[Senate Document 113-10]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


Jon Kyl

U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA




                                    TRIBUTES




                               IN THE CONGRESS OF 

                               THE UNITED STATES



                 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]




                                                         S. Doc. 113-10 
 
                                Tributes 

                           Delivered in Congress 



                                 Jon Kyl

                       United States Congressman 
                                1987-1995

                           United States Senator
                                1995-2013


                 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                           



                         U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

                               WASHINGTON : 2014 




                                           


                            Compiled under the direction

                                       of the

                             Joint Committee on Printing





                                      CONTENTS



             Biography.............................................
                                                                      v
             Farewell Address......................................
                                                                    vii
             Proceedings in the Senate:
                Tributes by Senators:
                    Cardin, Benjamin L., of Maryland...............
                                                                     24
                    Coats, Daniel, of Indiana......................
                                                                     17
                    Collins, Susan M., of Maine....................
                                                                      3
                    Cornyn, John, of Texas.........................
                                                                     12
                    Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah.......................
                                                                     13
                    Isakson, Johnny, of Georgia....................
                                                                      5
                    Kerry, John F., of Massachusetts...............
                                                                     11
                    Kyl, Jon, of Arizona 
                     ...............................................
                     ...........
                                                          3, 10, 23, 24
                    Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
                                                                     27
                    Levin, Carl, of Michigan.......................
                                                                 25, 26
                    McCain, John, of Arizona.......................
                                                                      7
                    McConnell, Mitch, of Kentucky..................
                                                                     19
                    Mikulski, Barbara A., of Maryland..............
                                                                      6
                    Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
                                                                     25
                    Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
                                                                     28
                    Sessions, Jeff, of Alabama.....................
                                                                  3, 15
                                      BIOGRAPHY

               Jon Kyl was born in Oakland, NE, on April 25, 1942. He 
             received his BA with honors from the University of 
             Arizona, Tucson, in 1964 and an LLB from the University of 
             Arizona in 1966. He served as editor-in-chief of the 
             Arizona Law Review. He was admitted to the Arizona State 
             Bar in 1966 and practiced law with Jennings, Strouss and 
             Salmon in Phoenix from 1966 to 1986. He served as chairman 
             of the Phoenix Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce from 1984 
             to 1985.
               He was elected to the 100th Congress and to the three 
             succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1987 to January 3, 
             1995). He was elected to the Senate in 1994 and reelected 
             in 2000 and 2006, serving until January 3, 2013.
               During his Senate tenure he served as chair of the 
             Republican Policy Committee and as chair of the Senate 
             Republican Conference. He was elected unanimously by his 
             colleagues as Republican whip, the second-highest position 
             in Senate Republican leadership, where he served from 2007 
             to 2013.
               During his Senate tenure, Jon Kyl served on the 
             Intelligence Committee, the Finance Committee, the 
             Judiciary Committee, the Appropriations Committee, the 
             Energy and Natural Resources Committee, as well as the 
             Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
               As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee he played 
             a key role in the confirmation of Justices of the U.S. 
             Supreme Court. As ranking Republican on the Subcommittee 
             on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security he helped 
             write the America Invents Act (patent reform) and the 
             Crime Victims' Rights Act as well as important provisions 
             of the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and 
             other antiterrorism laws.
               While serving on the Senate Finance Committee, he was 
             chief advocate of the death tax repeal and other progrowth 
             tax policies, including low tax rates on income, capital 
             gains, and dividends. He was also a strong proponent of 
             step-by-step solutions for health care reform. In 1999, 
             Senator Kyl led the successful effort to defeat the 
             Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
               The Wall Street Journal wrote in 2011 that Senator Kyl 
             ``has made his mark the old-fashioned way--by knowing what 
             he is talking about.'' The New York Times in February 2012 
             called him ``the emissary of the Republican leadership, a 
             gatekeeper of conservatism, and a bridge between his 
             party's most ardent conservatives and more pragmatic 
             centrists.'' His command of policy is why national TV news 
             networks often invited him to serve as a commentator on 
             various national issues.
               Time magazine recognized Senator Kyl as 1 of the 
             ``World's 100 Most Influential People'' in 2010, and as 1 
             of the 10 Best Senators in 2006. Capitol Hill's newspaper, 
             The Hill, identified him as 1 of the ``25 hardest working 
             lawmakers.''
               He and his wife Caryll have two children, Kristine Kyl 
             Gavin and John Kyl, and four grandchildren.
                               Farewell to the Senate
                            Wednesday, December 19, 2012

               Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I am deeply honored to have 
             served for 18 years as Arizona's 10th Senator and for 4 
             terms in the House of Representatives before that. Now it 
             is time to move on. My successor, Senator-elect Jeff 
             Flake, is a good and honorable public servant who will 
             work hard on behalf of our great State of Arizona, and my 
             colleague John McCain will continue his long and dedicated 
             public service as well. I appreciate the remarks he 
             delivered here yesterday.
               I say thank you to my colleagues for your friendship. It 
             has been a privilege working with so many of you on both 
             sides of the aisle. While it is true that Washington would 
             benefit from more civility, the Senate behind the scenes 
             is an extraordinarily collegial institution, and I will 
             certainly miss that aspect of the job.
               I also thank my staff, past and present, for working so 
             many long hours and for spending so much time analyzing 
             the issues that will determine America's future.
               Farewell speeches offer the opportunity to reminisce 
             about the past. I actually do not believe that would be 
             the best use of either your time or mine. Instead, I am 
             going to comment on some of the biggest public policy 
             changes America faces and recommend principles to guide 
             the way forward.
               I was first elected to public office when the Reagan 
             revolution was in full swing. Maximizing freedom guided 
             the policies of that era, with tremendous success. My goal 
             as a public servant has been to advance and maintain a 
             consensus in favor of the so-called three legs of the 
             Reagan public policy stool.
               One, dynamic, growth-oriented economics; two, the social 
             values that make limited government possible; and three, a 
             national security commitment that emphasizes a strong and 
             sovereign America. In each of the three areas, maximizing 
             freedom and the positive results that flow from that is 
             the goal.
               Let's turn first to economic freedom. The Reagan years 
             showed us that expanding economic freedom should be the 
             North Star, the guiding light of U.S. policy because it is 
             the best way to achieve sustained and broad-based 
             prosperity for all. Free markets, low taxes, and limited 
             government allow citizens to use their talents and 
             resources in whatever way they choose and keep more of the 
             fruits of their labor.
               I encourage people to invest, work, start businesses, 
             and hire others. In other words, free markets promote 
             economic well-being for all. Cutting taxes at the margins; 
             that is, reducing the rate of tax on the next dollar 
             earned, encourages growth. Raising taxes can have the 
             opposite effect. Nobel economist Edward Prescott of 
             Arizona has found that higher marginal tax rates are the 
             reason Europeans work one-third fewer hours than 
             Americans.
               When marginal rates are lower, prosperity flows to other 
             sectors of society, allowing businesses to create jobs and 
             new products, compete for workers, raise wages, invest 
             their profits, which then can be lent to other 
             entrepreneurs. Everyone gains in a free economy. As John 
             F. Kennedy put it, a rising tide lifts all boats.
               Look at what free enterprise has achieved. After 
             President Reagan dramatically lowered tax rates and 
             trimmed regulation, income increased in every quintile. 
             Millions of new private sector jobs were created and the 
             stock market soared, tripling in value over 8 years. The 
             lower tax rates and reduced regulatory burden produced a 
             more robust economy and a more robust economy meant more 
             revenue for government. Similar results attended the tax 
             rate reductions during the Presidency of George W. Bush.
               In recent years, many policymakers have forgotten these 
             lessons. Since 2008, America's score in the Index of 
             Economic Freedom has declined significantly to the point 
             that we are no longer considered a free economy but, 
             rather, a mostly free economy. That is what happens when 
             we dramatically increase government spending and 
             regulations. Now we are on the verge of a massive tax 
             increase which could undermine small businesses and stifle 
             the economic growth America badly needs.
               Policymakers must focus on the basic laws of economic 
             input. A faulty view has gained traction in recent years 
             that consumption fueled by government spending actually 
             creates economic growth. It doesn't. It just moves money 
             around by taking from people who produced it and could 
             productively spend or reinvest it and giving it to 
             government to spend. Consumption is the wrong target.
               People only change their spending habits when they know 
             they will have greater consistent income over time; for 
             example, when they receive a raise at work or get a 
             permanent tax cut. That is why temporary stimulus tax 
             gimmicks don't work.
               If the problem with the economy is supposedly a lack of 
             consumption, the government cannot solve that problem by 
             spending for us. After all, it is our tax money that is 
             being taken out of the economy and spent. When government 
             borrows, it will eventually have to tax the people to pay 
             back what it has borrowed. There is no free lunch. For the 
             government to spend, taxpayers have to give up wealth they 
             could have spent or invested. Keynesian demand-side 
             economics assumes the government is more efficient at 
             spending our money than we are. That assumption has proved 
             to be incorrect time and again.
               Wise policymakers will find the right balance between 
             the need for more tax revenue and the need for more 
             economic freedom. They will remember there is no fixed 
             economic pie that legislators should try to divide. They 
             will remember that labor, capital, and technology are the 
             real factors that drive long-term economic growth, not 
             government spending. They will stop shackling would-be 
             entrepreneurs and job creators with ever more burdensome 
             regulations.
               Here is some more good news about growth-based free 
             enterprise. It is the most moral economic system ever 
             devised for three reasons. First, it is premised on the 
             truth that success only comes by supplying something to 
             others that they need or want. In the bargain, both sides 
             benefit. Second, this system has produced incredible 
             wealth around the world, lifting millions out of poverty. 
             No economic system can come close in helping that many 
             people. So it is the most moral economic system in 
             providing material benefits, but that is only part of the 
             story.
               Free enterprise provides more than increased income and 
             material prosperity. Those things help, but they are not 
             what make humans thrive. The key determinant of lasting 
             happiness and satisfaction is what American Enterprise 
             Institute president Arthur Brooks has called earned 
             success. People are happiest when they do something they 
             are good at, when they create value in the lives of 
             others, and genuinely earn their income regardless of how 
             much it is.
               Brooks put it very well in his book The Battle:

               Earned success gives people a sense of meaning about 
             their lives. And meaning also is key to human flourishing. 
             It reassures us that what we do in life is of significance 
             and value, for ourselves and for those around us. To truly 
             flourish, we need to know that the ways in which we occupy 
             our waking hours are not based on mere pursuit of pleasure 
             or money or any other superficial goal. We need to know 
             that our endeavors have a deeper purpose.

