[Senate Document 113-39]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



 
John F. Kerry
  
                                U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS
  
                                            TRIBUTES
                                        
                                        
                                      IN THE CONGRESS OF
                                       THE UNITED STATES
                                        
                                                                              
                                        
                                        
  
  [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
                                          
  
  
  
  
  
  
                                             S. Doc 113-39


            
    
                                      Tributes

                                Delivered in Congress

                                    John F. Kerry

                                United States Senator

                                      1985-2013

[GRAPHIC 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
             Letter of Resignation.................................
                                                                  xxvii
             Proceedings in the Senate:
                Tributes by Senators:
                    Bennet, Michael F., of Colorado................
                                                                     31
                    Blumenthal, Richard, of Connecticut............
                                                                     14
                    Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
                                                                     30
                    Cardin, Benjamin L., of Maryland...............
                                                                     10
                    Corker, Bob, of Tennessee......................
                                                                      8
                    Durbin, Richard J., of Illinois................
                                                                     20
                    Feinstein, Dianne, of California...............
                                                                     15
                    Harkin, Tom, of Iowa...........................
                                                                     25
                    Isakson, Johnny, of Georgia....................
                                                                     29
                    Klobuchar, Amy, of Minnesota...................
                                                                     19
                    Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
                                                                      3
                    Levin, Carl, of Michigan.......................
                                                                     18
                    Menendez, Robert, of New Jersey................
                                                                  6, 24
                    Mikulski, Barbara A., of Maryland..............
                                                                     17
                    Nelson, Bill, of Florida.......................
                                                                      5
                    Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
                                                                     27
                    Schumer, Charles E., of New York...............
                                                                     25
                                      BIOGRAPHY

               John Kerry was born on December 11, 1943, at Fitzsimons 
             Army Hospital in Aurora, CO. Not long after Kerry was 
             born, his family returned home to Massachusetts, where his 
             parents, Richard and Rosemary, taught him the values of 
             service and responsibility and the blessings of his 
             Catholic faith, lessons he carries with him to this day.
               As he was graduating from Yale University, John Kerry 
             volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy, because, as he 
             later said, ``it was the right thing to do.'' Lieutenant 
             Kerry served two tours of duty in Vietnam. On his second 
             tour, he volunteered to serve on a Swift Boat in the river 
             deltas, one of the most dangerous assignments of the war. 
             He was decorated with a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with 
             Combat V, and three Purple Hearts.
               When he came home to the United States, John Kerry spoke 
             out against a policy he felt gave politicians political 
             cover while soldiers bore the real burden. He also began a 
             lifelong fight for his fellow veterans--joining with other 
             vets to found the Vietnam Veterans of America to fight for 
             veterans' benefits, for extension of the GI bill for 
             higher education, and for treatment of PTSD.
               Later, John Kerry accepted another tour of duty--to 
             serve in America's communities. After graduating from 
             Boston College Law School in 1976, he went to work as a 
             top prosecutor in Middlesex County, MA. He took on 
             organized crime, fought for victims' rights, and created 
             programs for rape counseling.
               John Kerry was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1982. Two 
             years later, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and he won 
             reelection four times.
               John Kerry entered the Senate with a reputation as a man 
             of conviction. He helped provide health insurance for 
             millions of low-income children. He fought to improve 
             public education, protect the natural environment, and 
             strengthen the economy.
               From his groundbreaking work on the Iran-Contra scandal 
             to his leadership on global AIDS, John Kerry distinguished 
             himself as one of our Nation's most respected voices on 
             national security and international affairs. As chairman 
             of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, he 
             worked to learn the truth about American soldiers missing 
             in Vietnam and to normalize relations with that country. 
             As the ranking Democrat on the East Asian and Pacific 
             Affairs Subcommittee, he was a leading expert on that 
             region, including North Korea. He worked on a bipartisan 
             basis to craft the American response to September 11 and 
             was a leading voice on American policy in Iraq and 
             Afghanistan, the war on terrorism, the Middle East peace 
             process, and Israel's security.
               In 2002, John Kerry announced that he would be a 
             candidate for President of the United States--and he went 
             on to mount a come-from-behind campaign that won the 
             Democratic nomination, and was nearly elected President in 
             a close contest against a wartime President.
               John Kerry returned to the Senate, where he continued 
             fighting for what motivated him to enter public life in 
             the first place: love of country. He was the chairman of 
             the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the very committee 
             he testified before in 1971 as a veteran pushing for an 
             end to the Vietnam war. Under Chairman Kerry's leadership, 
             the committee addressed the key foreign policy and 
             national security issues facing the United States 
             including Afghanistan and Pakistan, nuclear 
             nonproliferation, and global climate change.
               Before leaving the Senate, Senator Kerry was the tenth 
             most senior Senator and the second longest serving Senator 
             in his seat. He also held senior positions on the Finance, 
             Commerce, and Small Business Committees.
               In his life of public service, John Kerry is sustained 
             by his loving family. He is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, 
             and they have a blended family that includes two 
             daughters, three sons, and six grandchildren.
                               Farewell to the Senate
                             Wednesday, January 30, 2013

               Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I want to begin by thanking my 
             colleagues--all of them--for their unbelievably generous 
             comments to me personally, in the committees, on the 
             floor, and in the halls and at meetings over the course of 
             the last weeks. I will always be grateful for our 
             friendships.
               I thank my wife Teresa, who is here with us, and my 
             entire family for their unbelievable support through this 
             journey.
               Five times Massachusetts has voted to send me to the 
             U.S. Senate. Yesterday, nearly three decades after the 
             people of Massachusetts first voted me into this office, 
             the people with whom I work in the Senate voted me out of 
             it. As always, I accept the Senate's sound judgment.
               Eight years ago, I admit that I had a slightly different 
             plan to leave the Senate, but 61 million Americans voted 
             that they wanted me to stay here with you. So staying here 
             I learned about humility, and I learned that sometimes the 
             greatest lesson in life comes not from victory but from 
             dusting oneself off after defeat and starting over when 
             you get knocked down.
               I was reminded throughout this journey of something that 
             is often said but not always fully appreciated: All of us 
             Senators are only as good as our staff--a staff that gives 
             up their late nights and weekends, postpones vacations, 
             doesn't get home in time to tuck children into bed, and 
             all of those lost moments because they are here helping us 
             serve. They are not elected. They didn't get into public 
             service to get rich. That is for sure. Their names are 
             rarely in the newspapers. But from the staff in the 
             mailrooms to the people who answer the front phones to the 
             policy experts and the managers, the legislative 
             correspondents who write the letters, the caseworkers who 
             make government accountable, and the people everywhere in 
             between, they make the Senate work for people.
               I have been blessed to have a spectacular staff. While I 
             know every one of my colleagues would say the same thing 
             about their staff, it is true about mine.
               If I start naming names, I am going to miss somebody, so 
             I am not going to. But I think every one of my staff will 
             understand why I want to acknowledge five who are not with 
             us any longer. They are up in heaven looking down on all 
             of us, and Ted Kennedy has probably drafted all of them; 
             Jayona Beal, Jeanette Boone, Bill Bradley, Louise 
             Etheridge, and Gene Heller--the latter two of whom were 
             senior citizen volunteers in my Boston office who opened 
             our mail for over a decade. They were not paid. They just 
             did this out of love of country. We miss them all, and we 
             thank them for their selfless contributions.
               I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record at 
             this point a list of names of the people who have helped 
             me serve this Nation.
               There being no objection, the material was ordered to be 
             printed in the Record, as follows:

               George Abar, Nardos Abebe, Adam Abrams, Alex Abrams, 
             Corey Ahearn, Robert Ahearn, Alexandra Ajemian, Paige 
             Alexander, Beverly Allen, Katrina Anderson, John Anthony, 
             Margaret Anthony, Sharde Armstrong, Felix Arroyo, Geoffrey 
             Arvanitis, Samuel Asher, Kerri Axelrod, Christopher 
             Badger, Zachary Bamberg, Diane Baranik, Janice Barbato, 
             Timothy Barnicle, Camilla Bartels, Janice Bashford, 
             Shannon Batten, Lauren Bazel, Jayona Beal, Jeffrey Bean, 
             Camille Bedin, Jesse Belcastro, Richard Bell, Ifetayo 
             Belle, Daniel Benaim, Kelley Benander, Hannah Bennett, 
             Michael Beresik, Jennifer Bergman, Jonathan Berman, Shideh 
             Biela, Guljed Birce, Geoffrey Boehm, Alison Bonebrake, 
             Jeanette Boone.
               Ryan Bounsy, Kelly Bovio, Tomeika Bowden, Charles 
             Bowman, April Boyd, Jim Boyle, Barbara Bracken, William 
             Bradley, Jeremy Brandon, James Brenner, Felicia Brinson, 
             Amanda Brown, Geoffrey Brown, Amy Brundage, Daniel 
             Brundage, Richard Bryers, Scott Bunton, Sarah Buss, Joseph 
             Bykowski, Brian Cafferty, Ann Cahill, Joseph Callahan, 
             Sean Callahan, Janice Camacho, Joseph Canty, Nicole 
             Caravella, John Carey, Larry Carpman, Cynthia Carroll, 
             Meghan Carroll, Mary Carter, Jeffrey Cassin, Janeen-Marie 
             Castetter, John Cavanaugh, Larry Chartienitz, Adam Chase, 
             Theodore Chiodo, James Chisholm, Abraham Cho, Eliza Chon, 
             Nicholas Christiansen, Michelle Ciccolo.
               Patrick Coan, Colleen Coburn, Bonnie Coder, Elizabeth 
             Coleman, Briana Collier, Marissa Condon, Erika Conway, 
             Monica Conyngham, Jasiel Correia, Amy Corrigan, Alexandra 
             Costello, Amanda Coulombe, Patricia Council, Arthur 
             Coviello, Lisa Coyle, Stephen Crane, Bonnie Cronin, 
             Veronica Crowe, Francis Crowley, Joan Crownover, Elizabeth 
             Cummings, Kevin Curtis, Amy Dacey, Jeremy D'Aloisio, 
             Lauren Daniel, Andrew Davis, Christopher Dawe, Andrea 
             Defelice, Evan Dellolio, April Dempsey, Monique Deragon, 
             John Desimas, David Di Martino, Richard DiMartino, 
             Benedict Dobbs, Toni Dockett, Quentin Donohue, Paul 
             Donovan II, Christine Dooley, Michael Doonan, Sarah Dugas, 
             John Dukakis, Tracie Durden.
               Amy Elsbree, Kathryn English, Audrey Epstein, Jonathan 
             Epstein, Sally Ericsson, Meredith Fahey, Mark Falzone, 
             Leslie Feinberg, Patricia Ferrone, Ronald Finlayson, John 
             Finn, Simon Fischer, Roger Fisk, Maura Fitzpatrick, 
             Christopher Flanagan, Gordon Fletcher, Michael Flynn, Kate 
             Foley, Patricia Foley, Eileen Force, Marcia Ford, Dia 
             Forman, Judith Foster, Lynn Foster, Taylor Francois, 
             Kathleen Frangione, Matthew Frank, Joseph Fritz, Ross 
             Frommer, Douglas Frost, Gordon Fung, Jennie Ganz, Lisa 
             Garcia, Joanna Garelick, Denise Garris, Renee Gasper, 
             Stephanie Gerard, John Gerlach, Erica Giers, Scott Giese, 
             Maria Giesta, Lisa Glufling, Jennifer Glynn.
               Ian Goldin, Samantha Goldman, Caitlin Gollop, James 
             Gomes, John Gomperts, Augusto Grace, Justin Grad, Patricia 
             Gray, Tennie Gray, Christopher Greeley, Meagan Greene, 
             Daniel Gross, Carole Grunberg, Sasha Gsovski, Adrienne 
             Guide, Larry Gurwin, Dillon Guthrie, Therron Hagen, Kevin 
             Haggerty, Susie Hagins, Melissa Haluptzok, Eric Hamburg, 
             Alexandra Harper, Whitney Harrelson, Shelly Harrington, 
             Jonathan Harris, Morgan Harris, Jamar Harrison, Sebastian 
             Hazzard, James Healy, James Hedberg, Jennifer Heilig, 
             Kevin Herbert, Elohim Hernandez-Camacho, AJ Hetzner, Devon 
             Hewitt, Carmen Hicks, Heather Higginbottom, Kaaren Hinck, 
             Maura Hogan, Meaghan Hohl, Ryan Honeyman, Mirah Horowitz.
               Kristian Horvei, Vanessa Householder, Richard Houser, 
             James Houton, Marcus Howard, Matthew Howard, Thomas 
             Hubbard, Celes Hughes, Jeremy Hunt, James Hunter, Nisharna 
             Jackson, Jeffrey Jacobs, David Jansen, Stanley Jean-
             Charles, Vanessa Jean-Simon, Aaron Jenkins, Lorrie 
             Jenkins, Jon Jennings, Tiffany Jilek, William Johnson, 
             Patrick Johnson-Cheatham, Diane Jones, James Jones, James 
             Jordan, Kathleen Joyce, Jeremy Kane, Mary Kane, Helen 
             Kanovsky, Jonathan Kaplan, Moses Karugu, David Kass, 
             Deborah Katz, Deborah Kearney, Antionetta Kelley, 
             Kimberley Kendall, Lee Kennedy, Shailagh Kennedy, Suzannah 
             Kerr, Amy Kerrigan, Kathleen Kerrigan, Conor Kilroy, 
             Haeyun Kim, Renee Kinder.
               James King, Evan Kirsch, Cornell Knox, Amy Kobeta, 
             Jackie Kohn, Karen Kornbluh, Alexandra Kougentakis, Peter 
             Kovar, David Kowal, Paula Kowalczuk, Joan Kraus, Connor 
             Kuratek, Zachary Kurland, Thomas La Fauci, Bonnie La Rue, 
             Rachelle Lacque Love, Alexander Landin, Annette Larkin, 
             Barry Lasala, Roger Lau, Dawn Lavallee, Meghan Leahy, 
             Janet Lebel, Michael Leighs, David Leiter, Robin Lerner, 
             Matthew Levin, Richard Levitt, Carissa Lewis, Jeffrey 
             Lewis, Shaunda Lewis, Susan Lewis, Leslie Lillard, Simon 
             Limage, Colleen Lineweaver, Ann Linnehan, Sylvia Liotta, 
             Katharine Lister, Jonathan Litchman, Nancy Lo, Jennifer 
             Lockhart, Frank Lowenstein, Danielle Luber.
               James Ludes, Sandra Lumpkin, Lisa Lynch, Nathan 
             Mackinnon, Brandon Macneill, Ian Macpherson, John Madigan, 
             Marion Magraw, Kristina Malek, Rachel Mann, Katherine 
             Manning, Mary Marcuss, Alexandra Marks, Sarah Marks, Mary 
             Marsh, Matthew Martin, Roy Martin, Alyssa Mastromonaco, 
             Jennifer Masuret, D. Gray Maxwell, Megan McCafferty, 
             Richard McCall, William McCann, Sybil McCarthy, Ryan 
             McCormick, Elizabeth McEvoy, Kelly McGovern, Kara McGuire, 
             Kevin McGuire, David McKean, Patrick McKiernan, 
             Christopher McMahon, Gregory McMorrow, Barbara McQueen, 
             Bradford Meacham, Lisa Mead, Michael Meehan, Jason 
             Meininger, Dora Menefee, Stephen Meunier, Johanna 
             Michaels, Dimitri Michaud, Heather Mizeur.
               Evelyn Monteiro, William Moody, Linda Moore, Keshia 
             Morall, Erik Morrill, Cara Morris, Vincent Morris, Tim 
             Morrow, Greg Moscow, Nassar Mufdi Ruiz, Khalifah Muhammad, 
             Sarah Mulkem, Marie Murphy, Harry Nathanson, Brendan Neal, 
             Andrew Nelson, Charlene Neu, Karena Neubauer, Joseph 
             Newman, Kerry Newman, David Nibert, Marvin Nicholson, Eric 
             Niloff, Paul Nissenbaum, Edward Noonan, Jessica Nordstrom, 
             Tyler Obenauf, Andrew O'Brien, Thomas O'Connor, Brendan 
             O'Donnell, Christopher Olson, Eric Olson, Ashley O'Neill, 
             Leigh O'Neill, Brittney Opacak, Barbara Opacki, Mary 
             O'Reilly, Brigid O'Rourke-Brady, Kathryn Ousley, Mary 
             Pappey, Michael Paroby, Jon Patsavos, Megan Perkins, 
             Alexis Perlmutter.
               John Phillips, Anna-Liviya Piccione, Mary Lou Pickel, 
             Evan Pinsonnault, Cathryn Piscitelli, Carlos Polanco, 
             Gareth Porter, Jeanne Poulter, Ayanna Pressley, Daniel 
             Prince, Colleen Puma, Michael Queenan, David Quinn, Nancy 
             Ramsey, Haley Rauch, Tovah Ravitz-Meehan, Lisa Reid, 
             Andrea Retzky, Kathryn Rhudy, Brian Rice, John Richards, 
             Elizabeth Richardson, Charles Riley, Alex Rinder, 
             Elizabeth Rios, Jennifer Ritter, Lauren Robertson, Andrew 
             Robichaud, Dana Robinson, Gerri-Lynn Robinson, Rima 
             Robinson, Theressa Robinson, Edward Rogers, Nancy Rogers, 
             Shauvi Rogers, Cheryl Rolfes, Frank Rose, Lisa Rosenberg, 
             Renita Rosenberg, Ronald Rosenblith, Lindsay Ross, Kenneth 
             Rossman, Gregg Rothschild.
               George Rudenauer, Caitlin Russi, Jennifer Ryan, Allison 
             Sandera, Kristen Sarri, Aaron Saunders, Brett Schenker, 
             Eugene Schlesinger, Jack Schnirman, Charles Scheuler, Eric 
             Schwager, Heather Sears, Wendy Sears, Daniel Sepulveda, 
             Jodi Seth, James Shaer, Robert Shapiro, Patrick Shearns, 
             Charles Shepard, John Sherman, Margaret Sherry, Zachary 
             Shore, Rebecca Shore-Suslowitz, Michelle Shwimer, Clare 
             Sierawski, George Sifakis, Alison Silberman, Hadid 
             Simmons, Kyle Simon, Kristen Simpson, Beatrice Smith, 
             Hilleary Smith, Kathleen Smith, Nancy Smith, Richard 
             Smith, Whitney Smith, Alexander Soto, Christine Spencer, 
             Kathryn Stack, Rachele Stasny, Mark Sternman, Nancy 
             Stetson, Jesse Stevens.
               Gregory Stewart, David Stone, Mary Strain, Casey 
             Suchors-Field, Kristine Sudano, Keerthi Sugumaran, Brendan 
             Sullivan, Kevin Sullivan, Kyle Sullivan, Nancy Sullivan, 
             Paul Sullivan, Matthew Summers, Katherine Swan, Shelli 
             Sweeney, Mary Szpak, Brandon Tabassi, Tristan Takos, Mary 
             Tarr, Carmina Taylor, Theresa Theobald, Megan Thompson, 
             Lauren Tighe, Stephani Tindall, Timothy Todreas, Jose 
             Toirac, Atman Trivedi, Lawrence Trundle, Christina 
             Tsafoulias, Yakov Tsizis, Eva Tsui, Brendan Tully, Alper 
             Tunca, Sharon Updike, Kelsey Utne, Ellen Vallon, Brady Van 
             Engelen, Paul Veidenheimer, Carmen Velazquez, Kevin Verge, 
             Karen Vigliano, Varun Vira, Michael Vito, Jennifer Vuona.
               David Wade, Bridgette Walker, Krysten Wallace, Meghan 
             Walsh, Lumay Wang, Cathleen Ward, Setti Warren, Joan 
             Wasser, Maria Wassum, Sharon Waxman, Stephanie Wayne, 
             Michael Wayno, Thomas Weber, John Whiteside, Michael 
             Whouley, Scott Wiener, Jodi Williams, Karen Willis, Elsie 
             Wilson, Jonathan Winer, Hope Winship, Julie Wirkkala, 
             James Wise, Christina Wiskowski, Roger Wolfson, David 
             Wood, Sarah Woodhouse, Nancy Woodruff, Diann Woods, Randi 
             Woods, William Woodward, Elizabeth Wright, Sheila Wulsin, 
             Anthony Wyche, Christopher Wyman, Sarah Yedinsky, Shawna 
             Yen, David Yohn, Brian Young, Sally Yozell, Krista 
             Zalatores, Juan Zavala, Heather Zichal, Anna Ziskend, 
             Frances Zwenig.

