[Senate Document 113-36]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]





                TRIBUTES TO HON. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV

                                           

                               John D. Rockefeller IV

                    U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA

                                TRIBUTES

                           IN THE CONGRESS OF

                           THE UNITED STATES

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                           


  
             

                                                 S. Doc. 113-36
 
                                      Tributes

                                Delivered in Congress

                               John D. Rockefeller IV

                                United States Senator

                                      1985-2015

[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:
                    Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado................
                                                                     17
                    Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
                                                                     31
                    Brown, Sherrod, of Ohio........................
                                                                     25
                    Casey, Robert P., Jr., of Pennsylvania.........
                                                                     19
                    Collins, Susan M., of Maine....................
                                                                      6
                    Coons, Christopher A., of Delaware.............
                                                                     17
                    Durbin, Richard J., of Illinois................
                                                                      4
                    Enzi, Michael B., of Wyoming...................
                                                                      7
                    Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah 
                     ...............................................
                     .......
                                                             14, 18, 29
                    Heitkamp, Heidi, of North Dakota...............
                                                                      3
                    Hirono, Mazie K., of Hawaii....................
                                                                 29, 30
                    Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
                                                                     25
                    Markey, Edward J., of Massachusetts............
                                                                     12
                    Murphy, Christopher, of Connecticut............
                                                                     17
                    Nelson, Bill, of Florida.......................
                                                                     15
                    Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
                                                                     16
                    Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
                                                                     12
                    Sessions, Jeff, of Alabama.....................
                                                                     18
                    Shaheen, Jeanne, of New Hampshire..............
                                                                  4, 29
                    Stabenow, Debbie, of Michigan..................
                                                                     10
                    Thune, John, of South Dakota...................
                                                                     24
                    Wyden, Ron, of Oregon..........................
                                                                     21
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                      BIOGRAPHY

               Senator Jay Rockefeller proudly served the people of 
             West Virginia for nearly 50 years. Jay Rockefeller first 
             came to West Virginia in 1964 as a 27-year-old VISTA 
             volunteer serving in the small mining community of Emmons. 
             Many of the lessons that Jay Rockefeller learned in Emmons 
             shaped his public service career and led to his lifelong 
             commitment to improving the lives of West Virginians and 
             all Americans.
               As a longtime advocate of accessible and quality health 
             care, Jay Rockefeller is recognized as one of the 
             strongest champions for health care reform. He has an 
             extensive and distinguished career of fighting to reduce 
             the number of uninsured children and working families, 
             protecting and improving seniors' and veterans' health 
             care, and fighting for the promised health benefits of 
             retired coal miners and steelworkers.
               To diversify and expand economic opportunities, Jay 
             Rockefeller played an instrumental role in attracting new 
             investment and jobs to West Virginia. In addition to 
             bringing a Toyota manufacturing plant to Buffalo, Jay 
             Rockefeller recruited numerous national and international 
             companies to the Mountain State, resulting in thousands of 
             new jobs. At the same time, Jay Rockefeller maintained a 
             strong focus on strengthening core industries such as 
             steel, coal, and chemicals, by fighting for fair trade 
             policies and targeted tax relief. He also worked on 
             policies that allowed for energy independence by drawing 
             on West Virginia's natural resources to produce clean and 
             reliable fuels.
               As part of Senator Rockefeller's effort to strengthen 
             the lives of children and families, he coauthored 
             legislation to improve educational opportunities for 
             students, promote stability through adoptions and foster 
             care, increase minimum wage for employees, reduce violence 
             and obscenity on television, and help every school and 
             library connect to the Internet. He also supported 
             numerous targeted tax cuts for working families such as 
             the child tax credit and the earned-income tax credit, and 
             he supported eliminating the marriage penalty.
               Jay Rockefeller is also known for his strong national 
             security credentials, support for our Nation's soldiers 
             and veterans, and oversight of the country's intelligence 
             programs. He has been critical of the Nation's 
             mismanagement of the Iraq war, and pressed the United 
             States to refocus its mission and resources on Al Qaeda 
             and global terrorism.
               Senator Rockefeller was the chairman of the Senate 
             Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, having 
             previously served as chairman of the Senate Select 
             Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on 
             Veterans' Affairs. At the time of his retirement, he also 
             served as chairman of the Health Care Subcommittee on 
             Finance, and as a member of the Senate Select Committee on 
             Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Veterans' 
             Affairs.
               Jay Rockefeller graduated from Harvard University in 
             1961 with a B.A. in Far Eastern Languages and History. In 
             1964, he came to Emmons, WV, where he began his public 
             service career serving the people of West Virginia. In 
             1966, he was elected to the West Virginia House of 
             Delegates and to the office of West Virginia Secretary of 
             State in 1968. He served as president of West Virginia 
             Wesleyan College from 1973 to 1976. In 1976, Jay 
             Rockefeller was elected Governor of West Virginia, and was 
             reelected in 1980. In 1984, he was elected to the U.S. 
             Senate, and reelected in 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008.
               Since 1967, Jay Rockefeller has been married to Sharon 
             Percy Rockefeller with whom he has four children: John, 
             Valerie, Charles, and Justin. Jay and Sharon are also the 
             proud grandparents of four granddaughters and two 
             grandsons.
                               Farewell to the Senate
                             Thursday, December 4, 2014

               Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Madam President, I ask unanimous 
             consent to give my remarks while seated at my desk.

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

               Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Madam President, I ask unanimous 
             consent to speak as in morning business.

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

               Mr. ROCKEFELLER. For hours and hours.

