude by telling a story about how some
teachers look at it. We have a tradition in the Senate of
making a maiden address. It is kind of a funny name, but
we still call it that. We pick the subject of most
interest to us. My subject was to put the teaching of U.S.
history and civics back in its proper place in the school
curriculum so our children would grow up learning what it
means to be an American. There is not too much the Federal
Government can do about that, but what we were able to do
is to begin summer academies for outstanding teachers and
students of American history. One group of those teachers
was here in July, one from each State. I brought them on
the Senate floor early one morning. I took them to Daniel
Webster's desk, which is occupied by the senior Senator
from New Hampshire right here by me. I took them back to
that part of the Senate where Jefferson Davis' desk is,
occupied by the senior Senator from Mississippi, and told
them the story of how the marks in the desk are because a
Union soldier came in during the Civil War and started
chopping on it with his sword. His commanding officer came
in and said, ``Stop that. We are here to protect the
Union, not to destroy it.''
This Chamber is full of history, full of our country.
Anyone who stands on this floor and sees the engravings of
``In God We Trust'' or ``E Pluribus Unum'' and gets a
sense of what has happened here has respect for it. The
teachers had that respect. When we got to the end of our
visit, one teacher said to me, I think it was the teacher
from Oregon, ``Senator, what would you like for us to take
home to our students about our visit to the Senate
floor?''
I said, ``I hope you will take back that each of us
takes our position a lot more seriously than we take
ourselves. We understand we are accidents, that we are
very fortunate and privileged to be here, that each of us
reveres our country, and we respect this institution. I
can only speak for myself, but I think it is true of
Senators on both sides of the aisle that we get up every
day thinking first of how we can make a little
contribution before we go to bed at night that will help
the country be a little better off than it was in the
morning. That means serving in the Senate is a very great
privilege. I hope you will take that back to your
students. I don't know what they see on television or read
in the newspaper about the Senate, but that is how we feel
about the privilege we have to serve here.''
To these five Senators--Warner, Domenici, Craig, Hagel,
and Allard--we say goodbye. They are members of our
family. We appreciate their service. We know they have
believed it has been a very great privilege to serve in
the Senate. For us it has been a great privilege to serve
with them.
I yield the floor.
Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I wish to make a few
comments about some of our departing colleagues who will
not be joining us for the next session of Congress. They
are great colleagues, people whom I have enjoyed working
with in my 3\1/2\ years here in the Senate. They include
Senator Allard from Colorado, Senator Pete Domenici from
New Mexico, Senator John Warner from Virginia, Senator
Chuck Hagel from Nebraska, and Senator Larry Craig from
Idaho. ...
Senator Chuck Hagel from Nebraska has likewise been one
of those voices of independence, putting public purpose
above partisanship and being a great example for all of us
in doing so. He has some deep connections in Colorado,
including his sister Claire who lives there, and his
family whom I have met over time. Even though he teases me
occasionally on the battleground between Nebraska and
Colorado with respect to the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the
University of Colorado Buffaloes, he has done a remarkable
service in the Senate as a great Senator and someone whom
I will sorely miss. ...
I will miss my five colleagues. All of them are
Republicans who are departing. Many of them brought a true
spirit of bipartisanship and working together, which is
worthy of the emulation of many Members of the Senate who
will serve in this Chamber in the next Congress and in
many Congresses to come.
I yield the floor.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Mr. DOMENICI. I wish to take this time to pay tribute to
Chuck Hagel, the senior Senator from Nebraska, who is
retiring after serving for two terms in the Senate.
Senator Hagel, a fourth generation Nebraskan, has served
his State and his country in many ways. He served as an
infantry squad leader with the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry
Division and is a decorated Vietnam veteran, having been
awarded many honors including two Purple Hearts. As a U.S.
Senator, Chuck Hagel has served on four committees:
Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs;
Intelligence; and Rules.
During his time in the Senate, coinciding with mine, it
has been my pleasure to work with the distinguished
Senator on issues affecting our Nation. I can recall a
chance meeting between a member of my staff, one of my
constituent groups from New Mexico and Senator Hagel, in
which he took time out of his busy schedule to speak with
my New Mexico constituents to offer his insights and share
some very kind words. Such a small genuine instance like
this made all the difference in their trip to our Nation's
Capital.
As I said, when he came here, for some reason, I think I
became one of his very first friends. He must have decided
that I was a big chairman, and when I went on a trip with
the Budget Committee to Europe, I asked him if he would
go, and he jumped to it. So we got to know each other
during the first 2 or 3 months of his term on a trip to
Europe where we learned about the new monetary system that
was about to be established in Europe. We did a number of
other things together.
Obviously, he has been an exemplary Senator in all
respects. He will return to his State and to America
filled with ideas and ready to do other things for this
great land. My wife Nancy and I wish Chuck and his family
all the best.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I recognize the work
of an outstanding colleague, Senator Chuck Hagel. As he
leaves the Senate, there are many things he will be
remembered for, and I will add a few to that long list.
I have had the pleasure of serving with Senator Hagel on
both the Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees,
where I have seen what a thoughtful and dedicated public
servant he truly is. He has been an outspoken and
independent voice on foreign policy, and against the
current administration's reckless foreign policies,
including the disastrous war in Iraq.
In our time serving together in the Senate, we have
worked on a number of bills relevant to our work on the
Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. Senator
Hagel and I authored a bill to address the serious threat
posed to our national security by gaps in our intelligence
gathering. Building on the work of the 9/11 Commission,
our legislation would establish an independent commission
to improve how the U.S. Government collects and analyzes
information, so that we can head off emerging threats.
Senator Hagel has brought critical attention to this
issue, and I have no doubt he will continue to do so in
the years ahead. I also appreciate Senator Hagel's
commitment to strengthening our citizen diplomacy, which
is so important to improving the image of the U.S. abroad.
His support for my Global Services Fellowship Program Act,
and past efforts on this issue, has been just one more
example of Senator Hagel's willingness to reach across the
aisle to work on issues important to our country.
As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee
on African Affairs, I particularly appreciate Senator
Hagel's support for a more peaceful, secure, and
prosperous Africa. He has supported efforts to help
protect civilians and provide them with access to basic
services. His voice has been one for political solutions
to conflict, and for initiatives that would bring long-
term stability to the continent.
Senator Hagel has served the people of Nebraska, and
America, with great dedication and skill. I will miss
having him as a colleague, but I value his service and his
friendship, and I wish him all the best as he leaves the
Senate.
Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to my
distinguished colleague from Nebraska, Senator Chuck
Hagel, who will be retiring from the Senate at the
conclusion of the 110th Congress.
I have worked with Chuck since coming over to the Senate
in 1998. I have also had the privilege of serving on the
Senate Banking Committee with Chuck. He is a man of
integrity and patriotism. Chuck has served his country
proudly throughout the years, whether it be working as a
staffer for Congressman John McCollister of Nebraska, as
deputy administrator of the Veterans' Administration, as
U.S. Senator, or earning the Purple Heart while defending
the freedoms we enjoy today. He has a servant's heart, and
the people of Nebraska should be proud to have been
represented by a man of his character.