               Mr. KERRY. As I thank an entire staff of 561 incredible 
             men and women in Massachusetts and Washington with whom I 
             have been privileged to work through these 28 years, I 
             also think about the interns, 1,393, who have come in and 
             out of our offices from Washington to Worcester. I am 
             especially proud of those who started as interns and ended 
             up as my chief of staff, a legislative director, and 
             senior policy staffers, or the Kerry interns who went on 
             to work not just for me but who have for the last 4 years 
             been top speechwriters, trip directors, and senior 
             communications staff at the White House for the President 
             of the United States. I am proud of our internship 
             program, and I am grateful to the people who built it and 
             who sustain it.
               I also thank the incredible group of unsung heroes who 
             literally make the Senate work, people who work not for 
             individual Senators but work for all of us, in every room 
             and nook and cranny of this great series of buildings. The 
             men and women who operate the Senate subways--Daryl and 
             many others--the trains and elevators, they take us to the 
             votes and meetings. They are really the glue, and we 
             couldn't function without them; they are an extraordinary 
             group of people; the Capitol Police who protect us--
             police, whom a lot of people around here started to notice 
             a little bit more after that awful day in 1998 when two 
             were shot and killed on a busy Wednesday afternoon; the 
             Parliamentarians and the clerks and staff here on the 
             floor, including Gary, Tim, Trisha, Meredith, and all the 
             folks in the Cloakroom. Dave on the other side and all the 
             folks in the Republican Cloakroom--all of whom help to 
             keep us going and are unfailingly patient when we call for 
             the umpteenth time to find out whether the vote schedule 
             is going to let us go home to a child's dance recital or 
             birthday party or any kind of family event.
               I want to thank the many Bertie Bowmans who came here 
             more than 40 years ago, dug in, and made the Senate their 
             cause and their concern; people such as Meg Murphy of the 
             Foreign Relations Committee, who makes everybody's life 
             easier.
               I thank the reporters who catch us in the hallways--trap 
             us, ambush us in the hallways, and who, despite all the 
             changes and challenges in their own business, still 
             dutifully document the first drafts of American history. I 
             thank all the incredible people who travel through these 
             Halls working incredibly hard to get it right, people of 
             character who cover this place as a public service, not a 
             sport. I thank them.
               I thank David Rogers for all that he has stood for so 
             long in this institution. It is hard to imagine my job 
             without seeing him in that long green coat waiting by the 
             elevator after a late-night vote.
               Sometimes in politics it is now almost a sport in 
             America to dismiss the contributions of people who work in 
             government, people who make the Senate work, but people 
             whom the public never sees. I have admired the way our 
             former colleague, Ted Kaufman, used to come down to the 
             floor once a week and tell the story of one individual 
             Federal worker. The stories are legion. Instead of tearing 
             these people down, we ought to be lifting them up. I thank 
             them all for the part they play in our democracy.
               I will share with you, now that I have come to this 
             moment in the journey, I can say without reservation that 
             nothing prepares you for it. Many times now in 29 years I 
             have been at my desk on the Senate floor--starting way 
             over there, No. 99--listening as colleagues bid the Senate 
             farewell. Sometimes a farewell speech signals a complete 
             departure from public life, sometimes a new journey 
             altogether, sometimes forced departure, sometimes a leap 
             for freedom.
               I am grateful that at this moment, thanks to my 
             colleagues, serendipity, and the trust of our President, 
             while I am closing a chapter, it is not the final one. But 
             I assure you, amid the excitement and the possibility, I 
             do feel a wistfulness about leaving the Senate; and that 
             is because, despite the obvious frustrations of recent 
             days and years--a frustration that we all share--this 
             place remains one of the most extraordinary institutions 
             of any kind on the face of the Earth.
               On occasion we have all heard a Senator leave here and 
             take their leave condemning the Senate for being broken, 
             for having become an impossible setting in which to try to 
             do the people's business. Well, I want to be very clear 
             about my feelings. I do not believe the Senate is broken--
             certainly not as an institution. There is nothing wrong 
             with the Senate that can't be fixed by what is right about 
             the Senate--the predominant and weighty notion that 100 
             American citizens, chosen by their neighbors to serve from 
             States as different as Massachusetts and Montana, can 
             always choose to put parochial or personal interests aside 
             and find the national interest.
               I believe it is the honor of a lifetime--an 
             extraordinary privilege--to have represented the 
             Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Senate for more than 
             28 years. What a remarkable gift it has been to carry the 
             banner of ``Senator from Massachusetts,'' just as each of 
             you feel that way about your States--a banner, in our 
             case, that was passed from the sons of the American 
             Revolution, such as Daniel Webster, to the sons of 
             immigrants such as Paul Tsongas, and to know that a State 
             where the abolitionists crusaded at Faneuil Hall and the 
             suffragettes marched at Quincy Market could send to 
             Washington sons, such as Ted Kennedy and Ed Brooke, who 
             fought to expand civil rights; now, a woman, Elizabeth 
             Warren, who proved that in Massachusetts the glass ceiling 
             has finally been forever shattered. What a remarkable gift 
             Massachusetts has given me to come here and learn so much 
             about the rest of our country.
               I have had the privilege of learning what truly makes 
             our Nation tick. What a gift, to have been the nominee of 
             my party, to have come within a whisper of winning the 
             Presidency against a wartime incumbent; but more 
             important, to have experienced the magic of our Nation in 
             such a personal way, to experience the gift of traveling 
             along the banks of the mighty Mississippi through Iowa and 
             South Dakota and along the rivers where Lewis and Clark 
             marked and measured the dream of our first Secretary of 
             State, Thomas Jefferson, who foresaw an America that would 
             advance into the West; to experience a journey that took 
             me to Alabama, where I stood silently in the very pulpit 
             from which Dr. King preached his dream of an America 
             united, and dipped my fingers into the fountain in 
             Birmingham where water flows over the names of those 
             murdered trying to vote or just registering to vote, to 
             see the water trickle over the words of Dr. King's prayer 
             that ``justice might roll down like waters and 
             righteousness like a mighty stream.'' I drove across the 
             Hoover Dam, and I wondered, as I did, at what America can 
             accomplish when we want to, when we put our minds to it. 
             Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge at dawn I was 
             reminded it was built at the height of the Great 
             Depression, when so many feared our best days were behind 
             us. What I have seen and heard and learned in traveling 
             across our country as a Senator from Massachusetts has 
             prepared me more for my travels to other countries as 
             Secretary of State than any travel to any foreign capital.
               I already know I will miss the best reward of carrying 
             the title ``Senator,'' and that is when you open a letter 
             from someone who has traveled every route and exhausted 
             every option and who ultimately turned to you as the last 
             resort in public life and they finally got the help they 
             needed. I know my colleagues who have experienced this 
             will say there is nothing better than getting that ``I 
             have tried everything, but nobody would listen to me, but 
             you got it done'' letter or sometimes when you are walking 
             a street in a community at home and somebody comes up to 
             you and thanks you for a personal response they never 
             expected to receive. That is when public service has more 
             meaning than the war of words our constituents dodge on 
             the cable news.
               Standing at this desk that once belonged to President 
             Kennedy and to Ted Kennedy, I can't help but be reminded 
             that even our Nation's greatest leaders and all the rest 
             of us are merely temporary workers. I am reminded this 
             Chamber is a living museum, a lasting memorial to the 
             miracle of the American experiment.
               No one has captured this phenomenon more eloquently or 
             comprehensively than Robert Caro did in his masterpiece 
             about the Senate called ``Master of the Senate.'' I am 
             sure many in this room--I know most people have read it. 
             In that book, before we learned of the levers Lyndon 
             Johnson pulled to push our Nation toward civil rights, 
             Caro described the special powers the Founders gave the 
             Senate and only the Senate, powers, Caro writes, 
             ``designed to make the Congress independent of the 
             President and to restrain and act as a check on his 
             authority, power to approve his appointments, even the 
             appointments he made within his own administration, even 
             the appointments to his own Cabinet.''
               This body has now exercised that power on my behalf and 
             I will always be grateful.
               Another master of the Senate, Massachusetts' Daniel 
             Webster, delivered 183 years ago this week what has often 
             been praised as the greatest speech in Senate history. He 
             stood at the desk that now belongs to the senior Senator 
             from New Hampshire and argued forcefully in favor of the 
             very idea that makes us the United States, that we are all 
             in this together, that we each have a stake in the 
             successes and failures of our countrymen, that what 
             happens in Ohio matters to those in South Carolina or in 
             Massachusetts or to Montanans. ``Union and liberty,'' 
             Webster shouted, ``now and forever, one and inseparable.''
               As Caro retells it, those words spoken among the desks 
             in the Senate left those in the gallery in tears and cast 
             a model for how those of us in this Chamber must consider 
             the constituents of our colleagues as well as our own. But 
             the truth is that none of us ran for this office because 
             of a great debate held centuries ago. None of us moved 
             here because of the moving words of a Senator long since 
             departed. We honor this history because we are here 
             because of the legacy that we can and want to leave. It is 
             up to us, to my colleagues here today and to those who 
             come after us, it is up to us to keep the Senate great.
               I fully believe we will meet that obligation if, as the 
             President told the Nation and the world last week, we 
             seize this moment together. Yes, Congress and public life 
             face their difficulties these days but not because the 
             structure our Founding Fathers gave us is inherently 
             flawed. For sure there are moments of much great 
             frustration, for the American people and for everybody in 
             this place. But I don't believe they are the fault of the 
             institution itself. It is not the rules that confound us 
             per se. It is the choices people make about those rules.
               The rules we work by now are essentially the same ones 
             that existed when I joined the Senate and found things to 
             move much more easily than they do today. They are 
             essentially the same rules under which Daniel Webster and 
             Lyndon Johnson operated, and they did great things. They 
             are almost the same rules Mike Mansfield and Everett 
             Dirksen and Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch used to pass great 
             pieces of legislation. They are the same rules under which 
             the Senate Democrats and President George Herbert Walker 
             Bush passed an agreement, including tax increases, to at 
             least begin to tackle the deficit. I remind everyone, as I 
             take my leave from the Senate, when President George H.W. 
             Bush returned from agreeing to a deficit reduction 
             agreement at Andrews Air Force Base, he wrote in his 
             personal diary that he might well have sealed his fate as 
             a one-term President. He did what he thought was right for 
             the country, and he laid the groundwork for our ability to 
             three times balance the budget at the end of the 1990s. 
             That is courage, and the Senate and the Congress and the 
             country need more of it.
               Frankly, the problems we live through today come from 
             individual choices of Senators themselves, not the rules. 
             When an individual Senator or a colluding caucus 
             determines that the comity essential to an institution 
             such as the Senate is a barrier to individual ambition or 
             party ambition, the country loses. Those are the moments 
             in which the Senate fulfills, not its responsibility to 
             the people but its reputation as a sanctuary of gridlock.
               I ask colleagues to remember the words of Ben Franklin, 
             as that long Philadelphia summer yielded our remarkable 
             Constitution. Late at night, after their work was 
