    [Senate Document 113-33]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                       TRIBUTES TO HON. MARY L. LANDRIEU

                                Mary L. Landrieu

                          U.S. SENATOR FROM LOUISIANA

                                    TRIBUTES

                               IN THE CONGRESS OF

                               THE UNITED STATES

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                                  S. Doc. 113-33

                                          Tributes

                                    Delivered in Congress

                                      Mary L. Landrieu

                                    United States Senator

                                          1997-2015

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

                                      WASHINGTON : 2015

                                Compiled under the direction

                                           of the

                                 Joint Committee on Printing

                                          CONTENTS
                 Biography.............................................
                                                                          v
                 Farewell Address......................................
                                                                        vii
                 Proceedings in the Senate:
                    Tributes by Senators:
                        Begich, Mark, of Alaska........................
                                                                         12
                        Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado................
                                                                          6
                        Booker, Cory A., of New Jersey.................
                                                                         11
                        Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
                                                                         32
                        Cantwell, Maria, of Washington.................
                                                                         25
                        Cardin, Benjamin L., of Maryland...............
                                                                         16
                        Casey, Robert P., Jr., of Pennsylvania.........
                                                                         31
                        Coats, Daniel, of Indiana......................
                                                                         14
                        Coons, Christopher A., of Delaware.............
                                                                          5
                        Durbin, Richard J., of Illinois................
                                                                          3
                        Graham, Lindsey, of South Carolina.............
                                                                         20
                        Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah.......................
                                                                         30
                        Heinrich, Martin, of New Mexico................
                                                                         19
                        Heitkamp, Heidi, of North Dakota...............
                                                                         20
                        Hirono, Mazie K., of Hawaii....................
                                                                         34
                        Klobuchar, Amy, of Minnesota...................
                                                                         10
                        Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
                                                                         29
                        Manchin, Joe, III, of West Virginia............
                                                                          8
                        Markey, Edward J., of Massachusetts............
                                                                         18
                        Merkley, Jeff, of Oregon.......................
                                                                          7
                        Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
                                                                          3
                        Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
                                                                         23
                        Shaheen, Jeanne, of New Hampshire..............
                                                                         31
                        Stabenow, Debbie, of Michigan..................
                                                                         32
                        Vitter, David, of Louisiana....................
                                                                          6
                        Warner, Mark R., of Virginia...................
                                                                         15

                                          BIOGRAPHY

                   Mary L. Landrieu has been fighting and winning for
                 Louisiana since she was first elected to the Louisiana
                 State Legislature at the age of 23. After serving 8 years
                 as a State representative and two terms as State
                 treasurer, in 1996 she became the first woman from
                 Louisiana elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate.
                 Senator Landrieu was the chair of the Senate Committee on
                 Energy and Natural Resources, chair of the Appropriations
                 Subcommittee on Homeland Security and a member of the
                 Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Small
                 Business and Entrepreneurship Committees. The nonpartisan
                 Congress.org ranked Senator Landrieu as the tenth most
                 effective legislator in the Senate.
                   In 2014, Senator Landrieu was appointed chair of the
                 Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She became
                 the first woman to lead the committee and the first
                 Louisiana Senator to hold the gavel since J. Bennett
                 Johnston nearly 20 years prior. The Senate Energy
                 Committee sets policy for the Nation's oil and gas
                 industry, the top job creator and economic engine for
                 Louisiana. In 2006, Senator Landrieu spearheaded the
                 landmark Domenici-Landrieu Gulf of Mexico Energy Security
                 Act (GOMESA). The bill expanded oil and gas production in
                 the Gulf of Mexico by more than 8 million acres. It also
                 shares the revenues produced offshore--an estimated $6
                 billion annually--with Louisiana to fund the State's 50-
                 year, $50 billion coastal master plan to protect
                 Louisiana's coastal communities from storm surges and
                 coastal erosion.
                   Senator Landrieu was the leading voice in Washington for
                 the gulf coast recovery effort. In the wake of Hurricanes
                 Katrina and Rita and the failures of the Federal levee
                 system, she secured more than $120 billion in recovery
                 dollars and worked extensively to jump start recovery
                 projects. She was committed to reforming the Federal
                 Emergency Management Agency to ensure the Nation's
                 disaster response arm is speedy and effective the next
                 time a disaster strikes the United States, be it natural
                 or manmade.
                   In the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster,
                 Senator Landrieu passed the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act, a
                 bipartisan, regional approach to address the immense
                 economic and environmental damage to America's working
                 coast. The RESTORE Act directs 80 percent of the Clean
                 Water Act penalties paid by BP directly to the gulf coast.
                 This represents the largest single investment in
                 environmental restoration in our Nation's history. Senator
                 Landrieu helped build a strong, bipartisan, hard-working
                 coalition of Congress Members to pass the RESTORE Act
                 through Congress with overwhelming support.
                   As the former chair of the Small Business Committee,
                 Senator Landrieu led the effort to ensure all small
                 businesses have access to capital and contracts, superior
                 health insurance at a low cost, and the resources needed
                 to help boost our economy and guarantee America's
                 competitiveness in the global marketplace.
                   As one of the chairs on the Senate Appropriations
                 Committee, Senator Landrieu was a strong and effective
                 voice for Louisiana. In 2012, the Senate appointed Senator
                 Landrieu chair of the Appropriations Committee's important
                 Subcommittee on Homeland Security. This subcommittee is
                 responsible for drafting legislation to fund the
                 Department of Homeland Security's 20 offices and 7
                 subagencies. The Appropriations Committee is considered
                 the most powerful panel on Capitol Hill. From this seat,
                 she fought for Louisiana's jobs and economic interests and
                 the funding the State needed to rebuild from the 2005 and
                 2008 hurricanes.
                   Senator Landrieu is married to Frank Snellings of
                 Monroe, LA, and has two children and one grandson.
                                   Farewell to the Senate
                                 Thursday, December 11, 2014

                   Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, it is my pleasure to take
                 a few minutes on the floor to give a farewell message, and
                 I thank you for your courtesies. I begin with a Scripture,
                 Philippians 4:7, New American Standard Bible, that reads:
                 ``And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,
                 will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.''
                   Truly for the first time in my adult life I have felt
                 that extraordinary peace about something that was
                 unexpected, but is certainly something that I accept. It
                 has really been amazing as a Christian, as an adult, and
                 as a leader to find myself in this place in a time that
                 should be a time of sadness, but all I can feel is actual
                 joy. It is quite amazing.
                   It has never happened to me before, so I thought it
                 would be wonderful to share--with so many of my friends,
                 supporters, family, staff, and colleagues listening in--
                 for a few minutes to say that it is absolutely true, and I
                 am a testimony to this extraordinary peace since just a
                 few days before the election and since then. I think it is
                 because I feel and know that God has called me to another
                 place.
                   Before being a Senator, a wife, and a daughter, I am a
                 Christian, and my faith really is central to my life. My
                 parents always taught me to put my faith where it
                 belongs--in God himself. So it is really with that sense
                 of gratitude and joy that I have been given an opportunity
                 to serve my State, my region, and my country for now
                 almost 34 years--which is quite amazing--having started at
                 a very young age and still being relatively young.
                   So let me just share some remarks about that time, and
                 particularly the time here in the Senate. I want to begin
                 by thanking my family, and particularly my extraordinary
                 husband Frank, who has been a partner and, as I said on
                 election night, not only an encouraging and supportive
                 partner but one who has literally egged me on. When I
                 wanted to quit, he would say, ``No, you have to continue
                 to serve.'' He is not only an accomplished lawyer and
                 professional, but also an elected official in his own
                 right. He came from a family that was dedicated to public
                 service, having both of his parents being very active in
                 party politics--first the Republican Party and then the
                 Democratic Party. But that is a whole other story. They
                 are both strong civil rights leaders--my husband as well--
                 and are always encouraging me and are willing to share the
                 burdens of public life as well as sharing in the great
                 joy.
                   Our son Connor is now 23 years old, and our daughter
                 Mary Shannon is now 17. The reason I mention that is
                 because Connor was 5 when we were elected to the Senate.
                 Mary Shannon was adopted the 1st year we were here. On
                 election night, she looked at me--and she is just so
                 beautiful at 17--and she said, ``Mom, it is going to be a
                 little strange. I have only known you as a Senator.'' So I
                 warned her that now I am going to be a full-time mom. This
                 is going to be a real problem for her. She is not looking
                 forward to it.
                   To our new daughter-in-law Emily, and especially to our
                 precious little Maddox Parker Snellings, who many people
                 saw on election night--now, Maddox gets the distinction.
                 He is 10 months old, but he gives me the most joy, and I
                 used to keep a picture of him during all my debates. There
                 were only three, as you all will remember, but I would
                 keep a picture of him because my staff kept telling me,
                 ``You have to smile more.'' I kept saying, ``But I can't,
                 because I am really aggravated.'' They said, ``No, you
                 have to smile.'' So my solution was to put a picture of
                 Maddox on my podium and, of course, I then smiled through
                 the whole debate. That is a trick for those who will be
                 continuing to debate.
                   To my mother and father, who are the light of not only
                 our family but the light of our community, the light of
                 the Nation in many ways--they had 9 children, 37
                 grandchildren, and now 6 great-grandchildren. They are in
                 wonderful health, they are watching right now, and I can
                 only say they are two of the most extraordinary
                 individuals I have ever known. Our family is truly blessed
                 by their sacrificial leadership.
                   Let me also mention my eight siblings--eight brothers
                 and sisters: Mark, Melanie, Michelle, Mitchell, Madeleine,
                 Martin, Melinda, and Maurice, Jr.--all M's. That is
                 another story. There are all of our spouses, my nieces and
                 nephews, who campaigned with me up until the last day. My
                 godchild Sasha literally knocked on doors with me. I was
                 teaching her how to knock on doors before the campaign was
                 over so the tradition could carry on in our own
                 neighborhood where we have lived since I was 5 years old--
                 Broadmoor in New Orleans.
                   When I first got here 18 years ago, I literally could
                 not find the side door. I didn't know anything. I wasn't
                 even expecting to be here. It was kind of like a dream
                 that I got here, because I had run for Governor, wanted to
                 be the Governor, and served 16 years in my State. I knew
                 that was what I was being called to do--and I see Lamar
                 Alexander--to change our education system, to do some
                 coastal work, and then I landed here. But I literally knew
                 nothing of how to be a Senator.
                   I stumbled a great deal in my first years. But I want to
                 thank my chiefs of staff, Norma Jane Sabiston, Ron
                 Faucheux, Jason Matthews, Jane Campbell, and Don Cravins.
                 I had five of the most remarkable chiefs of staff, who,
                 with me, learned how to do this job and to do it well. We
                 never forget where we came from, and they are still--all
                 of them--with me, and all of us are still working to make
                 our State the very best that it can be and to make our
                 country the very best that it can be.
                   To three staffers who have been with me for almost 20
                 years--Alicia Williams is the longest serving office
                 manager, I think, in the Senate. She was here when I
                 arrived and stayed with me. She was with Bennett Johnston.
                 T. Bradley Keith has been with me for 22 years as a former
                 staffer in a former life, before I was a Senator, and now
                 as my longtime State director. And Shannon Langlois has
                 been, I think, with the Senate for almost 30 years. She is
                 a caseworker. She was, again, with Bennett Johnston and
                 stayed with me. She has literally given her life to
                 thousands, hundreds of thousands of cases in Louisiana and
                 trained every caseworker that I had for 18 years, and they
                 just did phenomenal work.
                   I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record my
                 current staff, all of whom are here--my personal staff, my
                 energy staff, and my homeland security staff.
                   There being no objection, the material was ordered to be
                 printed in the Record, as follows:
                               Personal Staff of Mary Landrieu
                   Alexander Damato, Alex Sewell, Alicia Williams, Alyson
                 Azodeh, Andrew Holleman, Ashley Scott, Christina Jones,
                 Christopher Etienne, DerKirra Wilkerson, Don Cravins, Eva
                 Kemp-Melder, Jaren Hill, James ``Wes'' Kungel, Jim
                 Simpson, Katie Lewallen, Lauren Spangler, Leslie Leavoy,
                 Libby Whitbeck, Matthew Lehner, Marianna Knister, Megan
                 Blanco.
                   Rob Sawicki, Ross Nodurft, Will Harris, Whitney Reitz,
                 Zach Butterworth, Zephranie Buetow, Kelsey Teo, Meghann
                 Morin, Shannon Langlois, T. Bradley Keith, Terrence
                 Lockett, Sherae' Hunter, Laverne Saulny, Cathleen
                 Berthelot, Zach Monroe, Tani Bradford, LeNelle Williford,
                 Michael Jackson, Mark Herbert, Darlene Manuel.
                                   Energy Committee Staff
                   Elizabeth ``Liz'' Craddock, Afton Zaunbrecher, Aisha
                 Johnson, Allen Paul Stayman, Bryan Petit, Caroline
                 Bruckner, Clayton Allen, Dan Adamson, Darla Ripchensky,
                 David Brooks, David Gillers, Dominic Taylor, Elizabeth
                 Weiner, Fayenisha Matthews, Herman Bubba Gesser III, Jan
                 Brunner, Jonathon Burpee, Kristen Granier, Lindsay
                 McDonough, Mark Tiner, Megan Brewster, Meghan Conklin,
                 Paul Davis, Renae Black, Sallie Derr, Sam Edward Fowler,
                 Sa'Rah Hamm, Will Dempster.
                                Homeland Appropriations Staff
                   Stephanie Gupta, Drenan Dudley, Scott Nance, Chip
                 Walgren, Colin MacDermott, Eric Bader.