I am honored to know him and to have worked with him. I
would like to thank Chuck for his contributions to the
Senate and to the country we both love. I wish him and his
family the best in all of their future endeavors.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I want to take just a few
minutes to speak about our colleagues who have announced
their plans to retire at the conclusion of this 110th
Congress. We obviously will miss them. There are five
individuals about whom I wanted to say a brief word:
Senators Allard, Hagel, Craig, Warner, and Domenici. They
have all brought their intelligence, principles, and
perspectives on the issues confronting our Nation. The
Nation is better for their efforts.
Senators Allard and Hagel both came to the Senate in
1996. ...
Chuck Hagel of Nebraska forged a very successful career
in business and broadcasting, civic organizations and
government, but first he served our country as a sergeant
in Vietnam. It was an honor to work with him on the
Vietnam Memorial Visitors Center legislation. He has
championed that cause, knowing first hand how much it
means to have lived through the experience of that war. He
has a wide knowledge of the world, and he has informed his
thoughtful and well-considered positions on foreign policy
and arms control and national security issues with that
knowledge.
He can always be counted on for a straightforward
approach and an honest statement of his views.
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, today I wish to make a few
comments about some of our departing colleagues who will
no longer be with us next year. I have known some of them
for just a little while, others I have known for a long
time. And, to all of them I bid a fond farewell and mahalo
for their service to their State and to this country. They
are dear colleagues and friends of mine and I know that
even if they leave this fine establishment, our
friendships will continue long into the future.
The Senators that I am referring to are Senator John
Warner from Virginia, Senator Pete Domenici from New
Mexico, Senator Larry Craig from Idaho, Senator Chuck
Hagel from Nebraska, and Senator Wayne Allard from
Colorado. Please allow me just one moment to reflect on my
service with each of these valuable Members. ...
Another veteran that is leaving the Senate and a dear
friend of mine is Senator Chuck Hagel. While he has
elected to leave the U.S. Senate after serving two terms,
his service to this country started long before he became
a U.S. Senator. In 1968, he and his brother served in
Vietnam, where he earned multiple military decorations and
honors, including two Purple Hearts. His long career in
public service began during his tenure as an
administrative assistant to Congressman John Y.
McCollister from Nebraska in 1971 and lasting until 1977.
In 1981 he was nominated and confirmed to be Deputy
Administrator of the Veterans' Administration where had
the privilege and honor to work for our Nation's veterans.
Senator Hagel has served the State of Nebraska with great
distinction and will be missed by all.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I have really enjoyed
working with Chuck Hagel.
Senator Hagel honorably served our country by enlisting
in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war.
While in Vietnam, he received the Vietnamese Cross of
Gallantry, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, and the
Combat Infantryman Badge.
After working as Deputy Administrator of the VA, he
became a successful entrepreneur and business leader.
In 1996 Chuck Hagel was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Six years later, he was overwhelmingly reelected with
over 83 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory
in any statewide race in Nebraska history.
His knowledge and experience building a business and
creating jobs was invaluable to the Senate.
He was a leader on the Foreign Relations Committee and
represented the U.S. Senate admirably as chair of the
Senate Global Climate Change Observer Group.
On a personal note, he always sent me a souvenir from
the College World Series in Omaha when the University of
Texas or Rice University was in the finals, which I am
proud to say was almost every year.
I will miss Chuck Hagel, and I wish him well.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
ORDER FOR PRINTING OF SENATE DOCUMENT
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent
that the tributes to retiring Senators that appear in the
Congressional Record be printed as a Senate document and
that Senators be permitted to submit such tributes for
inclusion until Friday, November 21, 2008.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Mr. LIEBERMAN. ... I offer thanks and best wishes to
other colleagues who are leaving--Senators Allard, Hagel,
and Craig.
Mr. WEBB. Mr. President, I know this afternoon at some
point the majority leader intends to speak about the
service of a number of the Members of this body who are
going to be retiring at the end of the year. But seeing
that people are elsewhere right now, I thought I might
seize this moment and say a few words about two of my
Republican colleagues with whom I have had long
relationships, and both of whom I respect a great deal,
and to wish both of them success as they leave this body.
...
Mr. President, I also wish to say a few words today
about Senator Chuck Hagel, who will be leaving this body.
Chuck Hagel and I have known each other for more than 30
years. We both came to Washington as young Vietnam
veterans, determined to try to take care of the
readjustment needs of those who had served in Vietnam.
Senator Hagel had been an infantry sergeant in Vietnam;
wounded, came up, worked in the Senate for awhile, became
a high-ranking official in the Veterans' Administration.
He later ran the USO before he came to this body. He is
known in this body as an expert on foreign affairs.
Again, as with Senator John Warner, he is someone who
puts country first, who puts the needs of the people who
do the hard work of society first. It has been a rare
privilege for me to have made a journey with someone,
beginning in the same spot in the late 1970s and ending up
here in the Senate. I know this country will hear more
from Chuck Hagel in the future. I certainly wish him well.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Mr. DODD. ... I wanted to mention as well a couple of
other colleagues who are also retiring. If I could, one is
my great friend from Nebraska, Chuck Hagel, with whom I
have served on both the Banking and the Foreign Relations
Committees for the past 12 years, truly a wonderful
person. We have worked together on a number of issues.
He got his first job at 9 years of age when he began to
help his family economically. He was 16 when his dad died
and took over raising his family along with his mother. I
believe most of my colleagues are aware that he was a true
hero of the Vietnam war. He saved his brother who, in
fact, was serving with him in that conflict.
He has done a remarkable job in his public service years
as well. We serve on the Foreign Relations Committee
together and the Banking Committee. Whether the issue has
been Iraq, Serbia, or Croatia, Cuba, regardless of who
comes before our committee, no one asks tougher questions
or gets straighter answers than Chuck Hagel.
On Cuba, for instance--again, an explosive issue
politically--Chuck and I offered a resolution to end the
embargo in Cuba because we agreed that the current policy
toward the island has failed the Cuban people and the
American people alike and because we refused to let
America wait on the sidelines while the future of one of
our closest neighbors is determined by others.
It is that kind of courage that he brings to the debate,
kind of blows through it all and says: What is the right
thing for our country and, in this case, the people of
Cuba?
On the Banking Committee, Chuck and I worked for months
to reinvent the infrastructure of our Nation with the
creation of a national infrastructure bank, 2\1/2\ years
developing that bill. In fact, it was Chuck who convinced
me we ought to announce the outcome of our work one day in
August last year. I argued with him a bit. I said, ``No
one will pay any attention to announcing an infrastructure
bill in August. Who wants to hear about infrastructure in
August.''
Chuck said, ``No, let's have that press conference and
let people know what we are doing.''
We met in the gallery at 10 a.m. I think we had two
reporters who showed up. I said, ``I think I was right,
Chuck. No one cares about infrastructure.''
By 5 o'clock that afternoon, Chuck Hagel and I were on
every TV screen in America because, regrettably, of the
great tragedy in Minneapolis that occurred that afternoon.
The bridge collapsed. Of course, infrastructure was the
subject matter for the next weeks to come. So, once again,
Chuck Hagel understood the timing of an issue in bringing
it up and how important it was for our Nation. Little did
we know that tragedy would fall on Interstate 35-W over
the Mississippi River.