             complete, Dr. Franklin was walking down the steps of 
             Constitution Hall, of Independence Hall, and a woman 
             called out to him and she said, ``Well, Doctor, what have 
             we got, a Republic or a monarchy?'' Franklin answered: ``A 
             Republic, if you can keep it.''
               Sustaining a functioning republic is work and it is, 
             more than ever, I believe, our challenge today. I am 
             hardly the first and I will, I hope, probably not be the 
             last to call on Congress to remember why we are here, to 
             prioritize our shared interests above the short term, to 
             bridge the breadth of the partisan divide and to reach 
             across the aisle and take the long view. Many have stood 
             here delivering farewell speeches and lamented what became 
             of the Washington where President Reagan and Speaker 
             O'Neill could cultivate an affiliation stronger than party 
             or a Congress that saw true friendships between Senators 
             such as Kennedy and Hatch, Inouye and Stevens, Obama and 
             Coburn; the odd couples, as they have been dubbed.
               I cannot tell you why, but I do think it is possible 
             this moment may see a turn in the spirit of the Senate. 
             There are new whispers of desire for progress, rumors of 
             new coalitions, and a sense of possibility--whether it is 
             on energy or immigration.
               I am deeply impressed by a new generation of Senators 
             who seem to have come here determined not to give in to 
             the cynicism but to get the people's business done. I am 
             confident that when today's freshmen take their turns in 
             leaving the Senate, they will be able to tell of new 
             Senators added to that estimable list of odd couples, and 
             with any luck by then it will not be odd.
               So I leave here convinced we can keep our Republic 
             strong. When President Kennedy observed that ``our 
             problems are manmade; therefore they can be solved by 
             man,'' he was talking about a much more literal kind of 
             nuclear option than the euphemism we use today to discuss 
             Senate rules. But his vision is just as important for us 
             to recognize in our time, whether we are talking about the 
             ability of Senators to debate and vote or about the issues 
             on which they do so. It is still true today, as he said 50 
             years ago, that ``reason and spirit have often solved the 
             seemingly unsolvable, and we believe,'' he said, ``they 
             can do it again.''
               I believe that too.
               So what effort do we need to put into our reason and 
             spirit in order to do it? I believe there are three most 
             significant challenges that have conspired to bring about 
             a dangerous but reversible erosion in the quality of our 
             democracy: the decline of comity, the deluge of money, and 
             the disregard for facts.
               First, I have witnessed what we all have, a loss of 
             simple comity, the respect that we owe one another, and 
             the sense of common cause that brings all of us here. The 
             Senate as a body can change its rules to make itself more 
             efficient, sure. But only Senators, one by one in their 
             own hearts, can change the approach to legislating which 
             Henry Clay correctly defined as the art of consensus.
               I came to the Senate in 1985 as a Member of a hopeful 
             and hard-charging class of freshmen. Paul Simon, Tom 
             Harkin, Al Gore, Phil Gramm, Jay Rockefeller, and I all 
             have at least three things in common. We were all sworn in 
             as Senators at the same time. We each explored running or 
             ran for the White House, and none of us made it there.
               (Laughter.)
               The last remaining Member of that class, Senator Mitch 
             McConnell, has now again been elevated by his peers as the 
             Republican leader.
               I see a lot of a very similar aspiration that we felt 
             when I came here in 1985 in today's freshmen and 
             sophomores. Many came to the Senate running on the premise 
             that it is broken beyond repair. I encourage each and 
             every one of them to reject that premise in order to 
             restore the promise of the Senate. The Senate cannot break 
             unless we let it. After all, the value of this 
             institution, similar to any instrument of power, is how 
             you use it. But we can't ignore the fact that today, 
             treaties that only a few years ago would have passed 100 
             to nothing, don't pass at all. People who want to vote for 
             something they believe in actually don't do so for fear of 
             retribution. That is a reflection on all of us. As I 
             prepare to represent our Nation in capitals around the 
             world, I am more than conscious that my credibility as a 
             diplomat and ours as a country is determined, to a great 
             degree, by what happens right here in our own Capital 
             City.
               The antidote to the current narrative of American 
             decline--and you will hear it in China, in Iran, in other 
             parts of the world--the antidote to that, and it is pushed 
             by rival countries, is to demonstrate that we can get our 
             economic house in order because we can be no stronger 
             abroad than we are here at home. It is that simple. The 
             unwillingness of some to yield to the national interest is 
             damaging to America's prospects in the world. We are quick 
             to talk about the global economy and about global 
             competition, but it is our own procrastination and 
             outright avoidance of obvious choices that threatens our 
             own future. Other nations are both quick and glad to fill 
             the vacuum that is brought about by our inaction.
               If the Senate favors inaction over courage and gimmicks 
             over common ground, the risk is not that we will fail to 
             move forward, it is that we will fall behind, we will stay 
             behind, and we will surrender our promise to those who are 
             more than willing to turn our squandered opportunity into 
             their advantage.
               The world keeps turning. The Senate cannot afford to 
             forever stand still. Just as failing to deal with our 
             deficit and our debt puts our long-term interests at risk, 
             so does taking America to the brink of default. Our self-
             inflicted wounds reduce our leverage and our influence in 
             the world. By failing to act, Congress is making it harder 
             to actually advance America's interests and making it 
             harder for American business to compete and for American 
             workers to succeed. If America is to continue to lead the 
             free world, this must end.
               We have all bemoaned the lack of comity in the Senate. 
             Those of you who remain here will have the power to 
             restore it. The choice to work respectfully with one 
             another is about as simple as it gets. I have one 
             suggestion, perhaps. While I am honored by the presence of 
             so many colleagues who are here now--Republicans and 
             Democrats--I have to say we all look forward to more days 
             when the U.S. Senate desks are full with Senators 
             debating, deliberating, learning, listening, and leading. 
             We would all be stronger if this Chamber is once again 
             crowded because it is the world's greatest deliberative 
             body, the home of debate and deliberation, and not only 
             when it becomes a departure lounge.
               There is another challenge we must address, and it is 
             the corrupting force of the vast sums of money necessary 
             to run for office. The unending chase for money, I 
             believe, threatens to steal our democracy itself. I used 
             the wording--and I want to be clear about it--I mean by it 
             not the corruption of individuals but corruption of a 
             system itself that all of us are forced to participate in 
             against our will.
               The alliance of money and the interest it represents, 
             the access it affords to those who have it at the expense 
             of those who don't, the agenda it changes or sets by 
             virtue of its power, is steadily silencing the voice of 
             the vast majority of Americans who have a much harder time 
             competing or who cannot compete at all.
               The insidious intention of that money is to set the 
             agenda, change the agenda, block the agenda, define the 
             agenda of Washington. How else could we possibly have a 
             U.S. Tax Code of some 76,000 pages? Ask yourself: How many 
             Americans have their own page, their own tax break, their 
             own special deal?
               We should not resign ourselves to a distorted system 
             that corrodes our democracy. This is what is contributing 
             to the justifiable anger of the American people. They know 
             it, they know we know it, and yet nothing happens. The 
             truth requires that we call the corrosion of money and 
             politics what it is: It is a form of corruption and it 
             muzzles more Americans than it empowers. It is an 
             imbalance that the world has taught us can only sow the 
             seeds of unrest.
               Like the question of comity in the Senate, the influence 
             of money in our politics also influences our credibility 
             around the world. So too does the unacceptable and 
             extraordinary difficulty we continue to have in 2013 
             operating the machinery of our own democracy here at home. 
             How extraordinary and how diminishing it is that more than 
             40 years after the Voting Rights Act so many of our fellow 
             citizens still have great difficulty when they show up on 
             election day to cast their vote and have their voices 
             heard. That too matters to all of us.
               For a country that can and should extol the virtues of 
             democracy around the world, our job is made more difficult 
             through long lines and overt voter suppression and efforts 
             to suppress people's ability to exercise the right that we 
             extol. So many still struggle to exercise that right here 
             at home.
               The last of the three obstacles we have the ability, if 
             not the will, to overcome is the unbelievable disregard 
             for facts, for science in the conduct of our affairs. It, 
             like the first two, degrades our credibility abroad as 
             well as at home.
               My friends, the persistent shouting match of the 
             perpetual campaign--one that takes place in parallel 
             universes, thanks to our polarized, self-selected media, 
             to some degree--makes it harder and harder to build 
             consensus among people. The people don't know what to 
             believe. So in many ways it encourages an 
             oversimplification of problems that too often retreat to 
             slogans and not ideas for real solutions.
               America, I regret to say, is increasingly defaulting 
             rather than choosing, and so we fail to keep pace with 
             other nations in the renewal of our infrastructure, in the 
             improvement of our schools, in the choice of our energy 
             sources, in the care and nurturing of our children, in the 
             fulfillment of our God-given responsibility to protect 
             life here on Earth. That too must change or our experiment 
             is at risk.
               To remain a great Nation we must do the business of our 
             country, and that begins by putting our economic house in 
             order. It begins by working from the same set of facts. 
             Although I believe we cannot solve any of these problems 
             unless we solve all of them, I note these three challenges 
             because I believe the Senate is going to be locked into 
             stalemate or our politics are going to be irreversibly 
             poisoned unless we break out of it. I say this hopefully 
             as someone who respects and loves this institution and 
             loves this country and wants to see us move forward.
               Some things we know are moving forward. In the same time 
             that comity has decreased and the influence of money has 
             increased, I have seen the Senate change for the better. 
             This Chamber used to be filled with the voices of men, and 
             men only. Decisions affecting more than half the 
             population were made by people representing the other 
             half. When I walked into the Senate Chamber to take my 
             first oath 28 years ago, I was joined by my two teenaged 
             daughters. It struck me that I had twice as many daughters 
             as there were women in the U.S. Senate. Today, with the 
             service of 20 women--including Massachusetts' new junior 
             Senator--this is a stronger and smarter place, more 
             representative of our belief that out of many, we are one; 
             more capable of fulfilling the vision carried from 
             Washington to Webster to our current President; that we 
             are a stronger Nation when our leadership reflects our 
             population.
               We have made huge strides on turning the page on gay 
             rights. In 1993, I testified before Strom Thurmond's Armed 
             Services Committee, pushing to lift the ban on gays 
             serving in the military, and I ran into a world of 
             misperceptions. I thought I was on a ``Saturday Night 
             Live'' skit. Today, at last, that policy is gone forever, 
             and we are a country that honors the commitment of all 
             willing to fight and die for our country. We have gone 
             from a Senate that passed DOMA--over my objections--to one 
             that just welcomed its first openly gay Senator.
               These are good changes for our Senate and our country, 
             but we have more work to do. This place needs more women, 
             more people of color, more diversity of background and 
             experience, but it is still a remarkable place.
               I am reminded of the letters of Harry Truman that he 
             used to write home to wife Bess as he sat in the back row 
             of the Chamber. Late one night after the great debate of 
             the New Deal Era, he wrote, ``I hear my colleagues, and I 
             pinch myself and ask, `How did I get here?'''
               Several months later, he wrote Bess once more:

               Again it is late at night and I am sitting here 
             listening to the debate, I look across the aisle at my 
             colleagues and I listen and listen, and I hear my 
             colleagues, and I ask myself, ``How did they get here?''

               Well, I have no doubt that colleagues have asked that 
             question about me or any one of us, and it has been back 
             and forth. But 29 years later I have learned something 
             about myself. I learned that the Senate runs on 
             relationships. I know that some of my more recent 
             colleagues--sent here in tumultuous election cycles--hear 
             that and think it is code for checking their beliefs at 
             the door and going Washington. It is not. I would add: 
             Don't kid yourself; no one got here on a platform of 
             pledging to join an exclusive club and forget where they 
             came from.
               When I say that relationships matter, I don't mean back-
             slapping, glad-handing, hail-fellow-well-met, go-along-to-
             get-along relationships; I mean real relationships. To 
             today's hard-charging colleagues who came to Washington to 
             shake things up, I would remind them, so did I, so did Tom 
             Harkin, and the others I mentioned. If I told you that a 
             40-year-old newly minted Senator John Kerry was going to 
             tell you that relationships mattered most, I would have 
             looked at you as if you had three heads. I cut my teeth in 
             grassroots activism. I didn't come up through the 
             political ranks. I burst onto the scene as an activist, 
             and when you are an activist, all that singularly matters 
             to you--to the exclusion of almost everything else--are 
             the issues. Where are you on an issue? Right or wrong, 
             that is the ballgame.
               Wrong. It is not the ballgame. That is not what makes a 
             good Senator. That is not what makes the Senate work. My 
             late colleague of 25 years, Ted Kennedy, taught me that. I 
             saw him late at night on the Senate floor sitting with his 
             colleagues talking and listening. He wanted to know about 
             your State; he wanted to know about your family; he wanted 
             to know why you came here. He had a unique ability to know 
             not just what he needed from you on a vote or a piece of 
             legislation but to know what you needed on a personal 
             level as a friend, as a colleague, as a partner.
               My old friend--now Vice President Joe Biden--had a 
             saying in his family: If you have to ask, it is too late. 
             With Teddy, you never had to ask. He always knew, and he 
             was there. He was there on a foggy morning on Nantucket 
             when my father passed away, and Teddy materialized almost 
             out of nowhere. There he was at my porch door. He didn't 
             call ahead; he didn't ask. He came to mark the passage. He 
             was there. It was an instinct for people and an impulse to 
             help.
               He taught so many of us during that period of time. 
             Somewhere along the line, he passed it on not only to me 
             but to every colleague here who was privileged to work 
             with him.
               I will never forget in 2007 on the day I announced I 
             would not be running again for President. Another rough 
             day, another passage. I got a call. Tom Harkin wanted to 
             see me. My staff surmised that he was probably coming to 
             ask for money for the Iowa Democratic Party. They were 
             wrong. It was a visit where Tom just came to share a few 
             words that were very simple but which meant the world to 
             me; a colleague visiting just to say he was proud that I 
             had been the nominee of the party in 2004, and he looked 
             forward to working with me more in this institution.
               Let me tell you, those are the conversations that make 
             the difference, those are the conversations you never 
             forget, and that is the U.S. Senate at its best. It is a 
             place where relationships matter the most. It matters 
             because Teddy, Tom, and so many others here understood 
             instinctively that if 100 Senators knew each other--and 
             our leader has worked very hard to try to find a way to 
             make this happen--then you can find the ways to work 
             together.
               To my surprise, I learned it here in a way that I never 
             could have predicted, alongside people I never thought I 
             would count as one of my proudest friends. Last week John 
             McCain introduced me at my confirmation hearing. John and 
             I met here in the Senate, coming from very different 
             positions and perspectives. We both loved the Navy; I 
             still do to this day. But I have different feelings from 
             John about a war.
               For both of us, Vietnam was a demarcation point in our 
             lives, the way it was for so many of our generation. Well, 
             late one night on a codel--for people who are listening 
             and don't know about codels, it is a trip of Senators and 
             Congressmen going somewhere in the world--to Kuwait after 
             the first Gulf war, John and I found ourselves in a C-130 
             sitting opposite each other. Neither of us could sleep, so 
             we talked. We talked late into the night about our lives 
             and our war. Shortly thereafter, George Mitchell and Bob 
             Dole flew us together on a select committee to investigate 
             the fate of Americans missing from the war in which we had 
             fought. It was a tough time, an emotional issue in an era 
             where ``Rambo'' was a box office smash and a Newsweek 
             magazine cover printed provocative photos which asked 
             whether Americans were still alive over there.
               Into that cacophonous cauldron, John McCain and I were 
             thrown together. Some were suspicious of both of us, but 
             together we found common ground. I will never forget 
             standing with John in the very cell in the Hanoi Hilton in 
             which he spent a number of years of his life, just the two 
             of us alone in this cell, listening to him talk about that 
             experience.
               I will always be grateful for his partnership in helping 
             to make real peace with Vietnam by establishing the most 
             significant process in the history of our country--or of 
             any country--for the accounting of the missing and dead in 
             any war and afterward and then working to lift the embargo 
             and ultimately normalize relations with an old enemy. John 
             had every reason to hate them, but he didn't. We were able 
             to heal deep wounds and end a war that divided an awful 
             lot of people for much too long. That is a common 
             experience, and only the relationships that are forged in 
             the Senate could have made that happen.
               John has this great expression: ``A fight not joined is 
             a fight not enjoyed.'' He loves to debate, he loves to 
             battle, and so do I. But I will tell my colleagues, having 
             fought beside him and having fought against him, it is a 
             heck of a lot better and more fun to have John fighting 
             alongside of you. We still have differences. There has 
             been a lot of newsprint used up covering some of them, but 
             I will tell my colleagues this: We both care about the 
             Senate as an institution, and we both care about the 
             country's leadership and the world even when we see it 
             differently, and we both know that at some point America 
             has to come together.
               We shared this common experience, and we have seen a lot 
             together. We both were able to travel the country as 
             Presidential nominees for our party, and both returned to 
             the Senate to carry on in a different way. Few people know 
             what that feels like. But just being by his side in Hanoi 
             made it impossible for me not to be overwhelmed by his 
             sense of patriotism and his devotion to country. It meant 
             something else: If you can stand on the kind of common 
             ground that we found in the Hanoi Hilton, then finding 
             common ground on issues here at home isn't hard at all. I 
             will always thank John McCain for that lesson.
               One of the magical things about the Senate is this 
             amazing mix of people and how they could come together to 
             make something happen. I have learned and been impressed 
             by the experiences of every single one of my colleagues, 
             and I honestly marvel at the reflection of each State's 
             special character in the people they send here. I have 
             learned from all--from a fiery, street-smart social worker 
             from Maryland; from a down-to-earth, no-nonsense farmer 
             from Montana; from a principled, conservative doctor from 
             Oklahoma; from an amazingly tenacious advocate for women 
             and the environment who blazed a trail from Brooklyn to 
             Rancho Mirage and the Senate, who teams with a former 
             mayor of San Francisco who took office after the 
             assassination of Harvey Milk, committed to stand against 
             violence and for equality; from a cantankerous, maverick 
             patriot and former prisoner of war from Arizona, whom I 
             just talked about; to a songwriting, original, 
             compassionate conservative from Utah; from a fervent, 
             gravel-voiced people's champion from Ohio; from a soft-
             spoken, loyal, Medal of Honor winner from Hawaii who used 
             to sit right here; and from a college professor turned 
             proud prairie populist and Senate Pied Piper who was taken 
             from us far too soon and far too quickly. From every 
             Member of the Senate, there are characteristics, passions, 
             quirks, and beliefs that bring this place alive and unite 
             to make it the most extraordinary legislative body on 
             Earth. That is what I love about the Senate.
               I love that instead of fighting against each other, Bill 
             Frist, the former Republican leader, and I were able to 
             join forces to fight HIV and AIDS around the globe and to 
             convince an unlikely conservative named Jesse Helms to 
             support and pass a bill unanimously that saved millions of 
             lives on our planet. That is what makes this place so 
             special.
               Instead of ignoring a freshman Senator, Chairman 
             Claiborne Pell allowed me to pass my very first amendment 
             to change our policy on the Philippines. So I found myself 
             with Dick Lugar, paired as Senate election observers who 
             helped expose the voter fraud of the Marcos regime, ending 
             a dictatorship and giving a nation of more than 90 million 
             people the opportunity to know democracy again. That is 
             what the Senate can do, and that is what I love about it.
               Instead of focusing on our different accents and 
             opposite ideologies, Jesse Helms and I found that our 
             concern for illegal drugs was greater than any political 
             differences between us. So Jesse made it possible for an 
             investigation to proceed and for the Senate to expose the 
             linkages between the Contras in Nicaragua and the flow of 
             drugs to American cities. That is what the Senate can do.
               The Senate can still work if we learn from and listen to 
             each other--two responsibilities that are, like Webster 
             said about liberty and union, one and inseparable.
               So as I offer my final words on the Senate floor, I 
             remember that I came of age in a Senate where freshman 
             Senators didn't speak that often. Senators no longer hold 
             their tongues through whole sessions of Congress, and they 
             shouldn't. Their voices are just as valuable and their 
             votes count just as much as the most tenured Member of 
             this body. But being heard by others does not exempt them 
             from listening to others.
               I came to the National Mall in 1971 with fellow veterans 
             who wanted only to talk to our leaders about the war. 
             President Nixon tried to kick us off The Mall. We knocked 
             on door after door on Capitol Hill but too often couldn't 
             get an audience of representatives. A precious few, 
             including Ted Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey, came to where 
             we were camped out and heard what we had to say. I saw 
             first hand that our political process works only when 
             leaders are willing to listen to each other but also to 
             everyone else. That is how I first came to the Senate--not 
             with my vote but with my voice--and that is why the end of 
             my tenure here is in many ways a bookend.
               Forty-two years ago, I testified before Senator 
             Fulbright's Foreign Relations Committee about the 
             realities of war in Vietnam. It wasn't until last week 
             that I would sit before that committee again, this time 
             testifying in my own confirmation hearing. It completed a 
             circle which I never could have imagined drawing but one 
             our Founders surely did. That a citizen voicing his 
             opinion about a matter of personal and national 
             consequence could one day use that voice as a Senator, as 
             the chairman of that same committee before which he had 
             once testified as a private citizen, and then as the 
             President's nominee for Secretary of State, that is a 
             fitting representation of what we mean when we talk about 
             a government ``of the people, for the people, and by the 
             people.''
               In the decades between then and now, this is what I have 
             learned above all else: The privilege of being here is in 
             being able to listen to your constituents. It is the 
             people and their voices much more than the marble 
             buildings and the inimitable institutions they house that 
             determine whether our democracy works.
               In my first appearance before the Senate, at the 
             Fulbright hearings, I began by saying, ``I am not here as 
             John Kerry. I am here as one member of the group of 1,000, 
             which is a small representation of a very much larger 
             group.''
               I feel much the same way today as I leave. We are still 
             symbols, representatives of the people who have given us 
             the honor to speak and advocate and vote in their name, 
             and that, as the Bible says, is a ``charge to keep.'' One 
             day, the 99 other Senators who continue on for now--and 
             soon to be 100 again in a few days--will also leave in 
             their own turn--in your own turn--some by their own 
             choosing and some by the people's. Our time here is not 
             meant to last forever. If we use the time to posture 
             politically in Washington, we weaken our position across 
             the world. If democracy deadlocks here, we raise doubts 
             about democracy everywhere. If we do not in our deeds 
             prove our own ideals, we undermine our security and the 
             sacred mission as the best hope of Earth. But if we do our 
             jobs right, if we treat our colleagues with respect and 
             build the relationships required to form consensus and 
             find the courage to follow through on our promises of 
             compromise, the work we do here will long endure.
               So let us in the Senate or in the House be bigger than 
             our own districts, our own States. Let us in spirited 
             purpose be as big as the United States of America. Let us 
             stand for our beliefs but, above all, let us believe in 
             our common history, our common destiny, in our common 
             obligation to love and lead this exceptional Nation. They 
             say politics stops at the water's edge. That is obviously 
             not always true. But if we care for our country, politics 
             has its limits at home and abroad.
               As I leave here, I do so knowing that forever the Senate 
             will be in my soul and that our country is my cause and 
             yours. I thank you all for your friendship and the 
             privilege of serving with you.
               (Applause, Senators rising.)
                                Letter of Resignation
                              Tuesday, January 29, 2013

                      U.S. Senate, Washington, DC, January 29, 2013.

             Hon. Joseph R. Biden,
             President of the United States Senate, U.S. Capitol,
             Washington, DC.

               Dear Mr. Vice President: This letter is to inform you 
             that with great gratitude to the people of Massachusetts 
             for the privilege of serving them for over 28 years and 
             with great pride in what I have been able to contribute to 
             Massachusetts and our country, I hereby resign my seat in 
             the United States Senate effective Friday, February 1st at 
             4:00 p.m. in order to assume the responsibility of 
             Secretary of State.