                   Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I want to thank Don
                 Cravins, again, as my chief of staff; Liz Craddock, staff
                 director of my Energy Committee; and Stephanie Gupta, head
                 of homeland security. I know I am leaving them in good
                 hands with what they are going to be doing in the future
                 and with the great leadership that remains here.
                   I only have a few minutes, so I will just run through a
                 couple of the highlights of some of the accomplishments
                 that I am most proud of. I want to take this opportunity
                 to thank so many who helped, because the one thing I have
                 learned that most certainly is true, is that if you want
                 to accomplish really big things here--really great things,
                 generational things--you most certainly cannot do that
                 alone. So the first thing you need to do is look for a
                 really good partner--and I mean a partner that will be
                 with you through thick and thin. Sometimes you are lucky
                 enough to find those kinds of partners, and I found them
                 on both sides of the aisle.
                   The first major piece of legislation I introduced was
                 something that was in my heart for so long, and that was
                 the Conservation and Reinvestment Act. The cosponsors of
                 that bill, amazingly, were Frank Murkowski from Alaska,
                 Trent Lott from Mississippi, John Breaux from Louisiana,
                 and Senator Dianne Feinstein from California. Chris Dodd
                 joined me a few days later after we introduced it--and Ron
                 Wyden, Chris Bond, John Warner, and Thad Cochran, just to
                 name a few.
                   At the end of this effort--although this particular bill
                 didn't pass; we missed it literally by inches, and I will
                 describe what that was in a minute--we had 4,500
                 organizations throughout the country, from the Sierra Club
                 to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and everyone in between in
                 a broad coalition to fund the Land and Water Conservation
                 Fund. Lamar Alexander knows more about this than I could
                 ever know, and he will tell you one day the details about
                 the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Udalls and the
                 Udalls' fathers were very instrumental in the creation of
                 the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It was a promise
                 made but never kept--that this country would set aside
                 about $900 million a year to purchase land, to build our
                 parks, and to secure recreational opportunities. This
                 country is so blessed--more than any on Earth--with the
                 amount of natural resources we have, and we have not lived
                 up to that promise.
                   So I introduced this bill as a young legislator. John
                 Breaux said, ``You don't even know what you are doing; how
                 are you introducing a bill like this?'' I said, ``I don't
                 know, but I am just going for it because I believe in
                 it.'' So we never passed it, but it has been in part of
                 almost every piece of energy legislation--in pieces and
                 parts since that day we introduced that. I am very hopeful
                 that war will go on under Senator Murkowski, the daughter
                 of Frank Murkowski, and Maria Cantwell, who in many ways
                 got to the Senate because she defeated one of the
                 gentlemen who opposed us on this bill and used it as a
                 platform to get here. So I know she will be committed to
                 finishing the work.
                   The bill did three things. It fully funded the Land and
                 Water Conservation Fund, a trust fund that will go on for
                 generations. It would fully fund coastal restoration,
                 which is so important not just to Louisiana, because we
                 are literally falling away into the Gulf of Mexico, but it
                 will help Sheldon Whitehouse in his work. It will help
                 Dick Durbin along the Great Lakes, and it will help Cory
                 Booker in New Jersey. If you allocate the funding
                 correctly, it will be grants that these coastal
                 communities can use until we figure out how to clean our
                 atmosphere and how to stop the tremendous pressures that
                 are coming on our coast. Louisiana knows this. We have
                 experienced the worst disasters literally in the history
                 of our country, and they are only getting worse. I will
                 talk about that more in a minute.
                   But it was because we had laid the groundwork for CARA,
                 Pete Domenici literally felt so sorry for me--he knew how
                 hard we had worked and the coalition was so disappointed
                 when we lost--that he directed, literally with the stroke
                 of a pen, $1 billion to the gulf coast in the energy bill
                 for 2005. That money was divided 50 percent to Louisiana
                 and 50 percent to the other States.
                   Now, I can promise everyone here that for the $500
                 million that went to Louisiana, we can account for every
                 penny of it. We know exactly where it went, and we put
                 that down as a downpayment to restoring our coast, which
                 doesn't just belong to us--it belongs to the whole Nation.
                 This is the greatest, the seventh largest delta on the
                 planet. It is what Thomas Jefferson leveraged the whole
                 entire Treasury of the United States to purchase. It is
                 something worth fighting for. We would not be a country
                 without the Mississippi Delta, and we could never have
                 found our way west if we couldn't have supplied the great
                 center of this Nation with the commerce they needed.
                   Every State along this river--19 of them--use this river
                 and understand what I am talking about. Amy Klobuchar
                 understands this. She is at the top of this river, and I
                 am at the bottom, and we have talked a lot about how
                 important that corridor is. That needs to continue.
                   Then there was the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act,
                 which I finally passed with Pete Domenici's help, who was
                 my dear friend and one of the most wonderful leaders I
                 have ever worked with. He came from a family with eight
                 children. We had nine, and we are both Catholic and came
                 from the same sort of background. He served with such
                 passion. So he joined with me in passing the Gulf of
                 Mexico Energy Security Act, which finally secured a
                 permanent stream of revenue for coastal restoration and
                 protection.
                   But as Lamar Alexander knows, it left out the land and
                 water, and it left out wildlife. We just couldn't lift it
                 all, so that needs to be corrected.
                   Finally, there is the RESTORE Act, which I worked on
                 with my colleagues when the BP oil spill killed 11 people
                 in the gulf and spilled 5 million barrels of oil in the
                 gulf. Thanks go to Barbara Boxer, this extraordinary woman
                 who has been a partner with me. We think very differently
                 about the world. We see things very differently.
                 California is very different from Louisiana. But I will
                 say one thing about Barbara Boxer. If I had to be in a
                 foxhole with someone, I would want to be with her because
                 she never stops fighting. She and I are very much alike in
                 that regard. Once we set our minds to something there is
                 no dividing us.
                   People asked why did I send her money for her
                 reelection? Why did I raise so much money from Louisiana?
                 I said that I would do it again because when no one would
                 stand up--well, not no one, but if she hadn't stood up
                 when that BP oil spill went down, and said, ``I am chair
                 of this committee and I believe the gulf coast deserves
                 this funding,'' we just wouldn't have had it. It is as
                 simple as that. People do not know how powerful a chairman
                 is here. When a chairman makes up their mind and they say
                 this is what we are going to do, the rest of the
                 committee, for the most part, goes along. And so Barbara
                 said that.
                   Senator Vitter, who is the ranking member on that
                 committee, put his shoulder to the wheel, and we were able
                 to get--well, it is still in court, but we think--a
                 serious downpayment to recover from one of the great
                 ecological disasters of our State, of our country, which
                 is the loss of the gulf coast. This just isn't in
                 Louisiana. This is Texas and Mississippi, and it is going
                 to affect parts of the whole country. But we are on the
                 mend.
                   I came here to do that work. I came to find money. I
                 found it, and we are going to continue that work. I am
                 thrilled to work with so many of you to get that done.
                   On education--Lamar has to leave, but I am glad he is
                 here because I found a great soulmate in Lamar Alexander--
                 former Secretary of Education, former Governor, a
                 Presidential candidate, and absolutely extraordinarily
                 committed to finding a better way for our children in
                 America to be educated. As proud as we are of the public
                 school system, at the turn of the century, when people in
                 the world were wondering how to build the middle class and
                 lots of countries were struggling with how to do that,
                 America knew. America knew that if you educated your
                 citizens--women, boys, and girls; not just boys, which is
                 what half the world still does, which is a tragedy--if we
                 open up our schools for universal, free education, along
                 with other things, it would lift your country to greatness
                 unsurpassed in the history of the world.
                   What breaks my heart is to walk into schools today--and
                 Mark Warner knows this because he was Governor of
                 Virginia--and see children's eyes just completely dulled,
                 sitting there completely bored, teachers who are just sort
                 of going through the motions. It breaks my heart because I
                 know that not only does it limit their lives but it limits
                 the potential of our Nation.
                   With Lamar Alexander and a handful of Democrats, I was
                 proud to work with Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush
                 to pass a series of laws. Evan Bayh comes to mind, Joe
                 Lieberman, John Breaux, and a group of us stood up and
                 said, ``It is time to stop sending money to the States
                 without accountability.'' If we need to send money, we
                 need to hold States accountable, and we need to give
                 opportunities for choice to parents and public charter
                 schools.
                   I am reluctant to go too far on vouchers. You have heard
                 my speech on that. You heard Senator Feinstein's speech on
                 that. But both of us have agreed to support some kinds of
                 strategic vouchers that help poor kids get out of failing
                 schools until we can fix them.
                   Most important, I support high-performing public charter
                 schools, and I will continue to fight that for the rest of
                 my days. I thank all of you who helped on that and
                 particularly Tom Carper on the Democratic side and Lamar
                 Alexander. Cory Booker has been an amazing leader and will
                 hopefully continue on that. I thank Dick Durbin, who is on
                 Appropriations. I had to twist his arm a little bit on
                 some of it, but he ended up coming around and has been an
                 amazing fighter for the right kinds of public schools that
                 serve the children first and the bureaucracy and
                 administration second. I respect teachers. I respect
                 administrators. But our schools should work for the
                 children and their families who so desperately want them
                 to have a great education.
                   The third issue I wish to speak about, which is a legacy
                 issue, is adoption. I hope I can get through this without
                 tearing up. I don't know why I have always had such
                 passion for this issue.
                   My mother had nine children without one single problem.
                 As a young child, I remember my aunt adopted two children.
                 I think it might have been that; I can't remember exactly.
                 I started to think about all the children in the world who
                 don't have parents. Maybe I was just always so proud when
                 I filled out those forms in Catholic school. I can
                 remember sitting there filling them out: Are your parents
                 divorced or married? I loved checking ``married.'' How
                 many siblings do you have? I loved putting ``eight.'' I
                 was always so proud of my family.
                   I thought, what do children without parents do? I just
                 could not imagine. So I got very passionate about it. I
                 ended up, of all things, marrying an orphan. My husband
                 was adopted out of an orphanage. So I thought, yes, this
                 is going in the right direction. I thought I would adopt
                 children. I thought he could not say no since he himself
                 was adopted, and so this would work out. Sure enough, we
                 ended up adopting two children.
                   But this was my passion before I met my husband and
                 before I even thought about adopting. It was as if God put
                 this in my heart, so I have taken it and carried it.
                   I thank Dave Camp; Jim Oberstar, who is deceased; Tom
                 Bliley from Virginia, who is a great leader among us;
                 Larry Craig, who is no longer here, who served as my
                 cochair; and Senator Jesse Helms. Amazingly, I didn't know
                 to be afraid of Jesse Helms; I thought he was a really
                 nice guy. Later, everybody had to tell me how hard he was
                 to get along with. But I went up to him, and I thought he
                 would surely want to help because he had adopted a child.
                 I don't think a lot of people realize that. Sure enough he
                 did, and we passed a great treaty together that serves as
                 the model for international adoption today. Joe Biden was
                 the ranking member on the committee. With Jesse Helms' and
                 Joe Biden's support, we passed a great treaty years ago,
                 and we are still in the process of making that possible
                 and working it through.
                   The accomplishments are really quite long. I will only
                 say that Bob Casey worked on and took up the cause of the
                 adoption tax credit when he got here--I am thrilled and
                 hope we can keep it. I would like to say to Amy Klobuchar
                 how much I appreciate her agreeing to step in and take
                 over the leadership of the Adoption Caucus on this side
                 and Roy Blunt, who I think will take it up on the
                 Republican side and continue this great work.
                   There are over 100,000 children who are waiting for
                 families in the United States. There are over 500,000
                 children in foster care. These children think it is their
                 fault they are there, and it is not. It is not their fault
                 that their family disintegrated around them. It is not
                 their fault that they got pregnant at 11 and were kicked
                 out of their house. Instead of the family wrapping that
                 child in their arms and helping them to grow, they just
                 kicked them out on the street. It is not their fault.
                   We need to realize that God does not make trash. He
                 never has, and he never will. Everybody he has made has a
                 purpose and dignity, and we need to honor that and do
                 better work. I have spent a lot of time here on it. I am
                 going to continue to do so. I will never stop working on
                 it. I am very proud of the work we have done.
                   On energy very quickly and then finally disaster
                 recovery. I couldn't have been prouder when I became the
                 chair of this committee. It was quite a miracle. I didn't
                 expect it. I never thought I would last long enough to
                 become the chair because there were so many people ahead
                 of me. It kind of worked out when Max Baucus left to go to
                 China and Tim Johnson was retiring that it fell to me. It
                 has been my great joy for 9 months to serve as chair, with
                 Lisa Murkowski as my ranking member. Of course, I worked
                 with her father. I didn't sit next to him because I was a
                 junior member, but I worked with him closely, and it has
                 been wonderful working with her. I am so proud that Maria
                 Cantwell will step up and take that leadership. I know the
                 two of them work beautifully together. They do see the
                 world differently, but they are two women who know how to
                 compromise and who will be respectful of each other and
                 find a way for our country to move forward.
                   I can tell you all that in my whole life--which isn't
                 that long--it has been a pretty good run in public office.
                 There has never been a time when America has been closer
                 to energy independence. What that means to our country is
                 beyond description. We don't have to listen to parts of
                 the world that don't hold our values. We can lift up our
                 country. We can move forward. It has to be with a
                 combination of fossil fuels, weaning our way to a greener,
                 cleaner environment, and manufacturing right here in
                 America.
                   I hope you all will put down the swords and pick up the
                 plow and really plow together because this is an amazing
                 opportunity for our country. I sure hope we don't miss it.
                 It is going to benefit and make the whole country, not
                 just our part of the country, more prosperous.
                   People desperately want to move up into the middle class
                 and stay there and not feel so fragile and feel as if they
                 can have the manufacturing jobs and good energy jobs and
                 really eliminate some of the geopolitical nightmares we
                 have been in, fighting wars for oil. It has to come to an
                 end.
                   Finally, I will say a word about disaster recovery. When
                 I got to the Senate, my husband and I were looking at each
                 other saying: How did we even end up here? We had no idea.
                 When Katrina hit, it became very clear that this is why I
                 needed to be here.
                   I had been an appropriator since I was 23 years old. I
                 knew a little bit about budgets. I knew a little bit about
                 how the system worked. I knew how the State and local
                 governments depended on the Federal Government for so much
                 funding. I understood the power of HUD and the power of
                 housing and the power of building schools and levees and
                 the Corps of Engineers. So I was perfectly positioned to
                 be able to lead the effort for my State, and they
                 desperately needed a leader. I wasn't perfect. I made lots
                 of mistakes. But I wasn't afraid to try because that is
                 all you can do.
                   The devastation was so great and it was so unbelievable.
                 Eighty percent of the east bank of the city and much of
                 Jefferson Parish--not quite as bad as New Orleans--and all
                 of St. Bernard--67,000 people in St. Bernard lost
                 everything. Everyone in the Lower Ninth Ward lost
                 everything, which is like a small city unto itself. In New
                 Orleans east, which is like a small city unto itself,
                 60,000 people lost every school, every house. It was
                 unbelievable.
                   I say to my colleagues: Thank you for being there for
                 us. I know I aggravated you to death. I know I never
                 stopped asking. But you were the only hope because there
                 was just no way these communities could recover. New
                 Orleans has been there for 300 years. You have heard me
                 say this: We didn't move down there recently to go
                 sunbathing or to build condos; we have been down there for
                 300 years. The city is going to stay there. The region is
                 going to stay there. Had this government just invested a
                 little bit of the money back that we have given it over
                 time--from our energy resources, from our manufacturing,
                 from the wealth we have created along that great mouth of
                 the river--if the country had just given us a little bit
                 of money--$500 million here, $500 million there--and built
                 levees that wouldn't have broken in 52 places, we wouldn't
                 have had $140 billion in damage.
                   So I went to Robert Byrd because President Bush was not
                 that forward-leaning--I will just leave it at that. There
                 will be a lot more in my book about it, but I will just
                 leave it at that, not very forward-leaning. The person I
                 went to was Robert Byrd. In his old age, he was so wise.
                 He just looked at me. He didn't say much at that time, but
                 he just took my hand and he said, ``I will be there with
                 you.''
                   He was the chair of the Appropriations Committee, so
                 that meant something. He helped me write things in a bill
                 that could probably never be possible today. That was when
                 chairmen understood the power to help people to heal
                 wounds and to bring hope and to be compassionate. That is
                 what government is there to do. If government is not there
                 when you have lost everything, then what in the heck is
                 the use of having it?
                   So we hope we will be able to repay this country for the
                 investments that have been made, and we will. We will do
                 our best. With all of the people who come to New Orleans
                 and all the conventions that come--and we hope we bring
                 joy and happiness when people come--we hope to pay our way
                 and to pay this back over time for what you have done to
                 help us. We are doing a good job of helping ourselves by
                 planning better, doing more smart-growth, sustainable
                 development, building our levees to the point where they
                 won't break again, and we will continue to do that.
                   So those are some of the legacy pieces I have worked on.
                 It is kind of amazing that these were the things that were
                 in my heart when I was a little girl. I didn't learn this
                 when I was a Senator. I can remember taking a bus when I
                 was in the eighth grade down to the coast and looking at
                 LaFourche Parish for the first time, and for a girl from
                 the poor part of uptown, I kept looking at the nuns who
                 took me, and I said, ``What world is this?'' I had no idea
                 about Bayou LaFourche.
                   When I got to be a Senator, I remembered LaFourche, the
                 bayou, and I remembered how fragile it looked to me even
                 as a child, and I thought, if I can do anything to save
                 this place, I will. I have spent a lot of my time saving
                 it, and it is stronger now. It is still not completely
                 safe, but it is much stronger now.
                   I tutored in public school. My passion started when the
                 nuns of Ursuline sent me to tutor in a public school, and
                 the little girl whom I tutored, who was my age, couldn't
                 read. I can remember going home to my mother and saying,
                 ``This is the strangest thing. I just met a little girl.
                 She is my age, and she can't read. Mama, is that possible,
                 that children don't know how to read?''
                   I can remember her sitting me down and explaining to me
                 why some children couldn't read, and I said, ``That
                 doesn't seem right to me.'' I made up my mind then that I
                 would work.
                   The reason I say this is because there are a lot of
                 young people listening to this, and I just want you to
                 know, just listen to your heart because God puts these
                 things in your heart at very young ages. If you don't
                 block it out, if you are not cynical and if you hope and
                 live openly, those dreams can come true. Then you can make
                 a profound difference in rebuilding a school system, which
                 I am continuing to work on, or make sure every orphan in
                 the world knows that they are loved and that we are going
                 to work hard to find them a family; to build this great
                 gulf coast, where I spent my life growing up as a child
                 and knowing that it is worth saving. It may not be as sexy
                 as the west coast or as prosperous as the east coast, but
                 the gulf coast is really worth fighting for. It is a very
                 special place in our country. I learned to love it as a
                 child, and I will fight for it as an adult.
                   Finally, let me just say a few thank yous in closing. A
                 thank you to my mentor Lindy Boggs, who coached me every
                 step of the way; to my mentor John Breaux, who got me into
                 this gig in the first place.
                   I thank Bennett Johnston, who taught me about being a
                 proud member of the Energy Committee; Senator Tom Daschle,
                 who saved my skin more times than I can tell you; Kent
                 Conrad, who taught me about the budget; Chris John and Jim
                 McCrery and Richard Baker in my delegation, who were
                 Democrats and Republicans--we worked together to do
                 amazing things. I also thank Cedric Richmond, who still
                 works closely with me, and Charles Boustany, whom I admire
                 a lot. I thank other Members who are no longer here:
                 Olympia Snowe--we were the first two women to chair a
                 major committee--well, actually a minor committee, the
                 Small Business Committee; and Lisa [Murkowski] and I were
                 the first to chair and be a ranking member of a major
                 committee. I couldn't have worked with two more remarkable
                 women. I thank Senator Joe Lieberman, who was a leader of
                 the DLC and a great mentor of mine on foreign policy
                 issues; Senator Ted Stevens, who was as grumpy as could be
                 but really did take me under his wing and teach me a lot;
                 Senator Danny Inouye; Senator Robert Byrd. I am going to
                 put others into the Record: Senators Mikulski, Carper,
                 Heitkamp, Manchin, Cantwell, Begich, Pryor, and Hagan.
                   I want to say a special word to the Black Caucus. I
                 represent 30 percent African Americans in my State. You
                 know, all groups of people are hard to represent, and my
                 State is so diverse, and I have tried so hard to be
                 respectful of all the different groups in my State.
                   I thank the Black Caucus--both the local elected
                 officials and the National Black Caucus--for being such a
                 great partner with me and helping me to understand about
                 compassion, forgiveness, faithfulness, and for trust.
                 Their spiritual strength is so amazing. I thank them very
                 much for coming down to help me.
                   I thank labor, who brought me here. They encouraged me
                 to run when I was 23 years old, and I tried to never leave
                 them. Only 8 percent of my State is now organized. I have
                 never left them. I think you should leave with the people
                 who brought you to the dance, and they most certainly did.
                   I thank Harry Reid, who has been an amazing friend to me
                 and who, most important, has been a great friend to my
                 family. He has honored us in so many small ways, and I
                 just love him for his tenacity and his leadership.
                   I thank you all. I hope I didn't leave anyone out. It
                 has been a joy, but I know God is calling me to a
                 different place. I am not the least bit sad and I am not
                 the least bit afraid because it has been a remarkable
                 opportunity to serve with all of you, and I thank you very
                 much.
                   (Applause, Senators rising.)
    ?