There again was Chuck Hagel, standing with a colleague
of a different background, putting aside ideology and
politics to work together to find new and innovative ways
to address the Nation's most urgent priorities. That is
Chuck Hagel, a remarkable person and a very good Senator
over the years. Patriotic, never partisan, tough but fair,
always engaged, sometimes even confrontational, but never,
ever, belligerent, a strong Member. This institution will
miss Chuck's ability to transcend politics and serve the
American people. As such, the people of Nebraska deserve
our thanks for sending Chuck Hagel to serve with us over
these past 12 years. I will miss him. We all wish him the
very best. He served our Nation very well during his
service.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 12 years ago when I came to
the Senate, I was joined by a new Senator from Nebraska,
Chuck Hagel. Chuck became a friend, and we have worked
together on a number of issues over the years. He also, in
a weak moment, agreed to do my cable show. I went to his
office. We talked about his background; first, his service
in Vietnam, something I particularly admire, the courage
he showed in volunteering to serve in our Army, and then
coming together with his brother in the same unit and both
of them under fire. Both of them served our country in
combat. He came back and was a successful businessman. He
went on to serve the people of Nebraska and eventually to
serve in the Senate.
We have worked together over the years. I have always
found him to be a gentleman. His word is good, and he has
the courage to step up and take a position once in a while
that may not be popular, even in Nebraska.
I know his leadership on the issue of the war in Iraq
will be remembered because, during the last 2 years when
we struggled to find a way to bring this war to a close,
he is one who would cross the aisle and join us in an
effort to find a reasonable way to end this conflict in an
honorable manner. I respect him so much for that.
I have one special little measure of gratitude for Chuck
Hagel. There is a bill I introduced which is as near and
dear to me as any I considered. It is called the DREAM
Act, to give literally tens of thousands of children
across America who came to this country, were brought here
by undocumented parents, grew up as Americans, never
knowing any other life, any other culture, maybe not
knowing any other language but English, and now find
themselves graduating high school with no country. They
are told officially by American law they are not wanted or
needed and asked to leave. They have nowhere to go. This
is home. They want a chance, just a chance to be part of
America's future in a legal way.
This DREAM Act has been controversial because it relates
to immigration, and that is not an easy issue. Chuck Hagel
stepped up and co-sponsored that legislation with me, and
I will never forget it. It meant a lot for him to show
that kind of courage.
Even though we did not prevail, someday we will, and
when that day comes, I will honor him on the floor for his
exceptional courage on this matter that means so much to
so many young people across our country. ...
Those Senators leaving our ranks leave positive memories
for this Senator from Illinois. The fact that I have been
able to serve with them, know them, and count them as
friends, I count as one of the real blessings of my
service in the Senate.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today, as one of those
who made the weighty decision not to seek reelection, to
share my most personal thoughts--tributes--to my esteemed
colleagues who will quietly, humbly, and with a deep sense
of gratitude to their States, to our Nation, bring to a
conclusion their public service as U.S. Senators.
This is a diverse group of Senators. Whether we hail
from small farms, small cities or, in my case, from major
metropolitan areas, we bring different backgrounds,
different interests. That diversity gives the Senate its
strength to serve equally all Americans. What we share,
however, is an unwavering love for our States, our country
and for the institution of the U.S. Senate.
We aspire to Winston Churchill's quote: ``We make a
living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.''
It has been my privilege, over my 30 years in the
Senate, to serve with a total of 261 Members. Each,
almost, shall be remembered as a friend. ...
Senator Chuck Hagel has served his native Nebraska and
his country with true heroism. When I was privileged to
serve in the Department of the Navy during the war in
Vietnam, Chuck Hagel, together with his brother, both
served with courage in the same Army unit in South
Vietnam. He was awarded the Purple Heart not once but
twice for his heroism and sacrifice in combat leadership.
His career has spanned the spectrum from public servant
to entrepreneur, and this has given him a perspective on
the world and global affairs, as well as of Main Streets
in the hometowns and cities of his State.
Senator Hagel will be remembered for his efforts on
behalf of his fellow veterans and men and women in
uniform, together with their families. At one time he
served as president of the USO.
One of his proudest achievements will surely be his work
with my colleague from Virginia, a former highly decorated
Marine, Senator Jim Webb, who also served in Vietnam. The
two of them started a very tough assignment, and that was
to rewrite the existing GI bill. And along the way, two
``old-timers,'' both World War II veterans--Senator
Lautenberg and I--enlisted in their ranks as co-sponsors.
Our goal was to give to today's generation of men and
women in uniform a level and diversity of benefits that
approaches what the World War II generation received from
a grateful Nation at the conclusion of that conflict. The
GI bill at that time enabled any soldier, sailor, or
airman--and there were up to 16 million who served in
World War II--to go to almost any university or college of
his or her choice, and the funds were nearly sufficient to
fund the costs for tuition, room and board, and school
books.
But through the ensuing years, the successive GI bills
were not quite as fulsome; they did not keep pace with the
rising cost of education. Prior to the Webb bill, today's
generation was barely able to get enough funds to attend
educational institutions in their home States, let alone
some of America's better-known educational institutions.
This bill recognizes the great contributions of our
military men and women and increases significantly the GI
bill benefits. It will make a great difference in the
lives of so many of this generation, a generation that I
believe is in every way equal to the Greatest Generation
of World War II, for it faces even greater challenges as
the uncertainty of threats and the advance of complexity
of weapons face them today in a growing number of places
worldwide.
I so admire this strong American, Chuck Hagel, who
symbolizes ``duty, honor, country.''
In public service, his compass is precise; for he always
follows the needle as it points to what course of action
is ``best for America.'' ...
I am proud to say I have come to know each of these fine
men. And I firmly believe that this is but yet another
beginning in all of our lives, for, to quote Churchill
again, ``the chain of destiny can only be grasped one link
at a time.''
I yield the floor.
Mr. CORKER. Madam President, there are a number of
distinguished Senators who are leaving this body this
year. I know there have been a number of tributes given to
all of them and their service. ...
Chuck Hagel, who exercises this tremendous independence,
somebody with whom I have really enjoyed serving on
Foreign Relations; ... I honor all of them. I wish them
well. I think we are all better having had the opportunity
to serve with them.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, as this Congress comes to a
close we bid a fond farewell to our colleague Chuck Hagel.
As a Member of this body, Chuck is completing 12 years of
outstanding service to the people of Nebraska and to the
country. But I expect that he will find new ways to
contribute to the mission we all share: making the United
States stronger, safer, and more prosperous.
Chuck's first legislative service was as a U.S. Senator.
I like to think that those of us who were not seasoned
legislators when we arrived here draw on a diverse set of
experiences as we find our way to become effective
lawmakers. Chuck Hagel's background was probably more
varied than most--decorated war veteran, businessman,
broadcaster, and Deputy Administrator of the Veterans'
Administration, just to mention a few of the areas in
which he has distinguished himself. His successes in these
many disciplines undoubtedly helped him develop the
independent voice that we grew accustomed to hearing over
his dozen years in our midst.
For several years, we served together on the Budget
Committee, a legislative environment in which
bipartisanship isn't always easy. Chuck was always
forthright and honest in our sometimes contentious
deliberations and was never afraid to go where the facts
led him--even if it meant irritating a colleague on his
own side of the aisle.