                Respectfully,
                                                 John F. Kerry.
                                           

                                      TRIBUTES

                                         TO

                                    JOHN F. KERRY
                                    
                              Proceedings in the Senate
                                             Thursday, January 24, 2013
               Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I want to commend President 
             Obama for nominating Senator Kerry to be our next 
             Secretary of State. There are few, if any, people in 
             America today who have had the breadth of experience that 
             Senator Kerry has had: as a military officer, as a highly 
             decorated veteran, as a Lieutenant Governor, as a U.S. 
             Senator, and as chairman of the Foreign Relations 
             Committee. He is exceptionally well qualified to be the 
             next Secretary of State.
               John Kerry is a leader of extraordinary intellect, 
             wisdom, and insight. To those of us who have watched him, 
             worked with him, and traveled with him over the years, it 
             is crystal clear that he is a natural diplomat. He lives 
             and breathes the art of diplomacy. He is instinctively 
             drawn to understanding and addressing the global security 
             challenges of our time.
               He is also multilingual. I have heard Senator Kerry in 
             meetings in other capitals of the world, and I have 
             watched those who were there pay special attention to what 
             he had to say as he conversed in their language. This is 
             someone who does not need on-the-job training. He has been 
             learning the job over the course of four decades of public 
             service.
               I chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on the 
             Department of State and Foreign Operations. In that role, 
             I will look forward to working closely with Senator Kerry 
             in his new position as Secretary of State, to provide the 
             resources necessary to promote and protect U.S. interests 
             around the world.
               It is a formidable assignment. We face daunting threats 
             from religious extremism, nuclear proliferation, climate 
             change, growing competition for energy, water, and other 
             natural resources--all amid the obligations of deficit and 
             debt reduction. But these threats and challenges present 
             opportunities if we approach them intelligently.
               Some in Congress have an almost xenophobic attitude. 
             They would have us retreat. They would slash our 
             contribution to the United Nations and weaken our ability 
             to build alliances, which would only embolden our 
             adversaries.
               They would cut the State Department's budget at a time 
             when our diplomats and consular officers, many of whom 
             work long hours in dangerous places, already are stretched 
             to the limit. Then they criticize and politicize when 
             tragedies happen.
               We saw that yesterday, when members of the other body 
             criticized Secretary of State Clinton for lapses in 
             diplomatic security, only a week after they prevented 
             passage of my amendment that would have allowed for the 
             transfer of unused State Department funds to improve 
             security at U.S. embassies around the world. Let's stop 
             the hypocrisy.
               Some here would roll back funding for international 
             development programs, which help to create political 
             stability in conflict-prone regions and build markets for 
             U.S. exports, on the grounds that these funds would be 
             better spent at home.
               They miss the point. Ninety-nine percent of the Federal 
             budget is spent on domestic programs. The notion that 
             somehow the wealthiest, most powerful nation on Earth is 
             an island, and that we can ignore what is happening in the 
             world around us is foolhardy, and it is dangerous.
               John Kerry understands this, and he knows that 
             appropriations begin with Congress. In times of close 
             scrutiny of all aspects of the Federal budget and fierce 
             competition for funds among Federal agencies, he will need 
             to make his case up here repeatedly, and I will work with 
             him to do that. We have to convince Congress and the 
             American people why the State Department's budget is 
             important. As Secretary of State one can have the best 
             policies and the best plans to implement them. But if you 
             don't have the resources, if you don't have the people to 
             do it, the best plans in the world don't go very far.
               Secretary Clinton has done an outstanding job. I have 
             told her that I stand in awe of what she has accomplished 
             throughout the world and within the State Department. We 
             all owe her a debt of gratitude for her steady hand and 
             tireless energy as Secretary of State. I have traveled 
             with her to other countries. I have seen how she 
             approaches problems, always prepared and with such energy. 
             Every American should be proud to be represented by her. 
             She has done an extraordinary job in reintroducing America 
             to the world after the missteps following 9/11 that caused 
             so much damage to our image and authority abroad.
               Her successor also has not only a hard act to follow, 
             but he also understands, as we all do, that America must 
             continuously demonstrate to the rest of the world what we 
             stand for as a people.
               I believe the Congress and the American people, and I 
             think, in a way, the world, is fortunate to have a nominee 
             for the position as qualified as Senator Kerry. I will 
             enthusiastically vote for him when his name comes before 
             the Senate. ...
                                              Tuesday, January 29, 2013
               Mr. NELSON. Madam President, I want to speak about the 
             extraordinary public service that has been rendered by the 
             Secretary of State and whose long record of public service 
             I want to commend. I rise on behalf of my friend, our 
             former colleague, our honorable Secretary of State, 
             Hillary Clinton. ...
               Madam Secretary, you have truly honored us with your 
             indispensable leadership. On behalf of all our Senate 
             colleagues, we thank you for your extraordinary service to 
             this country. I want to say that your position will be in 
             capable hands with our colleague and your former 
             colleague, Senator John Kerry, who will serve, as we 
             confirm him in the next 24 hours, as the 68th Secretary of 
             State.
               Senator Kerry has served in this Senate in a 
             distinguished amount of public service since 1985. He grew 
             up traveling the world with his father in the Foreign 
             Service. He fought in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze 
             and Silver Stars, along with three Purple Hearts. I know 
             he is going to build upon and continue the legacy and the 
             extraordinary record of Secretary Clinton and will enhance 
             America's leadership in the world. I look forward to his 
             speedy confirmation.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). Under the previous 
             order, the Senate will proceed to executive session to 
             consider the following nomination, which the clerk will 
             report.
               The legislative clerk read the nomination of John Forbes 
             Kerry, of Massachusetts, to be Secretary, Department of 
             State.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, there 
             will be 2 hours of debate on the nomination equally 
             divided in the usual form.
               The Senator from New Jersey.

               Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I rise to speak to the 
             nomination of Senator Kerry to be the next Secretary of 
             State.
               It has been more than 100 years since a member of the 
             Senate Foreign Relations Committee was directly nominated 
             to be the Secretary of State. The last was Senator John 
             Sherman of Ohio, who was selected to serve as Secretary of 
             State to President McKinley. It is important to note that 
             this historical fact exists because Senator Kerry's path 
             isn't one commonly taken but one that is earned by a 
             select few, and he has earned this opportunity.
               From the first time John testified before Chairman 
             Fulbright as a young returning Vietnam war hero in 1971 to 
             the day the President announced his nomination as 
             Secretary of State, he has invested himself in all of his 
             endeavors, always looking for the truth, for answers, 
             uncovering the facts, hearing all the evidence, and then 
             publicly speaking truth to power based solely on what was 
             best for this Nation. I know he will carry those 
             leadership traits with him into his new position, and I 
             can think of no one better prepared to take on the 
             challenges of this position.
               As a Senator, as a member of this committee, and as a 
             chairman, John has already built strong relationships with 
             leaders across the world, which will allow him to step 
             seamlessly into the role of Secretary of State. Senator 
             Kerry will need no introduction to the world's political 
             and military leaders and will begin day one fully 
             conversant not only with the intricacies of U.S. foreign 
             policy but with the understanding of the nuanced approach 
             necessary to effectively interact on a multinational 
             stage.
               When Vice President Biden was chairman of the Foreign 
             Relations Committee, he said on more than one occasion 
             that ``good international relationships are always 
             predicated on strong interpersonal relationships.'' John 
             Kerry understands there is no substitute for strong 
             interpersonal relationships, whether in Senate politics or 
             international diplomacy. Secretary of State is not a desk 
             job. It requires constant personal interactions in the 
             furtherance of American foreign policy.
               During his 30 years in public life and more than 25 
             years in the Senate, Senator Kerry has championed many 
             issues. Earlier today the Senate Foreign Relations 
             Committee favorably reported his nomination to the Senate 
             unanimously and presented Senator Kerry with an honorary 
             resolution highlighting a few of his many accomplishments.
               Among his accomplishments are the partnership he formed 
             with Senator John McCain that led to an effort to 
             investigate the fate of American soldiers unaccounted for 
             in Vietnam and normalize relations with a former enemy--
             which is, in essence, Vietnam; his leadership of 
             difficult, sensitive, and comprehensive investigations in 
             the Senate on everything from the Bank of Credit and 
             Commerce International and illegal money laundering, to 
             the Noriega regime in Panama which is well known; 
             advocating for democratic elections in the Philippines and 
             serving with Senator Lugar as part of a Senate delegation 
             that uncovered the fraud that led to the ouster of 
             President Ferdinand Marcos; working with the Cambodian 
             Government and the United Nations to facilitate the 
             creation of the genocide tribunal in Cambodia to prosecute 
             key members of the Khmer Rouge; advocating for programs 
             that help secure nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons 
             stockpiles and materials so they don't fall into the hands 
             of hostile states or terrorists; and leading the Senate to 
             provide its advice and consent to ratification of the New 
             START Treaty with Russia.
               During the Arab Spring, Senator Kerry supported a no-fly 
             zone over Libya, which helped to save thousands of 
             civilians from being massacred, and he was a voice of 
             courage and conscience in calling for President Hosni 
             Mubarak to step aside and begin an orderly and peaceful 
             transition to a democratic political system in Egypt.
               John has been a tireless advocate for the cause of peace 
             in the Sudan and South Sudan and played an instrumental 
             role in the successful referendum in 2011.
               John is well known for his bipartisan work with former 
             majority leader Bill Frist on comprehensive HIV/AIDS 
             legislation that laid the foundation for the President's 
             Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a program that provides 
             lifesaving treatment for people with HIV/AIDS and supports 
             broad prevention efforts that save lives every day.
               Many of you know that John is a tireless and most 
             convincing advocate for addressing global climate change 
             and supporting the transition to a clean energy future. As 
             chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, he 
             convened eight major hearings and roundtables on climate 
             change and energy security, underscoring their connection 
             to global stability, economic competitiveness, and 
             America's national security.
               In his new role, his portfolio will be greatly expanded 
             as he represents the interests of the Nation, from 
             securing our embassies and protecting our overseas 
             personnel to promoting commerce, enhancing cross-cultural 
             ties, and keeping America secure through cooperation where 
             possible and isolation where necessary, as in the cases of 
             Iran and North Korea.
               Whatever the challenges we will face as a nation, in my 
             view, the State Department could not be in better hands. 
             When it comes to America's role in world affairs, I know 
             we all agree that it is critical that the United States 
             remain fully engaged, that we project not only the power 
             of our military strength when necessary but the wisdom of 
             our democratic ideas. I have no doubt that Senator Kerry 
             will rise to meet these challenges as he has so 
             consistently in his many years of service to his State and 
             this country.
               I see the distinguished ranking member on the committee, 
             Senator Corker, whom I look forward to working with as we 
             move forward in the days ahead.
               I think all Members will say that even when they did not 
             agree with Chairman Kerry on a given issue, they always 
             felt he had an open ear, an open door, an opportunity for 
             full debate, an effort to seek the common ground, 
             particularly in U.S. foreign policy. I believe those 
             traits are going to serve him extraordinarily well in his 
             role as Secretary of State as he deals with the Senate and 
             the House of Representatives as part of promoting U.S. 
             foreign policy in a way that brings us as cohesively 
             together as we can to promote the national interests and 
             security of the United States.
               I look forward at the end of this time period to a 
             strong confirmation vote to send a message to the world 
             that this is our Secretary of State, and he speaks for 
             America on behalf of the Obama administration and the 
             people of the United States.
               Madam President, I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.

               Mr. CORKER. Madam President, I wish to thank the 
             chairman for holding the business meeting the way he held 
             it today and the hearings last week for this confirmation.
               I know a lot of people think that because of the way 
             partisan politics are here in Washington, sometimes we 
             can't be happy for someone on the other side of the aisle 
             when they do well. Nothing could be further from the 
             truth.
               I just want to say that I thought Senator Kerry 
             acquitted himself exceptionally well in the hearings we 
             had last week. I thought they were wide-ranging, and I 
             think he had the opportunity to display the depth of 
             knowledge he has on many issues. I don't know of anybody 
             who has lived a life that has been more oriented toward 
             ultimately being Secretary of State than John Kerry, and 
             for that I also am happy for him and his family and the 
             fact that very soon he is going to be able to express 
             himself on behalf of our Nation in this way.
               I think most of you know that his dad was a Foreign 
             Service officer. I know that you know he certainly made a 
             splash. Some people thought it was negative, some people, 
             positive, but he certainly made a splash here during the 
             Vietnam era and from that point on has been very active. 
             So, again, I thought he acquitted himself exceptionally 
             well.
               There are four points I want to bring out. I know that 
             he knows--and many of us have seen recently just because 
             of some of the things that have happened in Libya--we have 
             a State Department that needs some oversight, and we 
             haven't provided it. Neither side of the aisle has 
             provided it now for over a decade.
               I know he sees the need for the Senate, through its 
             authorization process--and the House doing the same--to be 
             involved and to be partners with him as we try to cause 
             this organization, which over the years has just built 
             into a sporadic stovepipe entity, to be assisted. A lot of 
             times when a political person comes into an organization, 
             the bureaucracy tries to wait it out until the next person 
             comes along. I don't think it can happen any more in any 
             agency than it does in the State Department.
               So I look forward to working with the chairman in 
             whatever way he ends up deciding we are going to work 
             together on this particular issue to really look at the 
             State Department. I know Senator Kerry certainly welcomes 
             that.
               We most recently had a hearing with Senator Clinton on 
             Benghazi, and there have been Accountability Review Board 
             recommendations that have been put forth, and I know 
             Senator Kerry has said he is certainly going to see those 
             through and make sure they are fully implemented.
               I know we talked a great deal in the hearing--and 
             certainly we have done so personally--about our nuclear 
             posture and nuclear modernization, which is a big part of 
             what we discussed during the Start Treaty--something I 
             supported and worked with him on--and I found his comments 
             about where we need to be in that regard certainly 
             reassuring.
               I also think he is very clear-eyed as it relates to the 
             threat we face as a nation, especially in north Africa now 
             but in many places as it relates to terrorist groups such 
             as Al Qaeda. As a matter of fact, I look at Senator Kerry 
             as a realist. While we have not always agreed on every 
             issue, as the chairman just mentioned, I have always found 
             him to be someone who is open to discussion. I think he 
             wants only the best for our Nation. There is no question 
             that as he moves ahead over the next several years, I am 
             sure he will take positions that in some cases I and 
             others--maybe Senator Menendez--may view as not exactly 
             the course of action that ought to be taken on behalf of 
             our country. But my sense is that he will be open to 
             listening, and I think he will be willing to sit down and 
             talk about that as we move ahead.
               He came out of the committee today by voice vote 
             unanimously. As the chairman mentioned, I think he is 
             going to receive a very strong vote of support today here 
             on the Senate floor. As the chairman mentioned, I think 
             that it is good for our Nation, as he goes out across the 
             world representing us, for people to understand that this 
             is someone who received overwhelming support from the 
             Senate.
               All of us know we live in a dangerous world. We live in 
             a world that is changing dramatically. We live in a world 
             in which things come over the transom on a daily and 
             weekly basis that are unexpected. I mean, we look at what 
             is happening right now throughout the country of Egypt, 
             which we might not have expected to occur a week ago. To 
             have someone like Senator Kerry, who has spent a lifetime 
             on these issues and understands the history and 
             institutional issues that have bound us or separated us 
             from these countries--having someone like him representing 
             us will be a very good thing.
               I join the chairman in supporting him. I know numbers of 
             people will have comments regarding his service here in 
             the Senate but also his future service, and I look forward 
             to listening to that.
               Madam President, I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

               Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I would like to join with 
             Senator Menendez and Senator Corker in urging our 
             colleagues to promptly confirm Senator Kerry as our next 
             Secretary of State.
               It is a great honor to serve in the Senate. It is a 
             great privilege and honor to represent the people of 
             Maryland here in the Senate. Part of that special 
             privilege is the people we serve with, the incredible 
             public servants we have had the privilege of serving with 
             in the Senate, and I put Senator Kerry at the top of that 
             list.
               He has devoted his life to public service in the finest 
             manner. He is so qualified to assume the responsibilities 
             of Secretary of State. He understands this complex world 
             in which we live and the differences among countries. Many 
             are strategically important to the United States. Yet they 
             don't share our values. Senator Kerry understands that and 
             understands the importance to advance U.S. interests--we 
             need to understand the concerns of other countries and we 
             need to establish relations with other countries.
               He has made a personal commitment to understand the 
             world in which we live. I do not think there has been a 
             Member of this body who has spent more time, gone to more 
             places, met with more people in order to represent our 
             Nation on the international stage. Senator Kerry has 
             always done that with the greatest degree of competency 
             and representing our country in the finest traditions. He 
             has broad experience: experience as a soldier serving in 
             Vietnam, experience as a Senator, 28 years representing 
             the people of Massachusetts in the Senate. We know about 
             his service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. I 
             want to talk about two other committees on which he 
             served.
               One is the Senate Finance Committee on which I had the 
             pleasure of serving with him. There is no Senator who has 
             taken the fiscal challenges of our country more seriously 
             or better understands the impact our fiscal condition has 
             on our national security interests. In fact, during his 
             confirmation hearings he mentioned the need to get our 
             fiscal house in order. I think he understands that and 
             understands the commitment he has, once confirmed and once 
             heading the State Department, to help us bring about 
             fiscal sanity in the United States to do what is necessary 
             worldwide, but also to do it in a most cost-effective way.
               I also served with Senator Kerry on the Small Business 
             Committee. The small business community did not have a 
             better advocate when Senator Kerry was chairman of that 
             committee. I was pleased how many times we brought out 
             initiatives to help America and small businesses grow 
             because we know the growth engine for jobs has come from 
             small companies. But, clearly, it has been in the last few 
             years that I had the privilege of serving with Senator 
             Kerry as he chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 
             that I got to see so up close and personal his 
             extraordinary commitment to our country and his ability to 
             carry out so many important responsibilities.
               Senator Kerry understands our national security, yes, 
             depends upon a strong military, but that also the other 
             key ingredients to national security are diplomacy and 
             development assistance.
               We had Secretary Clinton before our committee. Someone 
             mentioned that was about 1.5 percent of the budget, and 
             she corrected it and said it is really less than 1 percent 
             of the budget. Diplomacy and international assistance is 
             less than 1 percent of the budget. We know what we spend 
             on our military is a lot larger than that. All three are 
             important to national security.
               Senator Kerry understands that. He understands through 
             diplomacy we can avoid unnecessary military action. He 
             understands through diplomacy we can make America safer. 
             He understands through international development 
             assistance we can strengthen countries, make them more 
             stable, and be less likely to need to use our military. 
             That is the type of leader we need as Secretary of State. 
             We have a great leader today, Secretary Clinton. I think 
             Senator Kerry will follow in that tradition.
               Take a look at Senator Kerry's record of advancing 
             America's interests. We have a safer world today through 
             Senator Kerry's efforts. As you know, we approved the New 
             START Treaty with Russia, reducing the amount of nuclear 
             weapons between Russia and the United States. That makes 
             this world safer. His record on human rights is well 
             known. From Cambodia to Burma to Kosovo and many other 
             places around the world, Senator Kerry has been a leader 
             in advancing the cause of human rights.
               We already heard Senator Menendez point out his efforts 
             in Vietnam. He represented America to get an accounting of 
             our POW/MIAs. It was unprecedented in modern times to be 
             able to go to a country with which we are at war and have 
             that kind of accounting. Senator Kerry used his talent in 
             order to bring closure for many American families, and 
             that was an incredible accomplishment. Then he was able to 
             improve the relationship between the United States and 
             Vietnam, recognizing it is in America's interests that we 
             are able to communicate with other countries.
               I particularly appreciate his work on elevating the 
             importance internationally of human trafficking. The 
             United States has taken the leadership in saying, whether 
             you are a receiving country or an origin country or a 
             country of transport, we all have a responsibility to stop 
             what we call modern slavery: the trafficking, usually of 
             young girls, but also sometimes boys. The United States 
             has taken the leadership there.
               I like to think Senator Kerry's taking leadership on 
             this started with his position on the Helsinki Commission. 
             He is a former member of the Helsinki Commission. I now 
             have an opportunity of being the Senate chair of the 
             Helsinki Commission. We raised the issue of human 
             trafficking and Senator Kerry was one of the great 
             advocates to advance America's leadership internationally 
             to stop human trafficking.
               He has protected people with disabilities.
               As Senator Menendez mentioned, he has been our leader on 
             energy and climate issues, recognizing the importance of 
             the United States to demonstrate international leadership 
             in order to deal with a global problem, a problem that is 
             important for us to deal with as a citizen of the world 
             but also important for us to deal with in regard to 
             America's economy and America's energy needs and America's 
             security responsibilities. Senator Kerry has been a great 
             leader on that.
               He has provided U.S. leadership for humanitarian 
             assistance. I remember the hearings we had on Haiti in the 
             committee and the personal commitment he made to make sure 
             America was in the leadership for a country in our own 
             hemisphere that suffered such a horrible disaster, and his 
             work there was extremely important.
               He led our efforts in dealing with HIV/AIDS, in doing 
             the responsible things as far as America's position on 
             that problem. He understands the importance of 
             international development assistance to advance gender 
             equality. It is interesting, if you want to take a look at 
             the health of a country, look at the way they treat their 
             women. We have a pretty strong commitment as far as 
             international development assistance around the world. We 
             need to make sure countries advance the rights of women. 
             It is not only the right thing to do from what we believe 
             as Americans, but it also provides a more stable country 
             for us to have relations with. Senator Kerry understands 
             that.
               He has been one of the leaders in fighting corruption in 
             other countries. I will always remember the hearing we had 
             in our committee when former President Clinton and Bill 
             Gates testified before us. These are two individuals who 
             have headed a lot of international development assistance. 
             They have a zero policy in dealing with countries that 
             cannot control corruption because they want to make sure 
             their assistance doesn't go to fuel corruption. Senator 
             Kerry understands we don't want America's international 
             development assistance to be used to fuel corruption. That 
             is the type of leadership we have in the Secretary of 
             State.
               The list goes on of what he has been able to do to 
             advance the rights and interests of the United States. I 
             am confident that Senator Kerry's legacy of fighting for 
             democracy, human rights, and global peace will continue as 
             he assumes his new responsibilities as the Secretary of 
             State for the United States of America.
               I urge my colleagues to support his nomination.
               I thank Chairman Menendez for bringing this nomination 
             to the floor so quickly and thank Senator Corker for 
             accommodating it. It is important that President Obama has 
             his security team in place as quickly as possible. I am 
             proud the Senate will be doing its share, its work, by 
             voting on this nomination later today.

               Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am here to speak first 
             and very personally in support of the nomination of 
             Senator Kerry to be our next Secretary of State. There is 
             a time when the man and the moment come together in a 
             profoundly historic way. Senator Kerry's nomination to be 
             Secretary of State of the United States at such a time 
             when his leadership can be pivotal in shaping America's 
             role in the world, as a leader for human rights, as well 
             as the use of its extraordinary strategic power for peace.
               There is also a time when the woman and a moment come 
             together and that has been so for Hillary Clinton, who has 
             done such extraordinary work, incomparable in transforming 
             America's role in world history. I believe that just as 
             she has met the challenges in guiding American foreign 
             policy and leading the dedicated men and women of our 
             Foreign Service, so will Senator Kerry rise to the 
             difficult challenges ahead. Senator Kerry's whole life has 
             prepared him for this job, and I have every confidence he 
             will help keep America safe and secure and build our 
             capacity and alliances in pursuit of democracy and a more 
             peaceful world.
               Last week, I met with Senator Kerry to share my 
             experiences from a recent visit to the Middle East and 
             Afghanistan and to urge him to immediately take up the 
             issue of the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe occurring 
             within Syria and across its borders in Turkey and Jordan. 
             My experiences came from a trip I took with Senator McCain 
             and Senator Whitehouse, and others of my colleagues who 
             share my impression that drastic and dramatic humanitarian 
             aid must be provided for those refugees.
               I am pleased the President has announced an additional 
             $155 million for the Syrian people today. I believe we 
             must also provide aid and assistance to the Syrian 
             Opposition Council. It matters as much how we provide this 
             aid as the total amount we provide. I am very encouraged 
             by Senator Kerry's listening and hearing us, and I look 
             forward to continuing our work with soon-to-be Secretary 
             of State Kerry on this issue and many other vital security 
             concerns. ...

               Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to express 
             my strong support for the nomination of John Kerry to be 
             our next Secretary of State.
               As a friend and colleague for more than 20 years, I can 
             think of no one who is more qualified and better prepared 
             to be our Nation's chief diplomat.
               He has the intelligence, judgment, compassion, 
             determination, and above all, leadership experience to 
             help the administration confront and find commonsense 
             solutions to the multitude of foreign policy challenges 
             now before us.
               His story is well known to those of us who have worked 
             side by side with him for so many years.
               The son of a distinguished Foreign Service officer, his 
             understanding of the world and America's critical role in 
             it began at an early age. He learned the value of American 
             diplomacy and the indispensable role played by our 
             diplomats here in Washington and at our consulates and 
             embassies around the world.
               He served with distinction and honor in Vietnam, earning 
             a Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts. He 
             saw first hand the costs of war, and he recognized that 
             military force must be used wisely and only after all 
             other options have been exhausted.
               After 2 years as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, 
             he came to the Senate in 1985 and took his place on the 
             Senate Foreign Relations Committee, rising to the position 
             of chairman in 2009.
               As a member of that committee and its leader, he 
             demonstrated the qualities that will serve him well as 
             Secretary of State.
               He did his homework, and he asked tough questions. He 
             traveled the world and engaged key leaders, gaining their 
             respect and confidence. He developed an admirable track 
             record of listening carefully to both sides of an issue 
             and developing the relationships on both sides of the 
             aisle necessary to forge bipartisan agreements.
               From reestablishing diplomatic relations with Vietnam 
             and organizing the ratification of the New START Agreement 
             to managing our relationship with Pakistan and 
             Afghanistan, fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and 
             addressing the threat posed by climate change, Senator 
             Kerry has clearly left his mark on U.S. foreign policy.
               As President Obama noted, ``John has played a central 
             role in every major foreign policy debate for nearly 30 
             years.''
               That experience will serve him well as Secretary of 
             State.
               Indeed, we live in challenging and constantly evolving 
             times.
               We have ended the war in Iraq, and our mission in 
             Afghanistan is winding down. But the threat of global 
             terror endures.
               We have seen the Arab Spring topple autocrats and bring 
             hope for a new future. But the ultimate fate of those 
             countries and their commitment to democracy, human rights, 
             and the rule of law remains uncertain.
               We have enacted a robust set of bilateral and 
             multilateral sanctions on Iran and launched a diplomatic 
             initiative through the P5+1 process, but its nuclear 
             program continues.
               We have built a close and mutually beneficial 
             relationship with China, but there are lingering questions 
             about its human rights record and its growing military 
             assertiveness, particularly in the South China Sea.
               We have seen how our humanitarian and development 
             assistance programs can lift people out of poverty in the 
             developing world; yet nearly 2.5 billion people still live 
             on less than $2 a day.
               These are just some of the items that will be on Senator 
             Kerry's agenda as Secretary of State.
               I know he understands that in facing these challenges 
             American leadership is essential but we will also need the 
             help and cooperation of our friends, allies, and partners 
             in the international community.
               I know he understands that the strength of this country 
             lies not just in our military but in the power of our 
             ideas.
               I know he understands that in order for the United 
             States to lead, we must maintain a strong and effective 
             international affairs budget.
               We will certainly miss Senator Kerry's leadership and 
             experience in the Senate. But I am heartened to know that 
             he will continue to serve his country and bring those 
             skills to the State Department, representing the United 
             States around the world.
               I urge my colleagues to support Senator Kerry's 
             nomination to be our next Secretary of State.

               Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I am pleased to stand here 
             today to support President Obama's nomination of my 
             esteemed colleague, Senator John Kerry, to serve as our 
             Nation's next Secretary of State.
               Senator Kerry has had a long career of service to the 
             American people. We have served together in the Senate for 
             26 years, and I look forward to continuing our 
             relationship. As a Senator he has always approached his 
             work with seriousness and dedication. Nowhere can this be 
             seen more than in his work as a member of the Senate 
             Foreign Relations Committee, where he has shown a mastery 
             of the challenges that face our global community.
               As the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee he 
             has played a prominent role in the establishment of U.S. 
             foreign policy. He has traveled the globe and built 
             relationships and coalitions with international leaders. 
             Most important, he has demonstrated an ability to balance 
             our Nation's long history of diplomacy with our changing 
             national security needs. The unanimous support given to 
             him by the Foreign Relations Committee exhibits the 
             respect and confidence he has earned from this body.
               The Department of State faces evolving challenges that 
             reflect our increasingly interconnected world and require 
             a modern approach to diplomacy. Senator Kerry will lead a 
             team that must confront global security challenges and 
             ensure the security of our diplomatic corps and their 
             families. I am confident that Senator Kerry will meet 
             these challenges, and I will work with him to ensure that 
             the State Department and its employees have the resources 
             they need to serve their mission.
               While I am sorry to see Secretary Clinton leave her post 
             after 4 successful and productive years, I am pleased to 
             know that Senator Kerry will take on the role with the 
             same dedication. I call on my colleagues to join me in 
             approving his nomination to Secretary of State.

               Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, John Kerry is a valued 
             colleague and a loyal friend, and we will miss him in the 
             Senate. But at a time when our Nation faces complex and 
             difficult challenges around the globe, he is especially 
             well qualified to serve as Secretary of State, and I 
             strongly support his confirmation.
               Unquestionably, Iran is at the top of the list of 
             challenges the next Secretary of State will face. Senator 
             Kerry has supported efforts in the Senate, including 
             sanctions language included in the defense authorization 
             acts for 2012 and 2013, that have helped isolate the 
             Iranian regime. At his confirmation hearing, Senator Kerry 
             succinctly stated the Obama administration's policy on 
             Iran:

               We will do what we must do to prevent Iran from 
             obtaining a nuclear weapon and I repeat here today: Our 
             policy is not containment, it is prevention and the clock 
             is ticking on our efforts to secure responsible 
             compliance.

               Senator Kerry will be an effective and dedicated 
             executor of that policy as we unify the international 
             community in our efforts to prevent the Iranian Government 
             from developing nuclear weapons.
               Another significant challenge for our foreign policy is 
             the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Here again, 
             Senator Kerry's unique qualifications will serve our 
             Nation well. He strongly supports the plan for 
             transitioning the security lead to Afghan forces so they 
             can provide for their own security. He has established a 
             critical relationship with President Karzai that will 
             strengthen our bilateral relations as we define the 
             enduring strategic relationship between the United States 
             and Afghanistan for post 2014. Senator Kerry understands 
             the importance of negotiating a bilateral security 
             agreement that provides our troops the necessary 
             protections, including legal immunity, for a limited force 
             to continue to train, advise, and assist the Afghan forces 
             and conduct counterterrorism operations after 2014. 
             Senator Kerry also has significant experience engaging 
             with Pakistan, which remains key to efforts to establish 
             security and stability in South Asia. Through the Kerry-
             Lugar-Berman Act and other efforts, Kerry has led efforts 
             to strengthen civilian institutions in Pakistan and to 
             reset our bilateral relations.
               Senator Kerry also recognizes, as he said during his 
             confirmation hearing, that ``[m]ore than ever, foreign 
             policy is economic policy.'' Those words will hearten 
             working families in my State and across the Nation whose 
             well-being is increasingly connected to our economic 
             competitiveness around the world, our ability to engage 
             with other nations to ensure that our companies and 
             workers have the opportunity to compete in the global 
             marketplace on an equal footing, and our recognition that 
             economic competition today is not just among companies, 
             but also among the countries that support their companies 
             and workers. I look forward to working with Senator Kerry 
             as we bring all the levers of American policy to bear on 
             this issue of paramount importance to American prosperity.
               Another issue on which I look forward to cooperating 
             with Senator Kerry is our policy toward Cuba. Senator 
             Kerry and I have similar voting records on U.S. policy 
             toward Cuba. We also both recognize the need for policy 
             that places maximum pressure on the Cuban regime to 
             democratize. However, our voting records maintain that our 
             Cuba policy is counterproductive in promoting change in 
             Cuba. I look forward to working with Senator Kerry to 
             rebalance our approach to Cuba as we look forward to a new 
             era in that nation's history and its relations with us.
               Throughout his public career, John Kerry has proven his 
             dedication not just to America's interests, but to its 
             values. Indeed, he recognizes that our ability to defend 
             our interests around the world depends on adherence to the 
             values that make the United States a beacon of freedom and 
             opportunity. He has spoken with eloquence about the need 
             to combat violence and extremism around the world not just 
             with our military might, but with the power of our ideas. 
             As he said in his confirmation hearing, ``America lives up 
             to her values when we give voice to the voiceless.'' His 
             commitment to aiding those around the world whose lives 
             have been shattered by war, repression, or disaster is in 
             keeping with those values.
               Senator Kerry knows personally the cost of war and the 
             value of peace. He knows the difficulty of the challenges 
             we face, and the importance of American leadership in 
             facing those challenges--leadership important not just to 
             our Nation's security and prosperity, but to the world's. 
             He has been an outstanding servant of the American people, 
             and I am confident he will continue that record of 
             extraordinary service as our next Secretary of State.

               Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am proud to support the 
             confirmation of our colleague Senator Kerry to be 
             Secretary of State. Senator Kerry is one of our Nation's 
             great leaders in foreign affairs, and has been since he 
             arrived in the Senate 28 years ago. His remarkable record 
             speaks for itself, but I would especially like to 
             recognize and thank him for his service as chairman of the 
             Foreign Relations Committee over the past 4 years.
               In addition to his hands-on diplomacy in Afghanistan, 
             Pakistan, Sudan, and elsewhere around the globe, Senator 
             Kerry has fought to bring up more treaties for Senate 
             consideration. We of course remember his leadership during 
             the consideration of the New START Treaty in 2010, which 
             has enabled a responsible reduction of our nuclear arsenal 
             in concert with Russia. But he also worked to bring 
             forward the Convention on the Rights of Persons with 
             Disabilities and held hearings on the Convention on the 
             Law of the Sea, two important international agreements 
             that the United States has not ratified. Trying to 
             shepherd treaties through the Senate is a much less 
             glamorous task than traveling to summits overseas, but 
             Senator Kerry approached them with the same level of 
             passion and energy. He fought for these treaties because 
             he truly believes in the importance of American leadership 
             in the world, and he understands that that leadership does 
             not come solely from our military strength but our 
             commitment to dialog and diplomacy.
               Senator Kerry will undoubtedly serve as Secretary of 
             State with the same honor and integrity that have defined 
             his career. It will be up to us to continue his legacy in 
             the Senate, and I look forward to continuing to work with 
             him as he takes on this new challenge.

               Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
             the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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

               Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I believe the business before 
             the Senate is the confirmation of John Kerry as Secretary 
             of State, to which I would like to speak. I actually rise 
             in support of two Senators, one former and one current, as 
             America's Secretary of State.
               Last week, both were guests at the Foreign Relations 
             Committee which I served on and both did an outstanding 
             job. The Secretary of State, former Senator from New York, 
             Hillary Clinton, has served the U.S. interests with 
             distinction. She championed a diversity of causes that 
             strengthen our security and at the same time improved the 
             lives of so many around the world, particularly women and 
             children.
               Secretary Clinton leaves an incredible legacy in her 
             diplomatic efforts. There is no one more suited or more 
             qualified to take up the challenges and promise than my 
             friend and colleague and our mutual friend Senator John 
             Kerry of Massachusetts.
               John Kerry came to the Senate almost 30 years ago. From 
             his first days as a freshman, he served with distinction 
             on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As a Navy 
             patrol boat captain in the Vietnam war, he had notable and 
             lasting exposure to complex foreign policy challenges and 
             the wars that result when diplomacy fails.
               Certainly one lesson he brought back with him was the 
             heavy and all too personal knowledge of the consequences 
             of war. But his experience in representing the U.S. 
             interests abroad did not begin in this institution. 
             Rather, the journey to his nomination for Secretary of 
             State began when John Kerry was a child, when his own 
             father was a Foreign Service officer. John tells fond 
             stories about his time as a child living in Berlin while 
             his father was stationed there.
               During those years, he developed a profound respect for 
             the men and women of the Foreign Service, their sacrifice, 
             their dedication, and their ability to demonstrate the 
             values of our democracy. During his tenure as a Senator 
             from Massachusetts and from 2009 as the chairman of the 
             Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry has been a 
             tireless leader on behalf of the American people to ensure 
             that our security remains strong and our interests well 
             represented around the world.
               He has been a leading voice on the Iran-Contra 
             investigation, the war and fragile peace in Afghanistan, 
             arms control and verification, building lasting ties with 
             Pakistan, and perhaps in his most personal contribution, 
             opening diplomatic relations with Vietnam. I would like to 
             speak to that for a moment, if I can, because it is a 
             personal story I would like to share.
               It was John Kerry and John McCain, more than any others, 
             who moved us from that stage in our history where we 
             shunned the people of Vietnam to the point where we 
             recognized their country, established normal relations 
             with them, and built a new relationship. There were no 
             better Senators to do it than John Kerry and John McCain, 
             both of whom were decorated veterans of the Vietnam war, 
             both of whom gave so much in that conflict, particularly 
             Senator McCain, spending 5 years as a prisoner of war in 
             Vietnam. They worked hard to establish normal relations 
             with that country and to put behind the bitterness and the 
             war that had divided the two countries, the United States 
             and Vietnam.
               It was not easy. One of the issues front and center was 
             the question of prisoners of war and missing in action. 
             There were all sorts of rumors and speculation that, in 
             fact, there were still Americans being held prisoner in 
             Vietnam. That rumor was very strong across America. There 
             was a lot of criticism of the Vietnamese in not 
             cooperating with us in trying to identify anyone still 
             remaining or the remains of American soldiers who died in 
             that conflict.
               John McCain and John Kerry came together and put an 
             incredible bipartisan voice to resolving these issues. It 
             came to my attention because it was about the time when I 
             was elected to the Senate in 1996. I served in the House 
             of Representatives with an extraordinary individual, Pete 
             Peterson of Florida.
               Pete Peterson had been an Air Force pilot in the Vietnam 
             war, shot down, and himself imprisoned in a POW camp for 
             more than 5 years. He was a quiet person and did not talk 
             much about it. But one day, I kind of provoked him at 
             lunch, and he started talking about what it meant to live 
             in isolation for 5 years, how they coped, how they 
             survived, and the impact it still had on his life.
               President Clinton at that moment decided it would be a 
             significant symbol that the first Ambassador of the United 
             States to Vietnam would be Pete Peterson of Florida, a man 
             who had been held as a POW by the Vietnamese would return 
             as American's voice in that new country. He was brought 
             before the Senate for confirmation.
               I remember saying to my staff when I came over here: Be 
             sure and tell me when Pete Peterson's nomination comes to 
             the floor. I want to say a few words about my friendship 
             with him and what he means to me and how important this 
             appointment is. Time passed. I did not hear anything. Then 
             there was a ``60 Minutes'' program on that I happened to 
             watch. It was all about Pete Peterson becoming the 
             Ambassador to Vietnam. I came back to my staff. I was 
             upset. I said, ``You were supposed to tell me when this 
             happened so I could get up and give a speech and say 
             something nice.'' They said, ``It never happened--`60 
             Minutes' is speculating. The fact is, Pete Peterson's 
             nomination has been put on hold--a secret hold in the 
             Senate.''
               I could not believe it. I called Pete Peterson. I think 
             he lived in Jupiter, FL, at the time. I said to him, 
             ``Pete, what is going on here?''
               He said, ``Dick, I am about to give up. It has been 
             almost 1 year since President Clinton named me to the spot 
             and I cannot clear the Senate. Somebody is holding me up. 
             I do not know who it is. I have to get on with my life.''
               I said, ``Let me at least talk to some people.'' So I 
             came to the floor. The first person I looked for was John 
             Kerry and then John McCain. They said, ``Yes; there is a 
             hold, but we are trying to work through it.''
               I said, ``You know, if you cannot get this done and done 
             quickly, then I think there has to be a speech on the 
             floor that says: `Holding Pete Peterson in a POW camp for 
             5 years is bad enough, but the Senate holding his 
             nomination as Ambassador is unforgivable. We need to vote 
             on Pete Peterson. He has given so much to this country.'''
               It is credit to John Kerry and John McCain that they 
             quieted down this new Member of the Senate and said, ``Let 
             us get this done quietly.'' They did. Pete Peterson went 
             on to serve as Ambassador in Vietnam. He was a widower at 
             the time. He met a lovely young Vietnamese-Australian 
             woman. They married. They now live in Australia and we 
             keep in touch from time to time. But I think of that 
             moment in time in our history when John Kerry and John 
             McCain showed what diplomacy and careful consideration can 
             do.
               We not only established relations with Vietnam, we sent 
             a great individual to serve as its first Ambassador. They 
             did it quietly and effectively. Can he be a great 
             Secretary of State? You bet he can. I will be the first to 
             tell you that I saw his skill first hand when I came to 
             the Senate. If confirmed, he will bring a breadth of 
             experience to global challenges, some new and some which 
             we cannot even anticipate as we debate this matter. The 
             list is vast and formidable: Iran, Syria, North Korea, 
             cybersecurity, failed and fragile states, and democratic 
             backsliding in Russia, to name a few.
               One of the issues John Kerry has tackled for many years 
             that will desperately need attention, and the President 
             highlighted in his Inaugural Address, is that of climate 
             change. As was mentioned during his nomination hearing 
             last week, climate change is one of the most pressing and 
             consequential issues of our time. It is not just an 
             environmental issue, it is a moral issue. What kind of 
             planet will our generation leave for our children and 
             grandchildren? How will history judge us if we ignore the 
             evidence and warning signs and do nothing to head off 
             climate catastrophes? Senator Kerry is uniquely qualified 
             to address this great moral challenge. He knows if we are 
             ever going to get China and India to take responsibility 
             for their carbon emissions, we have to start from a strong 
             position of legitimacy, having taken these steps 
             ourselves.
               He knows when the United States tackles climate change, 
             it also increases our diplomatic standing and reputation 
             around the world. He knows tackling climate change will 
             help prevent a host of terrible global problems, from 
             famine, water shortages, to political instability, any of 
             which can draw the United States into a costly or bloody 
             conflict.
               Addressing climate change is in our vital national, 
             economic, and security interests. I know John Kerry will 
             tackle this and many other challenges that await him at 
             the State Department. He has been a trusted and admired 
             colleague of mine and so many others in the Senate. I have 
             enjoyed his work on the Senate Foreign Relations 
             Committee. I wish to especially thank him for calling the 
             Convention on Disability Treaty for consideration by the 
             Senate. I am sorry it did not pass, but it was not for 
             lack of effort by John Kerry.
               His passionate pursuit of a safe and just Nation and 
             world, his deep sense of patriotism and commitment to 
             America's most challenged values are well documented. 
             While I am sorry to lose him in the Senate as a colleague, 
             I can think of no better person to serve as our Nation's 
             next Secretary of State. I congratulate John Kerry on his 
             nomination. As a friend and colleague, I urge my fellow 
             Senators to swiftly confirm John Kerry so he can get about 
             the work of making America a safer nation.

               Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, it is my understanding we 
             are coming to the end of the time on this debate--or 
             consideration, I should say. There has really been no 
             debate. I think that speaks to Senator Kerry's tremendous 
             standing in the Senate on his nomination as Secretary of 
             State.
               This is a Member of the Senate who has an extraordinary 
             American history. After volunteering for the U.S. Navy 
             during the Vietnam war, Senator Kerry was awarded a Silver 
             Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Upon 
             returning home, he continued his efforts to fight for and 
             protect the veterans who served beside him in combat, 
             joining with others to found the Vietnam Veterans of 
             America organization, working tirelessly for veterans' 
             benefits.
               With over three decades of foreign policy and national 
             security experience under his belt, Senator Kerry is 
             uniquely qualified to serve as the next Secretary of 
             State. A decorated Vietnam combat veteran, dedicated 
             public servant, with deep experience in international 
             affairs and close relationships with Presidents and Prime 
             Ministers throughout the world, he will have an 
             extraordinary beginning to his job as Secretary of State.
               He has demonstrated time and time again his ability to 
             build coalitions and craft compromises. He has amassed a 
             broad record of foreign policy accomplishments and has 
             distinguished himself as one of the Nation's most 
             respected voices on national security.
               I look forward to a very strong bipartisan vote that 
             sends a very clear message to the world: This is America's 
             representative. This is our Secretary of State. I believe 
             he has earned that vote and that respect through a 
             lifetime of work and the tremendous collegiality he has 
             had among Members on both sides of the aisle, including 
             those who may not agree with him on any given issue but 
             have always respected the manner in which he has 
             approached that issue.

               Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I know Senator Kerry will be 
             speaking tomorrow, so I will be brief. I think I speak on 
             behalf of every one of us here that we so admire the job 
             Senator Kerry has done in the many different phases of his 
             past life. We are excited he will be our Secretary of 
             State, and for John Kerry I think the best is yet to come.

               Mr. HARKIN. Madam President, as we say goodbye to 
             Secretary Clinton in her capacity as Secretary of State, 
             we say welcome aboard and congratulations to my good 
             friend Senator John Kerry on the resounding confirmation 
             of his nomination to serve as our next Secretary of State. 
             His departure will be a tremendous loss to the Senate, but 
             I respect President Obama's decision to tap him for this 
             absolutely critical position. There is no one in the 
             United States better qualified by experience, knowledge, 
             and temperament to step into this extraordinarily 
             demanding job.
               To repeat what my colleagues already know, but it always 
             bears repeating, after volunteering to serve in the U.S. 
             Navy during the Vietnam war, John Kerry was awarded the 
             Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. Upon 
             returning home, he became a national leader in the fight 
             for justice for veterans who served beside him in Vietnam 
             as well as for veterans of wars before and since Vietnam. 
             He joined with others to found the Vietnam Veterans of 
             America organization. He has worked hard here in the 
             Senate over all of these years to secure veterans' 
             benefits, for an extension of the GI bill for higher 
             education, and for appropriate treatment for veterans with 
             post-traumatic stress disorder.
               As we all know, Senator Kerry has played a leading role 
             in shaping American foreign policy for many years in his 
             position on the Foreign Relations Committee and as chair 
             of that distinguished committee. As chair of that 
             committee, he was instrumental in securing passage of the 
             New START Treaty, a vital arms accord with Russia that is 
             helping to reduce the danger of nuclear proliferation. He 
             has served as a trusted special envoy to Afghanistan, 
             Sudan, and Pakistan at crucial moments. Senator Kerry 
             advocated for democratic elections in the Philippines. He 
             was part of a delegation that uncovered the fraud that 
             ultimately led to the removal of President Ferdinand 
             Marcos. He was a strong proponent of U.S. action to end 
             ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and to oppose sanctions on 
             Burma tied to human rights abuses. Senator Kerry has been 
             a leader in promoting economic development and recovery in 
             Haiti, fighting global HIV/AIDS, supporting democracy and 
             human dignity, poverty assistance, and the advancement of 
             women's empowerment throughout the world.
               In his early days in the Senate, Senator Kerry and I--in 
             fact, we were elected together in 1984--came to the Senate 
             together. But shortly after that, Senator Kerry and I went 
             on a factfinding mission to Nicaragua and unearthed 
             information regarding the activities of the Contra 
             guerillas, which he presented to the Committee on Foreign 
             Relations. Based in part on his groundbreaking findings, 
             the committee launched an investigation into the funding 
             of the Contra guerillas that ultimately uncovered the 
             Reagan administration's Iran-Contra scandal, a scheme to 
             divert profits from illegal arms sales to Iran to support 
             the Contra guerillas.
               Senator Kerry and I, as I said, were both members of the 
             class of 1984 here in the Senate. We worked together to 
             end illegal support of the Contras in Nicaragua, and we 
             have collaborated on a range of human rights issues since 
             then.
               In particular, I salute his tireless and valiant attempt 
             last year to pass the Convention on the Rights of Persons 
             with Disabilities. I can't tell my colleagues how hard he 
             worked to get it through the committee and before that 
             worked with others to make sure we had a good convention 
             to the United Nations that mirrored our own Americans with 
             Disabilities Act. John Kerry worked tirelessly on this, 
             and I am deeply grateful for all that work and the 
             passionate commitment he made to this treaty. I know he 
             shares my disappointment that the Senate failed to give 
             its consent to this treaty, but I look forward to working 
             with him in his new role as Secretary of State and with 
             Senator Menendez, our new chair of the Senate Foreign 
             Relations Committee, not only to promote the convention 
             around the world, which I know Senator Kerry will do in 
             his position as Secretary of State, but to once again 
             bring this convention to the floor of the Senate and this 
             time to prevail and pass it.
               There is no question in my mind that John Kerry will be 
             a great Secretary of State. I wish him and Teresa the very 
             best, and I look forward to working with him in the years 
             ahead.
                                            Wednesday, January 30, 2013
               Mr. REID. Madam President, I rise today to honor John 
             Kerry, our colleague, the senior Senator from 
             Massachusetts. I congratulate Senator Kerry on his 
             confirmation as our Nation's next Secretary of State.
               I am pleased he will continue to serve his country in 
             this important role. He will be missed by his Senate 
             colleagues, that is for sure.
               Senator Kerry said at his confirmation hearing that the 
             Senate is in his blood, and that is true. As he represents 
             America's interests around the world, his experience as a 
             Senator will serve him and our country well.
               For 28 years, Senator Kerry has been a dedicated 
             representative of the people of Massachusetts in the 
             Senate. Senator Kerry has also rendered distinguished 
             service to his country in the Navy, to the Commonwealth of 
             Massachusetts as Lieutenant Governor and as Senator, and 
             to the Democratic Party and the people of this country as 
             the 2004 Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party.
               He is a brilliant man. He was a debater at Yale and won 
             awards for his skilled oratory over a number of years. 
             That talent has allowed him to speak for freedom and 
             justice at each stage of his career.
               Before he graduated college, he was a vocal critic of 
             the Vietnam war. But upon graduation, Senator Kerry 
             volunteered to serve in the U.S. Navy, and serve he did. 
             Later he said he did it because ``it was the right thing 
             to do.''
               Senator Kerry learned the value of service at home. His 
             father was a Foreign Service officer, and his mother was a 
             nurse during World War II. He served two tours as a Navy 
             lieutenant in the jungles and rivers of Vietnam. He was 
             awarded the Silver Star for his gallantry, a Bronze Star 
             for valor also, and three Purple Hearts. But even after 
             his service in the war, his opposition continued.
               On April 22, 1971, Senator Kerry became the first 
             Vietnam veteran to testify before Congress about the war 
             when he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations 
             Committee, which was chaired by the famous Senator William 
             Fulbright--a committee he would later chair. It was a 
             remarkable appearance. He was the first veteran to 
             testify.
               He went on to attend Boston College Law School. He 
             worked as a prosecutor in Middlesex County before he was 
             elected Lieutenant Governor in 1982. Just 2 years later he 
             was elected to the U.S. Senate. He has served in the 
             Senate for five terms. He has always been an unflinching 
             advocate for veterans. He helped found the Vietnam 
             Veterans of America and has worked tirelessly to secure 
             treatment for servicemembers dealing with post-traumatic 
             stress.
               Senator Kerry has served 6 years on the Senate 
             Intelligence Committee and, remarkably, 28 years on the 
             Foreign Relations Committee. He has been a leading 
             advocate of doing something about global climate change.
               Senator Kerry has convened eight major hearings and 
             roundtables on climate change and energy security since 
             taking the gavel as chair of the Foreign Relations 
             Committee, replacing Vice President Biden.
               It was in the early 1990s that Senator Kerry's brilliant 
             mind and exceptional dedication came to my attention. I 
             had the good fortune of being chosen by Leader Mitchell to 
             be a member of the Select Committee on MIAs--missing in 
             action--and POWs. It was very controversial at that time. 
             There was a belief by many that there were live Americans 
             either in Cambodia, Laos--maybe in Vietnam. We had not 
             done as much as people thought we should do about those 
             missing in action, and it was a very volatile period of 
             time in the history of this country.
               I saw him with patience, with wisdom, serve as chairman 
             of that select committee. As I have indicated, it was a 
             difficult assignment, an important assignment, and he 
             handled it--as he has done everything I have watched him 
             do--thoughtfully and with integrity.
               Since coming to the Senate I have been fortunate to be 
             invited to his home for lengthy but fascinating foreign 
             policy discussions with Senate colleagues and foreign 
             policy experts. In recent years, Senator Kerry was also 
             instrumental in securing passage of the New START Treaty 
             with Russia, which is helping to reduce the danger of 
             nuclear proliferation.
               He has served as an unofficial envoy for President Obama 
             to Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, and some countries 
             probably none of us even know where he went. There were 
             many times he came to me and said: I have to go, and he 
             tells me where he is going, and there was nothing in the 
             newspapers about where he had gone. But he is a great 
             evaluator of people, and because of that, the President 
             has trusted him and has sent him on all these missions. 
             Now he will do that as Secretary of State.
               He has authored numerous pieces of legislation to 
             prevent the global spread of HIV/AIDS. He has also played 
             a central role in crafting American policy in Iraq and 
             Afghanistan, the war on terror. I can remember one very 
             difficult time when he spent days and days, principally 
             with President Karzai, working out a difficult issue 
             following the elections they had there. He has been 
             focused on the Middle East peace process and Israel's 
             security for his entire time as a member of that 
             committee, the Foreign Relations Committee.
               For more than 30 years, Senator Kerry has been a 
             powerful voice for his constituents in Massachusetts as 
             well as an engaged citizen of the world. Throughout those 
             years, John has matched his unflinching passion for 
             democratic values with forward-thinking actions to advance 
             those values.
               No one is better qualified than John Kerry to continue 
             the exceptional work of Secretary of State Hillary 
             Clinton. While we are saddened to lose his leadership in 
             the Senate, we saw yesterday the support he has, where 
             virtually every Senator voted to support him as the next 
             Secretary of State. I wish him well as he embarks on this 
             next challenge, and I am confident he will meet the 
             challenge.

               Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate 
             overwhelmingly confirmed the nomination of John Kerry to 
             be the next Secretary of State of the United States of 
             America. I was away from the Capitol during the 2 hours 
             allocated for that debate, and I wanted to add my comments 
             and my commendations to now-Secretary Kerry on his 
             confirmation to be Secretary of State of our country.
               For the last 4 years, I had the privilege of serving on 
             the Foreign Relations Committee with Senator Kerry as 
             chairman. During that period of time, I got to watch him 
             as a diplomat, as an American, as a Member of the Senate, 
             and as one committed to peace and security around the 
             world. I watched him carefully in the Middle East as he 
             negotiated and worked hard to see to it that we had peace 
             but that we had peace through strength and we had peace 
             through our partnership with the great State of Israel. I 
             watched him on the comprehensive peace agreement in the 
             Sudan to help shepherd across the creation of the newest 
             nation, South Sudan, and a bloodless election that caused 
             that to take place. I watched him in many other cases 
             dealing with diplomats from Africa, to Europe, to the 
             Middle East, representing the United States of America in 
             all of its best interests. I watched him work hand in hand 
             with Secretary of State Clinton to ensure that there was 
             no division between the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 
             and the policies of this country. But most important of 
             all, in those tough issues, like the ratification of the 
             New START Treaty, now-Secretary Kerry, then Chairman 
             Kerry, made sure that every member of the committee in the 
             entire markup and hearing process had their questions 
             answered, their concerns answered, and was a part of the 
             process. He never tried to ramrod anything through the 
             committee nor through the Congress but, rather, did his 
             job in an exemplary way.
               It is a privilege for me to rise tonight to pay tribute 
             to John Kerry, the next Secretary of State of the United 
             States of America, and commend him on his confirmation to 
             that job.
                                             Thursday, January 31, 2013
               Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute 
             to my colleague and friend, Senator John Kerry, as his 
             distinguished career in the U.S. Senate comes to an end.
               While I am sad to see him go, I am so proud that Senator 
             Kerry will be continuing his long record of service to the 
             United States as Secretary of State.
               For more than 13 years, I have had the privilege of 
             serving with Senator Kerry on the Senate Foreign Relations 
             Committee. Throughout that time, Senator Kerry has 
             consistently shown a tremendous breadth of knowledge 
             regarding the key foreign policy challenges of the day.
               Most recently as chairman of the committee, Senator 
             Kerry championed Senate ratification of the New START 
             Treaty--making both our country and the world safer from 
             the threat of nuclear proliferation.
               On a wide range of issues--from U.S. policy toward 
             Afghanistan and Pakistan to efforts to achieve peace 
             between Israel and the Palestinians--he has offered 
             thought-provoking insight and expertise.
               That is why I believe that no one is as prepared as 
             Senator Kerry to serve as our Nation's top diplomat.
               I am particularly proud of the many issues we have 
             worked on together, including fighting HIV/AIDS, 
             tuberculosis and malaria, addressing climate change, and 
             working to end human trafficking around the globe.
               I am also grateful that Senator Kerry worked with me to 
             establish the first-ever Senate subcommittee dedicated to 
             ending violence against and promoting the advancement of 
             women and girls around the globe.
               I look forward to continuing to work on these and the 
             many other foreign policy challenges facing our country 
             with our new Secretary of State, Senator Kerry, and wish 
             him all the best in his new position.
                                           Wednesday, December 10, 2014
                        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.