                                          TRIBUTES

                                             TO

                                      MARY L. LANDRIEU
                                  Proceedings in the Senate
                                                  Tuesday, December 9, 2014
                   Mr. REED. Mr. President, I would like to take a few
                 minutes to salute my colleagues who are departing the
                 Senate at the end of this year with the conclusion of the
                 113th Congress: Mark Begich of Alaska, Saxby Chambliss of
                 Georgia, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Kay Hagan of North
                 Carolina, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Mike Johanns of Nebraska,
                 Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana,
                 Carl Levin of Michigan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Jay
                 Rockefeller of West Virginia, Mark Udall of Colorado, and
                 John Walsh of Montana.
                   They have all worked hard, ceaselessly giving their
                 energy and considerable time and service to their
                 constituents, to their home States and to our country. I
                 want to thank them for their service and for their
                 kindness to me over many years in so many cases. In
                 particular, I want to say a few words about these
                 colleagues. ...
                   Mary Landrieu and I also came to the Senate together in
                 1997. We served together on the Appropriations Committee,
                 where she has been an extraordinary advocate for
                 Louisiana, particularly after Hurricane Katrina. In fact,
                 her efforts have been so profoundly influential in her
                 home State, she is one that we all look to as a model for
                 what it is to be an advocate for your constituents. She
                 has done it so well. ...
                   Along with all of my other colleagues who are leaving us
                 at the conclusion of the 113th Congress, let me thank them
                 for their service, their dedication to improving the lives
                 of Americans, and on a very personal level for their
                 friendship. I wish them all well.
                                               Wednesday, December 10, 2014
                   Mr. DURBIN. I have some tributes here for my colleagues
                 who are retiring, leaving the Senate. It is a lengthy list
                 of tributes. ...
                   I will close by mentioning the one whose fate was
                 determined the last, and that was Mary Landrieu of
                 Louisiana. She has been a great Senator for Louisiana. She
                 worked harder and achieved more for that State than,
                 obviously, the people of that State realized. There wasn't
                 an issue that came before us that Mary didn't stand up and
                 say, ``Now let me tell you how that affects Louisiana,''
                 and usually make a request which was fulfilled.
                   Let me add one other grace note when it comes to her
                 personal and public life. Mary and her husband have
                 adopted two children. They are the light of their lives.
                 Her dedication to the cause of adopted children has really
                 made a difference not just to the United States but in the
                 world. I am sure she didn't get a lot of political reward
                 for it, but thank goodness she put a big part of her life
                 and her public life into standing up for the rights of
                 adopted children and adoptive parents, encouraging more
                 and more, so the kids would have a loving home as part of
                 their lives. It was just one of the things that Mary
                 worked on, but it was one of the things I will remember. I
                 am going to miss her and her service to the U.S. Senate.
                   Mary bleeds Louisiana. Her father is the legendary
                 statesman Moon Landrieu, former New Orleans mayor, HUD
                 Secretary under President Jimmy Carter, and judge of
                 Louisiana's Fourth Circuit Court. Her brother, Mitch, is
                 the current mayor of New Orleans.
                   Mary--the eldest of the nine siblings--learned important
                 political lessons early. She was taunted in early grade
                 school about her father's pro-civil rights stands in the
                 1960s. Those experiences taught her that taking the right
                 position sometimes makes you unpopular--but you do it
                 anyway.
                   Mary was only 23 when she entered the Louisiana House of
                 Representatives in 1980. She went on to serve as a member
                 of her State's senate.
                   Mary is a formidable fighter for Louisiana. In her
                 State's darkest hours, during Hurricane Katrina and in the
                 aftermath of that terrible catastrophe, she stood strong.
                 She was exactly the right person for Louisiana. More than
                 any other single official, she deserves the credit for
                 directing billions of dollars in relief and rebuilding her
                 hometown and home State.
                   Governor Bobby Jindal's Secretary of Administration had
                 this to say about Mary Landrieu: ``She's relentless; once
                 she starts, she will not stop. And once she's on your
                 side, she's on your side.''
                   This is what St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain
                 remembers about Katrina: ``The very first federal
                 representative we had on the ground after Katrina was Mary
                 Landrieu ... when water was still in our houses and
                 neighborhoods. ... She spoke to my deputies and offered
                 assistance to them.''
                   Perhaps the best description of Mary Landrieu was
                 offered by her mentor, former Senator John Breaux, who
                 calls her ``a pit bull with Louisiana charm.''
                   In 2009, when Hurricane Katrina was just a dim, bad
                 memory for some, Senator Landrieu made sure the stimulus
                 bill included a provision that ended up allowing the State
                 to rebuild Charity Hospital, the cornerstone of health
                 care for many low-income New Orleans families.
                   Senator Landrieu has been a champion of the energy
                 industry--so crucial to the economy of her State and her
                 Nation. She has fought to preserve Social Security and
                 Medicare and other safety net programs that provide
                 dignity and security for so many. She has fought to defend
                 voting rights, women's rights, and children's rights. She
                 has earned a spot in heaven with her work to promote
                 adoption. She provided a crucial vote to pass the
                 Affordable Care Act, knowing full well that it would cost
                 her politically. If that doesn't earn her a spot in
                 heaven, it will at least earn her a place in history as a
                 profile in courage.
                   With her political genes and determination, I know that
                 Mary Landrieu will continue to be a force in Louisiana and
                 American politics for years to come. While I will miss
                 seeing her every day in this Senate, I look forward to
                 seeing her fight for what is right for many more years. It
                 has been an honor to serve with her.