We will miss him as a friend and as a fellow Senator,
but I expect the Nation will hear from Chuck Hagel again.
We wish him the best as he looks for new challenges.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, for the past 12 years, I have
had the privilege of serving in the Senate with my friend
Chuck Hagel. Upon his retirement from the Senate, I wanted
to take a moment to tell him how much he will be dearly
missed. Chuck Hagel will be missed not just by his
colleagues in the Senate, but also by those Americans for
whom he dedicated his career to fight for while serving in
Washington, DC.
Although we sit on opposite sides of the aisle, I have
found myself standing with Senator Hagel on numerous
occasions. Just in the past couple of years, we have
fought for increased pay for our troops, establishing a
center dedicated to the rehabilitation, treatment, and
research of servicemembers blinded in combat, and
advocating for additional mental health care resources for
servicemembers returning from combat.
Because of Senator Hagel's dedication to stand up for
those who have fought for our country, we have a
modernized GI bill. We have a GI bill that more accurately
reflects the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform
are making. We have a modernized benefits package that
will cover the majority of tuition costs for our returning
servicemembers, and I was proud to stand with him in that
effort as well.
His service to our country has been truly admirable.
Senator Hagel has had a truly remarkable career
representing the State of Nebraska. I thank him for his
service to our country. I wish him the best in his future
endeavors.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I want to spend just a few
minutes today talking about Chuck Hagel, the Senator from
the State of Nebraska.
I was raised in an environment where things were
physical--football, baseball, boxing, fighting, and being
tough. That was important. And as I have looked through
the Senate over these years, there is no one that fits
that bill more than Chuck Hagel. The senior Senator from
the State of Nebraska is both physically and mentally very
tough.
Senator Hagel is a person who suffered multiple broken
noses playing high school and college football and, as we
read in his book, an occasional scuffle off the field.
Senator Hagel is a man who won a football scholarship to
go to college because of his athletic prowess but had to
change his plans when injury left him with an
uncorrectable pinched nerve in his neck.
Senator Hagel is a man who risked his own life on many
occasions, but on one occasion risked his own life and
suffered terribly to save his brother's life in the jungle
of Cambodia during the Vietnam conflict. Senator Hagel is
a man who still carries shrapnel from his heroic uniformed
service to our Nation.
Senator Hagel tells the story in his book about his
childhood, that when he and his brother Tom were growing
up, the Hagel family moved around Nebraska to seven
different houses in small Nebraska towns. The seven places
he lived formed a loop around the State. So when Chuck
first ran for the Senate in 1996, he could go almost
anyplace in Nebraska and tell local crowds, ``it's good to
be home.''
When Chuck Hagel's draft number was called in 1967, he
was given an order to ship out to Germany after being
inducted. But he said, ``I don't want to go to Germany.
The war is in Vietnam.'' So he asked to change his orders
to go to Vietnam where the action was. What this young man
from Nebraska believed was that fighting a war meant going
to the front lines, not someplace thousands of miles away.
So that is where he wound up.
Since the Sullivan brothers' deaths in World War II, it
was not very often that siblings found themselves in the
same combat zone fighting, but that isn't what happened in
this situation with the Hagel brothers. No one really
knows how--they think it was a stroke of luck, but it
remains a bit of a mystery--Chuck Hagel and Tom Hagel
wound up in the same infantry, same fighting unit,
fighting shoulder to shoulder in the jungles of Cambodia.
Mr. President, in the span of less than a month, these
two brothers each had the chance to save the other's life.
Not only did they have the chance, but they took that
chance and they were successful. Here is one account:
One of the soldiers ... hit a trip wire, setting off a
mine that had been placed in a tree so that it would
detonate at face level. Bodies, body parts and shrapnel
were blasted back into the ranks as the squad was crossing
a stream. Tom picked himself up and looked for his
brother. What he saw was a ``geyser'' of blood gushing
from Chuck's chest. Tom, then only 19, stanched the
bleeding and bandaged the wound, only then noticing that
he'd been hit himself in the arm. Twenty-five days later,
it was Chuck's turn to rescue Tom when their troop carrier
hit a hand-detonated mine as it emerged from a village in
the delta. Tom had been in the turret behind a .50-caliber
machine gun. He was unconscious, not obviously alive, when
his brother got to him. The blast had blown out Chuck's
eardrums and severely burned his left side, but knowing
the carrier might soon explode, he worked feverishly to
pull Tom from the wreckage, then threw his body on top of
Tom's as Vietcong fighters in ambush sprayed the area with
gunfire.
For this remarkably courageous service, Sgt. Chuck Hagel
was decorated with the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, the
Army Commendation Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and
two Purple Hearts.
After the war, Chuck Hagel came to Washington and worked
on Capitol Hill. By the age of 26, he was chief of staff
to Congressman John McCollister of Nebraska. Within 10
years, he was appointed by President Reagan to be the
second highest ranking official in the Veterans'
Administration. But very typical of Chuck Hagel, after
just a few months during his term of service, he spoke out
against a cut in benefits to Vietnam veterans and quit the
Department in protest. This was not the steppingstone to
an impressive career in Washington, as some had thought,
because Chuck Hagel spoke out against something he thought
was wrong.
When Senator Hagel left Capitol Hill, he scraped
together whatever money he could find by selling a car and
cashing in life insurance policies to invest in an upstart
business that built networks for wireless phones. Within a
few years, Chuck Hagel's company was one of the most
successful cellular telephone providers in America. He
entered the American system of free enterprise and was
extremely successful. But after succeeding in business,
Chuck returned his attention to politics and won a seat in
the Senate in 1996.
I have served with Chuck Hagel in the Senate for 12
years. One would be hard pressed to find a more
conservative Member than the senior Senator from Nebraska.
Although our political philosophies differ, I know Chuck
Hagel to be one of the bravest and most fiercely
independent Members of this legislative body. He has been
a deficit hawk when others in his party abandoned fiscal
restraint.
He crossed the aisle and worked with my predecessor,
Senator Daschle, as well as Senator Kennedy and Senator
Martinez on the Republican side, to seek a comprehensive
immigration plan that would be both tough and
compassionate but, above all, fair.
He served the people of Nebraska well as a member of the
Foreign Relations Committee; the Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs Committee; the Intelligence Committee; and
the Rules Committee.
I will be forever grateful for the courage Senator Hagel
has shown on the Iraq war. He spoke out early against the
war, he spoke out often, and he was right. As all Senators
know, speaking up against a hallmark policy of one's own
party is no easy task. With Senator Hagel's help, we were
able to move the debate forward and to finally provide
some oversight on the incompetent management of the war.
Although Senator Hagel will not see the end of the war as
a Member of this body, there is no doubt that his courage
has brought us closer to that day.
One of the most remarkable days in my political career
was the time when we were working on how to do something
to change the course on the war in Iraq. I visited Senator
Hagel in his office. As you walk in, you see a picture of
Tom and Chuck Hagel in a mechanized vehicle in the jungles
of Cambodia--or Vietnam. I don't know exactly where it
was, but Southeast Asia. He is very proud of his military
career. But we visited, and I probably wouldn't be a very
good salesman, selling automobiles or a house because it
was hard for me to close the deal, saying, ``Chuck, will
you vote with me?'' At home that night, he called me and
said words to the effect: I listened to you; I'm going to
vote with you.
