[Senate Document 113-8]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]






                 TRIBUTES TO HON. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON


                                           

                            Kay Bailey Hutchison

                          U.S. SENATOR FROM TEXAS

                                TRIBUTES

                           IN THE CONGRESS OF

                           THE UNITED STATES

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]





                                                     S. Doc. 113-8
 
                                      Tributes

                                Delivered in Congress

                                Kay Bailey Hutchison

                                United States Senator

                                      1993-2013




[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]









                       U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

                              WASHINGTON : 2014












                            Compiled under the direction

                                       of the

                             Joint Committee on Printing


















                                      CONTENTS
             Biography.............................................
                                                                      v
             Farewell Address......................................
                                                                     ix
             Proceedings in the Senate:
                Tributes by Senators:
                    Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
                                                                     32
                    Cardin, Benjamin L., of Maryland...............
                                                                     27
                    Cochran, Thad, of Mississippi..................
                                                                     21
                    Collins, Susan M., of Maine....................
                                                                      3
                    Conrad, Kent, of North Dakota..................
                                                                     12
                    Cornyn, John, of Texas.........................
                                                                     17
                    Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah.......................
                                                                     20
                    Hutchison, Kay Bailey, of Texas................
                                                                 10, 23
                    Klobuchar, Amy, of Minnesota...................
                                                                     31
                    Kyl, Jon, of Arizona...........................
                                                                      3
                    Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
                                                                     26
                    Levin, Carl, of Michigan.......................
                                                                 21, 24
                    McConnell, Mitch, of Kentucky..................
                                                                     13
                    Mikulski, Barbara A., of Maryland..............
                                                                   4, 6
                    Murkowski, Lisa, of Alaska.....................
                                                                     29
                    Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
                                                                     23
                    Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
                                                                     33
                    Stabenow, Debbie, of Michigan..................
                                                                     23
             Proceedings in the House of Representatives:
                Tributes by Representatives:
                    Poe, Ted, of Texas.............................
                                                                     35


