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

               Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Madam President, I come today with a 
             spirit of reflection and optimism about our future. I am 
             also compelled toward an honest assessment of where we are 
             as a body--of the promise of what we can achieve when we 
             don't shy away from compromise and what we can't achieve 
             when we refuse to compromise.
               I also have very much on my mind that the job of public 
             service is very hard work, and it is an extremely noble 
             and honorable calling. Here in the U.S. Senate we have the 
             unique ability and responsibility to do very big things: 
             ignite innovation in our schools and industries, grow and 
             protect a healthy country, foster global change borne from 
             policies that lead the globe. At the same time, we have 
             the opportunity to touch individual lives with case 
             management. One on one, with casework, we often reach 
             people in their darkest hour.
               I love the Senate. I love the intensity of the work, the 
             gravity of the issues, and I love fighting for West 
             Virginians here. I learned to love this fight, as many of 
             you know, as a 27-year-old VISTA worker in the tiny coal 
             community of Emmons, WV. It was a place that set my moral 
             compass and gave me direction, where everything in my real 
             life actually began. It is where I learned how little I 
             knew about the problems people faced there and in other 
             places in the country, how little I knew, and what a 
             humbling experience that was for me.
               My time there was transformative. It explains every 
             policy I have pursued and every vote I have cast. It was 
             where my beliefs were bolted down and where my passions 
             met my principles. Emmons was where I came to understand 
             that out of our everyday struggles we can enlarge 
             ourselves. We can grow greater. Truly making a difference 
             couldn't be an afterthought. It never could. Rather, it 
             requires a singular focus and relentless effort. It would 
             be hard, but the work mattered. That is the deal here.
               Important undertakings can't be halfhearted. You have to 
             commit your whole self--almost like pushing a heavy rock 
             uphill. With both of your hands you push, because if you 
             let up for a split second with either hand, you and the 
             rock go tumbling backward into the abyss. There is always 
             so much at stake.
               Even today in West Virginia too many are struggling. 
             They are fighting to survive. I called them hard working 
             when I really should say hard surviving, but they are hard 
             working and trying to survive. They are wary of the 
             future. They are scared of their possibilities. Sometimes 
             they are afraid of themselves, which is partly a tradition 
             which says that change is bad, that strangers are bad. I 
             was bad for quite a long time. But that is the way people 
             are. They don't really want to change. So change comes 
             slowly. We just simply fight twice as hard, and nothing 
             stops us.
               There is vast dignity and vast honor in helping people. 
             You cannot let go of it. I believe genuinely in the 
             ability of government to do good, to serve, and to right 
             injustices. This is why the Senate must be a place in 
             which we embrace commitment to be deliberative, 
             passionate, and unrelenting. But it must be a place in 
             which we are driven only by the duty and trust bestowed 
             upon us by the people who put us here. This is where 
             everything else should be put aside--boxed out, as it 
             were.
               Yes, politics led us here. But this is where we shed the 
             campaign--or should--and embrace our opportunities to 
             lead, to listen, to dig in, to bridge differences, to 
             govern, and to truly make a difference. At our core we 
             must be drawn to the hard, all-consuming policy work that 
             lives in briefings, hearing rooms, and roundtables back in 
             our States. Yet our North Star must always be the real 
             needs of the people we serve.
               So policy to me starts with listening. It is seeing the 
             faces of our constituents--not just thinking of a policy 
             in terms of a policy, but a policy in terms of the people 
             whom it would affect. You see your constituents, you hear 
             them out, and you understand their needs and their 
             problems. You get to know them very well, especially in a 
             small State such as West Virginia. Listening to 
             constituents and colleagues here alike is absolutely 
             necessary. Good policy is born out of compromise. 
             Compromise is not easy, but it can happen. If we truly 
             listen to each other, it very well could.
               We separate our campaign selves from our public service 
             selves. The cruelty of perpetual campaigns destroys our 
             ability to fulfill our oath of office. It is hard to build 
             a working relationship in this institution without an 
             honest and open approach with our colleagues--Republican 
             or Democratic. But we must build that relationship because 
             together we can do so much, and without it, we can do--as 
             we have seen--nothing.
               Listening and compromise were key to the work of the 
             National Commission on Children in the 1990s. I was the 
             chair of that Commission, which included a bipartisan 
             group of government officials and appointed experts in 
             various fields from all backgrounds. There were many of 
             us--32--and we went all over the country for 2 years.
               I can tell you that reaching consensus was tough, but we 
             listened, we debated, and we came to trust. Even the most 
             liberal and conservative among us knew that each of us had 
             the best interests of our party. That was not in dispute.
               While meeting in Williamsburg, VA, which was where we 
             had been meeting at the time, I had to leave suddenly for 
             an important Senate vote on Iraq. I handed over the gavel 
             to our most conservative Republican member, someone in 
             whom I had trust. That shocked people, but it helped on 
             the consensus.
               In the end we were proud to vote 32 to 0 in support of 
             the legislation that we put forward and our policy 
             statement as a whole, and it included both policies. It 
             included the creation of a new Republican child tax credit 
             for the first time and a major expansion of the earned-
             income tax credit, which has lifted millions of American 
             families out of poverty.
               It worked because we listened to one another, respected 
             one another, and we wanted to come to an agreement. It was 
             clear, it was obvious, and there it was--32 to 0. 
             Unbelievable, but it happened.
               Is that possible these days? My answer is yes, and I 
             believe that we can see that spirit again as we address 
             the future of the bipartisan Children's Health Insurance 
             Program--CHIP, the way it is known. It currently provides 
             health care to 8.3 million children and pregnant women 
             nationwide, and 40,000 of those are in West Virginia. CHIP 
             is so important to me because it offers health care which 
             is tailored to children; to wit, it has both mental and 
             dental health care tailored to children. It is, in fact, 
             better coverage than the Affordable Care Act provides 
             children.
               From those early days at VISTA, I have seen the 
             devastating toll that lack of medical care can extract 
             from a child's well-being and their health--particularly 
             their self-esteem--and even their will to succeed.
               Many of you also know the names and faces of children 
             who have gone without access to proper health care, and 
             those are the ones we fight for. That is why CHIP has 
             always been a bipartisan effort, driven by the needs of 
             real kids and their families. Senators Grassley and Hatch 
             were instrumental in its creation over a period of a 
             couple years and long arguments, and they continue to be 
             strong advocates.
               The bipartisanship program has opened doors for millions 
             who desperately needed to get into a doctor's office, had 
             never been able to do so, and now are able to do so.
               But a warning--every door that CHIP opened will be 
             closed unless we can agree to carry CHIP funding past mid-
             2015, and I don't know what the prospects for that are. 
             All I know is that if they aren't done properly, those 
             doors close; those kids had access to doctors, but they 
             don't anymore. That is unconscionable to me. We have to 
             look at the faces of those children in our own States and 
             think about that. It is those individual faces that I 
             remember.
               Remembering for whom we work is paramount. When any 
             corporate CEO comes to my office, I show them a prized 
             birthday gift to my four children--our four children--my 
             wife is here--a picture of a hard-working coal miner whose 
             face is honest but hurting and very proud. That picture 
             means so much to me because it embodies the spirit of 
             those whom I am here to serve, and silently reminds us of 
             why we must work toward a common ground--why this is not 
             about Democrats and Republicans, but it is about the 
             people whom we are here to serve, bringing different 
             viewpoints to what that means.
               Senator Mike Enzi and I are not on the same side of 
             every vote--to put it mildly--but we are very good 
             friends--a friendship that was made years ago when I was 
             serving on the President's HOPE mission and he was the 
             mayor of Gillette, WY, going slightly crazy trying to 
             build houses for all the people moving in there through 
             coal. He also had sideburns. I say that oftentimes--off 
             the record.
               On a gray day in January 2006, West Virginia was frozen 
             in disbelief when we learned that 12 trapped miners were 
             killed in Sago Mine--a mine in the north central part of 
             the State.
               In the days that followed, as we struggled to make sense 
             of what had happened, Senator Enzi and Senator Isakson 
             joined Senator Kennedy, Senator Manchin, and myself in 
             West Virginia. The first two did not merely visit--they 
             came to understand. They came to learn. They came to share 
             in the grief and to offer their support to the community, 
             and you could tell that in their faces.
               Together, out of tragedy--and because they were members 
             of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee--
             we forged a compromise on mine safety legislation that 
             brought about, frankly, the strongest safety improvements 
             in a generation. It was huge for us. Only 16 States mine 
             coal, but we are one of them.
               To this day, Senator Isakson carries a picture of one of 
             the Sago miners. It is not in the wallet that he is 
             carrying today, but it is in the other wallet back in 
             Atlanta. I don't care where it is, that picture is in his 
             wallet every single day. We knew that, as public 
             officials, compromising and really leading, men govern--
             which is why we were there.
               Answering the needs of our country is our 
             responsibility, and we do the best when we work shoulder 
             to shoulder. It was working shoulder to shoulder when we 
             set our country on a path to future innovation.
               A few years ago, America's domination in our 
             innovation--our inventions and creative problem solving--
             was eroding, and we all knew it. We needed to act. We 
             needed to reinvigorate our leadership in those areas and 
             to keep our jobs and our future more secure.
               We answered that call with a bipartisan compromise that 
             delivered the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act. I will 
             never forget that. This legislation made historic 
             investments in basic research, science, technology, 
             engineering, and math education.
               Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who preceded John Thune on 
             the Commerce Committee, Senator Alexander, and I sought 
             unanimous consent to get the bill passed--because we 
             thought we worked out the details pretty well--and could 
             do it prior to the recess. Therefore, we had to do it by 
             unanimous consent. But there were five objections holding 
             the bill still.
               Instead of retreating to party corners and pointing 
             fingers, we compromised right on that center aisle--right 
             there next to Senator Collins. We wound it up and down, we 
             added a little money and we took a little bit of money 
             off. Mostly we took several billion dollars off. We 
             removed a couple of programs that weren't absolutely 
             necessary to satisfy Kay Bailey Hutchison or Lamar 
             Alexander. And we had ourselves a $44 billion bill over 5 
             years on which we agreed. We didn't have to have a vote. 
             Senator Hutchison and Senator Alexander tenaciously worked 
             to clear the holds. It was absolutely beautiful--a $44 
             billion program to reinvigorate our Nation, cerebrally and 
             productively. Together we passed a bill to revive our 
             country's flagging global performance ranking and catapult 
             us to success. Reaching moments like those requires 
             persistence. It demands collaboration. It demands trust 
             and compromise, and it is so worth it.
               I am driven by the process of creating policy. I love 
             doing that. It is grinding, it is intense, it can be 
             frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking--often 
             heartbreaking. But when we accomplish something that is 
             meaningful to the people who have entrusted us to 
             represent them, there is no greater reward.
               We have to know who and what we must fight for in our 
             work and in our own personal views. We have to know and 
             understand those who will benefit and those who will lose. 
             And we have to be ready for it to take a long time--much 
             longer than we thought--sometimes 5 years, sometimes 10 
             years. That makes no difference. You keep at it. You don't 
             let go of it, because if you keep at it, somewhere along 
             the way some combination of Senators is going to say, 
             yeah, that is OK. And then we get ourselves a bill.
               We keep in our souls the faces of the people we try to 
             help, the people in my case who were all too often left 
             behind. The Senate must face serious social and policy 
             issues from health care to cybersecurity, caring for 
             veterans coming home, building up our infrastructure, 
             making our economy work for everyone. These are our core 
             responsibilities. I am proud that we have made some 
             progress. While we seem right now to be at an impasse, I 
             know the Senate will rise to the position of addressing 
             our issues and at some point in some way it will happen. 
             As a governing body, we must not allow recent failures to 
             take root, to mean too much to us. We must not be focused 
             on episodic ``gotcha'' issues rather than working to 
             address broader, more systemic problem solving. No one 
             else is going to step in to do this if we don't.
               The truth was on full display a few weeks ago when the 
             Senate failed to move forward on National Security 
             Administration reforms necessary to uphold the mission of 
             protecting our Nation. These are issues on which I have 
             very strong views. I have taken very seriously my 14 years 
             on the Intelligence Committee, as a member and as 
             chairman, because the global threats we face increase 
             daily as the world becomes more connected. We depend on 
             the highly trained professionals at NSA to zero in on 
             those threats. There are only 22 of them that make sort of 
             final decisions. They are highly trained. They have taken 
             the oath of office to protect our Nation.
               Now I don't think we have any excuse to outsource our 
             intelligence work to telecommunications firms. I work on 
             the Commerce Committee. I have seen what the 
             telecommunications companies do when they can get away 
             with it--you know, everything from cramming to--just all 
             kinds of not very nice things. It is the job of government 
             to address this issue. The private sector and the free 
             market alone cannot solve those kinds of problems and 
             should not. That is a government responsibility being 
             carried out with great success.
               A lot of people say, oh, what if? But the fact is nobody 
             has ever been able to show me somebody whose privacy has 
             been influenced or broken into by the NSA. Good, hard-
             working people can be destroyed by circumstances beyond 
             their control. It is our job to not let that happen. It is 
             our job to help to give everyone a fair shot. It is much 
             easier to say than to do, but that is our charge.
               Too many children come into a world where circumstances 
             preclude the opportunities they should have. We cannot 
             discount the many challenges our society still faces. It 
             is unconscionable in a country like ours that people go 
             without health care or go hungry or have no place to call 
             home.
               When shareholders and the free market cannot or will not 
             solve our problems, it is government's responsibility to 
             step in every time. People can decry government all they 
             want, but we are here for a reason. When private companies 
             decide there isn't enough profit to provide Internet to 
             rural areas, then we step in and we expand broadband, 
             allowing the E-rate to go farther and farther out. It now 
             covers 97 percent of all schools in the country.
               Maybe the private sector decides they cannot make enough 
             by insuring the sickest of our children. We must act. That 
             is our core mission. It is who we are as an institution. 
             It is who we must always be.
               We have worked to give children a fair shot through the 
             E-Rate Program which introduces the most rural classrooms 
             and the smallest libraries to the world through the 
             Internet, access to a foreign language class or research, 
             and it gives every child a key to unlock their potential. 
             It doesn't mean they will, but it means they can.
               We know health care is fundamental to a fair shot as 
             well. We cannot learn or keep a job if we are sick. But 
             providing that care has not always been as profitable as 
             some companies would like. So we make sure millions of 
             Americans could have the dignity of access to health care 
             under the Affordable Care Act.
               My friend Sam is one of the faces I will never forget. 
             When he was battling childhood leukemia and hit his 
             lifetime insurance cap--it is a technical term for a 
             savage consequence--his parents' insurance companies 
             walked away from this courageous little fighter. His 
             parents, both schoolteachers, were left with heart-
             wrenching decisions such as getting divorced--which they 
             considered--so Sam could qualify for Medicaid. Well, in 
             the end it didn't matter; Sam lost his battle with cancer. 
             But today under the Affordable Care Act we have made sure 
             that no insurance companies can abandon someone like Sam 
             when they need help the most. Health care reform will 
             never take away the crushing agony of parents with sick 
             kids. Heartbreaking situations like Sam's drove us to say 
             no more, and we changed the law. Parents deserve to focus 
             every bit of their energy fighting for their kids in every 
             way, not fighting profit-obsessed insurance companies. So 
             we did the right thing.
               Government also did the right thing when I fought for 
             what I thought my life depended on, because it did, to 
             pass the Coal Act of 1992, long forgotten. We had to step 
             in and stop some coal companies from walking away from 
             benefits which they had promised by contract to retired 
             coal miners and their widows--folks who were mostly in 
             their seventies and eighties. Passing the Coal Act was 
             enormously important to our country. It not only prevented 
             in absolute terms a national coal strike in 1993, but it 
             delivered on the promise of lifetime health benefits 
             earned by 200,000 retired coal miners and their widows. 
             They would not have been taken care of if those companies 
             had their way.
               Nor can we rely on the private sector alone to take care 
             of our veterans. It is government's duty to provide the 
             health care they earned. We do this through community-
             based clinics and improved services for PTSD, traumatic 
             brain injury, and family support. It is expensive. Senator 
             Rob Portman and I wanted to pass a bill which would cause 
             the Department of Defense to give all people entering the 
             military mental health screening--not when they came back 
             from Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere else, but before 
             they went in, and then on an annual basis do that again to 
             build a database, to make sure we knew that we could take 
             care of them better when they came home.
               We rightly asked the government to take on some of 
             society's most fundamental needs. What I found in Emmons 
             was a community of genuinely strong and incredibly hard-
             working people who were essentially on their own trying to 
             survive. The free market had not made sure that 
             communities such as Emmons had good roads or any schools 
             or any schoolbuses or any clean drinking water or safe 
             jobs. But from my point of view they deserved all of 
             those. They deserved to have their shot. Working together 
             on the needs of places such as Emmons speaks to our core 
             human connection and to an aspiration for the greater 
             good.
               That is what drove me into public service. It was not 
             something I could help. I just had to do it, to help 
             people with everything that I have. Every individual in 
             every community such as Emmons deserves to have public 
             officials who will fight the big fight and the personal 
             ones, the casework.
               Extending a hand on those personal challenges is 
             incredibly meaningful work. Our constituents face these 
             fights with herculean courage but not always the resources 
             to solve the problems in front of them. People like the 8-
             year-old who needed a bone marrow transplant, a procedure 
             that in 1990 was considered experimental. Our office 
             intervened. We helped that boy get that transplant and he 
             still lives today. As a Senator, you take on those fights 
             with the same vigor as any policy or ideological debate 
             and you are equally proud when you win and you are equally 
             hurt when you lose.
               When I came to West Virginia 50 years ago, I was 
             searching for a clear purpose for my life's work. I wanted 
             the work to be really hard, and what I got was an 
             opportunity to work really hard along with a real and 
             utterly spiritual sense of mission. This work demands and 
             deserves nothing less than everything that we have to 
             give.
               I will miss the Senate. Some days I don't want to leave, 
             but it is time, which brings me to some profoundly 
             important notes of gratitude.
               To my colleagues, I say thank you.
               I have mentioned some. I could mention so many. You are 
             dedicated, you are brilliant, and you are public servants. 
             I love you for putting up with what you have to, 
             particularly the way elections are these days. I respect 
             you for it so much. Thank you for fighting alongside me. 
             Thank you for challenging me.
               To my staff, a Senator is really nothing without his 
             staff or her staff, and there is not a more committed, 
             talented, and deeply passionate staff in the U.S. Senate. 
             To my staff, you live and you breathe your work every day. 
             You inspire me with your endless capacity for redressing 
             injustice and fighting for people who need you and come to 
             you in need. You never turned a single West Virginian 
             away. I glory in my gratitude to you.
               To my family, who has sacrificed so much, I thank you. I 
             have been selfish in my devotion to my work, and I have 
             been vastly inept in balancing family and work. Public 
             service is not encouraging of balance.
               Sharon, you are everything--an extraordinary mother, a 
             remarkable businesswoman, and you are a public servant. 
             You have been a visionary in public broadcasting. Our 
             entire Nation is indebted to your efforts to educate and 
             inform us. The impact you continue to make on public life 
             is truly remarkable. Any achievement I am proud of I share 
             with you eternally.
               (Applause, Senators rising.)
               Our children--John, Valerie, Charles, and Justin--have 
             all been very thoughtful and endlessly supportive in my 
             absences. Our grandchildren bring me so much joy, and I 
             really hope to see a lot more of them.
               To West Virginia, thank you for placing your faith in 
             me--I know it was hard at first--and giving me the 
             greatest reward: the chance to fight for meaningful and 
             lasting opportunity for those who were too often forgotten 
             but absolutely deserve the best.
               My fellow West Virginians, I am forever inspired by you, 
             and I am forever transformed by you.
               I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield the floor.
               (Applause, Senators rising.)
?