His vote made the difference. It allowed us to carry the
day and send a bill to the President that the President
vetoed. Senator Hagel didn't wait for me to close the
deal, he closed the deal. I have great admiration and
respect for him and what he did that night. I think he
changed the direction of the country and how it felt about
the war in Iraq, and it allowed the people in America to
know that we could do something, that we are not
powerless.
It is well known that Senator Hagel has been considered
on more than one occasion as a candidate for President or
Vice President. Here is what he said, though.
I don't have to be President. I don't have to be a
Senator. I just have to live with myself.
So whatever path Chuck Hagel follows next, he, his wife
Lilibet, and their daughter Allyn and son Ziller, should
have the deepest pride in the lasting impact of Senator
Chuck Hagel's patriotism and service for the betterment of
the Nation we love through both the military and the
Senate, where he has served so gallantly.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise this morning to
recognize and pay tribute to several colleagues who are
concluding distinguished careers in the Senate. These
gentlemen have distinguished themselves. They have
dedicated themselves to representing their States and
representing the best interests of the Nation. ...
Finally, let me pay tribute to a dear friend and
colleague. We entered the Senate together 12 years ago.
Senator Chuck Hagel has represented Nebraska with rare
insight and extraordinarily good humor for 12 years. He is
one of those individuals who is respected and liked by
everyone because he is an extraordinarily decent person,
someone who takes his job seriously but himself not so
seriously. He is someone I have had the privilege to
travel with across the globe--Russia, Afghanistan,
Singapore, the Philippines, northern Africa, and back
again to Afghanistan and Iraq. He, too, has a rare
dedication to the men and women of the armed services,
born of his own personal experiences. As a young man he
chose not only to join the U.S. Army but to serve in
Vietnam. He had the opportunity to be posted to Germany.
He would have served out his time and left. But he decided
he had to march to the sound of the guns. His brother was
already there. Together in the same unit, he and his
brother served the U.S. Army. He was wounded in action and
received the Purple Heart. He came back as a veteran and
continued his education and then built a very successful
business career. But he never lost sight of those men and
women who serve in uniform. He is very active in the USO.
He is someone who was active in veterans affairs. Then,
finally, when he was elected to the Senate, he took his
learning, his experience, and appreciation, and played a
major role on the Foreign Relations Committee. His
commitment to a broad multinational policy of using our
alliances, of building our power not just through our
military power but through diplomatic and reputational
power has made a significant contribution to the country,
not just for the moment but for many years. He is leaving
the Senate to pursue other endeavors. I wish him well. He
has been a remarkable friend. He, Lilibet, and their
children, Allyn and Ziller, are a remarkable family. I
will miss him particularly. I salute him, thank him. He,
to me, is the very model of a Senator who has served his
country in different ways and now has chosen to continue
to serve in other ways. I am sure he will continue to
contribute to the country.
To these Members, I wish them well. I thank them
personally for their kindness to me and their
thoughtfulness on so many other occasions.
Mr. ALLARD. ... Another individual I wish to recognize
who is retiring is Senator Chuck Hagel from Nebraska;
again, one of the neighboring States of Colorado. The
State of Nebraska is downstream from Colorado. So we have
ribbed each other a little bit about water issues.
Basically, though, we have been partners on water issues.
We have been able to work together on many issues that
have improved the management of water in the Platte River
drainage system, which is one of the many rivers that
originates in Colorado and flows downstream. I also worked
with Senator Hagel on the Banking Committee. He was one
who pushed early on for the reform of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. He brought to this institution a great deal
of experience. Again, he has decided to retire the same
year as I have. I will always remember Senator Chuck Hagel
and our relationship and how we have been able to work
together, I think for the betterment of both of our
States.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment
to recognize and express my appreciation for my friend and
colleague Senator Chuck Hagel. I have served in the Senate
with Chuck Hagel for the past 12 years. During that time,
he has established himself as one who is able to rise
above partisanship, and he is respected on both sides of
the aisle for his honest appraisals.
For the past 2 years, I have had the opportunity to work
with Chuck on our bipartisan efforts to change our course
in Iraq. We have served together on the Intelligence
Committee. When we have agreed on policy, he has been a
thoughtful and effective partner; and when we have not,
those same qualities served the Senate well nonetheless.
Chuck Hagel has brought to the U.S. Senate a deeply held
commitment to our Nation's troops and veterans and an
equally deep understanding of their needs. With that
perspective, he has served as an honest broker between
parties and positions, and he has been an effective
advocate for our brave men and women in uniform as well as
for the people of Nebraska.
He understands the power of this Nation's values, not
just of our military, and he has eloquently represented
those values. He has defended his extraordinary
independent streak with great courage.
I extend my thanks to Chuck and wish him and Lilibet all
the best in their future endeavors.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, with the end of a session
fast approaching, it is time once again to say farewell to
some of our favorite colleagues in the Senate. And today
that includes our friend, the senior Senator from
Nebraska.
Chuck Hagel's long record of service is well known to
many. What some may not know is that that record of
service long predates his time in Washington.
Responsibility was thrust upon Chuck at an early age. A
fourth generation Nebraskan, Chuck became the man of the
house at the young age of 16 after the death of his
father.
And he accepted the responsibility head on, working hard
to support his mom and younger brothers.
But even then working hard was nothing new to Chuck
Hagel, who had taken his first job delivering papers at
the age of 9.
As a young man, Chuck answered the call and volunteered
to serve in Vietnam, and Chuck's fellow soldiers turned to
him for leadership.
One of the soldiers who served right alongside Chuck was
his younger brother Tom. By coincidence, the Hagel
brothers ended up in the same unit and rode together in
the same armored personnel carrier.
In a defining act of heroism, Chuck once dragged his
brother out of that carrier after it had struck a landmine
and burst into flames. The blast left Chuck badly burned
and ruptured both his eardrums. Yet despite serious
injuries to himself, he brought his brother through enemy
fire to safety.
After returning home from Vietnam, Chuck worked his way
through college and got his first taste of Washington
working for Omaha Congressman John McCollister.
Later, Chuck would show his drive and his leadership in
the business world. Taking a risk, he sank his entire
savings into a business venture that eventually paid off.
And then, 12 years ago, he took another gamble. And we
are glad he did.
A political newcomer, Chuck defeated Nebraska's sitting
State attorney general in a primary, and then a popular
incumbent Governor in the general election for a seat in
the U.S. Senate.
I will note, Mr. President, that the Governor he beat is
now the junior Senator from Nebraska. And in a sign of
Chuck's character and commitment to the people of
Nebraska, the two former rivals have worked in tandem on
many issues for the good of the people of their State.
I know Senator Nelson would agree that Senator Hagel's
departure is a great loss for this Chamber and for the
people of the Cornhusker State.
Chuck's advocacy for the people of Nebraska was
reaffirmed 6 years ago when the voters sent him back to
Washington for a second term.
In a sign of his effectiveness and his popularity, he
won reelection to the Senate by the biggest margin
Nebraska has ever seen.
The one-time political newcomer trounced his opponent,
winning 83 percent of the vote--and all 93 counties in the
State.