                   Mr. COONS. ... As I close, I would also like to thank
                 those of our colleagues who will be leaving the Senate
                 after the New Year.
                   It is an incredible privilege to work in this Chamber
                 and to represent the people. Every day I am awed by the
                 dedication and talent of many of my colleagues, public
                 servants who come to work to fight for their States and
                 their government.
                   To those who are ending their service in the Senate,
                 know that I value your friendship and partnership. It has
                 been an honor to work with you, and I thank you for all
                 you have done for our Nation.
                            ORDER FOR PRINTING OF SENATE DOCUMENT
                   Mr. BENNET. I ask unanimous consent that the tributes to
                 retiring Senators be printed as a Senate document and that
                 Senators be permitted to submit tributes until December
                 23, 2014.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
                 ordered.
                                                Thursday, December 11, 2014
                   Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I rise to thank Senator
                 Landrieu for her tireless service in the U.S. Senate to
                 our State and to the country. I have had the pleasure of
                 knowing Mary for a long time. She was in her second year
                 of service in the Senate when I first came to Washington
                 to the U.S. House, but it is far longer than that,
                 probably longer than anyone in this Chamber realizes. Both
                 sets of my grandparents live all of 3 blocks from where
                 Mary grew up, and I grew up all of 10 blocks from there.
                 Mary and my brother Jeff were grammar school classmates
                 starting at kindergarten.
                   Of course, here in the Senate I had the honor of working
                 with Mary on so many important issues and challenges. From
                 the moment we worked together on key Louisiana issues, we
                 determined on those issues to put aside any partisan
                 concerns when those crucial priorities were at stake.
                   As she alluded to, the most challenging and trying time
                 in all of that experience was just a few months after I
                 first came to the Senate when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
                 struck. Neither of us could have ever imagined facing the
                 challenges our State and Mississippi and others faced and
                 facing the challenges we faced in the Senate trying to
                 respond in a robust and full and responsible way. I am
                 sure it was the most trying work for both of us in our
                 careers.
                   Louisiana faced unprecedented disaster and desperation,
                 and that brought us together all the more to work for
                 those crucial Louisiana needs and priorities. We traveled
                 together, of course, to see the damage and meet with our
                 neighbors and local leaders all around the State. Her
                 staff and mine worked directly together around the clock,
                 really, for months, sometimes in my office, sometimes in
                 hers, always with the same goal of doing everything
                 possible to help our neighbors and Louisiana citizens get
                 through that disaster and get through to a full recovery.
                   Those trials, of course, didn't end with Katrina and
                 Rita. There were other similar challenges which brought us
                 together and on which Mary was a distinguished leader. She
                 was always a champion for domestic energy production, and
                 Louisiana will enjoy a far fairer share of oil and gas
                 revenue under the legislation commonly referred to as
                 Domenici-Landrieu.
                   After the infamous BP oilspill in 2010, Mary pushed for
                 the RESTORE Act legislation to dedicate revenue from the
                 fines to oilspill recovery in the affected areas.
                   As Louisiana fights continually against the loss of
                 coastal wetlands, major restoration work is moving forward
                 because of Mary's years of hard work directly related to
                 that.
                   Due to Mary's strong support of our Nation's military,
                 our fighting men and women are better off. The bases in
                 Louisiana, which are important to our communities and to
                 the Nation's defense, continue to have what they need for
                 their vital mission. Our veterans face challenges and most
                 recently faced the crying need for new health care clinics
                 in Louisiana, and Mary helped make those finally happen,
                 finally move forward, including pushing the case fervently
                 and directly to administration officials.
                   In a very personal and dramatic way, Mary is
                 enthusiastic in promoting children's welfare and
                 supporting adoption. Her dedication internationally was
                 recognized when Russia banned her travel after her direct
                 and well-founded criticism of Russia's action to curb
                 adoption by Americans.
                   In all of this work, one thing is always crystal clear--
                 certainly crystal clear to me--with Senator Landrieu:
                 Louisiana has always been first in her heart and her top
                 motivation, and she has had a distinguished career of
                 service in the Senate on all of those issues I mentioned
                 and many more. All of us in Louisiana give her our sincere
                 thanks for that.
                   Thank you. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                   Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I will just say a couple
                 words before I turn it over to the Chair and to my
                 colleague from West Virginia.
                   When I think of Mary Landrieu, I think of the most
                 tenacious person in the Senate standing here, holding
                 court, fighting for her cause, fighting for her values,
                 fighting for her State. I think particularly of the hard
                 work she did on flood insurance, on this issue that was so
                 critical to the State of Louisiana and very important to
                 my State of Oregon and to our other States but
                 particularly Louisiana. She was determined. Every time I
                 was on the floor, she would say: Jeff, have you done this
                 and Jeff, have you done that. She would grab someone else,
                 and she would say: And now we have to do this. That is how
                 legislation gets done.
                   Senator Landrieu really drives things through the
                 Senate. It is one thing to be here and express your ideas
                 in kind of a social manner--well, wouldn't this be nice or
                 wouldn't that be nice; it is another to stand here and
                 say: I am going to make this happen because it is
                 important to my constituents and important to our Nation.
                 I have seen Mary Landrieu do that on issue after issue,
                 and certainly for all who came in with my class 6 years
                 ago, it has been a wonderful education on how to make
                 maximum use and effectiveness from this privilege of
                 serving in the Senate.
                   Thank you for everything you have done, Mary Landrieu.
                 It is an honor to serve with you, and we are going to miss
                 you greatly.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.

                   Mr. MANCHIN. All of us came here at one time or another,
                 and the first impression you have is how they kind of
                 ingratiate you and bring you into the fold. I am often
                 asked--I am sure most of our colleagues are asked the same
                 question--whom do you consider your best and closest
                 friend, with whom do you associate and with whom do you
                 feel comfortable? In any category, without a doubt, it is
                 always Mary Landrieu. We come from a similar background--
                 rural States. We come from the same culture--hard-working
                 people who basically don't ask for an awful lot and give a
                 lot more back. Both of us come from large Catholic
                 families, and we have an awful lot in common. We and our
                 spouses have bonded, and we have done things together.
                 That was the way I heard the place used to work, that you
                 build relationships and there is camaraderie and you share
                 dinners at people's homes. It is such a different
                 atmosphere when that happens because you really do forge a
                 bond that is so much missing in this body.
                   Let me say one other thing. The great losers in this
                 whole election process we just had were the great people
                 of Louisiana. They lost a champion. They lost a fighter.
                 That is what Senator Merkley said. There is nobody who
                 said: I think you ought to be careful about that because I
                 think Mary is interested. We knew there could be problems.
                   With that being said, the best thing to do is to go talk
                 to Mary on this subject or issue, and we would work
                 through it. How do we compromise and bring everybody
                 together? And Mary would say, ``We will work through it.''
                   Coming from an energy State and Mary having an energy
                 State and the two of us being Democrats, on our side
                 sometimes our individual caucus is not as large as we
                 would like for it to be--let's put it that way--but we
                 talk an awful lot about how we are moving an energy
                 policy. As Mary said, we need it all in this country. We
                 should be totally energy independent. We shouldn't be
                 looking to other countries and buying their products and
                 giving them the resources to be used against us, and we
                 don't have to do that. We can do it in a sensible and
                 balanced way with the economy and the environment. Mary
                 has always had the economy and environment first and
                 foremost. That type of balance is hard to find, and it is
                 definitely hard to find in Washington.
                   So I just want her to know that there is nobody who is
                 going to miss Mary Landrieu more than me, being in this
                 body, going shoulder to shoulder with her and trying to
                 bring an even keel to this whole process.
                   Mary, I feel for the people of Louisiana. I truly do. I
                 am hoping somebody can come along and have the same spirit
                 and fight that you have, but no one is going to be able to
                 replace you and what you have been able to do and what you
                 have been able to make us aware of.
                   My little State was involved in helping after Katrina,
                 helping the State of Louisiana. The State of West Virginia
                 came immediately. When that happened, we were so proud to
                 be part of that, and we now have a lot of people from
                 Louisiana living in West Virginia today because of that
                 effort.
                   There has been a wonderful relationship and a wonderful
                 friendship, but more important, there has been a wonderful
                 person who has graced the Halls in this tremendous body
                 for 18 years who will not be replaced in this Senate and
                 this body. Again, the people of Louisiana should be
                 extremely proud to have someone who is a fighter, who gave
                 every drop she had of public service for her State and
                 never forgot where she come from. So with that, that is a
                 tremendous tribute in itself.
                   I say to my dear friend, thank you for your service on
                 behalf of the great State of Louisiana. Thank you for all
                 the important work you have done for our country. God
                 bless you, and I love you.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.

                   Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, you can see that Mary
                 Landrieu has a lot of friends on both sides of the aisle,
                 and that is because Mary has stood up and been a mentor to
                 so many of us. She taught us how to fight for our own
                 States because that is what she has done every day for
                 Louisiana.
                   I was thinking about our States earlier. Mary mentioned
                 in her talk about how Minnesota is at the top of the
                 Mississippi and Louisiana is at the bottom and how hard we
                 fought for river issues and barges and locks and dams. We
                 will actually have success at the end of the year with the
                 ABLE Act, which is really important for other reasons, but
                 we are going to finally start the funding for lock and dam
                 improvements, and that kind of work would not have
                 happened without Mary and the work and support she has
                 provided with the RIVER Act. So a river doesn't divide us,
                 it unites us, and Mary is a uniter and brings people
                 together on so many issues.
                   First of all, Mary established the Congressional
                 Coalition on Adoption Institute. At some of the events she
                 literally brings the angels--people who have adopted
                 children in the most dire circumstances--to Washington to
                 celebrate these adoptions and talk about the policy
                 changes that need to be made.
                   For anyone who has adopted one of the foster kids or
                 brought them into an office and adopted them--the reason
                 you can do that is because Mary Landrieu started that
                 program so that foster children, who otherwise would not
                 have the connections and wherewithal to be able to get a
                 job for the summer, spring, or fall in Washington, DC,
                 would be able to work, and then she has all of these kids
                 to her house every single year.
                   Mary doesn't just fight for adopted kids at home, she
                 fights for them all over the world. I would hate to be the
                 bureaucrat in Guatemala when Mary Landrieu shows up to
                 fight them off. I see her staff, and some of them were
                 probably with her on that trip. I think she knew the name
                 of every child who was waiting to be adopted in Guatemala.
                   How can we forget the meeting with the Russians when
                 they started to use these poor little children as pawns in
                 a political game? Mary stood up to them. As a result, as
                 many of us know, she has now been banned from the country
                 of Russia. I don't think everybody knows that the reason
                 she was banned was because she was fighting for these kids
                 who were waiting to be adopted. Many of the parents are in
                 my State, and they actually have siblings and they are
                 trying to adopt the other sibling. That is a very sad
                 story and Mary stood up for them. In the words of her dad,
                 Putin didn't like it, and so Mary was banned. I guess that
                 is not where she is going on vacation after we are done
                 here.
                   The other thing about Mary I will never forget--how kind
                 and sweet and fun she is for her friends in the Senate--is
                 the time when we had a bet on the Saints-Vikings game in
                 the playoffs. We bet some food from our States. If anybody
                 remembers that amazing playoff game, the Vikings lost, and
                 I had to wear a Drew Brees jersey and walk over to Mary's
                 office with a pot of gumbo, which is really hard to make.
                 When I got to her office, all of her New Orleans press was
                 there, and when she tried that gumbo, she said, ``This is
                 Minnesota gumbo. This gumbo just needs something
                 special.'' She got out an enormous bottle of hot sauce
                 from her desk drawer--as only a Louisiana Senator would
                 have--and dumped it in my Minnesota gumbo. That is the
                 spice that Mary has added to all of our lives.
                   What we have learned from her we will never forget. As I
                 said, she is a role model for so many of us on how to
                 fight for our States.
                   We see it in the eyes of those little adopted children
                 and the great success we are starting to see on the coast
                 because of all the recovery you brought to your State. We
                 know you will never be forgotten and we want you to keep
                 fighting.
                   Thank you, Mary.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.