               The earned success that comes from doing a job well 
             explains why fabulously wealthy people often choose not to 
             retire after they have earned their fortunes. They are 
             motivated by the satisfaction that comes from spending the 
             day productively by creating, innovating, and solving 
             problems. They are creating purpose-driven value in their 
             own lives and oftentimes tangible value in the lives of 
             others.
               The effect of earned success also explains why people 
             who win the lottery often become depressed when they find 
             out that free money offers hollow joy. Free enterprise 
             promotes freedom to achieve and, therefore, more 
             opportunities to earn success. It is the most moral 
             economic system ever created. It is also the fairest 
             system because it rewards merit, hard work, and 
             achievement. This is what brought my grandparents to this 
             country, along with millions of other immigrants. 
             Incidentally, real free enterprise has no place for crony 
             capitalism because it doesn't have government picking 
             winners and losers.
               The biggest economic favor policymakers can do for 
             Americans is to follow the Reagan legacy and support free 
             market policies that create more opportunity, more 
             mobility, and more earned success and therefore more human 
             flourishing possible for every American. Free enterprise 
             is the only economic system that gives us so many 
             opportunities to pursue fundamental happiness and lasting 
             satisfaction.
               This brings us to the second leg of the Reagan stool--
             the question of values. President Reagan devoted his 
             Presidency--and indeed his entire career in public life--
             to the expansion of economic freedom. He also understood 
             that economic freedom depends on certain cultural 
             underpinnings, such as marriage, family, and personal 
             responsibility. He understood that family breakdown and 
             social pathologies would ultimately make people more 
             reliant on government and thus more eager for government 
             to expand, sapping them of individual responsibility and 
             the need to care for others in the family or community.
               In short, Reagan understood that economic conservatism 
             would not and could not survive unless social conservatism 
             survived too.
               The United States has a stronger philosophical 
             attachment to freedom and limited government than any 
             other nation on Earth. Yet I also recognize that many 
             cultural trends are working against us. For example, 
             nearly 41 percent of all American children are now born to 
             unmarried women, compared with fewer than 11 percent in 
             1970. Without stable, two-parent families, the government 
             bears more of a burden of caring for these children. The 
             growth in food stamps and other support programs makes the 
             point. At some point, this makes it harder to maintain a 
             political consensus that favors limited government, 
             economic freedom, and programs that help people out of 
             poverty rather than entrenching it. Why?
               To quote Princeton scholar Robert P. George, limited 
             government:

               Cannot be maintained where the marriage culture 
             collapses and families fail to form or easily dissolve. 
             Where these things happen, the health, education, and 
             welfare function of the family will have to be undertaken 
             by someone or some institution, and that will sooner or 
             later will be government.

               In other words, in the absence of two-parent families, 
             the government fills the financial role of the father, to 
             say nothing of the critical roles fathers play. Over time, 
             more and more Americans have come to rely on the 
             government to provide for their most basic needs, needs 
             that two-parent families have traditionally supported. 
             Those Americans are now competing for increasingly scarce 
             resources.
               This is not to judge the status of these families or to 
             suggest it is in any way inappropriate for government to 
             provide the help. It is precisely because we do care that 
             we provide help through government and other institutions. 
             But that is an action to ameliorate the effects of a 
             condition, not to change the underlying condition.
               I believe we must do all we can to revive the marriage 
             culture, increase family stability, and ensure that more 
             children grow up in two-parent households. Strong families 
             have always been the key to upward mobility and economic 
             security.
               If we want to remain an aspirational society, a society 
             where children have the opportunities and the resources to 
             pursue their dreams and create a better life, we must 
             encourage young Americans to embrace what Ron Haskins and 
             Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution have called 
             the success sequence. That sequence is very simple: 
             Complete high school, get a full-time job, get married 
             before having kids. If we follow that sequence, we are 
             virtually guaranteed to avoid poverty.
               The marriage culture is fighting an uphill battle 
             against forces that threaten to overwhelm them. I urge 
             everyone who believes in limited government, economic 
             freedom, and the real self-worth and well-being of our 
             children to do their part in rebuilding the institution of 
             marriage. No other social cause or campaign is more vital 
             to America's future.
               When it comes to shaping our culture, we must also 
             improve the quality of our students' civic education. I 
             fear that many American students are graduating from high 
             school and college with only the vaguest knowledge of our 
             founding and our Constitution and what it means to be an 
             American. It is hard to defend rights if we don't know 
             what they are and where they came from.
               Schools shape students' views about our priorities as a 
             society and what principles are worth standing for. 
             Instead of teaching history and the fundamentals of 
             America's founding, many curriculums focus on small, 
             politically correct topics such as gender, class, 
             diversity, and ethnicity. The entertainment industry and 
             many major media outlets, too, dwell on these topics and 
             lend them outsized importance.
               These topics tend to be political and emphasize what 
             divides us. They ignore our common heritage of freedom, 
             equality, self-reliance, human dignity, faith, and 
             community. As William Bennett recently wrote: When we look 
             at what students are being taught, it is easy to see why 
             more of them prefer socialism over free market capitalism. 
             He writes: ``Politics is downstream from the culture.''
               Bennett also noted that Plato said the two most 
             important questions in society are: Who teaches the young 
             and what do we teach them?
               I believe we need to think long and hard about these two 
             questions. It is time to have a serious discussion about 
             civics education. If Americans don't understand or 
             appreciate the foundations of our republican government, 
             those foundations will gradually erode. In that sense, 
             political and historical literacy is critical to the 
             preservation of our constitutional freedoms.
               As President Reagan famously said:

               Freedom is never more than one generation away from 
             extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the 
             bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed 
             on for them to do the same.

               Moving to the last leg of the Reagan policy stool: 
             national security. I have tried to follow the Reagan 
             legacy of pursuing peace through strength. As President 
             Reagan once said, ``Of the four wars in my lifetime, none 
             came about because America was too strong.''
               President Reagan knew that weakness tempts aggression, 
             and he believed that deterrence meant:

               [M]aking sure any adversary who thinks about attacking 
             the United States . . . concludes the risks to him 
             outweigh any potential gains. Once he understands that, he 
             won't attack. We maintain the peace through our strength; 
             weakness only invites aggression.

               American strength remains the best guarantor against 
             major armed conflict between nation-states. While it is 
             not our role to police the world--and we couldn't do it in 
             any event--it is also true that we are the indispensable 
             nation to help safeguard liberal values around the world.
               For America to continue its leadership role, however, we 
             must have a military with both the capability and the 
             flexibility to address a wide range of challenges. And, 
             yes, it means adequately funding the military 
             requirements, among other things, by avoiding the 
             devastating sequestration of necessary defense 
             investments. I wish to speak to four of our challenges: 
             nuclear modernization, missile defense, terrorist threats, 
             and transnational law.
               For the first time in the history of U.S. nuclear 
             policy, the President has placed nuclear disarmament and 
             nonproliferation, rather than nuclear deterrence, ``atop 
             the U.S. nuclear agenda.''
               Ironically, more treaties or unilateral actions that 
             take us closer to nuclear disarmament will not help us 
             reduce the dangers we face today. Such actions will only 
             serve to make our allies who depend on U.S. nuclear 
             guarantees more nervous, while potentially weakening the 
             credibility of U.S. nuclear deterrence. Senate support for 
             the 2010 New START Treaty was based upon a commitment to 
             modernize our aging nuclear complex and weapons. As that 
             commitment starts to decay, it will become increasingly 
             difficult to rebuild the responsive nuclear infrastructure 
             that even the President agreed is necessary for further 
             nuclear reductions as well as the continued credibility of 
             the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Note that I said ``for further 
             nuclear reductions.'' They are literally dependent upon 
             the U.S. modernization.
               The New START proceedings made it clear that the nuclear 
             balance between the United States and Russia under New 
             START force levels would be stable--except, of course, for 
             the huge diversity--or disparity, I would say--in tactical 
             nuclear weapons that Russia enjoys. But under this 
             stability, there would be no incentives to strike first 
             during a crisis nor would there be incentives to grow our 
             respective nuclear arsenals in the future. We should, 
             therefore, think very carefully before we contemplate any 
             changes to long-standing U.S. nuclear deterrence policies 
             or pursue further reductions in support of the President's 
             disarmament agenda.
               We absolutely cannot know for certain that fewer numbers 
             of weapons will make us safer. In fact, Henry Kissinger 
             and Brent Scowcroft recently reminded us that:

               [S]trategic stability is not inherent with low numbers 
             of weapons; indeed, excessively low numbers could lead to 
             a situation in which surprise attacks are conceivable.

               Policymakers would do well to heed the advice of Winston 
             Churchill offered in his last address to the U.S. 
             Congress. He said:

               Be careful above all things not to let go of the atomic 
             weapon until you are sure, and more than sure, that other 
             means of preserving peace are in your hands.

