[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

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                                              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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