                   Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I can't leave the floor
                 without speaking to Mary. Mary has been such an incredible
                 inspiration to me. I have been in the Senate now for 13
                 months, and I have had a number of conversations with her,
                 but the best way to teach somebody is to show somebody.
                   Senator Landrieu is prodigiously persuasive, tirelessly
                 tenacious, doggedly determined. Just to watch Senator
                 Landrieu is to watch what every American should hope for
                 in a Senator--someone who is unyielding in their work and
                 service to them.
                   If you look at the myriad interests in the State of
                 Louisiana, I was amazed by what I saw first hand. Mary
                 stood up and fought for the people who were loud and
                 ornery but still had a good cause as well as the people
                 who were voiceless and humble. Mary stood up for them.
                 Mary stood up for people in her community who were from
                 every different background and from every different race.
                 Mary stood up for them in a way that is a model to my
                 State.
                   I heard my senior Senator mention you by name about how
                 essential you were when my State had its back against the
                 wall and was crushed by a superstorm. When there were
                 battles to get my State's funding, and Mary had no skin in
                 that game, my senior Senator mentioned you as a champion
                 for New Jersey and that is what blows me away about you.
                   I yearn for a government that has moral courage, more
                 than we have now, people who will risk popularity for
                 purpose and will risk substance for some kind of
                 celebrity. Senator Landrieu has done things against her
                 political interests, but for the people. That is why I
                 have a great deal of reverence for you and why I travel
                 down to your State.
                   Now the Senator knows this because I must have said it
                 hundreds of times when I was down in Louisiana, that that
                 is my ancestral State. I will end by saying this: My
                 grandaddy was born in Monroe. He was born poor. As my
                 family likes to say, he was so poor he couldn't afford to
                 be poor, he was po, P-O. He was born Black at a time of
                 immense segregation, when people who walked the hallways
                 of power couldn't give a damn about him. He taught me love
                 for your State, and more important, the urgency to stand
                 up and fight for those people that most folks won't fight
                 for.
                   I am telling you right now, my grandaddy died during my
                 first big election, but if he knew you, he would be so
                 proud of your service.
                   Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
                   I yield the floor.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.

                   Mr. BEGICH. I wish to echo all the comments people said
                 today, but I have to be honest. When I was elected, I was
                 scared of Mary. People said very politely that you should
                 check with Mary to see if she has an issue with something.
                 I was terrified of what people told me she would do if I
                 was not on her side.
                   If you remember, when I came in, we doubled the Oil and
                 Gas Caucus in the Democratic caucus by me just joining,
                 and so we had an immediate connection, which was unique in
                 itself. Our connection was not just that, but also, as
                 Mary mentioned, her mentor, Lindy Boggs, and our family
                 knows the Boggses very well.
                   I can still remember a call I got when I won my mayor's
                 race in 2003 from this woman in Louisiana. My staff came
                 in and said some woman from Louisiana is calling, and we
                 don't know who she is, but she wants to talk to you, and
                 so I said, ``OK.'' I took the phone call, and it was Lindy
                 Boggs. You know how she would start a conversation with
                 ``Hi, darlin', I just want to check in with you and see
                 how you are doing, and congratulations.'' Then she said,
                 ``One moment, someone is at my door.'' She came back and
                 said, ``The exterminator is here,'' and that is classic
                 Lindy Boggs.
                   What was so real about her--and I can see it in Mary's
                 style--and that is she is real. The work Mary has done--
                 and I didn't know it until I came to the Senate--for
                 foster kids and adoption is remarkable. Amy Klobuchar went
                 into great detail about that, and it shows that it is not
                 always about the policy and fights on the floor here, but
                 there is so much that individuals do outside this Chamber.
                 What Mary has done outside of the Chamber is to use this
                 position to make a difference for young people, and that
                 is powerful. As Mary has said, we fight over policies and
                 issues, but every one of those young people has been
                 touched in some way. I guarantee--and I am sure you have
                 seen it over the years where someone might come up to you
                 and say, I don't know if you remember me, and then they
                 tell you the story of how you met them when they were a
                 foster kid and just getting adopted or when you were at
                 one of the ceremonies or one of the events they were at.
                 Those are the things I will remember about you.
                   The tenacity that people talked about--there is no
                 question about it. I was glad when I got on the
                 Appropriations Committee because I thought, finally, I
                 will be on there with someone who will chew it up with me,
                 and I just had to hang on to your coattails when you were
                 fighting on issues.
                   When we sat in on those leadership meetings on Tuesday
                 mornings, I was always thankful when you came in. You were
                 right across from me. I don't know if they all figured it
                 out--maybe, again, as I said, it is a little bit of a
                 confession--we had our signals, or maybe eye contact, and
                 then we went to work. You were really incredible.
                   When you were in caucus--and many people don't see
                 those, except as Members--you were always passionate about
                 what was important to Louisiana. You never forgot what was
                 important to Louisiana.
                   People made the comment that you are tenacious. I would
                 say that any time something did move in the Congress, you
                 were a part of it in some way. When we were trying to
                 figure out how to fix the health care bill, you were right
                 there. You didn't hesitate. You knew it was a hot potato,
                 but it was also something that we knew we had to make
                 better, not just for people but for decades to come. You
                 were not afraid of that even though you said you knew it
                 could cost you your election because you knew
                 generationally it would have an impact.
                   It wasn't about the moment, it was about 10, 15, 20
                 years, you could look back and say you helped make that
                 happen, and you did, every time you tried to move in and
                 push an item or idea. Even though we will not be serving
                 here, you will have an impact.
                   I could tell, as we were shaking hands here, it was
                 amazing to watch you, you never stop. You were already
                 talking to each person about the work they need to be
                 doing. When I shook your hand, you were talking about
                 fisheries. I am like, Mary, just relax. But you are
                 already working it, and that is what is so unique about
                 you. You will not be in this body, but you will be in this
                 body because of the way you do your work. It is not about
                 being in this office, it is about caring about Louisiana,
                 and as I said, I saw it just in this last moment here. It
                 is unbelievable. You will never give up on the people of
                 Louisiana because you care so deeply.
                   It has been an honor to know you.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.

                   Mr. COATS. I wish to make some remarks about the Senator
                 from Louisiana. I had the pleasure of serving as ranking
                 member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee,
                 and Mary Landrieu was the chairman. I wasn't sure about
                 what to expect when I joined that committee. I knew of
                 Mary's passion and her persuasion, which is given in a
                 gentle but effective way. She reaches out. I thought, she
                 is going to convince me out of just about everything. I
                 will not be able to hold my own with her, but she was so
                 gracious in terms of working together with me as we worked
                 through some very tough issues.
                   She was a knowledgeable and effective leader. She
                 couldn't ask enough questions, couldn't gain enough
                 information, making wise decisions, given the limitations
                 that we had relative to appropriations and given the
                 process that, unfortunately, was not the way the
                 Appropriations Committee should go forward. Nevertheless,
                 working together on that and on a whole number of issues
                 turned out to be a very pleasant experience because of the
                 nature of the leader of the committee and her willingness
                 to work together.
                   You get to learn something about someone when you spend
                 3 days trekking along the southern border on the
                 immigration issue. We climbed into tunnels, driving along
                 fences, talking to Border Patrol agents, looking at the
                 enormous channels that exist relative to that border and
                 our Border Patrol people and immigration control people.
                 Both of us were right there in blue jeans and tennis shoes
                 in hot weather, and learning first hand the challenges
                 this country faces relative to dealing with immigration.
                   Her passion for children and her State has been talked
                 about. I think the word that best describes Mary is
                 passion. She has passion for anything that she engages in
                 and doing it in a way that is relentless and achieves
                 results. I think it is a great tribute to her character
                 and to the kind of person she is.
                   One thing we will not be able to do is meet together
                 somewhere in Russia. I have been banned from Russia and
                 Mary has been banned from Russia. I was banned because I
                 took significant exception to the Russian takeover of
                 Crimea and its activities in Ukraine. I was surprised by
                 that. Mary was banned for an unnecessary reason, and that
                 was trying to help Russian children who were trying to
                 find adoptive parents. Obviously she was successful, and
                 obviously she was as relentless there as she was on all
                 the other issues because Russia saw that as a threat. Here
                 is someone reaching out for all the right reasons and
                 doing something for all the right reasons--passion for
                 children and finding them a home.
                   I wish Mary the very best going forward in her next
                 chapter of life. I can testify to you from personal
                 experience that there is life after Congress, and it can
                 be a pleasant life. Knowing you, you will be engaged in
                 something very significant--whether for your State or your
                 country. Your life of service, and your family's life of
                 service, is well recognized. So I wish the Senator from
                 Louisiana the very best as she goes forward. It has been a
                 pleasure working with her.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The Senator from
                 Virginia.

                   Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I wish to follow the comments
                 of my friend, the Senator from Indiana, although I do
                 think the Record should be corrected. I would say to my
                 colleague I have also dealt with the Senator from
                 Louisiana a number of times on a number of issues, and I
                 have thought of lots of words to describe her style, but
                 ``gentle'' would not be one to come to mind.
                   I know this is a day to pay tribute, so I wish to echo
                 some of the comments of the Senator from Indiana.
                   I first met part of the Landrieu family when I had a
                 chance to meet Mary's dad when he was serving as the
                 Secretary of HUD and I was a young staff person. Mary
                 talks a lot about her family. Her family was kind enough
                 to host me a variety of times when I was in Louisiana. She
                 has a great family, a great tradition.
                   So many folks have spoken about specific issues
                 regarding Mary's service in the Senate. I am not going to
                 talk about her focus on issues and the relentlessness she
                 brings, but I wish to acknowledge her generosity and heart
                 and spirit. She and Frank would always open their home for
                 whatever cause. Again, I heard the comments about her
                 enormous heart and commitment for adoption. I think about
                 so many events that we go to, but those Angels of Adoption
                 events at her house touched all of us in a way that is not
                 often the case. I also can acknowledge now that she has a
                 great love for the Commonwealth of Virginia and has spent
                 some time there due to her love of horses and her
                 daughter's riding and her own riding. As has been
                 mentioned by so many--and I know from our own
                 conversations--this is not somebody who wants to look
                 backward but is clearly already looking forward. I know
                 life holds for you and Frank a number of extraordinarily
                 exciting additional chapters. I hope I have the
                 opportunity to be a part of those chapters and to be
                 subject to that gentle persuasion on whatever issue comes
                 to mind as you go forward.
                   I know I speak for so many of our colleagues when I say
                 we all have a lot of unique characteristics, but with Mary
                 Landrieu they broke the mold.
                   I yield the floor to my good friend the Senator from
                 Maryland.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