                                           

                                      TRIBUTES

                                         TO

                               JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV
                              Proceedings in the Senate
                                             Thursday, December 4, 2014
               Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I have a couple of things I 
             wish to do before I assume the Chair, and I want to 
             express my great gratitude to my friend from Massachusetts 
             for his willingness to sit tight for a little bit.
               I was sitting here thinking about the two men I want to 
             talk about, and I was thinking about how similar they are; 
             how different their backgrounds are but how similar their 
             goals in life and their interests in the people they 
             serve. It is the great irony of our democracy that 
             regardless of where you come from, if you come to serve 
             the public, you come to love the public, and you come to 
             believe in the work you do and believe that every person 
             has to be given an opportunity.
               So I first want to offer my great condolences to the 
             family of Mayor Denny Walaker from our great city of 
             Fargo, ND. It is truly with a heavy heart I come to the 
             floor to pay tribute to the mayor of Fargo. ...
               Mr. President, I have only known Jay for a couple of 
             years. When I first started, I would go home to North 
             Dakota and people would ask me kind of consistently: So 
             whom do you meet? To whom do you listen? What has been a 
             big surprise? Who are your favorite people?
               This may come as a surprise because I didn't come with 
             the idea that I would have an opportunity to work with or 
             spend time with Senator Rockefeller, but I said, ``The one 
             person who impressed me the most when I first got here was 
             Senator Jay Rockefeller.''
               For so many of us, he is a giant--not only physically.
               They would say, ``What about him?''
               One of my finest moments was watching Senator 
             Rockefeller stand and visit with Barbara Mikulski. I am 
             pretty sure she might be the shortest person in the 
             Senate, and I am pretty sure Jay might be the tallest.
               I would say, ``What you don't know about Senator 
             Rockefeller is that not only in intellectual stature but 
             in physical stature he is a giant of a man.''
               But it is not the intellectual stature of Senator 
             Rockefeller that impressed me. It certainly wasn't his 
             size that impressed me. It was the size of his heart and 
             how much he cared for the people he served in West 
             Virginia.
               I had a chance this year to travel to West Virginia and 
             spend time with the folks of his great State. As they were 
             looking at this transition, they would tell me stories 
             about Senator Rockefeller. They would tell me stories 
             about what he meant to them and the things he had gone out 
             of his way to do--things that were beyond maybe even what 
             the expectations of a populous would ever be, but Jay was 
             there for them, and they knew that every day when he woke 
             up, in his heart were the people of West Virginia. I think 
             we heard that today with his floor speech, as he talked 
             about the impact of coming to West Virginia as a young 
             VISTA worker, the impact it had on him that changed his 
             life and created the man we see today.
               So I celebrate a Senator with an enormous intellect and 
             an enormous capacity for facts and data and public policy, 
             but that wasn't what made him a great Senator. What made 
             Jay Rockefeller a great Senator was his enormous heart for 
             the people he served.
               Mr. President, I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.

               Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I begin by echoing the 
             wonderful analysis of my colleague Senator Heitkamp 
             relative to how much we are all going to miss Senator Jay 
             Rockefeller. As she pointed out, he reminded us today why 
             we all are here, and that is to try to make a difference 
             for our constituents and for the people we serve. No one 
             did that better than Jay Rockefeller. He was always a 
             voice for those most in need and never stopped fighting 
             for the people he served. We will certainly miss him. ...

               Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Scripture tells us that to 
             those whom much is given, much is required. My friend, 
             Senator Jay Rockefeller, can rest well knowing that he has 
             passed that biblical test.
               John Davison Rockefeller IV, is the eldest son of the 
             eldest son of the eldest son of the founder of Standard 
             Oil--America's first billionaire. Senator Rockefeller grew 
             up amid wealth in Manhattan and Westchester County, NY. He 
             prepped at Exeter and graduated from Harvard. He was 
             destined for a life of comfort and privilege far removed 
             from the struggle of the poor. But this man, this 
             Rockefeller, consciously chose a different path in life. 
             And he has spent 50 years--two-thirds of his life--working 
             to try to make life better for people who too often have 
             precious little.
               He has been a Member of this Senate for 30 years. You 
             can see his legacy throughout West Virginia and across 
             America. You can see it in children who have better 
             schools, miners who have safer working conditions and 
             seniors who have retired with greater dignity. You can see 
             his legacy in the 8 million American children who receive 
             health care through CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance 
             Program, which Jay Rockefeller authored.
               You can see his formidable legacy in the additional 
             millions of Americans who--because of the Affordable Care 
             Act--now have reliable health insurance, many of them for 
             the first time in their lives. No one in this Senate has 
             worked longer than he for affordable health care for all 
             Americans.
               Unlike some Senators, Jay Rockefeller did not grow up 
             dreaming of being a Senator. As a young man at Harvard, he 
             had planned a career in diplomacy, focusing on Asia. He 
             even took time off from college to live for a while in 
             Japan. But something momentous happened when he graduated 
             from college in 1961. America had just elected a hopeful, 
             young President who made Americans believe, as Senator 
             Rockefeller would later say, ``that America could achieve 
             anything.''
               Senator Rockefeller called his father and his Uncle 
             Nelson, then the Governor of New York, to let them know he 
             had switched from Rockefeller Republican to Kennedy 
             Democrat. The family took the news surprisingly well.
               Soon after, Senator Rockefeller was asked by Robert 
             Kennedy to help establish the Peace Corps; he worked for 2 
             years as a chief assistant to Sargent Shriver, the first 
             Peace Corps director.
               In 1964 a friend told him that he did not need to travel 
             halfway around the world to help people in need. There 
             were people here in America, in his friend's home State of 
             West Virginia, living on the outskirts of hope. So Jay 
             Rockefeller asked Bobby Kennedy to send him to West 
             Virginia as a volunteer for VISTA, the precursor to 
             AmeriCorps.
               He planned to spend a year in West Virginia. He has 
             never left.
               At age 27, in the tiny Appalachian coal mining town of 
             Emmons, WV--population 346--Jay Rockefeller discovered his 
             defining purpose. He saw that people working together and 
             a caring government could transform lives and communities 
             for the better.
               In 1966, he was elected to West Virginia's House of 
             Delegates.
               In 1968 he was running for West Virginia secretary of 
             state when his last great hero, Bobby Kennedy, was 
             murdered. His Uncle Nelson, Governor of New York, offered 
             repeatedly to appoint his nephew to fill out Senator 
             Kennedy's term in the U.S. Senate--but Jay Rockefeller 
             refused. He told his uncle that if he were going to serve 
             in this Senate, he wanted to earn his seat.
               He won that race for secretary of state and went on to 
             serve two terms as West Virginia's Governor.
               In 30 years in the U.S. Senate, Senator Rockefeller has 
             been a passionate advocate for his State, for America's 
             children, for seniors, coal miners and others. He not only 
             earned his seat in this body, he distinguished it with his 
             thoughtful, compassionate, dedicated service.
               Five years ago, during a late-night Senate Finance 
             Committee markup of the bill that would become the 
             Affordable Care Act, Senator Rockefeller recalled some of 
             the people from that little mining town of Emmons, WV, who 
             he met 50 years ago. It was close to midnight on a Friday 
             night. His voice broke with emotion as he spoke about the 
             hardships and unfairness that pervaded the lives of many 
             of the people in Emmons. He also spoke about the hope that 
             good government programs, like Medicare and Medicaid, had 
             brought to their lives.
               He said that he had kept a journal during his VISTA 
             years in Emmons and written detailed notes in it each 
             night. He said that, in 43 years, he had never been able 
             to bring himself to open that book. It was too painful to 
             look back.
               When Senator Rockefeller looks back on his years in the 
             Senate, I hope that he will feel a deserved sense of pride 
             in the great and positive changes he helped make possible 
             during his time here. I wish him, his wonderful and 
             accomplished wife Sharon--the daughter of former Illinois 
             Senator Charles Percy--and their family all the best in 
             their future endeavors.

               Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, in his three decades in the 
             Senate, Jay Rockefeller established a strong reputation as 
             a leader who offered innovative, commonsense solutions. He 
             has served the people of West Virginia and of America with 
             distinction. To me, he has been an admired colleague. He 
             will always be a good friend.
               To fully understand Senator Rockefeller's dedication 
             during his 30 years of service in the Senate, it is 
             necessary to go back 50 years, to 1964, when he traveled 
             to West Virginia as a VISTA volunteer. Like Maine, West 
             Virginia is a large rural State with many low-income 
             residents and an aging population. From strengthening our 
             rural hospitals to fighting the scourge of prescription 
             drug abuse, I have been fortunate to work with a leader 
             who sees access to affordable, quality health care not as 
             just a series of issues to address but as his life's work.
               One of our greatest achievements together was the 
             inclusion of our language in the 2003 tax bill to provide 
             temporary, targeted fiscal relief to the States--which, at 
             the time, were awash in red ink due to a severe economic 
             downturn driven in large part by the terrorist attacks of 
             September 11, 2001. Senator Rockefeller and I worked with 
             then-Senator Ben Nelson on legislation to provide $20 
             billion in short-term fiscal relief to States, half of 
             which was used to provide health insurance to low-income 
             citizens through the Medicaid Program. In Senator 
             Rockefeller's words, ``No government program more fully 
             embodies our nation's tradition of community and mutual 
             obligation than Medicaid,'' and he has consistently 
             demonstrated national leadership to provide essential 
             health care services to the most vulnerable among us.
               As cochair of the Congressional Task Force on 
             Alzheimer's Disease, I have greatly appreciated Senator 
             Rockefeller's leadership on legislative initiatives to 
             combat Alzheimer's, as well as the contributions the 
             Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute makes to 
             our understanding and eventual conquest of this 
             devastating illness.
               From VISTA volunteer to Governor and Senator, Senator 
             Rockefeller has devoted a half century of intellect, 
             energy, and compassion to others. There is no better way 
             to sum up his contributions than the words the Senator 
             himself chose when he announced his retirement: ``Public 
             service demands and very much deserves nothing less than 
             every single thing that you have to bring to bear.'' That 
             is precisely what Senator Jay Rockefeller has given his 
             State and our country, and I thank him for his commitment, 
             integrity, and friendship.

               Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, It is one of the Senate's great 
             traditions that each retiring Senator is given some time 
             on the floor to share with us what they have learned 
             during their service in the Senate and their thoughts 
             about our future as a Nation as the chapter of this great 
             adventure in their life comes to a close. Then, we, their 
             colleagues, take a moment to share with them what we have 
             learned from them from their service in the Senate and 
             what lessons we will take with us in the days and months 
             to come from our work together here in the Capitol.
               That is why I greatly appreciate having the opportunity 
             to be here for Jay's final speech on the Senate floor. It 
             is one of those moments that I will long remember, another 
             moment in which Jay has not only been a witness to our 
             Nation's history, but in this case, it's another time when 
             he has written it with his well-chosen words.
               This moment is one of those I call an instant replay 
             memory. It means so much to me because I have known Jay 
             Rockefeller for a longer time than I have known any other 
             Member of the Senate. In fact, when we first met, serving 
             in Washington, DC, here in the Senate, was the furthest 
             thing from our minds.
               When I first had the chance to get to know Jay he was 
             the Governor of West Virginia and I was the mayor of 
             Gillette. Coal was a great part of the day-to-day life of 
             my hometown and his home State and together we were 
             serving on the Energy Council. I remember when Jay came to 
             Gillette for a visit. I had the chance to give him a tour 
             of the mines of the Gillette area. As we were traveling 
             around the site Jay said to me, ``You don't mine coal. You 
             just back up the trains and load them up!'' I knew 
             immediately what point he was making about the difference 
             between the mines of Gillette and the mines of West 
             Virginia. While the people of my State were working to 
             keep up coal production by removing the surface coal 
             facing one set of hazards, West Virginia miners were 
             heading deep into the earth to face a different kind of 
             challenge.
               Make no mistake, mining is both a difficult and a 
             dangerous occupation for all who have dedicated their 
             lives to working the mines. It is labor intensive and 
             every miner who makes it down the shafts to begin work 
             knows there is always a chance they might not be coming 
             home again.
               It was a lesson we were reminded of in 2006 when the 
             mine tragedies occurred at the Alma and Sago mines in West 
             Virginia. Those were difficult days for his State. Jay's 
             leadership came to the front as we went as a delegation to 
             console the families of those miners from the Sago mines 
             who had lost their lives and listened to their concerns. 
             They shared their great loss with us, but as they did 
             there was another message that seemed to come to us from 
             all those with whom we spoke--``Don't let this happen to 
             another family.'' It was clear. Something needed to be 
             done to bring mine safety up to more modern standards. 
             After meeting with the families we returned to Washington 
             committed to get something done to honor the memory of 
             those lost miners and make mining a safer occupation. As I 
             thought about the beginnings of a legislative response to 
             this issue, I remembered Jay's remarks to me that day in 
             Gillette as he pointed out the different mining standards 
             and the need for different approaches to mining safety. It 
             was clear that a safety policy for our Nation's mines 
             would have to address every facet of the industry and 
             bring more modern technologies to accident prevention and 
             rescue efforts.
               Soon after we returned from West Virginia the entire 
             delegation joined together to begin the work that needed 
             to be done to minimize the danger and increase our ability 
             to respond whenever a problem or hazard threatened the 
             miners. The result was the Mine Improvement and New 
             Emergency Response (MINER) Act. It was the first major 
             advance in mining safety that had been legislated in 30 
             years. That law will always be remembered as a part of 
             Jay's legacy of service to the people of West Virginia. It 
             was a change in our mining communities and businesses that 
             will continue to have an impact in the years to come in 
             our ability to protect the lives of miners all over this 
             Nation. It is also a warning--as use of coal plunges, 
             there is less incentive for safety inventors.
               That is just one moment in which Jay made a difference 
             in the present and future of our Nation. If you look at 
             Jay's impressive legislative record throughout his career 
             you will note that he has been productive and effective in 
             promoting his legislative agenda no matter which party was 
             in control of the Congress. That is because Jay has always 
             been willing to work with Members from both sides of the 
             aisle and all sides of an issue. That is why he has been 
             able to accomplish so very much for West Virginia and the 
             Nation.
               As we have heard, Jay has quite a remarkable story to 
             tell. It truly began years ago when a younger--but equally 
             committed--Jay Rockefeller came to work in a small town in 
             West Virginia as a part of the VISTA Program. The plan was 
             for him to work with the people of the area for about a 
             year. As the old adage says so well, ``God had other 
             plans.'' That experience changed his life and his goals 
             for the future. It led him to run for office and then 
             progress in opportunity and service to the people of West 
             Virginia as he worked his way to the U.S. Senate and this 
             moment on the Senate floor.
               So, that is what I have learned from you, Jay. As I 
             mentioned, there are times when we are sure what we want 
             to do with our lives, but ``God has other plans'' which 
             often leads to something better for us and the world 
             around us than what we were planning on. If Jay hadn't 
             made that decision back when he first arrived in West 
             Virginia to do whatever he could to make life better for 
             the people of that State it might never have been 
             accomplished quite the way he has been able to do it. I 
             have always suspected that God gives us all a mission in 
             life, a chance to respond to a higher calling and make 
             that inspired moment the beginning of our life's work. Jay 
             Rockefeller did that and that is the lesson I have learned 
             from him.
               Thanks for your service in the Senate, Jay, and for all 
             you have done for West Virginia and our Nation. Thanks, 
             too, for your friendship. Fortunately, you will never be 
             more than a phone call away. Keep in touch. Your comments, 
             suggestions, and West Virginia commonsense ideas will 
             always be welcome. Diana joins in sending our best wishes 
             to you. We will look forward to seeing you in the days and 
             months to come.

               Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, today we honor the 
             distinguished career of my dear friend and colleague, 
             Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.
               As a young man, with all his talents--and coming from a 
             prominent family--there were many things Jay Rockefeller 
             could have done with his life.
               His choice says more about him than any speech in the 
             Senate ever could: He chose to devote himself to serving 
             others.
               So he volunteered for the Peace Corps, and then the 
             AmeriCorps VISTA Program, which brought him to the small 
             mining town of Emmons, WV.
               That is where he discovered the purpose that would 
             define his career--and his life.
               From that day forward, he took a personal stake in the 
             issues that affected West Virginians.
               That passion became stronger as he climbed the ranks of 
             government, from secretary of state, to Governor, and 
             finally to U.S. Senator. Through it all, he remained 
             grounded by a sensibility of what was best for the people 
             he met in Emmons--and throughout the Mountain State.
               He met West Virginians who could not afford basic health 
             care--and so Senator Rockefeller became a champion for 
             reform that made health care a right, not a privilege.
               He met West Virginians who were hurt in mining 
             accidents, or made ill from the air they breathed, and he 
             fought for reforms that improved their safety.
               He has always understood that our Nation is best when we 
             have jobs that make the middle class strong, like 
             manufacturing. The coal, steel, and chemical industries in 
             West Virginia have all relied on his support.
               He believed that government should fight for those who 
             were least able to fight for themselves.
               This compelled him to go to work on behalf of children 
             whose families did not qualify for Medicaid--and yet could 
             not afford private insurance. In 1997, he was a leader in 
             creating the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as 
             CHIP, and ever since, those children would not be allowed 
             to slip through the cracks in our health care system.
               Senator Rockefeller's impulse to speak up for those who 
             did not have a voice led him to seek improvements for the 
             care of foster children, working to expand incentives for 
             parents to adopt so that foster children could have a 
             permanent home.
               On the other end of the spectrum, he was compelled to 
             fight to keep Medicare strong, so that it had the funding 
             it needed to make good on its promise to our Nation's 
             seniors. He was committed to making sure that all safety 
             net programs stayed true to their founding principles, 
             which is why he has resisted efforts to privatize Social 
             Security and promoted programs that increase seniors' 
             access to affordable prescription drugs.
               Even as he tackled the tough issues, Senator 
             Rockefeller's charm and sincerity were key to bridging 
             partisan gaps and building consensus necessary to get 
             bills passed.
               Senator Rockefeller leaves the Senate, after a 
             distinguished career. Fortunately for us, his legacy of 
             compassionate and conscientious service will endure long 
             into the future.
               I know how hard it is for Senator Rockefeller to leave 
             this Chamber. I hope he knows that it is hard for us to 
             watch him go.
               I thank Senator Rockefeller, for his tireless service to 
             this country, and for his faithful service to the people 
             of West Virginia.

               Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, Senator Rockefeller's nearly 
             50 years of public service has left West Virginia and our 
             country a better place. Whether it is promoting health 
             care, education, economic growth, or veterans, Senator 
             Rockefeller has led the way, acting to improve the lives 
             of hard-working Americans.
               When it comes to protecting consumers and children, 
             Senator Rockefeller has been a legislative partner and a 
             national leader. I want to especially point out his 
             tireless efforts to increase educational opportunities for 
             children around the country.
               The E-rate has proved essential and exceptional in 
             linking up schools and libraries to the Internet. The E-
             rate has democratized access to brighter futures and 
             better technology. The E-rate is the only technology that 
             has been deployed as fast in poor neighborhoods as it has 
             in rich ones.
               Chairman Rockefeller, your legacy will live on for 
             decades to come. Whether in rural areas, or urban ones, 
             affluent, or low-income communities, all corners of our 
             great Nation will continue to feel your impact.
               Finally, I want to personally thank you for your 
             friendship throughout my tenure in Congress.
               These walls will feel emptier without you next year.
               I wish you, your wife Sharon, and the rest of your 
             family many more years of fulfillment in your next 
             endeavors.
                                               Monday, December 8, 2014
               Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is said that you do not 
             choose your family, and that is true. We are born into our 
             families. We have no way to determine the family we are 
             born into. Yet as a 27-year-old Jay Rockefeller chose to 
             make the people of West Virginia his family. How did that 
             happen? How did Jay Rockefeller, born in New York to one 
             of the most famous American families, one of the great 
             dynasties in the history of this country, end up in West 
             Virginia?
               He was an undergraduate student at Harvard. He decided 
             he did not like some of the things Harvard was doing, and 
             so he left. He dropped out of school and went to Japan. He 
             spent 3 years in Japan. He became an interpreter. He knows 
             the Japanese language extremely well. He loves the 
             Japanese people. He started out at Harvard. As I 
             indicated, after his junior year, he left for Japan. He 
             was there for 3 years. He came home, returned to Harvard, 
             and finished his degree.
               Jay Rockefeller, as a 27-year-old, could have done 
             anything, gone anyplace, gotten any education, started any 
             business, or he could have sat around at a home on one of 
             the beaches around the world and just done nothing. But 
             that is not Jay Rockefeller. He wanted to do something. He 
             did not know what he wanted to do. This Rockefeller wanted 
             to do something that was different.
               A friend of his published here for many years a magazine 
             called the Washington Monthly, a guy by the name of Pete 
             Peters. He was a man-about-town. Everybody liked him very 
             much, and he was very close to Jay Rockefeller. So Jay 
             talked to him one day trying to find what he should do in 
             life. Here he was, one of the wealthiest men in America. 
             He had a Harvard degree.
               ``What should I do?''
               Pete Peters told him, ``What you should do is go 
             someplace and work with poor people.''
               ``Where should I go?''
               ``Why not West Virginia?''
               ``West Virginia?''
               ``West Virginia.''
               So he joined AmeriCorps. As a VISTA volunteer, he moved 
             to the small mining community of Emmons, WV. That was in 
             1964. This man of means, this man of stature, this man of 
             notoriety went to this small little town in West Virginia.
               It was not easy for Jay Rockefeller to suddenly find 
             himself in a setting he had never imagined. In the first 6 
             months he was there, he could hardly get anyone to talk to 
             him. He is kind of an intimidating man. His name is 
             Rockefeller. He is 6 feet 7. But eventually his goodness 
             came through. The people of Emmons, WV, started talking to 
             him, and they really liked the man. From 1964 when he 
             moved there, he knew he wanted to identify with poor 
             people, and that is what he has done since 1964.
               In 1966 he was elected to the West Virginia House of 
             Delegates Assembly.
               In 1968 he was chosen to serve as the secretary of state 
             in the State of West Virginia.
               He then became the president of West Virginia Wesleyan 
             College and served there for 3 years.
               He then was twice elected Governor of the State of West 
             Virginia. He served from 1976 to 1984.
               Governor Rockefeller became Senator Rockefeller in 1985. 
             From the time he first stepped onto the Senate floor, he 
             made it clear he was here for one reason: to fight for the 
             people of West Virginia. Senator Rockefeller fought to 
             provide his constituents with health care. He was an 
             architect of CHIP, a children's health program. It is an 
             insurance program. The Children's Health Insurance Program 
             is one of the most important health initiatives in 
             America's history for kids. He fought to protect Medicaid 
             for half a million West Virginians and for millions and 
             millions of Americans.
               He has been a senior member of the Committee on Finance, 
             the chairman of the Commerce Committee, and chairman of 
             the Intelligence Committee. What a remarkable career he 
             has had. He fought very hard to protect the American 
             people from President Bush's efforts to privatize Social 
             Security. He has protected retirement disability benefits 
             by doing that for millions and millions of Americans.
               His efforts to help West Virginia have not been confined 
             to this building. As the senior Senator from West 
             Virginia, this big man--I repeat, 6 feet 7--with a very 
             long reach, has used that reach to bring jobs to his home 
             State as Governor and as Senator. Because of his 
             recruiting, there are thousands and thousands of West 
             Virginians employed at the Toyota factory in Buffalo; Hino 
             Motors in Williamstown; and at the Kureha plant in a town 
             called Belle. Thousands and thousands of jobs. Diamond 
             Electric, Nippon Thermostat, and NGK Spark Plugs are all 
             companies Senator and Governor Rockefeller helped bring to 
             West Virginia.
               The people of West Virginia have been blessed to have 
             Senator Jay Rockefeller as a family member for the last 50 
             years. They have been blessed to have a person of his 
             integrity and tenacity looking out for them in the Senate.
               My respect for Jay Rockefeller is unlimited. He has been 
             my colleague for the entire time I have been in the 
             Congress--32 years. Now, as his time in the Senate comes 
             to an end, he will be sorely missed.
               I am sure Jay is looking forward to spending more time 
             with Sharon, this wonderful woman--and by the way, whose 
             father was a U.S. Senator--and their children John, 
             Valerie, Charles, and Justin, and their six grandchildren.
               I so admire this good man. I congratulate him on a very 
             distinguished career, including five terms in the U.S. 
             Senate and two terms as Governor. I wish him the very best 
             in life.

               Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I have only heard two of the 
             comments of the majority leader--one for the distinguished 
             Senator from Michigan [Mr. Levin] and one for the 
             distinguished Senator from West Virginia [Mr. 
             Rockefeller]. I have to say that both of those Senators 
             deserve a lot of commendation for the service they have 
             given to the Senate. They are both friends of mine. ...
               Senator Rockefeller is on the Finance Committee with me. 
             He is one of the senior people on that committee and 
             certainly one of the people I have enjoyed working with. 
             We worked a number of years ago on the CHIP bill, the 
             SCHIP bill, and he was of inestimable help there. I have 
             to say he has been a wonderful member of the very 
             important Finance Committee.
               I will miss both of these brethren and wish them the 
             very best in their lives as they go through the remaining 
             years of their lives, and hopefully they and their 
             families will have a wonderful time together.