In two terms in the Senate, Chuck has earned the respect
of his colleagues and risen to national prominence as a
clear voice on foreign policy and national security. He
has consistently fought to expand free trade, particularly
with Vietnam.
Chuck's stature as a leading voice in foreign affairs
has earned him a reputation, in just 12 years in the
Senate, as one of Nebraska's great statesmen. This is a
tribute to his intelligence, hard work, and devotion to a
country that he has served his entire adult life.
Elaine and I have enjoyed getting to know Chuck,
Lilibet, and their family over the years. I know Chuck's a
proud dad. And his kids should be proud of their dad.
Chuck, it has been an honor, and a pleasure, to serve
with you. We all wish you well in whatever future
endeavors you choose to take on.
I am confident that, even though Nebraska is known as a
flat State, whoever succeeds Charles Timothy Hagel in the
U.S. Senate is going to have a very steep hill to climb.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, when the 111th Congress convenes
next year, the Senate will be without Senator Chuck Hagel.
Senator Hagel has decided to retire from the Senate after
two terms. His career in public service, however, long
predates his service in Congress.
Like many public servants, Senator Hagel entered
politics after first serving the Nation in the Armed
Forces. He saw combat in Vietnam and served with valor,
receiving two Purple Hearts among other decorations. He
would later serve as a congressional staff member, and in
1981, President Reagan tapped him as Deputy Administrator
of the Veterans' Administration.
When Senator Hagel came to the Senate, his actions often
reflected his experience as a combat veteran. He did what
he believed was best for the men and women in uniform, and
he defended his positions forcefully.
Senator Hagel has continued to protect and defend the
country, notably through his work on the Foreign Relations
and Intelligence Committees. He had strong opinions, and
he was never shy about letting them be known.
I wish Senator Hagel all the best in his pursuits after
the Senate. I expect that he will devote much of his time
to his wife Lilibet and their family, but I imagine he
will save some time to follow his Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, one of the first experiences
of a new Senator is to open the drawer in their desk here
on the floor and learn a special lesson in Senate history.
Traditionally, Senators do what we prevent sixth grade
boys from doing: we write our names into our desks. When I
first opened my drawer here, I saw decades of people who
had occupied this particular desk, and it told me that for
however long I am here, I am a temporary occupant. Many
came before me and many will come after me. So at each 2-
year interval, we say goodbye to many of our colleagues
and await the new.
I will be particularly sad to say farewell to the senior
Senator from Nebraska, Mr. Hagel. He came to this body
with an extraordinary career in communications, finance,
and international business. He was like a Senator of a
bygone era, when Members of this body often were the
national experts in their fields.
He made a tremendous contribution to the world of the
Senate because he had first-hand knowledge of the dynamism
and transformational nature of the global economy all
around us. He is the kind of decisionmaker that is shaping
the new economy, and it has been so valuable to have him
among us.
Chuck Hagel's whole life expresses his conviction that
the world can and should be a better place, and it will
not get that way by itself. He is fully engaged in a
lifelong effort to make the world a better place, and he
applies every waking hour to the quest. I know that
``retirement'' is not the word for his departure from this
place--in a way he is released from this responsibility to
pursue his passion of public service in multiple other
ways. He is the embodiment of the ideal of a life of self-
sacrifice for the betterment of others.
Senator Hagel brought his analytical, probing mind to
the Foreign Relations Committee, where I served with him
these last 6 years. His contributions to the committee's
work were always thoughtful and challenging--and that was
just his Halloween costumes.
Chuck Hagel is one of the most energetic people I have
ever met. When you look at the list of organizations he
supports with this ideas and his leadership, it looks like
the combined resume of five people. He works with veterans
organizations, antipoverty organizations, international
cooperation organizations and the list goes on and on. He
has been honored by dozens of organizations for excellence
in public service.
For some reason, Nebraska has a habit of sending
independent-minded Members to this body, and they play a
key role in our deliberations. Perhaps because Nebraska is
kind of a plains State, kind of a Midwestern State, kind
of a Western State, and in that way unique, Nebraskans
have contributed a great deal of independence to our
deliberations, which is so valuable in the Senate's search
for consensus.
We in Minnesota are glad to be a part of Chuck Hagel's
life. Since some of his education occurred at the Brown
Institute in Minneapolis, we too claim a piece of him.
We thank the people of Nebraska for sharing him with the
Nation as a Member of the Senate. We will certainly miss
his razor sharp analytical mind and his wonderfully
engaging personality. I am personally grateful to him for
the way he introduced me to the habits and ways of the
Senate and for helping me understand how to do my best for
the people of my State.
In the history of this Nation, different kinds of men
and women have given some of their talents and vision to
this place for the benefit of the whole Nation. We thank
Senator Hagel for his willingness to serve and for the way
he made the most of every moment of his time here in the
Senate.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I rise to recognize the
service of a great public servant and an outstanding
leader.
Senator Hagel has been a committed and avid servant to
his home State of Nebraska. He has served in Congress for
two consecutive 6-year terms with ardent fervor for the
welfare of Nebraskans and all Americans.
Senator Hagel has always placed the well-being of
Nebraska and our Nation ahead of partisanship and personal
feelings. He has been an earnest supporter of
bipartisanship, recognizing the productivity that can
accompany joint labor. His devotion to the people of his
State and this Nation is apparent to any who know him. He
has distinguished himself as a soldier and public servant
of the people, demonstrating an exemplary character of
which Nebraskans can be proud.
Madam President, I ask my colleagues to join me in
paying tribute to this magnificent Senator.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Mr. LUGAR. Mr. President, I wish to take this
opportunity before the 110th Congress adjourns to honor
our distinguished colleague and my good friend, Chuck
Hagel, who will be leaving the Senate after 12 years of
achievement.
Senator Hagel has applied his estimable talents to many
of the most critical areas of public policy. Throughout
his time in the Senate he was a stalwart member of the
Foreign Relations Committee, where he became one of the
Senate's experts on international affairs.
Upon Chuck Hagel's arrival in the Senate in 1996, he had
already distinguished himself in service to his country.
He was decorated for his service as an infantryman in the
U.S. Army during the Vietnam war. He went on to careers as
a congressional staffer, a Deputy Administrator of the
Veterans' Administration, and a successful businessman.
When Chuck came to the Senate, it was clear that his
unique background would be an asset to the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. I encouraged him to join the
committee and was pleased that he did so. In the Senate,
Chuck embraced responsibility for U.S. national security
as few Senators have in recent decades.
Senator Hagel's years in the Senate will be remembered
for his willingness to challenge conventional wisdom and
his ability to see issues from multiple perspectives. He
has been a determined advocate for an independent point of
view, but also a good listener who has often forged
compromises that benefited our Nation.
For the last 9 years Chuck has sat next to me through
hundreds of Foreign Relations Committee hearings and
meetings. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to exchange
ideas with him, to compare perspectives on our witnesses,
and to develop common approaches to problems. He was
always candid and thoughtful in both his public statements
and his private advice.