               Against the backdrop of more than 100 million war 
             casualties from conventional weapons in just the 30 years 
             before development of the atomic weapon, Churchill's 
             advice is sobering indeed.
               The second challenge we face is with respect to missile 
             defense. Recent events illustrate the importance of 
             missile defense in today's security environment. Israel's 
             Iron Dome missile defense system protected its population 
             against rocket attacks, giving Israeli military and 
             political authorities the time and the space necessary to 
             avoid a devastating ground war, which is ultimately what 
             made a truce possible.
               As Secretary of Defense Panetta said at the time, ``Iron 
             Dome does not start wars, it helps prevent wars.''
               Elsewhere in the world, Turkey has requested NATO 
             Patriot batteries to protect it against Syrian ballistic 
             missiles potentially armed with chemical weapons. 
             Meanwhile, Japan, South Korea, and the United States 
             recently activated their ballistic missile defense systems 
             in response to North Korea's long-range ballistic missile 
             launch--yet another reminder that the threat doesn't stand 
             still.
               In response to Iran's development of nuclear weapons and 
             longer range ballistic missiles, NATO has agreed to 
             support the deployment of short, medium, and long-range 
             missile defense systems to protect alliance territory and 
             thereby avoid potential Iranian nuclear blackmail. So the 
             benefits of defense are well appreciated, especially by 
             those most directly affected or threatened.
               We have proven that it is possible to hit a bullet with 
             a bullet, and we have debunked the cold war-era argument 
             that missile defense contributes to a new arms race. In 
             fact, since the United States withdrew from the ABM 
             Treaty, we have reduced the number of deployed nuclear 
             weapons from 6,000 under START to 1,700 under the Moscow 
             Treaty to 1,550 under the New START Treaty. We must 
             continue to disabuse some of the notion that U.S. 
             vulnerability to the Russian and Chinese nuclear arsenals 
             is a source of stability when, in fact, the most important 
             constitutional and moral duty of any President is to 
             protect the American people.
               We have made some progress in deploying domestic missile 
             defenses since the United States withdrew from the ABM 
             Treaty in 2002, though we have also squandered 
             opportunities to do more. Here are just a few missile 
             defense challenges for the future.
               First, over the past 4 years, the Obama administration 
             has consistently reduced funding for missile defense. 
             Second, it has refocused funding on regional missile 
             defenses that protect others at the expense of protecting 
             the homeland of the United States and developing future 
             technologies. Third, the administration has scaled back 
             the number of ground-based interceptors protecting the 
             homeland from 54 to only 30--numbers that do not begin to 
             meet the standard established by the Missile Defense Act 
             of 1999, which required a defense capable of addressing 
             accidental and unauthorized attacks from any source. 
             Fourth, the administration has no plans to modernize 
             interceptors that are more than 20 years old. That is the 
             technology that is protecting America today, and it is, 
             therefore, unlikely to keep up with future threats.
               As I said, there is very little funding devoted to new 
             breakthrough technologies that could provide even more 
             effective defenses for the United States, such as lasers 
             and space-based interceptors.
               We should remember, as NORTHCOM Commander General Jacoby 
             has explained to Congress, that ``no homeland task is more 
             important than protecting the United States from a limited 
             ICBM attack.''
               Finally, one of the greatest challenges we face today 
             stems from Russian attempts to limit the development and 
             deployment of U.S. and allied missile defense systems. The 
             United States cannot allow Russia to dictate to us limits 
             on the capabilities of U.S. missile defenses. If they 
             could be effective against a Russian launch, then so be 
             it. That is what it means to protect Americans from 
             potential threats. If the Russians argue that they pose no 
             possible threat, then our missile defense should be 
             irrelevant to them.
               From negotiations on the New START Treaty to threatening 
             the United States and NATO in an attempt to limit our 
             planned deployments in Europe, the Russians have never 
             abandoned their goal of limiting the effectiveness of U.S. 
             missile defense. The answer is not ``reset'' but 
             recommitment to the principle that the most moral way to 
             protect the American people from missile attacks is by 
             missile defense.
               The third national security challenge I wish to briefly 
             discuss is the threat of political Islam. To defeat an 
             enemy, we must first know the enemy, and that includes 
             calling them by their name: radical Islamists who seek to 
             impose their ideology to rule others--to govern political, 
             social, and civic life, as well as religious life.
               Intelligence is key to defeating political Islam. The 
             Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, and the 
             PATRIOT Act are good examples of the tools we need to know 
             what our enemies are planning and who they are before they 
             strike. These tools cannot be allowed to expire.
               The PATRIOT Act reflects a recognition that 
             investigators charged with preventing acts of terrorism 
             should have at least the same investigative tools as 
             Federal agents charged with targeting mobsters or health 
             care fraud.
               The fourth and last national security challenge I will 
             mention is the rise of transnational law, which poses a 
             serious threat to American sovereignty. Our government was 
             founded on the principle that laws should be made through 
             the democratic process so that the people could hold their 
             legislators accountable. The American people elected their 
             own representatives and, therefore, control their own 
             affairs. That is the theory.
               Americans want the benefits of global cooperation based 
             on widespread acceptance of useful international ``rules 
             of the road,'' of course. But such rules, like our 
             domestic laws, should be adopted through democratic 
             processes that assure accountability on the part of the 
             legislators. They should not be imposed by international 
             bodies with zero accountability to the American people.
               The rise of global governance, I believe, challenges 
             this principle. By ``global governance'' I mean the use of 
             multilateral treaties and other agreements to delegate 
             power on matters such as the environment, natural 
             resources, and individual rights to new international 
             bodies with broad powers and little or no political 
             accountability. Such issues have traditionally been 
             decided by the laws of individual nations, not by 
             international bureaucracies. Some treaties would directly 
             implicate U.S. national security flexibility or 
             capability.
               One such treaty was defeated by the Senate in 1999--the 
             Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, which would have 
             jeopardized America's nuclear deterrent by preventing us 
             from ever again conducting tests of our nuclear weapons. 
             We should never give up the right to verify that our 
             nuclear deterrent works. It is critical that we know, that 
             our allies who rely on these weapons know, and that our 
             potential adversaries know, or our weapons will not have 
             deterrent effect. I urge my colleagues to defeat this 
             treaty again should it come up before the Senate in the 
             President's second term.
               In conclusion, in all three areas I have discussed here, 
             we have had successes and we have had failures. I think of 
             what Margaret Thatcher said as she was leaving public 
             office; that there are no permanent victories in politics. 
             What she meant was one can leave office having upheld 
             their principles and having accomplished some of their 
             policy goals, but that doesn't mean there will always be a 
             consensus in favor of their preferred policies or that 
             their accomplishments would not be reversed in the future.
               As I look back on my 26 years in Congress and my 18 
             years in the Senate, I am deeply proud of everything we 
             have accomplished--from tax relief and welfare reform to 
             missile defense and nuclear policy, not to mention things 
             of primary importance to my State. But I also understand 
             that political victories can be ephemeral because in a 
             democracy, a debate over these issues never really ends. 
             It is always ongoing.
               I will miss being involved in these important debates 
             and decisions directly. From now on, my role in these 
             matters will be as a private citizen, but I still aim to 
             be involved.
               It has been an honor--really the privilege of a 
             lifetime--to serve, and it is difficult to say goodbye. I 
             will depart Capitol Hill with enormous faith in the 
             American people, a profound appreciation for the miracle 
             of the American Republic, and a resilient optimism about 
             America's future.
               I thank my colleagues.
?

                                           

                                      TRIBUTES

                                         TO

                                       JON KYL
                              Proceedings in the Senate
                                            Thursday, November 29, 2012
               Mr. KYL. Mr. President, first, let me thank my colleague 
             from Texas [Mrs. Hutchison] for her leadership on this and 
             so many other issues that we have worked on over the 
             years. One of my regrets in leaving the Senate is that I 
             will not be able to work with her, and she has said the 
             same thing about me. We will be off doing something else, 
             but we are not going to give up on some of the fights we 
             have been engaged in during these years. . . .

               Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I appreciate Senator Kyl's 
             comments, and I share them. We are going to miss the most 
             knowledgeable fiscal tax expert in the Senate, and his 
             long career includes time on the Finance Committee. I 
             thank Senator Kyl. . . .
                                             Thursday, December 6, 2012
               Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, in reflecting on Senator Jon 
             Kyl's service to this institution and to our Nation, I am 
             reminded of these words by Abraham Lincoln. He said, 
             ``Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. 
             The shadow is what we think of, the tree is the real 
             thing.''
               Jon Kyl is the real thing. During 18 years in the 
             Senate, preceded by 8 in the House, Jon has built a 
             reputation that is a perfect image of his character. 
             National magazines have named him one of America's 10 Best 
             Senators, one of the world's most influential people, and 
             one of our Nation's hardest working lawmakers.
               His unanimous election in 2008 as our Republican whip 
             and his recognized leadership on the great challenges of 
             our time throughout the Senate reflect the esteem in which 
             he is held on both sides of the aisle. These accolades 
             confirm what we who have had the privilege of working 
             closely with Jon know from experience. He is intelligent, 
             he is informed, and he is fair. He is dedicated to the 
             people of Arizona and exemplifies the principles that are 
             the foundation of our Constitution and of our country.
               Of all the words that have been used to describe Jon 
             Kyl, these five describe him best: As good as his word. 
             Jon has been an invaluable ally in the great challenge of 
             defending America against terrorism, a challenge he 
             recognized and worked hard to address long before the 
             terrorist attacks of more than a decade ago.
               As the leader of the Judiciary Committee, he worked hard 
             to strengthen our intelligence capabilities and was at the 
             forefront of one of the most crucial antiterrorism issues, 
             tracking, exposing, and cutting off financial networks 
             that bankrolled terrorism. Combating this financing was 
             one of our earliest and greatest antiterrorism successes, 
             although work continues today, and it was Jon Kyl who 
             played a key role.
               Arizona, similar to Maine, has a long international 
             border. The American people fully understand the 
             importance of borders that are close to our enemies as 
             they remain always open to our friends. Jon is dedicated 
             to providing those who protect our borders with the 
             personnel, the training, and the technology so America can 
             continue to welcome with compassion those seeking a better 
             way of life while turning away those who would do us harm.
               As a member of the Finance Committee, Jon Kyl has been 
             one of the Senate's most diligent fiscal watchdogs. He has 
             a sharp eye for wasteful spending. He is dedicated to 
             reining in deficit spending, reforming our Tax Code, and 
             making government more accountable.
               Jon Kyl understands the challenges that confront 
             America, and he also empathizes with the challenges that 
             confront American families. His record is one of strong 
             advocacy for our most vulnerable citizens, including 
             victims of crime, children, and our seniors.
               Jon often compares his work in the Senate to that of a 
             teacher. Whether addressing constituents or colleagues, he 
             strives to educate with facts, with evidence, and with 
             truth. None of us has ever heard Jon try to win an 
             argument by belittling or berating an opponent. It is 
             simply not in his character to do so.
               It has been said that a politician thinks of the next 
             election and a statesman thinks of the next generation. 
             This statesman from Arizona expresses his philosophy of 
             government and the obligation of government leaders this 
             way, ``We owe future generations the chance to live their 
             dreams, to be successful, and--most important--to achieve 
             true happiness by their own efforts.''
               Senator Jon Kyl's commitment to the security of our 
             Nation, to fiscal responsibility, and to helping those in 
             need have earned him a reputation that is worthy of his 
             character.
               The people of Arizona and America are grateful for his 
             service. I am thankful for his guidance over the years and 
             for his friendship. We wish him all the best in the years 
             to come.
                                             Tuesday, December 11, 2012
               Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, December of every even-
             numbered year is a sad time. Because of election outcomes 
             or because of age and longevity, time takes over and some 
             of our Members go and new Members come. I think it is 
             important that we take the time to recognize those who 
             served so long and served so well and served each of us--
             individuals such as Jon Kyl of Arizona, the whip for the 
             Republican minority in the Senate. He is a great American, 
             a great Arizonan, a man who carries a tremendous burden--
             two, as a matter of fact. One is trying to herd cats, 
             known as the Republican conference, and the other is being 
             the junior Senator to John McCain. Both of those are 
             challenges that anybody would have a problem meeting, but 
             Jon Kyl does it the right way. He has the temperament of a 
             leader. I have been in 38 different legislative years, 
             from the Georgia Legislature to the U.S. Congress. I have 
             known a lot of whips. I have known a lot of them who 
             cracked the whip, I have known a lot of them who were 
             ineffective, and I have known a very few who were 
             effective. Jon Kyl is the most effective whip I have ever 
             worked with and ever seen. He knows the issues and has the 
             ability to communicate them. He knows how to put the party 
             ahead of individual priorities but keep the country first 
             no matter what it is.
               I will give you one good example. We were debating the 
             START Treaty 2 years ago, which is a very important treaty 
             for the United States. The Presiding Officer [Mr. Casey] 
             was on the Foreign Relations Committee when we had that 
             debate. He might remember there were a lot of people who 
             were concerned about the modernization of our nuclear 
             arsenal while we were renewing the START Treaty and what 
             we would do in the prospective years ahead while we made a 
             new treaty with Russia in terms of our modernization. It 
             was Jon Kyl's leadership, working with Senator Kerry as 
             the chairman of the committee, Secretary of State Clinton 
             as our Secretary of State, and interests on both sides who 
             carved out the agreement that ensured for the American 
             people that we would have the modernized nuclear force we 
             need to meet whatever challenge might come our way. That 
             treaty passed in large measure because he gained the 
             assurances from the administration and from those who were 
             opposed that without modernization and the commitment for 
             the money for it, it would not take place. That is not 
             just a whip, that is a leader. That is a man who found a 
             problem, found a solution, married the two, and we 
             ratified a treaty. America is a safer country because of 
             it, and our nuclear arsenal is being modernized.
               That is the kind of man you look for in a legislator. 
             Jon Kyl is a great legislator, a great whip, and a great 
             friend of mine. I pay tribute to him for his service to 
             the U.S. Senate, for his service to the people of America, 
             and for his service to the people of his State of Arizona.
                                           Wednesday, December 12, 2012
               Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise to comment about 
             some wonderful men in the Senate who are retiring on both 
             sides of the aisle. Earlier today I spoke about my deep 
             affection and sorry-to-see-go friends Olympia Snowe and 
             Kay Bailey Hutchison, but I want to rise as the dean of 
             the women in the Senate to say some very special words 
             about very special men on both sides of the aisle. Because 
             when I came to the Senate, it was only Nancy Kassebaum and 
             me, and yet we worked on so many issues together. There 
             are really wonderful men here who supported me, supported 
             our issues, but really stood up for those States and their 
             communities. . . .
               I wish to comment about Jon Kyl. I have worked across 
             the aisle from Jon Kyl and I have been seated across the 
             table from him at everything from Bible study groups to 
             the Senate Intelligence Committee. We studied the words of 
             the Bible together to make ourselves better, and we worked 
             in our committees to make the world better.
               We lived through September 11 and the terrible attacks 
             that occurred in our country and the anthrax attacks in 
             our offices. With his steady leadership, his resourceful 
             mind, his can-do know-how, we worked together to get the 
             job done. I was delighted to be able to work with him in a 
             way that called forth our highest and better selves to 
             look out for our country. I wish him the best in his 
             journey. . . .
               I wanted to be sure that the day would not end without 
             my acknowledging these wonderful people who have given a 
             big part of their lives to making this country a better 
             place. I want to, in the most heartfelt way--I am so sorry 
             we did not have a bipartisan dinner or party to be able to 
             express this. I would have liked to have been in the same 
             room, breaking bread with them, in order to be able to 
             tell them how much we appreciate them, across party lines, 
             across those lines that ordinarily divide us. They came 
             from different parts of the country, they arrived in the 
             Senate with different objectives, they will leave under 
             different circumstances. But I want to again let them know 
             that each and every one of them had a positive impact on 
             me and I think a wonderful impact on the future of this 
             country. So I wish them well. God bless and Godspeed.
                                             Tuesday, December 18, 2012
               Mr. McCAIN. Madam President, it is customary in the days 
             before Congress adjourns--and I am still hopeful this 
             Congress will eventually, mercifully adjourn--for Members 
             to offer farewells and testimonials to departing 
             colleagues. I rise today to say a few words about a 
             Senator who is leaving us and whose example I esteem and 
             friendship I have relied on for many years.
               Senator Jon Kyl and I have served the State of Arizona 
             together for a quarter of a century since Jon was first 
             elected to the other body and I to the Senate in 1986. We 
             have worked together in this body for the last 18 years. 
             That is a long time to get to know someone with whom you 
             share responsibilities to the State we are honored to 
             represent, and I have gotten to know Jon very well over 
             these many years. I can also say in all honesty that my 
             admiration for him has grown every single day I have been 
             privileged to serve with him.
               I share that admiration for Jon with the people of 
             Arizona, who elected him to the Senate three times, and 
             would have, I am sure, comfortably elected him to a fourth 
             term had he sought reelection. Arizonans hold him in very 
             high regard for a very obvious reason: He has been a very 
             diligent, very effective advocate for their interests.
               I have observed him closely as we tended to issues that 
             might seem arcane and unglamorous to Senators from other 
             States but are among the most important and often the most 
             contentious issues to Arizonans--issues such as land 
             exchanges and water rights settlements. I have never 
             failed to be impressed by the qualities Jon brings to 
             these matters--his unflappable patience, his tireless work 
             ethic, his careful attention to detail, his determination 
             to be fair to all parties involved, and to achieve results 
             that are in the best interests of our State of Arizona.
               I have tried to learn from his example, and I wish I 
             could say I have emulated him, but, regrettably, as 
             Arizonans and my Senate colleagues can attest, I still 
             possess a short supply of some of Jon's most conspicuous 
             leadership qualities. His patience, for example, his 
             meticulous preparation and thoroughness are, I am sorry to 
             say, not qualities I will be remembered for, but they have 
             been indispensable to the people of our State. It is 
             fortunate for them and for me that States are represented 
             by two Senators and that Arizonans have had Jon Kyl here 
             to compensate for my shortcomings.
               Jon works harder than almost any Member of Congress I 
             know. We all joke about how we are often required to vote 
             on legislation before we have had time to read it. It is a 
             poorly kept secret that we rarely, if ever, read from 
             preamble to conclusion any of the bills we consider, even 
             if we have had months to do so. Jon does, though. He reads 
             them. When you debate with him over legislation, you 
             better know what you are talking about, because he does 
             and he is almost always better prepared than you are not 
             only to explain his argument but to explain yours as well. 
             He often writes the bills he sponsors, work that most of 
             us almost happily rely on staff to perform. He takes his 
             responsibilities as the author of legislation literally, 
             rather than figuratively, as most of us do.
               It is hard to imagine where he finds the time to hold 
             himself to such exacting standards of responsibility, but 
             he does, often working late into the night after the rest 
             of us have gone home, when he reads bills and writes them 
             and tends personally to the concerns of his constituents. 
             He is a Senator's Senator. He is principled, purposeful, 
             informed, collaborative, and able to get things done by 
             cooperation and compromise without ever sacrificing the 
             principles that motivate his public service. He would 
             rather reason with opponents than insult them. He prefers 
             accomplishments to acclaim.
               It is little wonder then why our caucus elected and 
             reelected him to our leadership. He has the complete 
             confidence of every one of us. He is an easy man to trust 
             with leadership responsibilities. He is scrupulous in his 
             attention to his responsibilities and fairminded in use of 
             authority. He has strong views on issues and advocates for 
             them effectively. If he can't persuade some members of our 
             caucus to agree with him, he will do all he can to defend 
             our rights to be heard and have our position considered 
             fully by the Senate.
               I think Members on both sides of the aisle would testify 
             to Jon's fairness, collegiality, and effectiveness. I 
             think we would all testify too to the credit his service 
             has reflected on the Senate, a place we all love but which 
             we must admit doesn't always function as well or as 
             congenially as we would like, a failing that has not 
             escaped the notice of the American people. Jon was not the 
             kind of politician who worried more about his press than 
             his responsibilities to his constituents, his colleagues, 
             and his country. I think many Americans would recognize 
             him as the kind of Senator they want to see in Congress.
               It has been my privilege to work with Jon not only on 
             issues of unique importance to the State of Arizona but on 
             many of national importance. We worked together on 
             comprehensive immigration reform in 2007. None of the 
             sponsors of the legislation, including myself and my 
             friend, the late Senator Kennedy, was more instrumental in 
             forging the compromises necessary to put that bipartisan 
             bill together or more diligent and effective in defending 
             it in debate.
               I was running for President that year and often away 
             from the Senate. In addition to all the work Jon did to 
             write the bill with Senator Kennedy and others, and seek 
             support for it in both Houses, he had to assume many of my 
             responsibilities as well. He did a better job with them 
             than I did, and though we fell short of success, Jon 
             deserves none of the blame for failure and much of the 
             credit for making the bill as broadly bipartisan as it was 
             and for providing the framework for what will be the kind 
             of compromise I hope and believe we will get to the 
             President's desk in the next Congress.
               Longevity in public office isn't always that important a 
             distinction. I have served one term more than Jon and for 
             that minor accomplishment I am referred to as the senior 
             Senator from Arizona. But honestly, I have always looked 
             up to Jon as my senior. He has been my leader, my senior 
             partner in much of the work we have done in Arizona, my 
             friend, and one of the people I most look up to in this 
             place, an example of selfless, capable, honorable public 
             service.
               He is leaving the Senate, and he will have time now to 
             spend with his lovely wife Caryll, his son and daughter, 
             and his grandchildren. He will have more time too to hike 
             his beloved White Mountains. I envy him that. I think we 
             would all concede the Senate will miss him, and I will 
             miss him particularly.
               Thank you, my friend, for your service, your example, 
             and your friendship. It has been a privilege.
               I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The other Senator from Arizona.