               Mr. NELSON. ... I reflect back just a few days ago when 
             Senator Rockefeller gave his farewell speech. He is 
             another extraordinary public servant who has demonstrated 
             selfless public service. He is a Senator who, because of 
             his family heritage, could have done anything he wanted, 
             but he chose--after a life of privilege, growing up as a 
             young man, and after having spent time abroad--to go to 
             one of the poorest States in the Union. He first was a 
             volunteer to the poor and later developed a distinguished 
             record of public service that included secretary of state, 
             Governor, and now a five-term Senator. I will speak later 
             about other colleagues who are leaving.
               These are just two examples. Senator Rockefeller and my 
             seatmate Senator Pryor are extraordinary public servants 
             who when you talked to them and when you looked in their 
             eyes, if they gave you their word, that was it. You didn't 
             have to worry about it.
               Some say it is a throwback to the old days. The old days 
             is a throwback that we ought to go to, when if a Senator 
             gave you his or her word, that was it, when there was 
             civility among Senators, when there was not an avalanche 
             of outside money that came in to try to define you with 
             statements that were not true.
               We see what has happened to our politics in America 
             today with exceptional millions of dollars coming into a 
             State, buying up television, to create a statement in 27 
             seconds often that is not true and that fact checkers say 
             is not true, factcheck.org and Politifact.
               Yet when we talk to the TV stations and the broadcast 
             stations and show them the fact checkers, they will still 
             run the TV ads. But rather than talk about the mistakes 
             that were made with the Citizens United Supreme Court case 
             and missing by one vote in this Chamber several years 
             ago--we had 59 votes and we needed 60 to cut off debate so 
             we could get to the DISCLOSE Act, a DISCLOSE Act that did 
             not counter the Supreme Court decision, it just said if 
             you are going to spend all this money, you are going to 
             have to say who it is that is doing the contribution.
               Of course, if we had been able to pass that, then all of 
             this money would not be flowing because it is hiding 
             behind this masquerade of the Committee for Good 
             Government or the ABC committee for whatever. So they 
             masquerade behind that veil to spend all of that money for 
             their ultimate purposes.
               It caught a number of our people. Just look at what 
             happened in the runoff election this last Saturday. Look 
             at the imbalance of the spending on television that 
             occurred since the general election and the runoff in the 
             State of Louisiana.
               I will speak about Senator Landrieu, Senator Udall, 
             Senator Begich, and Senator Kay Hagan later.
               I wanted particularly to talk about Senator Rockefeller, 
             our chairman of the Commerce Committee, and Senator Pryor, 
             one of the finest public servants I have ever had a chance 
             to serve with.
                                              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. ...
               Today, we are recognizing the work of Jay Rockefeller as 
             chairman of the Intelligence Committee, along with Senator 
             Feinstein. But he has been such a stalwart in so many 
             different areas: as chairman of the Commerce Committee, 
             someone who has championed the Children's Health Insurance 
             Program, someone who has been in the lead with respect to 
             advocacy for the E-rate, which helps bring broadband 
             connectivity to all of our libraries and schools, to 
             EPSCoR. I can go on and on for a remarkable career by a 
             remarkable individual, a real gentleman, someone whom I am 
             proud to call a friend and am deeply indebted to his 
             friendship. ...
               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. 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.

               Mr. MURPHY. Mr. President, I add my congratulations to 
             Senator Chambliss. It is strange, coming here in the last 
             2 years and getting to serve only 2 years with giants in 
             the Senate like Saxby, like Tom Harkin, and like Senator 
             Rockefeller, whose legacies will live on. ...
                        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. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I wish to share a few 
             remarks as we mark the end of the long tenure of Senator 
             Jay Rockefeller and his service to his country and to the 
             Senate. He has served in the Senate for 30 years. He 
             served two terms as Governor of West Virginia, and served 
             as secretary of state, and in the house of delegates.
               He came to the State of West Virginia as a young VISTA 
             volunteer. I have heard him tell the story about that, how 
             he really wanted to participate and reach out and help 
             others. He came to West Virginia as a young man and 
             stayed. He worked with people in a small mining community. 
             His heart was right to try to be helpful. He came from a 
             prestigious family, but he wanted to help others.
               He has been a remarkable Member of the Senate for 30 
             years now. He has a brilliant mind, capable of grasping 
             all sorts of thoughts, but he also has the ability to 
             delight in little things. One of those is sports. He has a 
             tremendous capacity to have in that brain of his sports 
             trivia. He likes the Atlanta Braves. He knows Southeastern 
             Conference football. I have been pleased to be able to 
             chat with him on occasion on the floor.
               It just goes to show a lot of times people don't realize 
             that we get along pretty well in this body personally. We 
             may disagree on issues, but we care about one another. Jay 
             Rockefeller has always been nice to me. He has always been 
             a friend. He has always been courteous. He has always been 
             collegial to me, and I have appreciated that over the 
             years. So I wish to thank him for his service to his 
             country, his commitment to others, and I wish him Godspeed 
             in his further endeavors.
                                              Friday, December 12, 2014
               Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I pay tribute to my friend 
             and colleague Jay Rockefeller, who will soon retire from 
             the Senate. I have known Jay for many years. He is a man 
             of principle who has dedicated his life to serving the 
             citizens of West Virginia. He is a serious legislator and 
             an honorable man. I will miss him.
               Senator Rockefeller is a member of a prominent and 
             distinguished American family. He is the great-grandson of 
             John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil. Jay was 
             born in New York City and attended school at Phillips 
             Exeter Academy and Harvard College, from which he earned 
             an A.B. After college Jay worked for the Peace Corps and 
             the Department of Far Eastern Affairs. He then went to 
             work for the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) 
             Program, during which time he moved to West Virginia.
               Senator Rockefeller began his political career in 1966, 
             when he was elected to the West Virginia House of 
             Delegates. Two years later he became the West Virginia 
             secretary of state. After a brief stint as president of 
             West Virginia Wesleyan College, Jay returned to public 
             service in 1976, when he was elected Governor of West 
             Virginia. Following two successful terms as Governor, he 
             won election to the U.S. Senate in 1984, where he has 
             served ever since.
               Senator Rockefeller has held a number of important 
             positions in the Senate, including chairman of the Senate 
             Select Committee on Intelligence, where I was privileged 
             to serve with him. This is a crucially important committee 
             that deals with some of the weightiest issues that come 
             before Congress. Jay led the committee with equanimity and 
             respect. His work helped keep our country safe.
               Senator Rockefeller has also been an active legislator. 
             I was honored to work with him on the creation of the 
             State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, which 
             has made health insurance available to millions of 
             children. Other issues Jay and I have worked on together 
             over the years include tax reform, stem cell research, and 
             protecting the American flag. He and I did not always see 
             eye to eye, but I always knew he did what he thought was 
             right.
               Mr. President, I am grateful to have been able to serve 
             alongside Senator Rockefeller these past 30 years. He's a 
             man of deep conviction, and a man utterly devoted to the 
             people of his home State of West Virginia. I wish the very 
             best for him, his wife Sharon, and their family as they 
             enter the next chapter of their lives.

               Mr. CASEY. Madam President, as the 113th Congress comes 
             to a close, the time has come to say goodbye to several 
             colleagues and friends who will leave at the end of this 
             Congress. Today, I would like to pay tribute to our friend 
             and colleague, Jay Rockefeller. Senator Rockefeller has 
             served the people of West Virginia for 50 years, the last 
             30 of them in the U.S. Senate.
               While Senator Rockefeller has accomplished many notable 
             things in his decades of service, you can really sum up 
             much of what he did for our country in one word--kids. 
             Nelson Mandela once said ``There can be no keener 
             revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it 
             treats its children.'' Jay Rockefeller worked tirelessly 
             to ensure that we never lost sight of our children as we 
             worked on issues large and small.
               One key example of his advocacy is the Children's Health 
             Insurance Program or CHIP as it is better known. In the 
             1990s, Members like Jay Rockefeller came together and 
             created CHIP to ensure low-income children of working 
             parents had access to health care. When my father was 
             Governor of Pennsylvania, he signed into law the CHIP 
             Program that initially insured over 50,000 children across 
             the State and served as a model for the national program. 
             On a personal level, I thank Senator Rockefeller for 
             helping to expand this program to children around the 
             country and I look forward to working with my colleagues 
             to ensure CHIP remains strong for children in the years 
             ahead.
               In 2009 health care reform was on the agenda again and 
             Jay Rockefeller played a key role in getting a number of 
             important provisions included. He pushed to expand 
             Medicaid and to make sure insurance companies actually 
             spent the bulk of dollars on health care and not 
             administrative costs. He also worked to ensure that 
             information provided to consumers buying insurance on the 
             exchange could be understood by all, and, of course, he 
             led the charge to protect CHIP kids and make sure they did 
             not end up with the short end of the stick.
               Senator Rockefeller's work extends far beyond health 
             care and children. Coal miners and their families have had 
             no better friend in the Senate than Jay Rockefeller. He 
             has tirelessly fought and won battles to protect their 
             health, safety, and pensions while also protecting and 
             preserving black lung benefits for workers made sick by 
             doing their jobs. His advocacy in this body will be 
             missed. Now it is up to the rest of us to carry the torch.
               Senator Rockefeller is quoted as follows in the 
             Charleston Daily Mail last year:

               Rockefeller said he knew all the Kennedys well but liked 
             Bobby best. ``Because he struck me,'' Rockefeller said. 
             ``He had a soul, and there are a lot of photographs of him 
             in West Virginia later when he ran for president sitting 
             on a slag heap, looking mournful, looking off into the 
             distance, thinking, `Why does this condition exist, what 
             can I do?'''