                   Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, one of the truly nice things
                 about serving in the Senate is the people we meet. Myrna
                 and I consider Frank and Mary to be our friends. She is an
                 incredible person and has given incredible service. I am
                 sorry the people of Louisiana could not see Mary in our
                 caucuses as she fought on different issues for the people
                 of Louisiana and what she did as an advocate on behalf of
                 people who otherwise would not have had their voices
                 heard. She did it in a very effective way.
                   I heard some of the conversations about what happened
                 with Katrina and the people of New Orleans. Mary Landrieu
                 brought us down to Louisiana for us to see first hand. It
                 was incredible for me, not to just see the physical
                 devastation, but thanks to Mary Landrieu, we saw the
                 people. We saw the spirit in the people, but we saw people
                 who needed help. It is that type of emotional involvement
                 that Mary gives to every cause she believes in.
                   So I want the Senator from Louisiana to know how much I
                 deeply respect your model of public service and the people
                 you stood up for.
                   Senator Landrieu spoke about the adoption issue. She got
                 into it because she has such a big family. I think I got
                 into it because of her. She is pretty persuasive. We all
                 feel better because of that. Senator Landrieu is the one
                 who really led us in those efforts. What an incredible
                 legacy.
                   I want to speak a minute about small business issues.
                 Senator Landrieu chaired that committee during a
                 particularly important time. I want to relate a couple of
                 stories to my colleagues. There are many times I was in
                 the Democratic caucus and we would be talking about an
                 issue and Senator Landrieu would stand and say, ``Well,
                 how about small businesses?'' Under her leadership we
                 brought some major initiatives to the floor to help small
                 businesses because of Mary Landrieu and her ability to put
                 together a commonsense package. She understood small
                 businesses are the growth engine of America. That is how
                 jobs are created and that is where innovation takes place.
                 I can tell my colleagues--I worked with her. I know what
                 we got done. I know how we took on our own governmental
                 agencies to make sure they did right for small businesses
                 and how we fought the bundling. Contract officers love to
                 take small contracts and make them into big ones because
                 it is less headache for them but less opportunity for
                 small businesses. Mary Landrieu stopped that practice and
                 put a spotlight on it. It was an incredible experience for
                 me because it showed me that each of us can make a
                 difference.
                   I knew what I was trying to do. One of the issues I got
                 involved with was to raise the surety bond issues and I
                 didn't see much chance of getting it done, but Mary gave
                 me the opportunity to get it done. She coached me on how
                 to get it done, and that is now a permanent law of the
                 land.
                   She made us all relevant on the committee, individually
                 and collectively. We have a great legacy to help small
                 businesses in this country, thanks to the leadership of
                 Senator Landrieu.
                   To the people of Louisiana, you could not have had a
                 stronger advocate, a stronger friend, a person who
                 accomplished more for that State during some extremely
                 challenging times. To the people of this country and the
                 work Mary Landrieu did on the Appropriations Committee for
                 our national security and standing up for and protecting
                 and defending our own country, the record of Senator
                 Landrieu is incredible. To those who are voiceless but had
                 Mary Landrieu to speak for them, from the disadvantaged to
                 small businesses--and the list goes on and on--this is one
                 incredible legislator. She is a model to many of us. I
                 thank her so much for her service and her commitment to
                 public life. It will always be an inspiration to me, the
                 fact that I was given the honor to serve with you in the
                 Senate of the United States.

                   The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Walsh). The Senator from
                 Massachusetts.

                   Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I rise to add my words of
                 admiration for this great person, for this great
                 legislator. Just to tell a brief story, it was back in
                 2006, in a lameduck session just like this. The Democrats
                 had won and were about to take over the Senate. The
                 Democrats had just won and were about to take over the
                 House--a different passage in time. But throughout all of
                 2006, even in the minority, Mary Landrieu was moving a
                 bill to open up a vast new area in the Gulf of Mexico for
                 drilling for oil and natural gas.
                   I was over in the House. I was from Massachusetts. I did
                 not want this bill to pass. I wanted to actually save it
                 for 2007 when the Democrats were in control. We could pass
                 it in an energy bill by the end of 2007, which would have
                 included this provision. Mary passed it through the
                 Senate--bipartisan, as usual. If we look up bipartisan, if
                 we Google it, Mary's picture actually comes up.
                   Over in the House, because of all of her momentum, I
                 lost and that bill passed. Again, tens of thousands of new
                 jobs fell to Louisiana through Mary Landrieu.
                   It was about a week later when I was out shopping and
                 here comes Mary right toward me with her daughter in her
                 riding outfit.
                   Mary said, ``I want to introduce you to Congressman
                 Markey.''
                   I said to her daughter, ``Well, you have to add a few
                 additional words because your mother just defeated me
                 quite badly just last week and passed a big bill for
                 Louisiana, for whom your mother always calls her people,
                 the people of Louisiana.''
                   There isn't anybody who understands better the spirit of
                 legislating, about protecting your home State and
                 respecting those who are maybe not in agreement with you
                 but are not your enemy but somebody with whom you try to
                 work.
                   After the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico I was the lead
                 Democrat in the House on the Natural Resources Committee
                 with jurisdiction over that, and Mary again was outraged
                 that such damage could be done to her fishermen, to her
                 tourism industry, to her people in Louisiana. She worked
                 hard to make sure billions of dollars would ultimately go
                 back into the gulf to ensure that her fishermen, her
                 tourism industry, and her people were protected.
                   Then, after having served in the House for 37 years, I
                 arrived in the Senate with a great concern for a bill I
                 had been working on in Massachusetts, which was the
                 dramatic rise in the insurance rates for homeowners and
                 businesses right along the coastline of Massachusetts. I
                 had to introduce legislation not only to work on the
                 issue, but when I arrived in the Senate, Mary Landrieu was
                 already here, already working on that bill, all ready to
                 protect her homeowners, her small business people from
                 outrageous increases in insurance rates that would have
                 basically made their homes unaffordable.
                   Throughout my career, all I can tell my colleagues is
                 one constant is this great, legendary legislator, somebody
                 who embodies all the best of what this institution stands
                 for. I just want to let her know how proud I have been to
                 be able to serve with her here and how proud I am to be
                 able to tell a story of the time when she just beat me
                 flat out because that is just how she plays. She plays it
                 for her State every time, and no waiting if it is
                 Louisiana. I know all the people of Louisiana know that
                 about her.
                   So congratulations on your great career.
                   I yield the floor.

                   Mr. HEINRICH. Mr. President, as I start my comments on
                 the land title legislation before us, I would be remiss if
                 I did not mention the incredible work our chair Mary
                 Landrieu has done on this legislation. As we just heard
                 from the tribute to her service over the last few minutes,
                 as the Presiding Officer said in his comments, if you
                 Google ``bipartisan,'' there will be a picture of Mary
                 Landrieu. I think this title sort of embodies that. We owe
                 great gratitude to Chairman Landrieu and to Ranking Member
                 Murkowski for the incredible negotiation and work they
                 have put into this package. ...
                                                  Friday, December 12, 2014
                   Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I will now speak very briefly
                 about my retiring colleagues and then turn it over to the
                 Senator from Florida. I promise I will be brief.
                   Everybody will face retirement, voluntarily or
                 involuntarily. There will be a last vote to cast and a
                 last speech to make. Only God knows when that day comes
                 because we are all just one car wreck away from ending our
                 careers.
                   To the retiring Members, I have had the pleasure of
                 serving with you, and I know you all. You did what you
                 thought was best for our country and your State, and what
                 more could anyone ask? My good friend Mark Pryor, who
                 tried to find common ground at a time when it is hard to
                 find. Mary Landrieu, who would drill under the Capitol if
                 she thought it would help American energy independence. We
                 have good friends on the other side, and I will miss you,
                 and I wish you well. But I would like very briefly to
                 speak about four. ...
                   To all of you, Godspeed. I wish you nothing but the
                 best.
                   I am fortunate enough to go into my third term. To my
                 colleagues, as we go into the next Congress, let's try to
                 do better. I know we can. If we do, all boats will rise.

                   Ms. HEITKAMP. Madam President, I honor my friend and
                 colleague from Louisiana, Senator Mary Landrieu, who is
                 departing the Senate at the end of this year. Her career
                 in public service began 34 years ago when she was elected
                 to the Louisiana House of Representatives. During that
                 time and in her service in the U.S. Senate, she has proved
                 time and again that the people of Louisiana could not have
                 asked for a better advocate and fighter on their behalf.
                   It is tough to describe someone like Senator Landrieu.
                 Senator Landrieu is selfless, dedicated, tenacious, and
                 resilient, but these are just words that, while accurate,
                 fail to truly capture who this woman is and what she
                 stands for. It is only by looking at Senator Landrieu's
                 significant accomplishments that someone can truly begin
                 to understand the depths of her selflessness, dedication,
                 and resiliency. During my time in the Senate, I have seen
                 Mary embody these words like few others in this body.
                   Senator Landrieu and I both come from large families. I
                 know the impact being one of seven children had on me
                 growing up and I am sure Senator Landrieu can attest to
                 how big of an impact being one of nine children had on
                 her. During her time in public service, Senator Landrieu
                 has worked hard to ensure that all children can benefit
                 from having a family to call their own. Senator Landrieu
                 has worked extensively with the Angels in Adoption Program
                 since its inception, and cochaired the Congressional
                 Coalition on Adoption and the Congressional Foster Care
                 Caucus. Senator Landrieu's work has changed the lives of
                 children across Louisiana, the country, and around the
                 world. Because of her work, there are countless children
                 who are now able to feel the love and benefits of having a
                 family.
                   In 2005, Louisiana was victim of one of the worst
                 natural disasters to ever hit this country. Hurricane
                 Katrina devastated New Orleans and Louisiana the likes of
                 which this country has rarely seen. With one of the
                 country's great cities devastated and in ruins, it was
                 Mary Landrieu who took the lead on recovery efforts. It
                 was Mary Landrieu who held FEMA's feet to the fire to
                 better serve Louisianans. It was Mary Landrieu who helped
                 direct billions of dollars in recovery funds to the State.
                 It was because of Mary Landrieu that the great State of
                 Louisiana has bounced back strong as ever.
                   Senator Landrieu's leadership did not end with the
                 recovery and rebuilding efforts. Following the passage of
                 the Biggert-Waters Flood Reform Act in 2012, Senator
                 Landrieu was one of the first to recognize and sound the
                 alarm on the impending problems homeowners would face with
                 unreasonably high flood insurance rates. Because of her
                 early recognition of these problems and her proactive
                 approach to finding solutions, Congress was able pass a
                 bill preventing thousands of people across the country
                 from being forced to pay disastrously high flood insurance
                 premiums.
                   I have also had the privilege of working with Senator
                 Landrieu on energy issues. There is no better advocate in
                 the Senate on energy than Senator Landrieu. I came here
                 with the intent of learning everything that I could from
                 Senator Landrieu. My only regret is that there was no way
                 to fully take in all of her knowledge in the brief time
                 that I have been here. That is a testament to the
                 incredible work that she has done over her career to
                 advance a pragmatic energy policy for this country, work
                 that I hope to continue in the years ahead building upon
                 the energy legacy that Senator Landrieu will leave behind.
                   A word you hear often when people describe Senator
                 Landrieu is tenacious, and this was never more apparent
                 than on her work to advance the Keystone XL Pipeline.
                 Anyone who watched Senator Landrieu work that bill and
                 work behind the scenes to get the votes knows that she
                 will fight to the very last second for what she believes
                 in and that the word ``can't'' doesn't exist in her
                 vocabulary. Senator Landrieu singlehandedly forced this
                 bill to the Senate floor and brought us closer than we
                 have been in 6 years to approving this project once and
                 for all. Senator Landrieu's pragmatic approach to this
                 issue and willingness to embrace solutions over politics
                 stands as an example for the rest of the Senate to strive
                 for.
                   Senator Landrieu always looked out for the energy
                 interests of her State, while recognizing the need to
                 provide and protect her gulf coast communities. She has
                 pushed for increased LNG exports that would bring new jobs
                 and significant investment to her State. She also has been
                 instrumental in expanding oil exploration and production
                 in the Gulf of Mexico, but while doing so she has made
                 sure that her coastal communities receive a bigger share
                 of the royalties and revenue to mitigate any impacts from
                 the development. Working for jobs and economic development
                 and protecting those most impacted by this development,
                 that is a pretty good legacy to leave behind in Louisiana.
                   The Landrieu family name comes with a long history of
                 public service in Louisiana. The Landrieus, known for
                 their big personalities that are eclipsed only by their
                 accomplishments in office, can rest easy knowing that Mary
                 has more than lived up to the family name. The Senate,
                 Louisiana, and the country, are better off because of the
                 work Mary Landrieu has done in the Senate. I know I am not
                 alone in saying that we will miss having her here. I also
                 know I am not alone in saying that I am sure her work is
                 not done. I wish her luck in this next chapter of her life
                 and look forward to seeing the tremendous work she will
                 accomplish outside of this Chamber.
                                                  Monday, December 15, 2014
                   Mr. REID. Madam President, a noted author and analyst of
                 human behavior, Stephen Covey, said, ``Strength lies in
                 differences, not in similarities.''
                   For the last 18 years, Senate Democrats were stronger
                 because of Senator Mary Landrieu. Her ability to shun
                 political labels--instead of just going the route with
                 Democrats and Republicans and Independents, she went her
                 route. She made the United States a better place. She made
                 the Senate a better place.
                   She had good training for being a consensus builder and
                 somebody who liked compromise. I had the good fortune to
                 serve in the Senate with other Louisiana Senators. I
                 served with Bennett Johnston for many years on the
                 Appropriations Committee. He was chairman of the Energy
                 and Water Subcommittee on Appropriations. He was a good
                 legislator. Not only did he help Louisiana a lot, he
                 helped the country. Then there was John Breaux. He and I
                 came to the Senate together. He was the dealmaker. He
                 could put a deal together when no one thought one could be
                 put together. So Mary Landrieu has had good Louisiana
                 genes with those two men, and that is one of the reasons
                 she has been as effective as she has been.
                   As I indicated, Mary came to the Senate with no partisan
                 agenda. She was not interested in representing just
                 liberals or just conservatives. She worked to represent
                 all of Louisiana, which meant that sometimes she and I
                 were not on the same side of an issue, and other times we
                 were on the same side of an issue, but one thing was
                 always certain: She was always on Louisiana's side.
                   The Landrieu family's political legacy runs long and
                 deep in the State of Louisiana. She is the oldest of nine
                 children. She is the daughter of Moon Landrieu, and her
                 brother Mitch Landrieu is the mayor of New Orleans. Moon
                 was a former mayor of New Orleans from 1970 to 1978, and
                 was Jimmy Carter's Secretary of Housing and Urban
                 Development.
                   A number of years ago, I toured New Orleans because she
                 asked me to, as a member of the Appropriations Committee.
                 I said, ``OK, I will go, but I have to see those pumps--p-
                 u-m-p-s.'' I watched this show on National Public
                 Broadcasting, and they talked about these old pumps that
                 had been there since 1900 that still worked every day
                 pumping the water.
                   New Orleans is below sea level and those pumps have to
                 work 24 hours a day. I went to see those old pumps. They
                 were so clean. That place was spotlessly clean using those
                 very old pumps.
                   I toured Lake Pontchartrain. I learned so much about it.
                 Most all of the highways in New Orleans were built using
                 the seashells from that lake. Thousands and thousands of
                 tons of shells have come out of that lake. They recently
                 stopped doing that, after so many years, because they
                 thought it would be damaging to the environment. But over
                 the last 50, 60, 100 years, thousands and thousands of
                 tons of shells came out of that lake. We all heard about
                 Lake Pontchartrain during that huge storm that hit.
                   Also, as part of the tour of New Orleans, you had to go
                 to her home, that little home where nine children were
                 raised. It is really a beautiful little home--but nine
                 children, wow. Her mom and dad were there. That was the
                 first time I had been able to meet the famous Moon
                 Landrieu.
                   When we came there, unannounced, he was making peanut
                 brittle, and I got some peanut brittle. On occasion, that
                 good man has sent me some of his homemade peanut brittle.
                 So I think the world of Mary and her family.
                   She was very quick to follow in her father's footsteps.
                 At the age of 23, she was elected to the State
                 legislature, making her the youngest woman to have ever
                 been elected to that body.
                   After 8 years in the legislature, she became the State
                 treasurer for 8 years. In 1996, she was elected to the
                 Senate, becoming the first woman in Louisiana ever elected
                 to a full Senate term.
                   Since coming to the Senate, Mary has chaired the Senate
                 Committee on Small Business, and she was really good
                 there. She is now the chair of the Senate Energy and
                 Natural Resources Committee, the same full committee her
                 predecessor Bennett Johnson chaired.
                   On the Committee on Small Business, she reduced heavy
                 Federal regulations and created tax relief for small
                 businesses. As chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and
                 Natural Resources, Mary Landrieu fought for Louisiana's
                 industry and jobs. Even before she became chair of that
                 committee, she did something that was impossible. People
                 had been trying to do something like this in Louisiana for
                 50, 60, 70, 80 years, but she did it--she was able to get
                 New Orleans and the whole State of Louisiana and the gulf
                 coast some financial benefit from the offshore drilling.
                 She did that. That is a legacy she will always have.
                   She always had Louisiana's interests at heart, and the
                 people of Louisiana have been all the better because of
                 it. For example, in the aftermath of Katrina, she stood up
                 to the Bush administration and demanded more disaster
                 relief for the people in Louisiana. The New York Times
                 called her ``the national spokeswoman for victims of the
                 hurricane.''
                   As her time in the Senate comes to an end, all
                 Louisianans will miss having Mary in their corner. I wish
                 Mary Landrieu and her husband Frank and their children
                 Connor--who was recently married--and Mary Shannon the
                 very best.
                   I remember when Mary brought that little baby Mary
                 Shannon to the Senate. She was a tiny little baby. Now
                 this beautiful child has grown to be an expert horsewoman.
                 She is one of those people who rides horses all the time.
                 She has entered her horses in different contests and has
                 done very well.
                   I have known Connor since he was a little boy. He is
                 married, and they have a little baby named Maddox, and
                 Mary is so proud of her grandchild. Her husband Frank is a
                 wonderful human being. I think so very much of him. I hope
                 we will continue seeing them. Very often Mary will bring
                 her family to my office. She takes them out on the balcony
                 that overlooks the Mall.
                   Mary has touched my heart for a number of things, but
                 the one thing she has done, which has been unsurpassed, is
                 her caring for children who have no parents--adoptions.
                 She led the Senate in adoptions. Her two children were
                 adopted. Connor and Mary Shannon were adopted. She is so
                 involved in that program, and I know she will continue to
                 be involved.
                   Here on the Senate floor we will all miss Mary, her
                 voice of reason and moderation. I consider her to be a
                 good friend, and I appreciate all she has done for me, the
                 people of Louisiana, and our country.