               Mr. KYL. Madam President, if my colleagues would indulge 
             me for just a moment so I may respond.
               I am deeply moved and very appreciative of the remarks 
             of my colleague John McCain. The people of Arizona have 
             been so fortunate to be represented by a very few 
             remarkable people in the State's history--only 10 U.S. 
             Senators. John McCain is the ninth of those Senators and 
             is as distinguished, if not more distinguished, than any 
             who have served and represented the State of Arizona.
               He has set a standard for modern representation after 
             being elected to the House of Representatives. None of the 
             Representatives from Arizona were ever the same in their 
             representation. He came home every week, maintained very 
             close contact with his constituents, and set a pace that 
             no one has since matched, let alone exceeded. So in many 
             respects, John McCain has set a new standard for 
             representation.
               But he didn't leave it at the State of Arizona. He is a 
             national figure of the first magnitude--one of our great 
             national leaders of the day--and it has been an incredible 
             honor for me to serve with him both in representing the 
             people of our State but also working on the significant 
             issues of the day.
               I will confess that some of the more mirthful moments 
             have also occurred on some of the sojourns that Senator 
             McCain has led abroad with our colleague Lindsey Graham, 
             sometimes Senator Joseph Lieberman, and others, and these 
             occasions also will bring great joy to me in my 
             reminiscences, because, obviously, at the end of the day 
             it is friendships probably more than almost anything else 
             we think of when we get toward the end of both career and 
             the end of our life.
               Senator McCain was far too generous in his description 
             of my capabilities. I want to thank him for, among other 
             things, the responsibilities he did enable me to 
             undertake, things which, as the senior--and yes, he is 
             senior both in age and seniority--he could have taken unto 
             himself but which he allowed me to do on behalf of the 
             people of Arizona. He was interested in dividing 
             responsibilities in a way the two of us could represent 
             our State and our constituents to the maximum advantage, 
             and I have always not only admired his approach--and the 
             people of Arizona, I would say, should be grateful for 
             that--but it enabled me to be involved in things and to 
             have some extra responsibilities in areas I otherwise 
             would not have. Not all of these were things Senator 
             McCain wanted to deeply get into, such as the water rights 
             settlements he mentioned. But nonetheless, he has been 
             enormously cooperative on behalf of the people of Arizona 
             in all of those endeavors.
               So as I near the end of my time here in the U.S. Senate, 
             I have a lot of different emotions and a lot of things I 
             would like to express. I regret one thing I won't be able 
             to do is to speak on the Senate floor extolling the 
             virtues of my colleague John McCain when he is about to 
             leave, but I assure you and assure him that I will do that 
             from some other place, and that my deep respect for him, 
             my appreciation and my gratitude for what he has said here 
             today, I will try to reciprocate at the time he finally 
             completes his service not only to the people of the State 
             of Arizona but to this Nation of ours, and frankly also to 
             so many people around the world.
               For me to have served with him in this body for 18 years 
             is truly an honor, and I thank him for his comments today.

               Mr. KERRY. Madam President, I appreciate the words of 
             the Senator from Arizona about the Senator from Arizona, 
             and let me say I look forward to sharing some words on the 
             floor at some point in the next few days about my friend 
             Senator Kyl. We have disagreed on things in some ways, 
             but, boy, have we gotten to know each other. I respect his 
             service enormously, and I look forward to having a chance 
             to share some thoughts about that.
                                           Wednesday, December 19, 2012
               Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I wish to say a few words 
             about our colleague, Senator Jon Kyl. I have always 
             appreciated his comments, his thoughtfulness, his 
             patriotism, and his intellectual leadership in the Senate. 
             He will be sorely missed after 18 years in the Senate. I 
             am sorry the Senate will be losing Senator Kyl's 
             extraordinary talents, but as he retires from politics at 
             the end of this month, I know he will remain a powerful 
             force in the world of ideas.
               Time magazine named Jon one of the 10 Best Senators in 
             2006. At the time, he said: ``You can accomplish a lot if 
             you're not necessarily out in front on everything.'' That 
             echoes Ronald Reagan's comment--one of his favorite 
             slogans: ``There is no limit to what a man can do . . . if 
             he doesn't mind who gets the credit.''
               Over the last 18 years, Jon Kyl has accomplished a lot 
             in this Chamber, and he has never seemed to care one bit 
             about who got the credit. When he announced his 
             retirement, the Wall Street Journal said Jon ``has been as 
             consequential as any Republican in Congress over the last 
             decade and a half.'' That is quite a compliment and 
             thoroughly deserved.
               As you could tell from his comments, Jon has spent a 
             career promoting the Reagan legacy. After he leaves, many 
             of us will be promoting the Kyl legacy.
               He is a person of strong principle, a man deep in 
             knowledge of public policy, and a person--uncharacteristic 
             in politics--of remarkable humility. Here is how one 
             writer described his unique skill set. Senator Kyl, he 
             wrote, ``is one of those rare breeds who seem to make no 
             strong enemies even while holding firm to a consistent 
             philosophy.'' As you have heard, he has been a leader on 
             things ranging as wide as missile defense to criminal 
             justice to tax policy.
               One of the things I have admired about Senator Kyl is he 
             always seems to be among the most knowledgeable people in 
             any room at any given time on any given topic that is 
             under discussion. When he speaks, people listen. But he 
             often willingly pushes others into the spotlight rather 
             than himself. It is because he thinks tactically: How can 
             I advance this policy or this idea, not: How can I advance 
             myself in the public spotlight.
               That certainly has been my experience with Senator Kyl. 
             But I would add something else. He has also been a 
             courageous intellectual leader. He has consistently led on 
             complex issues that other Senators have ignored or 
             neglected or just have a difficulty understanding, complex 
             topics such as nuclear modernization, missile defense, and 
             transnational law, each of which he mentioned in his 
             remarks just a moment ago. It is not easy to become the 
             Senate's top authority on nuclear weapons, but Jon Kyl is, 
             and it is not the best way to get your face on cable news. 
             Not a lot of air time is given to people who want to talk 
             about such arcane but important topics.
               I have also watched Senator Kyl over the past couple of 
             years cultivate more junior Senators and help them become 
             experts in their own right on all of his favorite issues. 
             As a matter of fact, I attended a meeting on that just 
             today where he was trying to bring along a number of us on 
             the nuclear issue. Senator Kyl is always thinking about 
             the future, always thinking about the next generation of 
             American leaders and the challenges they will face.
               Jon quoted Margaret Thatcher, reminding us there are no 
             permanent victories in politics. He understands that the 
             debate over limited government and a robust national 
             defense will never be over, it will never be completely 
             won and, hopefully, never completely lost. That is why he 
             has worked so hard to educate and encourage other younger 
             Senators who will be fighting these battles long after he 
             leaves the Chamber.
               As I mentioned earlier, Jon Kyl is tremendously 
             principled. He is a proud conservative, but he is also a 
             fairminded and enormously effective legislator. Last 
             February the New York Times declared that he ``may be [one 
             of] the rare member[s] of his party who combines the trust 
             of conservatives, policy smarts, and forcefulness that are 
             needed to secure deals that can pass.''
               It has been my great honor and privilege to work with 
             Jon Kyl on such issues as immigration reform and criminal 
             law, among others. He is a true patriot, a true 
             intellectual in the greatest sense of that term, and a 
             truly effective Senator for his State and for the Nation. 
             After more than a quarter century of public service, 
             including 18 years here in the Senate, Jon Kyl deserves a 
             happy and healthy and successful retirement, but he will 
             be sorely missed by everybody in this Chamber.
               Mr. President, I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

               Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I wish to echo the comments of 
             the distinguished Senator from Texas. I have served with 
             Jon Kyl for his whole time in the U.S. Senate, and he is a 
             lawyer's lawyer. I do not say that lightly. I do not 
             consider many lawyers a lawyer's lawyer. Jon is an 
             excellent lawyer, one of the best I have met and certainly 
             one of the best ever to sit in Congress.
               He also does not go off the deep end. When he speaks, 
             anybody with brains should listen. Plus, he is a 
             tremendous example not just to some of us older guys 
             around here but especially to the new Senators and others 
             who have come into this body. He has been a pivotal member 
             of the Judiciary Committee, including when I chaired it 
             and when we did so many interesting things. He was a 
             pivotal member on leading to a balanced budget in the 
             middle of the 1990s. Jon has argued for that, has argued 
             for these types of fiscal restraints and responsibilities 
             like no one I know.
               Jon is one of the most honest and decent and credible 
             people I have known in the whole time I have been in the 
             U.S. Senate. He has been an excellent leader for our 
             party. As assistant minority leader and assistant majority 
             leader, he has been a great leader in our party. We have 
             all trusted him because he is a person who is trustworthy. 
             We have all listened to him because he is a person worth 
             listening to. We have all shared the pains of this place 
             with him as friends and brothers working together, we hope 
             in the best interests of our country. There is no question 
             in anybody's mind on either side of this floor, when it 
             comes to Jon Kyl, they know he is a true American patriot 
             who has done everything he could while he has been here to 
             keep this country strong.
               I have to say I have always been impressed with Jon Kyl. 
             I have watched him close up for all these years, but I do 
             not know that I have ever been more impressed than when he 
             led the fight with regard to nuclear weapons and with 
             regard to START. He not only was well informed, he was the 
             best informed, and this body should have listened to 
             everything he said. I am sure most people did.
               I do not think any of us would fail to try to serve this 
             country to the best of our ability. All I can say, in 
             closing, is that Jon has served this country to the best 
             of his ability, and his abilities are extraordinary.
               I personally count him as a friend. When I had this very 
             interesting reelection this last time, with what seemed 
             like the whole world coming down on me for some reason, 
             one of the first people to offer help was Jon Kyl. He came 
             to Utah, and it meant so much to me.
               All I can say is, wherever Jon goes after this is over, 
             they are going to be lucky people to have him around. I 
             wish him all the success in the world. He deserves it. I 
             hope he and his wife and family--whom I like very much--
             will have a wonderful, glorious existence from this day 
             onward.
               We are going to miss you, Jon. We are going to miss your 
             intellectual capacity. I am personally going to miss your 
             legal capacity. All of these other accolades that have 
             been given your way, I will miss all of those too. You 
             have a friend here, and this friendship, in my opinion, is 
             an eternal one, and anything I can ever do for you, I will 
             certainly try because I know you would never ask for 
             anything that was not accurate or right. So I wish you 
             Godspeed, and know there are a lot of us who really hate 
             to see you go.
               I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.

               Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I would like to associate 
             myself with the remarks of Senator Cornyn and Senator 
             Hatch. Both of them have spoken eloquently and correctly 
             about the absolutely unique and exceptional contributions 
             Jon Kyl has made to America and to the U.S. Senate.
               There is no Senator I have admired more, no Senator I 
             look to more to decide how to cast my vote, and I mean 
             that absolutely as a fact. The words they have used I am 
             not so eloquent as to say, but they do not overstate the 
             value of my friend Jon Kyl.
               His statement that we just heard is a comprehensive 
             analysis, overview of the current situation of this great 
             Republic of which we are a part. He meant every word of 
             it. One of the most remarkable things about it is that on 
             every vote, every time an issue came up, those are the 
             values he sought to advance. Sometimes you have to take a 
             step back to gain two steps forward, but Senator Kyl 
             always had a vision for what America should be. I believe 
             it is the correct vision that we have inherited from our 
             ancestors that has made this country so productive and so 
             valuable. Everything he has done, every effort he has made 
             has been to advance those good values--a great America, a 
             decent America. And he has understood it.
               When he talks about free enterprise, he explains why 
             that is preferable to other forms of distribution of 
             wealth. Would you rather have politicians distribute the 
             wealth in this country? He can articulate that in a way 
             that emphasizes the moral power of it, the need to have 
             peace in the world, but how do you have it? Do you get 
             peace through weakness or do you have peace through 
             strength? And are the nuclear issues necessary to our 
             posture as a strong nation in the world that is resistant 
             and deters attack? Yes, they are. He understands those 
             issues.
               I serve on the Armed Services Committee. Jon does not, 
             but he knows more about that issue than I do. I have found 
             his leadership so valuable because it is a thankless task. 
             People do not want to talk about it, but he has talked 
             about it. He knows it is important, even though no one 
             would give him credit politically for being engaged in 
             those issues. It is important for America, and he is 
             willing to commit himself to that.
               I will join with Senator Hatch and Senator Cornyn in my 
             admiration for Jon's service on the Judiciary Committee. 
             That is an important committee, and he has been a rock-
             solid member of it. Even though he has been in the 
             leadership, so therefore he did not chair the committee--
             and he would have been one of the great chairmen we would 
             have ever had of that committee--he has moved the 
             committee and brought forth issues and advocated 
             principles that are consistent with the great American 
             rule of law.
               Today we just got word that Robert Bork died. He had a 
             classical view of how the Constitution should be 
             interpreted and one I basically share for the most part. I 
             think Jon has. He understands those issues. He is able to 
             communicate the great richness of the American heritage of 
             law to the common people in language people can 
             understand, but he is also capable of reading the most 
             complex legal document and able to spot problems with it 
             and advocate changes in law that are sophisticated in the 
             most technical details.
               I guess I would have to say Senator Hatch is correct. 
             This Senate, in my view, has never had a better lawyer 
             than Jon Kyl. He has argued cases before the Supreme Court 
             in his private practice days. Not many have been a part of 
             that.
               So whether we are talking about the crime victims 
             advocacy efforts he has made over a long period of time 
             here, recognizing that the law should be in existence to 
             advance and protect innocent people against the 
             wrongdoers, we ought not to become so obsessed with 
             defendants' rights that we do not remember the victims who 
             deserve vindication and remuneration for the crimes that 
             have been put upon them.
               There are other things I could say and other issues we 
             have joined in, that we have fought on. On more than one 
             occasion, Jon has felt something was important. Sometimes 
             those issues were not very popular, but he believed they 
             were important and would rally people. I have joined with 
             him. We have had some good battles. We have won a few, 
             frankly, several I never thought we were going to win. 
             Somehow, with his legislative skill, his determination, 
             his feisty spirit, we stayed in there and bad things did 
             not occur, at least from my perspective, that may have 
             occurred otherwise.
               It is a great pleasure to have served with Jon. I 
             consider him--I know the grammar is not perfect--our most 
             invaluable Senator. We are going to be losing someone of 
             great national importance. I know he will be active. He 
             has got a fabulous wife, Caryll. They have been partners 
             for so many years. I enjoy watching them and how they 
             interact as a family. He has the values that reflect the 
             highest qualities of American life.
               I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.

               Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I am joining my colleagues in 
             rising today to pay honor and respect to the service of 
             Jon Kyl, a tribute to his passion for public service and 
             his State of Arizona and his country in this Congress for 
             26 years. I echo all the sentiments and all the words that 
             have been said by our colleagues. There are not enough 
             adjectives to adequately describe the extraordinary 
             service Jon has provided to this country.
               I have had the pleasure of serving alongside him in the 
             House of Representatives, in the Senate--two times, as 
             some know. I served before and then was out for 12 years 
             and then came back. In my many years of service here, it 
             is hard to think of a person who has been more influential 
             and been more of someone I wanted to emulate and to learn 
             from and to look at as a wise counsel than Jon Kyl.
               He has been described as an influential member of the 
             Judiciary and Finance Committees. Yes, he has been an 
             outspoken leader on issues of very significant importance 
             to this country--significant issues including the landmark 
             Crime Victims Rights Act, pro-growth tax policies that we 
             have been debating here, patient-centered health care 
             reform, and antiterrorism laws, nuclear proliferation, 
             safeguarding our nuclear stockpile. On and on it could go.
               Jon recently called me to his office and said, ``You 
             know, there are 13 separate things here that have been the 
             highest priority for me.'' Now not many Senators will tell 
             you they have got 13 high-priority issues they not only 
             are interested in but have drilled down in a unique, in-
             depth understanding of those particular issues. Jon said, 
             ``One thing I want to accomplish before I leave is to make 
             sure someone will pick up the ball and take the baton and 
             carry on those issues after I leave.''
               That is an extraordinary statement. First of all, I do 
             not think any one person here could begin to duplicate the 
             breadth and the depth of his engagement and his knowledge, 
             and the leadership that he has provided on issues of 
             significant importance to the future of this country. Jon 
             was listed as 1 of the World's 100 Most Influential 
             People--well-deserved recognition.
               In Washington, he has been labeled as 1 of the 25 
             hardest working lawmakers. I cannot think of anybody who 
             stands higher in that list than Jon Kyl. My mental image 
             of Jon Kyl is Jon striding through the Halls of Congress 
             literally leaning into the wind. It is as if there is a 
             60-mile gale coming in his face, and Jon is leaning into 
             it with determination. I see his staff nodding their heads 
             here. It has got to be hard to stay up with Jon when he 
             has his mind on something and he is determined to get 
             something done. He is leaning in like a ship into a gale, 
             moving forward to try to accomplish his mission.
               We all say when someone leaves here, we are losing 
             someone whom maybe we cannot replace. That may or may not 
             be true. In my first iteration, when I gave my farewell 
             speech, I think there were probably a lot of people who 
             said, ``We can find a substitute for Coats; that will not 
             be too hard.'' It is true. Finding a replacement for Jon 
             Kyl is a tall task. It is going to be very hard to find 
             someone who has the passion for this, his service, the 
             intelligence, and the knowledge of the issues he engages 
             in, the leadership qualities he provides, the counsel he 
             provides to all of us. Jon Kyl is the go-to guy. Jon Kyl 
             is the person you go to to say: ``Jon, how do we get this 
             done? What should our strategy be? If you are on board, I 
             think we can accomplish this.'' I know I am repeating a 
             lot of what has been said already about Jon and will be 
             said by others here who will come down, but to find 
             someone this grounded in his endeavors is hard to find.
               Jon is also grounded in his faith, his faith in God, his 
             faith in America, his faith in his constituents, his faith 
             in this institution, not a perfect institution, one which 
             we are struggling in right now, but his faith that in the 
             end we are here to do what is best for America. In the 
             end, we will need to make hard decisions. Jon has always 
             been one leading that effort, always one willing to stand 
             up to make those decisions.
               I count him as a friend. Marsha and I wish you, Jon, and 
             Caryll, all the best in this next chapter of your life. I 
             am comforted by the fact that you will not be more than a 
             phone call away, and the fact that I am going to need wise 
             counsel on a number of things; more than that, that we can 
             retain a friendship which we have enjoyed in our service 
             together on two separate occasions interrupted by 12 
             years. I am looking forward to continuing to enjoy our 
             time together. I want to wish you and Caryll not only our 
             thanks, thanks from the people I represent, and thanks 
             from America for your service, but the very best wishes 
             for both of you in the future.
                                            Thursday, December 20, 2012
               Mr. McCONNELL. I rise to pay tribute to a dear friend 
             and an extraordinary public servant, Senator Jon Kyl. For 
             the past 18 years it has been my honor to serve alongside 
             Jon in the Senate, and it has been my great privilege to 
             get to know him personally and to work with him as closely 
             as I have.
               Jon has built a well-earned reputation as one of the 
             great policy minds of our time. He has an encyclopedic 
             knowledge of policy issues, and we all know he is one of 
             the hardest working Members of Congress.
               He has been a leader on his own State's interests, and 
             he has emerged as one of the strongest leaders in our 
             entire party on the issues of nuclear strategy and arms 
             control. Jon has explained to an entire generation of 
             Republicans President Reagan's enduring philosophy of 
             peace on strength and then applied it.
               Jon has been a zealous proponent of a strong missile 
             defense, and more than any other Senator he helped ensure 
             that the United States had a working nuclear arsenal after 
             the cold war had ended because, in his view, a strong 
             America that can deter a threat is always the best avenue 
             to peace.
               Over the past decade, Jon has applied that same standard 
             to the war on terror, and no one has worked harder to 
             explain the threat of Islamist terrorism or helped equip 
             our Nation with the tools we need to confront and defeat 
             it than Jon Kyl.
               Not enough thought has been given to the role of nuclear 
             weapons in American foreign policy and how strategy will 
             evolve as our conventional military is drawn down due to a 
             diminishing investment and how nuclear weapons will be 
             employed to support the articulated strategic pivot to the 
             Asian Pacific theater. The Senate and the country will be 
             well served by Jon's thoughts on these challenges over the 
             coming years. Fortunately, he has thought ahead by 
             encouraging others to step into the void after he leaves.
               Throughout his time in Washington, Jon has been guided, 
             as he explained in eloquent detail yesterday, by a 
             profound belief in and commitment to the expansion of 
             freedom and the three primary areas where that commitment 
             plays out in the public square: growth-oriented economics, 
             the social policies that make limited government possible, 
             and any policy that emphasizes a strong and sovereign 
             America. These three pillars have been Jon's guidepost, 
             and we have all benefited tremendously over the years as a 
             party and as a Nation from his faithful application and 
             patient explanation of the enduring importance of all 
             three.
               In short, Jon is whip smart, and he is a passionate 
             believer and defender of American exceptionalism. Besides 
             all this, he is also a fantastic individual, with a 
             peerless reputation on both sides of the aisle as a man of 
             principle and integrity. I have personally benefited from 
             Jon's policy mind and advice countless times, and, Jon, I 
             want to say how grateful I am for your steady hand and 
             wise counsel over the years.
               I always knew I could throw Jon into the middle of any 
             fight, confident our team would own the field. He wasn't 
             just prepared, he was eager to take on the most thankless 
             tasks, and he never ever let me down.
               One suspects the seeds of Jon's wisdom and equanimity 
             were planted in his upbringing in the Midwest. As a young 
             boy growing up in Nebraska and Iowa, he learned the value 
             of hard work. His dad led the local chamber of commerce 
             and worked as a high school principal and superintendent. 
             Later on, he joined Jon's uncle in the clothing business--
             and eventually he served six terms in Congress.
               It was a stable, happy, middle-class childhood centered 
             on work, family, and service. It laid a solid foundation 
             for Jon's later successes. ``It was very important to 
             Dad,'' Jon once said, ``that we recognize that even though 
             we weren't rich, we still had an obligation to get 
             involved and give back to the country.''
               After graduating from high school, Jon enrolled at the 
             University of Arizona, where he was very much the bundle 
             of energy that anybody who has ever walked more than 10 
             feet with him is familiar with. Incidentally, I am told 
             that you don't want to go on a hike with Jon unless you 
             are a trained Olympian. He hikes up Camelback Mountain 
             almost every weekend he is home, and there are two routes; 
             one is somewhat challenging and the other one is akin to a 
             Stairmaster. Jon takes the Stairmaster because it is 
             faster. He climbs up without stopping, and then as soon as 
             he gets to the top, he comes right back down. Most people 
             stop to eat an apple or look at the vista--not Jon. He 
             powers right back to the bottom. There is too much work to 
             be done.
               During his college years, Jon got involved in debate, 
             politics, and a number of service organizations, 
             graduating with honors in 1964. It was also during his 
             college years that Jon fell in love with Arizona, its red 
             sunny vistas, big skies, and warm inviting people. It is 
             there that he fell in love with Caryll Collins, whom he 
             met at church one Sunday and who has been his constant 
             companion and his anchor ever since.
               I know Jon would agree that without Caryll's support, 
             patience, and understanding he would never have been able 
             to accomplish all he has over the years. Jon and Caryll 
             have been married nearly 50 years. They have raised two 
             great kids, Kristine and John. They have seven 
             grandchildren. They have been blessed.
               After college, Jon went on to earn a law degree from the 
             University of Arizona College of Law, where he was editor 
             of the Law Review. He must have had some great teachers 
             because it is hard to imagine anyone who loves the study 
             and the application of the law as deeply as Jon Kyl.
               Jon practiced at a firm in Phoenix for 20 years when he 
             decided to follow his father's footsteps and take a turn 
             toward public service. As one longtime friend described 
             it:

               [Jon] sat down with . . . Caryll, who is really his 
             partner, and decided it was time. . . . He could have been 
             a rich man. But he decided this was more important.

               Jon ran for Congress in Arizona's Fourth District and 
             won handily, serving eight terms before winning his Senate 
             seat in 1994.
               One way to illustrate how hard Jon has worked over the 
             years is to look at the coverage he got then versus the 
             coverage he gets now. When he first ran for office, one 
             unfriendly paper called him an enigma. By 2006, that same 
             paper would describe him as a:

               [N]ational, political figure . . . and one of the five 
             most powerful Senators in Washington . . . a man who most 
             everyone says is a hard-working, keenly intelligent, 
             humble, civilized gentleman who seems always to be doing 
             what he believes is best for America.

               Most of us couldn't get that out of our own press 
             secretaries, let alone the hometown paper.
               It says everything we need to know about Jon Kyl. His 
             work ethic is legendary. For 15 years, Jon labored mostly 
             behind the scenes on one of the most complicated and 
             sensitive issues in Arizona politics, settling American 
             Indian claims to Colorado and Gila River water and 
             resolving an intergovernmental dispute about how much 
             money Arizona should pay for the Central Arizona Project, 
             completed in 1993.
               These were long-standing, thorny, legal, and political 
             issues in Arizona. Some thought a settlement was 
             impossible. They didn't know Jon well enough. By 2004, he 
             had succeeded in passing the Arizona Water Settlement Act, 
             simultaneously resolving the outstanding Indian lawsuits 
             and resolving the issue of Arizona's reimbursement rate to 
             the Federal Government.
               According to one political commentator, ``It was the 
             most far-reaching Indian water settlement in history,'' 
             and it ``wouldn't have happened without the hard work and 
             keen legal mind of Jon Kyl.'' As Jon himself put it:

               It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I 
             was in a position to be the catalyst. There wasn't anybody 
             else who could do that water deal. And it had to be done.

               Jon's work on water settlements carries a lesson for all 
             of us. Similar to any true leader, he saw the need to do 
             something, not just for the folks who elected him but for 
             the generations of Arizonans to come. He thought ahead, 
             and now the people of Arizona can go about their daily 
             lives without having to worry about water at all for 
             generations to come. It will be a huge part of his 
             legacy--and it went more or less unnoticed by most folks 
             in Washington. That is why Jon truly embodies the old 
             maxim, popularized by President Reagan, who had it placed 
             on his desk, that there is no limit to what a man can do 
             or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit. 
             He almost seems to relish the thankless task. A lot of 
             people don't know this, but Jon actually volunteered to 
             serve on the supercommittee.
               At press conferences, Jon has even been known to lean up 
             against a wall so others get noticed instead of him, 
             which, as we all know, is pretty unthinkable to most of 
             the folks around here.
               Jon's intelligence and personal humility are just two of 
             the reasons he has been so good at persuading people to 
             his view. He persuaded his colleagues to oppose President 
             Clinton's Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He has 
             used his immense powers of persuasion literally countless 
             times as minority whip, and he has done all this without 
             ever offending anybody. He is that rare politician who 
             manages to always stand on principle without ever damaging 
             a relationship. I mean it when I say that to the degree I 
             have had any success at all in my role, it has been only 
             because Jon Kyl has been my partner, counselor, and 
             friend.
               Jon always tells folks he is serious because the issues 
             he deals with are serious, and I can't tell you how 
             grateful I am that we have had him for as long as we did 
             and how much I will miss having Jon Kyl around when the 
             gavel falls on the 112th Congress.
               One last point. People who know Jon well know he is a 
             huge NASCAR fan. He knows the drivers. He knows the lingo. 
             He goes to two big races every year in Phoenix and 
             nothing, I mean nothing, can keep him from going.
               Why do I mention this? As a young lawyer, Jon used to 
             volunteer to be the lookout guy on the hill around the 
             track. This is a guy who keeps a lookout for oil on the 
             track. His view was it might not be the most glamorous 
             work but that it was essential to maintain the safety and 
             the integrity of the race to have someone up there on the 
             lookout. I can't think of a better way to sum up his 
             service in Washington.
               Jon has been that serious, behind-the-scenes legislator 
             who always did what needed to be done. He was happy to do 
             the work while others took the credit, and he was happy to 
             explain any issue to anyone and to provide not only the 
             intellectual explanation for the right policy but the 
             elbow grease to get it enacted into law. What mattered to 
             Jon was the good of the country.
               He has been a model public servant. Jon, I can't tell 
             you how grateful we all are that you were here. Thank you 
             for everything, my friend. I truly hate to see you go.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

               Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I will just say thank you to my 
             leader. There is a lot that is enjoyable, some not so 
             enjoyable, about serving here in the Senate. My time as 
             whip in particular has been one of the most enjoyable 
             things I have done, both because it is in behalf of our 
             colleagues here, helping to get things done, but also 
             because I have been able to work alongside a great 
             Republican leader, Mitch McConnell. I will treasure that 
             always, and I am deeply grateful for the comments he made 
             today.
               Thank you.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

               Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, before Senator Kyl leaves the 
             floor, I would like to join the Republican leader in 
             congratulating him on his public service. He and I came to 
             the Congress the same year, after the 1986 elections--we 
             are part of the 100th Congress--and we became friends. I 
             couldn't agree more with the Republican leader and his 
             example of following your convictions with the highest 
             degree of integrity in the work you have done. I had a 
             chance to serve with you on the Judiciary Committee, and I 
             can tell you that you added greatly to the respect for 
             that committee and our respect for the process and for the 
             rule of law and for civil liberty issues. And most 
             recently, with the work you did on the Magnitsky bill. The 
             Republican leader is absolutely right--you did not seek 
             the headlines on that legislation, but it could not have 
             been done without your direction and your help.
               I just want to thank you for what you have done to 
             advance the reputation of the Senate and public service, 
             standing by your convictions, yet doing so in a way that 
             we could work together, respecting everyone's right to be 
             heard and our right to work together. You are indeed a 
             model Senator, and it has been an honor to serve with you 
             in the Senate.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

               Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I would respond by saying thank 
             you very much. I would just add one other thing. In this 
             Senate family, although we may be of different parties, we 
             make good friendships, and it should not go unnoticed that 
             our spouses also make good friendships. This is a case 
             where my wife and Senator Cardin's wife are very good 
             friends, which necessarily draws us closer together, and 
             for that we should both be grateful as well.
               I thank my colleague.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

               Mr. CARDIN. Senator Kyl is absolutely right. I get my 
             best information from Myrna as to what is going on in the 
             Senate. So I appreciate his comments.

               Mr. REED. Madam President, at this time, I wish to take 
             a few minutes to salute my colleagues who are retiring at 
             the end of this year with the conclusion of the 112th 
             Congress: Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Jeff Bingaman of New 
             Mexico, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Kent Conrad of North 
             Dakota, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Kay Bailey Hutchison 
             of Texas, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Jon Kyl of Arizona, 
             Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Richard Lugar of Indiana, 
             Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Jim 
             Webb of Virginia. They have all worked ceaselessly to give 
             their constituents the best representation and give the 
             country the benefit of their views, their wisdom, and 
             their experience. They are men and women who are committed 
             to the Nation, and they have every day in different ways 
             contributed to this Senate and to our great country.
               I wish to thank them personally for their service, and, 
             in so many cases, their personal kindness to me; for 
             listening to my points and for, together, hopefully, 
             serving this Senate and this Nation in a more positive and 
             progressive way. . . .
               I could go on with all of my colleagues, just thanking 
             them for their friendship, for their camaraderie, and for 
             their commitment to the Nation and the Senate. As they 
             depart, they have left an extraordinary legacy. Now it is 
             our responsibility to carry on in so many different ways, 
             and I hope we measure up to what they have done. If we do, 
             then we can go forward confidently.

               Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, if success in the U.S. Senate 
             depended only upon working alongside those with whom we 
             agree, this would be a pretty uncomplicated and 
             uninteresting place. We are a large and complex Nation, 
             made up of people with varying interests, preferences, and 
             beliefs. This is where the representatives of a diverse 
             Nation come to try to resolve those differences into 
             coherent national policy. Success in this body depends on 
             the efforts of Senators of differing beliefs and 
             backgrounds who labor to discover common ground.
               This is on my mind as I consider the career of Senator 
             Jon Kyl, who is leaving the Senate at the end of his third 
             term representing the people of Arizona. We have differed 
             many times here in the Senate. We have also sought common 
             ground. These efforts are totally consistent.
               In the wake of the 2001 terror attacks, our Nation's 
             response took many forms. Our military, intelligence, and 
             security agencies were obviously essential to that 
             response, but importantly, we did not neglect a less 
             obvious need: the need to cut off terrorist financing. 
             Senator Kyl played an important role in this. He was a 
             cosponsor with me of legislation to give financial 
             regulators important new authorities to act against terror 
             financing.
               We found common ground on the need to speak out in 
             strong and clear opposition to the repressive regime in 
             Iran. Last year, he and I were part of a bipartisan group 
             that offered a resolution calling for an end to the 
             violent repression Iran's government has carried out 
             against its own people, urging international action to 
             support the people of Iran, and reaffirming America's 
             commitment to universal freedoms.
               I was proud to work with Senator Kyl on these and other 
             important issues before the Senate. I respect and deeply 
             appreciate his commitment to protecting our Nation and the 
             universal standards of human rights that are such an 
             important part of America's legacy. I wish Senator Kyl and 
             his family every success and happiness as he returns to 
             Arizona.
                                              Friday, December 21, 2012
               Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, it is a tradition in the 
             Senate to take a moment at the end of the session to 
             express our appreciation for the service of those Senators 
             who will be retiring at the end of the year. This year it 
             seems that we have quite a few retiring Senators who will 
             be greatly missed because of the important role they have 
             played in our leadership on both sides of the aisle. Such 
             a Senator is Jon Kyl. I know we will miss him, his 
             willingness to work with all of his colleagues, and his 
             understanding of the issues and the need for us to come 
             together to address them.
               Jon Kyl may very well be one of the smartest individuals 
             I have ever met. More important, he is not just highly 
             intelligent, he also has an abundance of wisdom. That 
             means he not only knows what is right--he does it. Putting 
             knowledge into action is always the toughest part of the 
             equation.
               Here in the Senate, Jon has taken on a combination of 
             assignments that most Members would have found impossible. 
             Jon not only served as our party whip, but he also helped 
             to direct our efforts with his great understanding of the 
             many details that form such an important part of every 
             issue we take up in the Senate.
               Jon has been such a great asset for our party because 
             his focus is on the details of every issue that comes 
             before the Senate. That is why, more often than not, when 
             a complex matter is up for our consideration, many of us 
             want to know what Jon thinks and what his recommendation 
             would be. His insights have always been an important part 
             of many of his colleagues' consideration of what each of 
             us should do to further the interests of the people of our 
             home States.
               One thing everyone who has spent some time with Jon 
             knows about him is his great love for NASCAR. It is more 
             than just an appreciation--I don't think there are many 
             who understand it with the depth that he does. He not only 
             knows the stats, he has a great feel for how each race 
             played out, the strategy that was employed, and the 
             significance of the results. The way he describes how the 
             game is played, the rules, and the key players in every 
             race is enough to get anyone interested in attending the 
             next event. NASCAR ought to make him their ambassador. He 
             would increase interest in it right away. He has done a 
             lot to make me a fan, too.
               Politically, Jon is a staunch conservative. In fact, I 
             am sure if you look up ``staunch conservative'' in a 
             reference book it will refer you to their article about 
             Jon. Jon's great talent makes him the perfect example of 
             what a conservative is, and his knowledge serves to 
             highlight the positions and issues that are important to 
             all conservatives.
               Something else that we have all come to know and 
             appreciate about Jon is the strength of his faith and his 
             belief in the importance of the family. One of his first 
             considerations when we took up any legislation was how 
             will this affect our Nation's families? It was that 
             important to him. I cannot imagine a better starting point 
             for our discussions and deliberations.
               Thank you, Jon, for your willingness to serve. You have 
             made a difference in more ways than you will ever know. In 
             the months to come, I will miss seeing you around the 
             Capitol Building. I will also miss having the benefit of 
             your advice and counsel--though I intend to keep your 
             number handy. What I will miss the most, however, is your 
             friendship. Keep in touch with us. We will always 
             appreciate hearing from you.
                                            Thursday, December 27, 2012
               Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, there are many times when 
             those of us in the Senate disagree. It is when we can find 
             ways to work together, across party lines, to advance 
             meaningful legislation that we can really make a 
             difference. One of the things I have always appreciated 
             about Senator Jon Kyl is his commitment to his word. This 
             year will mark his last in the U.S. Senate. I have 
             welcomed his partnership on many issues, from 
             cyberlegislation to matters protecting crime victims. He 
             was a key ally in our efforts to make the first meaningful 
             reforms to the Nation's patent system in nearly 60 years. 
             And we have worked together on issues relating to national 
             security and border security.
               Fewer Senators are more hard working than Jon Kyl. He is 
             a constant presence in the Judiciary Committee, where he 
             has served as the top Republican on the Crime and 
             Terrorism Subcommittee. He is active in the Finance 
             Committee. And of course, he holds a key position within 
             his caucus, serving as the Republican whip.
               I have, of course, worked most closely with Senator Kyl 
             in his nearly two decades of service on the Judiciary 
             Committee. There, he has championed a number of important 
             issues, from crime victims' rights to antiterrorism 
             legislation. We have been close partners on intellectual 
             property legislation, from patent reform to copyright and 
             trademark protections. Even in the most contentious of 
             national security issues, we have worked to find common 
             ground on such issues as the PATRIOT Act.
               On Capitol Hill, Senator Kyl is known throughout the 
             Senate for his dedication and work ethic. He is a great 
             ally and a formidable adversary; in Congress, there is 
             often no higher praise. He is a good personal friend and I 
             wish him and his family all the best as he takes on his 
             next challenge.
                                             Thursday, February 7, 2013
                            ORDER FOR PRINTING OF TRIBUTES
               Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
             there be printed as a Senate document a compilation of 
             materials from the Congressional Record in tribute to the 
             retiring Members of the 112th Congress.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so 
             ordered.