               Jay Rockefeller also has a soul and he has spent his 
             life asking those same questions and finding ways to make 
             things better. We will miss him in the Senate. We will 
             miss his conscience and his voice, but we will never 
             forget his example. I thank him for his decades of service 
             and wish him well.
                                              Monday, December 15, 2014
               Mr. WYDEN. ... With respect to Senator Rockefeller, one 
             of the challenges right now for some of us is to get our 
             arms around the idea that Senator Rockefeller will no 
             longer be serving in the Senate. This is a challenge for 
             me especially because I remember watching Senator 
             Rockefeller's work years before I had entered public life.
               Right after I got out of law school, we started the 
             Oregon Gray Panthers. I had a full head of hair and rugged 
             good looks. We were passing around petitions for the 
             wonderful work Senator Rockefeller was doing on behalf of 
             the elderly. He was in the vanguard even then in the 
             health care field. I know the Presiding Officer from the 
             State of Wisconsin has been very interested in this--in 
             ensuring that there are more options for older people, 
             particularly in the long-term care setting.
               We were passing petitions around--the Gray Panthers back 
             in those days--urging that Americans and the Senate all 
             rally to Senator Rockefeller's work to ensure that there 
             were more alternatives to nursing home care. It was just 
             the beginning of the effort to create more options for 
             home care for seniors. Now it is an idea we pretty much 
             accept as gospel. But Senator Rockefeller, as has been the 
             case, was way ahead of his time. That is the time when I 
             began to really be a charter member of what I guess I will 
             call the Rockefeller grassroots delegation that was 
             sweeping the country for health care reform.
               As the Presiding Officer and our colleagues know, 
             Senator Rockefeller's accomplishments in a number of 
             fields have been exceptional. They span a host of issues, 
             from cybersecurity to reducing violence on television to 
             improving our transportation system and, of course, we 
             have all seen his leadership in reining in some of the 
             excesses of the CIA. He is a very strong supporter of the 
             rank and file--the thousands of individuals who work in 
             the intelligence field who are as patriotic as it is 
             possible to be and do wonderful work to protect our 
             people. Senator Rockefeller has said that as they do that 
             work, they are stronger when there is vigorous 
             congressional oversight, and we are very grateful for his 
             work. I have sat next to him on the Intelligence Committee 
             for many years and have watched his leadership there.
               Today, though, as chairman of the Senate Finance 
             Committee, I wish to focus in particular on Senator 
             Rockefeller's work on that committee. I will start by 
             noting that his service on the Finance Committee is really 
             a family legacy. His great-grandfather, Nelson Aldrich, 
             the Senator from Rhode Island, not only served on the 
             Finance Committee but is often described as one of the 
             committee's most distinguished chairs. On the committee 
             Senator Rockefeller has exercised similar influence.
               Jay Rockefeller has served on the Senate Finance 
             Committee for 28 years--longer than all but 11 other 
             Senators--and his tireless work on the committee has had a 
             profound and positive impact. He has been a leader on 
             maintaining a strong U.S. trade policy, while thinking 
             creatively about Asia long before it became cool. He also 
             has been a great advocate for fairness in the tax system--
             something I know many of us consider a special priority at 
             this time.
               Senator Rockefeller has paid special attention to 
             programs such as the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, 
             including the health coverage tax credit, the earned-
             income tax credit, and the child tax credit. That was 
             drawn from recommendations of the National Commission on 
             Children which Senator Rockefeller, as is the case so 
             often, ably chaired.
               So I wish to speak about the common denominator in these 
             kinds of efforts. It is really pretty direct because it 
             captures Jay Rockefeller's approach to public service and 
             to life: Reach out to those who don't have power and 
             clout, those who don't have a lot of political influence 
             and political action committees, and lend a hand. Make the 
             difference. Particularly for millions of Americans to whom 
             Jay Rockefeller gave voice, now they have an opportunity--
             millions of men, women, and children--to enjoy better 
             lives and a more secure future because of Jay 
             Rockefeller's strong moral compass.
               Now, as I touched on at the beginning of my comments, my 
             first experience in watching Jay Rockefeller--I am of the 
             view that health care is the area where Senator 
             Rockefeller's legacy is going to be especially important. 
             In a sense, Jay Rockefeller always captured the notion 
             that if you and your loved ones don't have their health, 
             it is pretty hard to do anything else. In other words, if 
             you aren't feeling well, if you are facing a chronic 
             illness, how do you jump up and enjoy the wonderful 
             outdoors of Oregon, Wisconsin, and West Virginia? So Jay 
             Rockefeller always said that health care was a special 
             priority for him, and we see it in a whole host of 
             accomplishments.
               Jay Rockefeller has been a leader in the fight against 
             Alzheimer's and other neurological conditions. He was a 
             powerful and persistent voice, particularly in advocating 
             for low-income Americans in the Affordable Care Act. I am 
             especially pleased to note that Senator Rockefeller, along 
             with my colleague and partner on the Finance Committee 
             Senator Hatch, really played the key role in creating the 
             Children's Health Insurance Program. This is a program I 
             hope not only will be extended but also strengthened in 
             the next Congress. As many Members of this body know, Jay 
             Rockefeller's work to protect and expand Medicaid is 
             without equal.
               Over the past half century, we can count on one hand the 
             Senators who have done an extraordinary amount to improve 
             the health care of America, and when we look at that 
             handful of Senators, Jay Rockefeller is right at the top.
               I started with a personal comment about Jay Rockefeller, 
             and I wish to end with one. When Chairman Baucus chose to 
             take the Ambassador position in China, where he is doing a 
             fine job, Jay Rockefeller was next in line to replace 
             Chairman Baucus. Make no mistake about it, Jay Rockefeller 
             would have been an outstanding chairman of the Senate 
             Finance Committee. But his decision to decline that 
             opportunity and to continue his work on the Senate 
             Commerce Committee allowed me to accept the position as 
             the chairman of the Finance Committee and the 
             responsibility that has gone along with it. That kind of 
             approach was really characteristic of Jay Rockefeller--not 
             wanting to push himself out front. As I have indicated, I 
             told him I think he would have been a superb chairman of 
             the Senate Finance Committee. But I wish to note on the 
             personal side, as I started on the personal side, my 
             thanks to Jay Rockefeller.
               So I close simply by saying that now, as the chairman of 
             the Finance Committee and in the years ahead, my goal--
             when we take up issues such as health care, tax fairness, 
             and a trade policy that lets us tap global markets but 
             works for the middle class worker--and I think it is the 
             goal of other members of the Senate Finance Committee--it 
             is our goal in the days ahead to live up to the high 
             standard that Senator Jay Rockefeller has set.
               With that, I yield the floor on my remarks about Senator 
             Rockefeller.

               Mr. THUNE. I thank my colleague from Oregon Senator 
             Wyden for his continued leadership on this issue. I want 
             to echo what he said about Senator Rockefeller.
               I had the opportunity to serve as his ranking Republican 
             on the Senate Commerce Committee and really enjoyed 
             serving with him during his chairmanship and learned a 
             lot. He is someone who has great experience here--36 years 
             in the Senate. I have been here now for 10. So I have a 
             lot to learn from people like Senator Rockefeller.
               We did some good things together. We just recently got 
             through the Senate the cybersecurity bill that the 
             Commerce Committee passed earlier this year and the 
             satellite television reauthorization this year. It is 
             always somewhat controversial to move that legislation, 
             but we were successful in getting that ultimately enacted 
             this year. We moved the STB reauthorization bill, Surface 
             Transportation Board, which had rail reforms in it, out of 
             the Commerce Committee. Unfortunately, they didn't get it 
             considered on the floor of the Senate but had hearings on 
             numerous issues that are under the jurisdiction of the 
             Commerce Committee. I appreciate so much Chairman 
             Rockefeller's leadership and his service here. Like him, I 
             come from a small State. We share a lot of things in 
             common. We came from small communities and represent 
             people who work hard and just want a fair break and want 
             to make sure that the people they elect to represent them 
             in Washington, DC, are staying focused on the issues that 
             are important to their livelihood. I appreciate his 
             leadership on those issues.
               I have to say that he stands tall among our colleagues. 
             I think he probably has the distinction of being the 
             tallest Senator. The Senator from Oregon, Senator Wyden, 
             and I are not far behind. But if Senator Rockefeller ever 
             stood up all the way, I think he would have us by several 
             inches. The tall guy caucus here in the Senate will be 
             less represented when Senator Rockefeller departs. I have 
             always enjoyed his sense of humor and the way in which he 
             approaches the job and the passion he feels for public 
             service. We wish him well in his retirement and thank him 
             for a long and distinguished career here in the Senate.

               Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, for nearly 30 years, West 
             Virginians have elected Jay Rockefeller to represent them 
             in the U.S. Senate. When he retires in January, he will 
             leave a record of tireless service on behalf of West 
             Virginians and all Americans.
               Senator Rockefeller ranks among the champions of 
             affordable health care. He coauthored the Child Health 
             Insurance Program, CHIP, a program I have also been proud 
             to support, which provides health care coverage to more 
             than 6 million children each year, who would otherwise be 
             uninsured. A former chair of the Veterans Affairs 
             Committee, he authored legislation to improve care for our 
             Nation's heroes. He was instrumental in the creation of a 
             commission on long-term care to look for solutions to a 
             lack of essential long-term medical support for millions 
             of Americans. With Ted Kennedy, he led the charge for 
             health care reform in the Senate in the 1990s. The list of 
             achievements goes on.
               For nearly 50 years, Senator Rockefeller has served the 
             people of West Virginia as a State representative, a 
             secretary of state, a college president, a Governor, and, 
             for the last 30 years, as a U.S. Senator. He is a dear and 
             valued friend. I wish Jay and his wife Sharon the very 
             best as he retires from the Senate.
                                             Tuesday, December 16, 2014
               Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor one of 
             my best friends in the Senate and a longtime public 
             servant whom I greatly admire, John D. Rockefeller IV.
               In 1964, in Athens, OH, President Johnson went to Ohio 
             University, and he said:

               Poverty hides its face behind a mask of affluence. But I 
             call upon you to help me to get out there and unmask it, 
             take that mask off of that face of affluence and let the 
             world see what we have, and let the world do something 
             about it.

               Several months later, John D. Rockefeller IV, 27 years 
             old, came to West Virginia as a VISTA volunteer. Well 
             educated and well connected, Jay Rockefeller could have 
             chosen any career he wanted. But to him, it was about 
             public service.
               This year marks Jay's 50th year in public service. He 
             found himself in Emmons, WV. Emmons, WV, is a small town. 
             Jay didn't shy away. Jay didn't keep his distance. He 
             wanted to know the people he was going to be working with, 
             and he set out to do that. For 2 years, he worked 
             alongside the people of Emmons for accessible health care, 
             for education, for opportunities. His work included 
             dismantling and moving a condemned elementary school from 
             a neighboring town onto a flatbed truck, and establishing 
             it in Emmons as a community center.
               Jay never forgot that, Jay, who in this Chamber sits 
             across the aisle from me at this desk. I was sitting here 
             2 weeks ago and Jay was talking about Emmons. He said 
             going to Emmons--and I will quote from his farewell speech 
             2 weeks ago to the Senate:

               That set my moral compass and gave me direction. Where 
             everything in my real life began. Where I learned how 
             little I knew about the problems people face. I was 
             humbled by that lesson.

               He went on to say:

               My time in Emmons was transformative. It explains every 
             policy I pursued and every vote I have cast. It was where 
             my beliefs were bolted down. And where my passion met my 
             principle.