He understands that the world's problems are our
problems; that our economic health is tied to the
prosperity of the rest of the industrialized world; that
the cleanliness of our environment is deeply affected by
the environments of those even beyond our continent; and
that our access to global natural resources and energy
supplies depends on maintaining stable conditions in some
of the most volatile regions on Earth. In a ``Memo to the
Candidates'' written last summer, he underscored the
interconnected nature of our world, saying:
America's long-term security interests are directly
connected to alliances, coalitions, international
institutions, and our standing in the world. The next
President will have to reintroduce America to the world in
order to regain its trust in our purpose as well as our
power.
Chuck contributed greatly in recent years to the
committee's efforts to improve our government's
stabilization and reconstruction capacity, to elevate the
priority of energy diplomacy, to facilitate NATO
expansion, to reauthorize the PEPFAR Program, to prevent
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and to
safeguard the international environment.
I have greatly appreciated his personal friendship and
thoughtful remembrances of events in my public and private
life. My entire office benefited from his personal
generosity in 2001 when the Senate endured the anthrax
attack. My staff and I were displaced from our office for
more than 3 months. Senator Hagel stepped forward and
offered us a large room in his suite in the Russell Senate
Office Building, which became the nerve center of my
Senate office while we were displaced. Senator Hagel's
thoughtfulness allowed us to continue operations during
this difficult period.
I will greatly miss Chuck's presence in the seat next to
me at committee hearings, and I know that the Senate as a
whole will miss his wisdom and well-deserved reputation
for humor. But I have no doubts that he will encounter
other opportunities to serve the United States. His
counsel on foreign and defense policy will be sought out
by Members of Congress and Presidential administrations
for many years to come. I look forward to many insightful
conversations with my friend and to witnessing all that he
will achieve in the future.
Mr. SPECTER. Senator Chuck Hagel's intellectualism and
independence will be sorely missed in the Senate. Chuck
Hagel's service in Vietnam, where he earned military
decorations and honors including two Purple Hearts, has
given him special standing on key defense issues. With
that background, he enjoys a sort of immunity from a
charge of being soft on defense and his views are more
closely followed.
Senator Hagel will be especially missed by the few
Republican moderates who were encouraged by his
independence.
My sense is that Chuck Hagel will stay in public life in
one form or another, but I would have preferred to have
seen him stay in the Senate to promote the resurgence of
moderation within the Republican ranks and bipartisanship
extending across the aisle for important legislation.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, soon the last remaining items
of business on the legislative calendar will be taken up
and the current session of Congress will draw to a close.
When it does, several of our colleagues will be returning
home and leaving public service. We will miss them, their
good ideas and the touch of creativity they brought to our
work in the Senate during their years of service to the
people of their home States.
When I am asked about the Members with whom I have had
the privilege to serve during my Senate career, Chuck
Hagel will certainly come to mind. I don't think anyone
has a more interesting life story to tell than Chuck and
certainly few have achieved the level of success he has
been able to attain in his public life and in the business
world.
Chuck grew up in a small Nebraska town where he learned
the value of a day's work at an earlier than usual age.
Chuck found his first job when he was only 9 and he's been
hard at work ever since. When he lost his father at the
age of 16 it fell to him, as the oldest child, to help
raise the younger ones of his family.
That was also about the time that Chuck made his first
run for office. When he was in high school he decided to
run for student council president. He knew he would have
to do something different in his campaign to separate
himself from the others who were running, so he tied a
chicken to the hood of his car and drove around the school
announcing the reasons why he was in the race. No one had
ever seen anything quite like that before and he won quite
easily I am sure.
After his high school years, Chuck heard the call to
serve his country and he and his brother joined the Army
and served in Vietnam. He was seriously wounded twice and
received two Purple Hearts during his military service.
During one of his missions, he and his brother were
trapped in their armored personnel carrier when an enemy
mine exploded beneath them. Chuck pulled his unconscious
brother to safety and probably saved his life. It took 10
years for him to fully heal from the effects of the
injuries he suffered that day.
When he graduated from the University of Nebraska he
began his political career in earnest. He joined the staff
of a Republican Congressman from Nebraska and impressed
him and his staff so much that he steadily rose in
responsibility to be his top aide.
Equally impressive has been Chuck's success as a
businessman. He sold almost all he had to begin a cellular
phone company with two partners. His hard work and
determination to succeed paid off and his investment was
multiplied many times over.
That kind of success would have been enough for most
people, but not for Chuck. Chuck felt the call to bigger
things and he set his sights on going to Washington to
make life a little better for the people back home in
Nebraska.
That was his platform when Chuck ran for the Senate in
1996. The experts thought he was a long shot and a lot of
people said he didn't stand a chance. Once again, Chuck
defied the odds and relied on the judgment of the people
of Nebraska instead of the predictions of the experts. The
people of Nebraska knew a good thing when they saw it and
Chuck was sent to the Senate to represent them.
Chuck and I were part of the same freshman class and
when we arrived we both looked forward to being named to
the committees on which we would serve so we could make a
difference for our States and the Nation. Chuck was very
pleased and proud when Senator Lugar offered him an
invitation to join the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Chuck took full advantage of the opportunity and made it
the focus of his efforts in the Senate. He made a point of
visiting other countries and meeting with foreign leaders
to increase his expertise on foreign policy. Working
closely with Senator Lugar and Senator Biden, he has been
a voice on the committee that is sought after for his
perspective on the issues that involve our relations with
other countries.
Over the years I have enjoyed serving with Chuck and
working with him on two of his top priorities, cutting
Federal spending and making our tax system more workable
and more responsive to the needs of our national economy.
He can be very proud of all he has achieved, especially
his support of fast track authority so the President could
negotiate trade deals that cannot be changed by the
Congress. His work in the area of international trade has
made a great difference throughout the United States and
helped improve our relationship with our trading partners.
Now Chuck's Washington years are coming to a close and
he will be moving on together with Lilibet to something
new and different in their lives. Diana and I have always
found that when one great adventure ends another one takes
its place. That is our wish for you. Whatever the future
holds for you and Lilibet we wish you all the best. The
only good part about saying goodbye is the knowledge that
you will keep in touch with us and continue to offer your
good advice and the unique brand of common sense that you
learned from your service in Washington, your success in
your business, and your years growing up in Nebraska,
Wyoming's neighbor to the east.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that
the order from September 27 regarding tributes to retiring
Senators be modified so that Senators be permitted to
submit such tributes for inclusion in a Senate document
until Friday, December 12, 2008.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Tuesday, December 9, 2007
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I came to know Senator Hagel in
1997 when we worked together on the Byrd-Hagel Resolution
related to the Kyoto Protocol. We made a good team because
our effort was approved unanimously, by a vote of 95 to 0.
In our work together, I made a new friend because I
found Senator Hagel to be a likeable and cooperative
person as well as a knowledgeable and hard-working
Senator.
My respect for this dynamic Senator increased as I
watched him become one of the Senate's most outspoken
critics of Mr. Bush's war in Iraq. Several of us were
already pointing to the disastrous results of the Bush
administration's flawed and failed Iraqi war policies. But
Senator Hagel's opposition to the war carried very special
impact. He is a conservative, a member of the President's
own political party, and a military veteran. In fact, he
still carries shrapnel in his chest and remnants of burns
to his face from his service as an infantryman in Vietnam.
Senator Hagel now calls Mr. Bush's war in Iraq ``an
absolute replay of Vietnam.''