                   Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I know that so many of my
                 colleagues are looking forward to wrapping up this year's
                 business and hopefully getting home soon for the holidays.
                   I wish to take a few minutes to speak about a couple of
                 issues. First I wish to give some remarks about my
                 colleague, the Senator from Louisiana, on her retirement,
                 and to mention a few things that have been going on in the
                 Small Business Committee which will be wrapping up
                 business. The Small Business Committee and Senator
                 Landrieu are kind of synonymous in my mind because my
                 colleague Senator Landrieu has been, for the better part
                 of the last couple of years, the chair of that committee
                 and has done some incredible work. As legislation is
                 moving through the final days in the U.S. Senate, we have
                 been very successful in getting some important legislation
                 passed for small business.
                   One piece of legislation we were able to make a part of
                 the defense authorization bill is sole-source contracting
                 for women entrepreneurs so they can more easily get
                 contracting with the Federal Government. That is going to
                 help us have their great products and services more easily
                 contracted and get access to those contracts.
                   There is also money for microlending programs. My
                 colleague from Michigan, Senator Levin, has pioneered an
                 idea that is so important to women entrepreneurs and that
                 involves the kind of lending they would like to see from
                 the Small Business Administration, which is microlending,
                 and for women to be able to get access to microloans. They
                 also want an intermediate loan level of $200,000 or less.
                 That helps them target some of the business interests they
                 have, because we definitely need more women entrepreneurs
                 in our country.
                   The third item is the STEP Program, which is a small
                 business export assistance program that works with States.
                 The Federal Government and the Small Business
                 Administration work with States to help them target
                 businesses within their States that can use export
                 assistance to become exporters. This is such an important
                 issue for our country, because we, with a growing middle
                 class around the globe, have a great opportunity to sell
                 new products and services around the globe. But many of
                 our small businesses are challenged by the risk of making
                 those kinds of attempts to sell in those markets. So this
                 export assistance program, which had been a pilot, is now
                 going to be a funded permanent program. So we are excited
                 about that and excited it is moving through.
                   I also didn't get a chance last week to speak about my
                 colleague Senator Landrieu on the floor, so I wanted to
                 take a few minutes now to remind my colleagues that as
                 someone who has served with her on the Energy Committee
                 and served with her on the Small Business Committee, I
                 have been so impressed with the accomplishments she has
                 achieved in her career here in the U.S. Senate. For much
                 of the time she was talking the other day--rightfully so--
                 she shared a lot of moments of her career and a lot of
                 personal moments. I wanted to remind my colleagues of some
                 of the very big challenges she faced as a Senator and how
                 impressed I am with what she was able to actually
                 overcome.
                   Many people know that obviously being hit by Katrina was
                 one of the biggest economic challenges not just in
                 Louisiana but to our country, and her impassioned
                 leadership and calls to hasten the efforts to make sure we
                 were doing everything we could for those individuals to
                 receive medical aid and shelter and help find loved ones
                 was nonstop for many days. She successfully, as she
                 mentioned on the floor, urged OMB to fully fund the
                 repairs of the levee system in southeast Louisiana and
                 continues that work. She succeeded in passing legislation
                 that directed the Army Corps of Engineers to analyze,
                 design, and strengthen the storm mitigation systems
                 against category 5 hurricanes.
                   Now if any of my colleagues in the U.S. Senate have ever
                 worked with the Army Corps of Engineers, say no more. You
                 know how challenging it is. We don't control them. They
                 base all of their work on science. They have a budget. It
                 is never enough money. It can seem as though we are
                 fighting them forever to get something we think is
                 essential to protect the people in our State to move
                 forward. So she did all of that and moved the focus to
                 make sure we establish a defense against category 5
                 hurricanes.
                   Also, if any of my colleagues ever had a flood or a
                 storm in their State post-Katrina, they know the first
                 person they were going to hear from was Mary Landrieu. She
                 didn't stop her efforts in Louisiana. She wanted to take
                 everything she learned from that emergency and call you up
                 and tell you these are the things you need to do
                 immediately and this is how you should get prepared. I
                 know she did that for many of my colleagues and we so
                 appreciated it.
                   Then another catastrophe happened--the Deepwater Horizon
                 oilspill. As a member of the Commerce Committee, I can
                 tell my colleagues I spoke to her many times about issues
                 as they related to the Clean Water Act and what was
                 eventually passed, the RESTORE Act, which was a bipartisan
                 effort. Basically, the bill made sure that 80 percent of
                 the Clean Water Act fines from BPA went directly into the
                 Gulf States, making this the biggest individual investment
                 in environmental conservation and restoration in our
                 country's history. That was no easy task. There were a lot
                 of people at the time who wanted to focus on many
                 different aspects of that disaster, and so many events
                 have taken place since then. But I can remember clearly
                 the catastrophe and what it meant for the fishing
                 community, the individuals, the States' economies--all of
                 the questions. A lot of people were looking backward about
                 what happened, but the Senator from Louisiana was looking
                 forward to make sure those funds were invested right there
                 in the gulf. That was a big challenge that she was
                 successful in meeting.
                   Obviously, she used her voice for many issues related to
                 Louisiana, but I wish to emphasize to my colleagues how
                 much she also used her voice for many other people who
                 didn't seem to be here in the Halls of Washington and made
                 sure that those issues were at the top of the agenda.
                   We had the 2009 economic crisis in our country and many
                 people remember because it had such a huge economic impact
                 on individual families. The Senator from Louisiana made
                 sure she was standing up for small businesses during that
                 time period. There were millions of Americans who lost
                 their jobs during that time period, and as everybody was
                 here talking about what to do to help these big banks--and
                 we all know that they got a bailout--many small businesses
                 across the country actually had performing lines of credit
                 cut out right from under them. So they didn't have anybody
                 knocking on the door to make sure they were being helped.
                 But the Senator from Louisiana got very vocal here about
                 the prioritization of making sure that we did something
                 about conventional lending and tried to tackle this issue.
                   From 2007 to 2009, the number of SBA borrowers dropped
                 by more than half and the amount of loans dropped by more
                 than one-third. Many of these small businesses were paying
                 the price. So Senator Landrieu got busy fighting for what
                 was the Small Business Jobs Act. If my colleagues remember
                 that debate, there were many times that some people on the
                 other side of the aisle didn't want to support that
                 legislation or even moments when Treasury didn't know if
                 they wanted to support that legislation. She was
                 successful in the end in getting that legislation passed
                 61 to 38. The Small Business Jobs Act leveraged more than
                 $42 billion in loans to more than 90,000 businesses
                 throughout the SBA. The bill, along with other measures,
                 helped target about $12 billion in tax cuts for small
                 business. So while the big banks had immediate relief,
                 they had someone here in DC fighting for small businesses,
                 and that was Senator Landrieu.
                   That legislation also saw a small business lending fund
                 increase so that there was more capital on Main Street for
                 small business. As a result of the legislation, 2011 and
                 2012 were the two biggest years on record for the 7(a) and
                 the 504 Program, which are kind of the premier programs
                 for the Small Business Administration. That went a long
                 way to helping small businesses begin to recover. Also,
                 the small business credit initiative helped small
                 businesses get access to capital.
                   So all of these things were what my colleague from
                 Louisiana fought for to help small businesses. I think it
                 is a perfect example, along with those other things about
                 how she used her voice to try to bring clarity to the
                 challenges we were facing and stand up for those who
                 weren't being heard.
                   She also, though, lent her voice to another group that
                 is often--we don't necessarily always understand all of
                 the issues surrounding it. I kind of think that she took
                 over for Senator Byrd who was a great advocate on behalf
                 of animals and spoke a lot about his dog, and many of the
                 stories he shared warmed everybody's heart. Senator
                 Landrieu last year was the Humane Society's Legislator of
                 the Year for her consistent work to prevent the cruel
                 practices of horse slaughter, to protect wild animals, and
                 strengthen provisions against animal fighting. So she
                 clearly deserved that title and we certainly appreciate
                 her efforts there. She was also a voice for the District
                 of Columbia. People get committee assignments, and, yes,
                 she had that committee assignment, but the thing about
                 Senator Landrieu is that once she took an assignment, she
                 was tough on making sure those issues were addressed. She
                 did that for the District of Columbia.
                   I want to add my sincere thanks to the Senator from
                 Louisiana for all of her work and public service here in
                 the Senate. She will be missed. I know she and I share a
                 passion for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It is an
                 issue that is near and dear to my heart and something she
                 has tried in her time in the Senate to get fully funded.
                 We are going to continue that work on her behalf in the
                 Energy Committee.
                   Again, I thank my colleague and dear friend for her
                 incredible passion and for fighting for those whose voices
                 were not always heard. There is no mistake her voice was
                 heard here in the Senate.