               Fifty years ago, Jay learned those lessons. For 50 
             years, as a VISTA volunteer, as a State legislator, as the 
             secretary of state, as the Governor of West Virginia, and 
             as a Senator for three decades from West Virginia, he 
             learned those beliefs. They were bolted down, and he 
             practiced those beliefs.
               In 1966, he was elected to the West Virginia House. Two 
             years later, Jay had an opportunity that most people I 
             know would not have refused.
               Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated--the Senator from New 
             York at that time. In June 1968, the Governor of New York, 
             Nelson Rockefeller--Jay Rockefeller's uncle--offered that 
             appointment to the U.S. Senate to Jay Rockefeller. His 
             answer to his uncle was: ``No, thank you. I want to earn a 
             seat some day in the U.S. Senate.''
               That is what Jay set out to do. He reminded us a few 
             weeks ago:

               Important undertakings can't be halfhearted. You have to 
             commit your whole self--almost like pushing a heavy rock 
             uphill. With both of your hands you push, because if you 
             let up for a split second with either hand, you and the 
             rock go tumbling backward into the abyss.

               Jay had a chance to prove that in this body over 20 
             years ago. He pushed that rock uphill to fight to protect 
             retired coal miners' promised health care benefits. It is 
             easy for Members of this Senate who have good titles, who 
             are well paid, who dress like this, who don't really need 
             to go out and listen to the public very much, to forget 
             people like union coal miners or nonunion coal miners.
               He called this ``the greatest moment of my career.'' Jay 
             threatened to keep the Senate in session. He was going to 
             do whatever it took--22 years ago, over Christmas, over 
             New Year's, whatever it took--to make sure his colleagues 
             didn't leave town before passing the 1992 Coal Act. 
             Because of his legislation, more than 200,000 coal miners 
             and their families have kept the benefits they were 
             promised.
               He spearheaded efforts to ensure workplace safety. I 
             have talked to Jay after coal mining disasters when miners 
             are killed in one of the most treacherous, difficult, and 
             dangerous jobs we can imagine. I can see the pain in his 
             face because he knows people who work in the mines and he 
             has listened to them.
               When Lincoln's staff wanted him to stay in the White 
             House and win the war and free the slaves and preserve the 
             Union, Lincoln used to say, ``I have to go out and get my 
             public opinion bath.'' That is what Jay did. A son and 
             grandson of privilege, Jay understood that he served the 
             public best when he got his public opinion bath and when 
             he went out and listened to people. He fought against 
             unfair trade practices, and he fought against tax policies 
             that shipped jobs overseas. He reinvigorated the Steel 
             Caucus, fighting for an industry that clearly has been 
             victimized by unfair trade practices.
               Most important in Jay's career--and the thing I think he 
             is most proud of--was another lesson he learned in Emmons, 
             WV. He learned that many of the community school-aged 
             children had never been to a doctor, they had never seen a 
             dentist before because their families simply didn't have 
             the money. Because of that, Jay made accessible, 
             affordable health care for children part of his lifelong 
             mission. He believes that health care is a right and not a 
             privilege.
               He championed Medicaid expansion, and he championed this 
             new health care law. It has Jay Rockefeller's fingerprints 
             all over it. That is why hundreds of thousands of people 
             in my State are grateful to Jay Rockefeller, because 
             hundreds of thousands of people in Ohio now have health 
             insurance who didn't have it before. Hundreds of thousands 
             of families have benefited for a couple of decades because 
             their children had health insurance. Again, this is 
             because of Jay Rockefeller.
               In 1997, he devoted much of his time and career at that 
             point to help write the Children's Health Insurance 
             Program, CHIP. Because of CHIP, 8 million children across 
             this country--some of them in Emmons, WV, and some of them 
             in my hometown of Mansfield, OH--now have access to health 
             care, health care that they would not have otherwise. He 
             continues that fight always on health care.
               I want to close with this. I have seen a lot of Senators 
             come and go. I have seen a lot of Members come and go. I 
             have seen a lot of public officials come and go. There can 
             be a shortage of humility in these jobs. As Members of the 
             House and Members of the Senate, sometimes we are a little 
             puffed up about our titles and about the power that many 
             of us have, and we are caught up in the way we are 
             treated. People are often obsequious to Members in 
             Congress, and all of that.
               What stands out to me--it is even more remarkable when 
             you consider his family and what he came from--is Jay 
             Rockefeller's humility. Here is the best example, I think. 
             I found out almost by accident what Jay, as a member of 
             the Veterans' Affairs Committee, would do regularly during 
             his time in the Senate is he would send all the staff 
             away, he would send the press away, and he would go to 
             someone's home or community center or rec center or labor 
             hall and he would sit with a number of veterans and listen 
             to their stories. He would take notes and help those 
             individually who might need help. Most important, he was 
             listening to their stories.
               It reminds me of another story from Abraham Lincoln. 
             Lincoln's staff watched him, during one of his public 
             opinion baths, talk to a number of people who were pushing 
             him on something that mattered to them personally.
               His staff wanted to send them away. Lincoln said, ``No, 
             I am not going to do that.'' Then Lincoln said--about 
             these people who were talking to him, ordinary citizens 
             outside the White House or anywhere else the President of 
             the United States may have been--Lincoln said, ``They 
             don't want much. They get so little. Each one considers 
             his business of great importance. I know how I should feel 
             if I were in their place.''
               I can see Jay Rockefeller meeting with veterans, many of 
             whom had never been thanked for their service. Many of 
             them were suffering from wartime injuries from their time 
             in the service, coming back to West Virginia and eking out 
             a living. I can see Jay Rockefeller saying the same thing: 
             They don't want much. They get so little. Each one 
             considers his business of great importance. I know how I 
             should feel if I were in their place.
               Going back 2 weeks ago to Jay's farewell speech across 
             the aisle at this desk, he called upon us to remember that 
             ``our North Star must always be the real needs of the 
             people we serve.'' Jay used his farewell speech to exhort 
             us to do better on behalf of miners, on behalf of 
             veterans, on behalf of single parents, on behalf of 
             children, on behalf of sick people, people who do not 
             always get a fair shake in life.
               He found his North Star in public service, a career he 
             chose because he wanted a mission to complete, a cause to 
             believe in, a dream to follow. He found that mission. He 
             found that cause. He found that dream in Emmons, WV, in 
             1964. It never left him. That is my friend Jay 
             Rockefeller. For all of that we are so grateful.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.

               Ms. HIRONO. ... Before I proceed, I would like to thank 
             the good Senator from Ohio for his tributary remarks 
             regarding Jay Rockefeller, an uncommon man of the people. 
             ...

               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. ...

               Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to my 
             friend and colleague, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, who 
             will soon retire from the Senate after representing his 
             beloved West Virginia for the last 30 years.
               Senator Rockefeller and I both came to Washington after 
             having previously served as Governors of our home States, 
             and I have been grateful for his friendship and counsel. I 
             would also note that Senator Rockefeller has some 
             familiarity with New Hampshire, having graduated from 
             Phillips Exeter Academy.
               Senator Rockefeller will forever be remembered in the 
             Senate for his dedication to the hard-working people of 
             West Virginia. When West Virginia coal mining companies 
             threatened to abandon their pension obligations to miners, 
             Senator Rockefeller successfully fought to pass the Coal 
             Act of 1992 to safeguard their retirements. Among his 
             numerous other legislative accomplishments, Senator 
             Rockefeller will certainly be remembered as the father of 
             the Children's Health Insurance Program. Since its 
             creation in 1997, CHIP has provided millions of low-income 
             children and pregnant women access to health insurance. 
             Just last year, CHIP touched the lives of more than 8 
             million Americans.
               During his lengthy career Senator Rockefeller chaired 
             the Senate Committees on Veterans' Affairs, Intelligence, 
             and most recently Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 
             As a chairman, Senator Rockefeller believed strongly that 
             good policy started with listening and ran his committees 
             in a way that allowed all Senators, no matter their party, 
             a voice and a role in the legislative process.
               The example set by Senator Rockefeller is an inspiration 
             to all of us who serve in the Senate. On behalf of the 
             people of New Hampshire, I thank him for his years of 
             dedicated service to our country and wish him the best in 
             his well-deserved retirement.

               Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to a 
             man who has dedicated nearly 50 years to public service. 
             That is our retiring colleague Senator Jay Rockefeller of 
             West Virginia.
               Jay Rockefeller's lifetime of service was shaped by his 
             experience as a VISTA worker in a rural coal town in West 
             Virginia. Jay told me that this experience was life 
             changing, coming as he did from a very privileged 
             background. Working day to day in that community, learning 
             the hopes and fears and anxieties of the people, and 
             seeing their struggles led to his lifelong commitment to 
             improving the lot of working people everywhere.
               In his farewell remarks to the Senate, Senator 
             Rockefeller said that the Senate must be a ``place in 
             which we embrace the commitment to be deliberative, 
             passionate, and unrelenting.''
               Senator Rockefeller embodied these qualities while 
             serving the people of West Virginia. He has been a 
             deliberative, passionate, and unrelenting champion, 
             especially for those whose circumstances in life are the 
             hardest.
               His work on health care has impacted Americans in every 
             corner of the United States, from the mountains of West 
             Virginia, to my State of Hawaii. He was instrumental in 
             the efforts to establish the Children's Health Insurance 
             Program, or CHIP, which provides care to more than 8 
             million children across the Nation. More than 30,000 of 
             those children who currently receive coverage for 
             necessary primary and preventive health care are those 
             children in my State of Hawaii.
               From his Medicare Drug Savings Act to his Rebuilding 
             America's Schools Act, Jay Rockefeller has truly been a 
             champion for those who needed a hand up in life.
               We are all aware of Jay's efforts to enhance our 
             national security while also holding our Nation to the 
             highest standards possible as a chairman and member of the 
             Senate Intelligence Committee. His commitment to keeping 
             America safe is met only by his commitment to ensure that 
             our Nation's veterans get the care and benefits that they 
             have earned and deserve. I have been privileged to serve 
             with Jay on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.
               Senator Rockefeller reminds us that to those upon whom 
             fortune has smiled, there is no greater calling than to 
             dedicate ourselves to fight hard for those struggling, for 
             those hard working, and for those who put us here.
               As Senators I hope that we heed Jay's words and in the 
             coming Congress we work together on a bipartisan basis to 
             collaborate and compromise on behalf of America's workers 
             and families.
               On a personal note, Jay and I had one of the best 
             conversations recently on the Senate floor where we 
             discovered that we were two pretty private people, some 
             would even describe as introverts, who picked a most 
             public of arenas, politics, to do our life's work of 
             making a difference in the lives of those we are 
             privileged to represent.
               Thank you for your service, Senator Rockefeller. It has 
             been an honor being your colleague and serving with you.
               Aloha Jay, a hui hou, or ``until we meet again.''

               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.