I will miss my friend and colleague. The Senate needs
strong, independent voices like Senator Hagel--lawmakers
who are willing to put the best interests of our country
and American people over partisan politics.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I rise tonight to
recognize and pay tribute to my colleague from Nebraska,
Senator Chuck Hagel, who is retiring from the Senate. When
I entered this body nearly 8 years ago, Senator Hagel
welcomed me, and since then we have worked together on a
number of important issues for the good of our great State
and our country. We teamed up to seek Federal assistance
to help Nebraskans recover from natural disasters, such as
floods, ice storms, and drought; to win congressional
approval for naming the new FBI Building in Omaha after
our esteemed late colleague, Senator J. James Exon, and on
numerous other Nebraska projects.
Like me, Chuck Hagel grew up in small communities in
Nebraska. It is a special experience to be raised among
Nebraskans under the wide open skies of the Great Plains.
Helping hands are always nearby and opportunities seem
limitless. From our families, friends, and neighbors, we
both learned the bedrock values of love, of community, of
faith, responsibility to others, and devotion to country.
These values have been evident during Senator Hagel's
tenure in this body.
Also evident has been an important perspective he
shared, one only a few Senators know first hand, about the
reality of war, gained as a decorated U.S. Army sergeant
on violent battlefields in the Vietnam war and later as
Deputy Secretary Administrator of the U.S. Veterans'
Administration during the Reagan administration.
Here in the Senate, he represented the people of
Nebraska and the United States well as a member of the
Foreign Relations Committee; the Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs Committee; the Intelligence Committee; and
the Rules Committee. He will long be remembered as one of
our most outspoken and candid Members, as a patriot, and
as one who took seriously his duties. Particularly through
expressing his views on foreign policy, he fiercely
advocated the constitutional principle that the
legislative, executive, and judicial branches of
government are equal partners.
I take this opportunity to commend him for his honorable
service to our State and Nation over these many years. And
whatever path Chuck Hagel embarks on next, I wish him and
his wife Lilibet, daughter Allyn, and son Ziller only the
best in their lives. It has been an honor to serve with
him.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I rise to acknowledge the
work and commitment of a colleague whom I have had the
pleasure of serving with for the last 12 years here in the
U.S. Senate. Senator Chuck Hagel joined the Senate in 1997
after an already successful career in business and public
service, both in his home State of Nebraska and here in
Washington, DC.
While in the Senate, Chuck has been a strong independent
voice for all Nebraskans and citizens of this country. He
is not afraid to share what is on his mind and he is
certainly not afraid to reach across the aisle to work
with all Senators. In one of his first acts of
bipartisanship, Senator Hagel joined me as a co-sponsor of
the Landmine Elimination Act of 1997. I worked with Chuck,
who was himself injured by landmines while in Vietnam, to
ban new deployments of antipersonnel landmines.
Senator Hagel has demonstrated an incredible alacrity on
defense and foreign policy issues. While it was not
popular within his own party, he made the difficult
decision to support a timeline for the withdrawal of
troops from Iraq. This is just one example of many stances
he has taken in Washington that demonstrates how Chuck
Hagel was an independent voice that Nebraska is proud to
call their own.
I am also pleased to know Chuck and Lilibet as wonderful
travel partners. The last trip we took together, in May
2007, was to the Middle East to assess regional conflicts
in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and the West Bank. Trips like
these provide the opportunity to get to know Senators and
their spouses beyond the day-to-day encounters in
Washington, and I cherish the time we had together.
I am pleased to call Chuck a friend and voice of reason
in the U.S. Senate. I will miss him as both a friend and
colleague. Marcelle and I wish him and Lilibet well in
whatever way he will next serve Nebraska and our Nation.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise to express my enormous
gratitude and deep appreciation to my good friend and
colleague, Senator Chuck Hagel, for his 12 years of
sterling leadership and steadfast service in the U.S.
Senate.
A man of deep-seated principle, honor, conscience, and
conviction, Senator Hagel has been a stalwart legislator
and an unwavering guardian of the first branch of
government during his remarkable two-term tenure in the
Senate. And, having served with Chuck side by side for
that entire period--including, in the 107th Congress on
the Senate Committee on the Budget, and subsequently for
the remaining three Congresses on the Senate Committee on
Intelligence--I can attest first hand to the tremendous
intellect, independence, and integrity that he has brought
to his office and to some of the most consequential
debates of our time.
Anyone familiar with Senator Hagel's background will
notice readily how a fourth generation Nebraskan steeped
in the time-honored traditions and mores of the heartland
was well equipped with the bedrock character and
unshakable foundation necessary to reach the highest
heights in both the public and private sector. Whether
serving as President Reagan's Deputy Administrator of the
Veterans' Administration, demonstrating keen
entrepreneurial acumen as an early leader in the cell
phone industry, heading the World USO, or eventually
running successfully for the U.S. Senate from Nebraska,
the common denominator, time and again, pervading Senator
Hagel's life--and what has shaped his renowned trajectory
of accomplishment in every undertaking he has pursued--has
been his unwavering love for his country and abiding faith
in its founding principles.
Nowhere was Senator Hagel's devotion to our Nation more
paramount than when his country called on him to serve in
Vietnam, where he and his brother Tom, having bravely
enlisted together, fought shoulder to shoulder as infantry
squad leaders with the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry Division.
Both displayed enormous heroism on the field of battle and
were decorated soldiers, with Chuck earning two Purple
Hearts.
As you can imagine, it has been a privilege over these
past 12 years to witness the courage and candor of this
American hero and esteemed colleague, whether on measures
addressing war, specifically in Iraq, or matters
concerning the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,
FISA. Senator Hagel was indeed my compatriot and
ideological soulmate on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
If you must go into battle whether in war or in politics,
you want to engage your opponents with someone of Chuck
Hagel's mettle and fortitude.
A true conservative who believes in limited government--
and that the diffusion of power and authority are the
surest check against despotism and the best hope for
democracy--Senator Hagel has demonstrated a visceral and
unending passion for this institution and for the
possibilities of effective governance by people of good
will. And Senator Hagel crystallized this deeply held
belief in his farewell speech on the floor of the Senate
when he emphasized to his colleagues that:
... Article I of the Constitution is about the Congress.
We are a co-equal branch of government. If there is
anything I have learned in the 12 years I've been here, it
is the importance of sharing, participating in the
governance of our country, being part of that governance,
helping make decisions with the President and the
executive branch.
Finally, as a Mainer, I must say how fitting it was that
a few years ago Senator Hagel was recognized as one of the
esteemed recipients of the Edmund S. Muskie Distinguished
Public Service Award. Senator Hagel exemplifies the best
of the Muskie tradition which was built upon certain
irrefutable, sterling standards for high intellect,
unassailable integrity, and a lifetime of legendary
service.
To his wife Lilibet, their daughter Allyn, and son
Ziller, thank you for sharing your husband and your father
with us for these 12 years. And to Chuck, we will miss
your voice and your vision. By your words and in your
deeds, you bring to mind the Greek playwright and poet,
Aeschylus, who wrote that ``his resolve is not to seem the
bravest, but to be.'' You have been a brave steward of the
public trust, and we are forever thankful.