                   Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, for nearly 20 years,
                 Louisianans have had no greater advocate, and no stronger
                 voice, than that of Mary Landrieu. She has been a crusader
                 for her State, and even today continues to fight to build
                 on Louisiana's recovery from the devastating storms of
                 2005 that wreaked havoc across Louisiana and throughout
                 the city of New Orleans.
                   It was in 2005 that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged
                 the gulf coast, devastating New Orleans. Then in 2010 the
                 Deepwater Horizon oilspill sent millions of barrels of oil
                 into the gulf, coating Louisiana's beaches and wildlife.
                 During these terrible times Louisiana could have had no
                 better advocate than Senator Landrieu. After Katrina,
                 Senator Landrieu secured more than $120 billion in
                 recovery money to help restore New Orleans and Louisiana's
                 coast. After the Deepwater Horizon spill, Senator Landrieu
                 worked tirelessly with both Democratic and Republican
                 colleagues to move the RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act through
                 the Senate. Her leadership secured essential reparations
                 from British Petroleum to restore the battered gulf coast.
                   In 2009, Senator Landrieu and former Senator Olympia
                 Snowe made history as the first two female lawmakers to
                 lead a full congressional committee--the Committee on
                 Small Business and Entrepreneurship--as chair and ranking
                 member. Senator Landrieu is also the first female Senator
                 to chair the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
                 Committee.
                   She has been an active member of the Senate
                 Appropriations Committee, and I have appreciated her
                 willingness to work with me on so many issues in her
                 capacity as the chair of the Homeland Security
                 Subcommittee. When Vermont was devastated by Hurricane
                 Irene, Senator Landrieu was a key ally in helping me
                 secure needed resources to help rebuild roads, bridges,
                 businesses, and communities in Vermont. I thank her for
                 that, Vermonters thank her, and I will never forget her
                 invaluable work and support.
                   Louisiana has been well represented by Senator Landrieu.
                 She has been a steadfast and stalwart defender of her
                 State's priorities and needs. I wish her, her husband
                 Frank, and their entire family the very best.
                                                 Tuesday, December 16, 2014
                   Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, as we wind down the final days
                 of the 113th Congress, it is a good time both to reflect
                 on the past and to look toward the future. I have been
                 very moved as I listened to the farewell speeches of our
                 departing Senators, and I wish I had time to pay tribute
                 to each one of them. They have all been wonderful
                 colleagues, and I enjoyed working with and getting to know
                 every one of them. I wish them all the very best in all
                 their future endeavors. They will most certainly be
                 missed. ...

                   Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, before this Congress ends, I
                 wanted to pay tribute to several of my colleagues who will
                 not be here when we convene next year. Some chose not to
                 run again, and others unfortunately lost their reelection
                 campaigns, but we will miss them all next year. I begin in
                 order of seniority. ...
                   Mr. President, Senator Mary Landrieu started a career of
                 public service in the Louisiana State Legislature and then
                 as State treasurer. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in
                 1996, becoming her State's first female Senator. Senator
                 Landrieu has always fought for her State, a fact never
                 more apparent than in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina
                 and Rita when she fought valiantly for disaster funding
                 and reforms that helped countless people in Louisiana.
                 Mary has also been a champion for our children, and I have
                 seen her commitment as we worked together on adoption and
                 foster care issues over the years. We will miss Mary's
                 spirit, but we know she will never stop fighting for what
                 she believes in. I wish Mary and Frank well in this new
                 chapter of their lives. ...

                   Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, my friend from Louisiana
                 Senator Mary Landrieu has devoted her entire life to
                 public service, and today I wish to recognize the
                 extraordinary leadership and energy that she has brought
                 to the Senate throughout her career.
                   Senator Landrieu has been a leader on so many issues,
                 none more so than as a passionate advocate for children
                 around the world. I was proud to work with her on
                 legislation to address the decline in international
                 adoptions, in addition to several other bills that Senator
                 Landrieu has authored to support children both in the
                 United States and in developing nations. This issue is
                 particularly near to Senator Landrieu's heart, and I know
                 I am speaking for countless children around the world when
                 I thank her for her efforts to ensure all children
                 experience the benefits of a safe and loving family.
                   I also had the pleasure of working with Senator Landrieu
                 during her leadership of the Senate Small Business
                 Committee, as well as on the Senate Energy and Natural
                 Resources Committee.
                   Senator Landrieu has always fought hard for her home
                 State of Louisiana, and her dedication to her constituents
                 was made clear in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. All
                 Americans vividly recall the scenes of destruction caused
                 by the storm--more than 1,800 killed and $100 billion in
                 property destroyed in just days. Those who were fortunate
                 to escape the storm physically unscathed were more than
                 likely left homeless, and over 80 percent of Senator
                 Landrieu's hometown of New Orleans was under water for
                 weeks after Katrina made landfall.
                   After the storm Senator Landrieu immediately set to work
                 building support for legislation to jump start the gulf
                 coast recovery and help her constituents put their lives
                 back together. Senator Landrieu nearly singlehandedly
                 pushed through critical funding and reforms to help
                 Louisiana rebuild.
                   It has been an honor working with her, and I thank her
                 for her years of service to the Senate and the Nation.

                   Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I wish to celebrate and thank
                 the 13 outgoing Senators who have worked tirelessly to
                 represent their home States in the Senate: Senator Mark
                 Begich, Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Tom Coburn,
                 Senator Kay Hagan, Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Mike
                 Johanns, Senator Tim Johnson, Senator Mary Landrieu,
                 Senator Carl Levin, Senator Mark Pryor, Senator Jay
                 Rockefeller, Senator Mark Udall, and Senator John Walsh.
                   I have worked side by side with these men and women for
                 years--some for decades--and witnessed first hand their
                 extraordinary commitment to public service and to the
                 people they so proudly represent.
                   Even when we didn't see eye to eye on every issue, I
                 always deeply respected and admired their service to our
                 Nation and their dedication to fight for what they believe
                 in.
                   It has been a privilege to serve alongside each and
                 every one of these extraordinary colleagues. I will miss
                 their leadership and their friendship, and I wish them all
                 the best as they embark on the next chapter.
                                                    Friday, January 2, 2015
                   Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, at the end of this session
                 of Congress, the Senate will be bidding farewell to my
                 colleague and dear friend, Senator Mary Landrieu, who has
                 served the people of Louisiana with such devotion over the
                 last 18 years.
                    I don't think it is possible to overstate the magnitude
                 of the challenges that she has faced on behalf of her
                 constituents. Hurricane Katrina may have been the most
                 horrible natural disaster our country has ever
                 experienced--and Senator Landrieu's native city of New
                 Orleans was ground zero.
                   No one was more engaged in the recovery effort that
                 followed that calamity. Senator Landrieu fought
                 tenaciously to secure the funds it would take to repair
                 and revitalize the gulf coast with infrastructure
                 improvements that would protect the coast against another
                 major event.
                   In the 10 years since Katrina, Senator Landrieu has been
                 a champion for homeowners who were struggling to afford
                 flood insurance, most recently by winning passage of the
                 Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, this past
                 March.
                   Of course, just as the gulf coast appeared close to
                 making a full recovery, it was struck by another
                 disaster--the Deepwater Horizon oilspill. Again, Senator
                 Landrieu was on the vanguard of that recovery, winning
                 passage of the RESTORE Act so that the vast majority of
                 the fines collected by the U.S. Government would go back
                 to the gulf coast to help pay for the cleanup. It is the
                 single biggest investment in environmental restoration in
                 American history.
                   These were the moments when the people of Louisiana
                 needed Mary Landrieu most--and she delivered as only she
                 can.
                   At the same time, Senator Landrieu has always understood
                 that the oil and gas industry is vital to her State's
                 economy, and so it was a major milestone when she became
                 the first woman to chair the Senate Energy Committee.
                    She fights so hard for Louisiana, but over the years of
                 working with her, I have learned how much she is driven by
                 a deep feeling of compassion, not just for those displaced
                 by hurricanes or those whose livelihood was jeopardized by
                 the Deepwater Horizon but for the children of her State
                 and our country who were given up for adoption or placed
                 in foster care.
                    Senator Landrieu knows the joys of adopting first hand,
                 having adopted her two children, Connor and Mary Shannon,
                 and she wants other parents to feel that joy. So she
                 sympathizes with parents who wish to adopt a child but who
                 are struggling to do so--especially since she knows there
                 are children desperate for parents but who remain wards of
                 the State. By matching those parents with that child, she
                 knows that she can create a true family.
                   So she has led the efforts in the Senate to improve
                 child welfare systems internationally and to make it
                 easier for American parents to adopt children in other
                 countries. She has pushed for Federal funds to create
                 foster care mentoring programs, so that children who are
                 in the foster system have better guidance during the most
                 critical years of their social development.
                    I know I speak for other Members of this Chamber when I
                 say that we will do our very best to continue the momentum
                 that Senator Landrieu has created for finding a permanent,
                 loving home for every American child.
                    I will deeply miss having her with us but I have
                 absolutely no doubt that Mary Landrieu will find new ways
                 to express her devotion to the people of Louisiana and our
                 country. It is not just a tradition in her family; it is
                 her singular passion. I thank her for her amazing service
                 here and I look forward to all the great achievements that
                 are in her future.

                   Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the many
                 accomplishments of my friend, Senator Mary Landrieu, my
                 colleague from Louisiana, during her 18 years here in the
                 U.S. Senate.
                   Senator Landrieu was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996.
                 Prior to serving in the Senate, she had already served the
                 people of her State for 16 years--first as a State
                 legislator, and later as a State treasurer. Altogether
                 Senator Landrieu's service to the people of Louisiana has
                 spanned nearly 34 years of commitment.
                   Mary served her constituents with utter conviction,
                 dedication, and persistence--qualities that her colleagues
                 in the U.S. Senate use to describe her.
                   However, Senator Landrieu's dedication can be described
                 in other ways as well.
                   In her farewell remarks, Senator Landrieu discussed how
                 faith and family helped drive her. She draws tremendous
                 strength from her faith, and also her large and supportive
                 family--a family that knows a thing or two about the ups
                 and downs of politics.
                   Her father, Moon Landrieu, served as a judge, State
                 representative, New Orleans city councilman, and Secretary
                 of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
                 Her brother, Mitch Landrieu, was Louisiana's Lieutenant
                 Governor, and both her father and brother have served as
                 mayors of New Orleans--her father during an era of
                 renewal, and her brother during an era of rebuilding.
                   Mary has clearly stepped up to the plate during the
                 devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the horrendous BP
                 oilspill. Those are the kinds of challenges that none of
                 us expect when we enter public life--but they are the
                 challenges which show our communities what we are made of.
                   Senator Landrieu rose to both challenges. She has worked
                 as hard as any Senator has ever worked to see that her
                 constituents were taken care of. She has pushed hard on
                 Federal agencies to help rebuild, and passed legislation
                 to help with gulf restoration. She has also fought to see
                 that flood insurance rates remain affordable--not just for
                 those in Louisiana, but across the country.
                   Her efforts have earned the respect of everyone she has
                 worked with, and she earned the opportunity to serve as
                 chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
                 as well as the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship
                 Committee. I know that the issues she championed on these
                 two committees were important to her constituents, and I
                 admire her advocacy for jobs in her State and more
                 opportunities for small businesses.
                   Of course, Senator Landrieu's work extended beyond these
                 two committees. For years, she worked on adoption,
                 education, conservation, and other issues that were near
                 and dear to her heart.
                   All of us will miss Mary's drive, tenacity, and
                 willingness to work with others to get things done. She
                 will continue to be a tough and relentless fighter for
                 Louisiana no matter what her next challenge will be.
                   Aloha, Mary, a hui hou, ``until we meet again.''

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