                                      BIOGRAPHY

               Kay Bailey Hutchison was born in Galveston, TX, on July 
             22, 1943. She attended public schools in La Marque, TX, 
             and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and 
             the University of Texas Law School in 1967.
               Her early career included work as a TV reporter; a 
             member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1972 to 
             1976; vice chair of the National Transportation Board from 
             1976 to 1978; bank executive and general counsel; 
             businesswoman; Texas State treasurer from 1990 to 1993; 
             and temporary cochair of the Republican National 
             Convention in 1992.
               She was elected to the U.S. Senate on June 5, 1993, in a 
             special election to fill the remainder of the term 
             following the resignation of Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. She is 
             the only woman elected to represent the State. She was 
             reelected in 1994, 2000, and 2006, and served until 
             January 3, 2013.
               She served in the Senate leadership, having first been 
             elected vice chairman of the Republican Conference and 
             later elected chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, 
             the fourth-highest ranking Republican Senator.
               She served as ranking member on the Senate Committee on 
             Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 
             Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and 
             Science. She was chairman of the Military Construction 
             Appropriations Subcommittee and served on the Defense 
             Appropriations Subcommittee. She was a member of the 
             Republican National Hispanic Assembly Advisory Committee 
             and was elected several times to chair the Board of 
             Visitors at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
               Senator Hutchison consistently championed tax relief for 
             working families. She led the fight to provide relief from 
             the marriage income tax penalty and to reestablish the 
             deduction for State and local sales taxes. She worked to 
             reduce marginal income tax rates, eliminate the death tax, 
             and lower taxes on capital gains. Early in her career she 
             was the lead sponsor of a bill to create the new Homemaker 
             IRA, which allows spouses who do not work outside the home 
             to save for retirement through an IRA. The bill became law 
             in 1996, and in 2013, was named the Kay Bailey Hutchison 
             Spousal IRA.
               She has a well-earned reputation as a national leader on 
             defense issues and as a tireless advocate for U.S. 
             military forces, helping to ensure they had adequate 
             resources and proper training necessary to defend the 
             Nation. She fought hard to improve the quality of life for 
             U.S. military personnel, their families, and veterans by 
             improving health benefits and education opportunities and 
             modernizing and upgrading military facilities and family 
             housing. She introduced and passed legislation creating an 
             Overseas Basing Commission, which conducted a 
             comprehensive review of the U.S. military's global 
             footprint to help ensure that U.S. Armed Forces are 
             prepared to meet 21st century threats.
               Senator Hutchison was instrumental in helping enact the 
             National Intelligence Reform Act, which included 
             provisions she wrote to ensure better screening of cargo 
             and instruct the Transportation Security Administration to 
             establish a database of known shippers, develop facility 
             security plans, and mandate the use of worker 
             identification cards. She secured funding for additional 
             border patrol agents to strengthen enforcement of 
             immigration laws. During her term as chair of the Commerce 
             Committee's Subcommittee on Aviation she played a major 
             role in drafting the airline security bill enacted by 
             Congress after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
               Since first elected to the Senate in 1993, she has been 
             a leading advocate for science, technology, education, and 
             competitiveness. She cosponsored the America COMPETES Act 
             in 2007, and when it was reauthorized in 2010, introduced 
             a provision in the bill enabling colleges and universities 
             to allow more students who major in science, technology, 
             engineering, or mathematics (STEM) to become concurrently 
             certified as elementary and secondary school teachers. 
             Because studies have shown that some students learn better 
             in a single-gender environment she also sponsored and 
             passed legislation allowing public schools to offer 
             single-sex education. During her time in the Senate, Texas 
             moved to third in the Nation in receipt of Federal 
             research and development expenditures for higher education 
             research institutions.
               She was instrumental in establishing the Academy of 
             Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas to provide 
             broader recognition of Texas' top achievers in these 
             fields and to build a strong identity for Texas as a 
             center of achievement for medicine, engineering, and 
             science.
               Senator Hutchison joined with Senator Bill Nelson to 
             pass the NASA reauthorization bill in 2010 that bolsters 
             America's human space flight capabilities for the next 
             steps in deep-science exploration, while moving forward 
             with development of a new commercial space industry.
               She introduced legislation in the 112th Congress to 
             reverse some of the effects of President Obama's health 
             care law. Her Patients' Freedom to Choose legislation was 
             focused on repealing provisions that restrict health 
             savings accounts and flexible spending accounts.
               In 2008 Senator Hutchison authored an amicus curiae 
             brief for the Supreme Court case DC v. Heller to affirm an 
             individual's right to keep and bear arms. Her brief was 
             signed by the Vice President and by more Members of 
             Congress than any other brief in U.S. history. The Supreme 
             Court, in a landmark decision, affirmed the individual's 
             Second Amendment rights.
               Senator Hutchison lives in Dallas with her husband, Ray, 
             and their two children, Bailey and Houston.
                               Farewell to the Senate
                            Wednesday, December 19, 2012

               Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I rise today to address 
             this Chamber for possibly the last time as the senior 
             Senator from the great State of Texas.
               I have to say it is an ironic note that if I had given 
             my farewell address last week, there would have been so 
             much joy in the halls of the Capitol, ringing with the 
             laughter and the anticipation of our season's happiest 
             time. But in just one weekend, a sadness has set in with 
             the news of a massacre of innocent children in Newtown, 
             CT, followed by the loss of our wonderful colleague, 
             Senator Danny Inouye.
               So I will leave this extraordinary institution and 
             experience with a heavy heart for those who have been lost 
             in the last few days.
               I want to thank the people of Texas for asking me to 
             represent them in Washington. I want to thank the many 
             people who have served on my staff for almost 20 years. I 
             have to say I am touched that both benches on both sides 
             of this room are filled with my staff members who have 
             been so hard working and so loyal and have produced so 
             much in 20 years for our State and Nation, and I thank 
             them.
               I want to thank my colleagues and all the people who 
             work here, the Senators, but also those who work behind 
             the scenes to make our lives as good as they can be with 
             the hard hours we all have; those who keep our buildings 
             safe and clean, who work in the libraries, the shops, the 
             cafeterias, and who guide tens of thousands of tourists 
             through our Nation's beautiful Capitol each year.
               I want to thank my husband Ray and our two children, 
             Bailey and Houston. They are 11 years old now, and so many 
             of my colleagues who were here when I started bringing my 
             children as babies have watched them grow up. The Senate 
             isn't easy on families. They have sacrificed so I could 
             serve the people of Texas, and I am grateful for their 
             patience and generosity. They have loved coming to the 
             Capitol--11 years for the children and 20 for my husband 
             Ray. I know my children's fondest memory, if I ask them 
             what do they remember most about visits to the Capitol, is 
             playing soccer in the Russell Building's hallways in the 
             evenings when the coast is clear.
               I would not be here today if it were not for my parents 
             who gave me the gifts of strong values, unwavering 
             support, and education to be whatever I wanted to be. I 
             must say that my parents were surprised when they saw what 
             I wanted to be. They would never have thought that their 
             daughter, growing up in LaMarque, TX--a town of 15,000 
             good people--would think she could be a U.S. Senator. We 
             had a wonderful public school system, and I am proud to 
             say I am a product of public education. My public schools 
             in LaMarque--which were excellent--and my University of 
             Texas and University of Texas Law School prepared me to be 
             what I could be.
               It has been a privilege to walk these halls in the 
             Capitol of the world's greatest and longest serving 
             democracy.
               I think back to the days that stand out in our memories. 
             September 11, 2001, of course, is the one none of us will 
             ever forget. We know exactly where we were the minute we 
             knew there was a terrorist attack on America. Though we 
             suffered a horrific attack, the strength, resilience, and 
             extraordinary acts of kindness of the American people 
             showed the world that attempts to destroy our way of life 
             would never succeed. On that day, no one could get in or 
             out of Washington and many communications networks were 
             inoperable. So when the Pentagon was hit and the Capitol 
             was evacuated, my staff and I walked one block to my home 
             on Capitol Hill. Just as an example, the husband of my 
             office manager worked in the section of the Pentagon that 
             had been hit, so we were on the one phone that we had to 
             hospitals, the police, anyone we thought might be able to 
             tell us if he was safe. Thankfully, he was fine. But there 
             were so many who waited for hours, who called hospitals, 
             to hear from their loved ones. Sometimes the news was a 
             relief and sometimes they waited in vain for good news.
               I have to say it was an incredible moment when the 
             Senators who could find each other, wherever they had gone 
             from the Capitol, finally gathered late afternoon in the 
             Capitol Police headquarters to talk to our leaders who had 
             been taken to an undisclosed location. They said, We don't 
             want anyone to come, but we were going to the steps of the 
             Capitol to hold a press conference. We don't want anyone 
             there because we don't know if it is safe, but we want to 
             tell the press that we are going to open for business 
             tomorrow and do the Nation's business, even though there 
             was suspicion that the Capitol had been on the terrorists' 
             list of targets.
               Every single one of the Senators--and I think there were 
             60 to 70 who had made it to the Capitol Police 
             headquarters--did come to the Capitol steps, as did 
             Members of the House of Representatives. After the press 
             conference was held by the leaders, all of the several 
             hundred who had gathered spontaneously broke out singing 
             ``God Bless America.'' That was a time that said this is 
             the strength of our country and we will not be defeated.
               As I exit the Senate, I am aware that we are divided as 
             a legislative body and as a country. I do not think we 
             have different goals--not here, and not in America--but we 
             do have different ways of reaching them. Congress suffers 
             a great deal of criticism for partisan acrimony. But while 
             we may disagree politically and air our opposition in this 
             Chamber, it is the conversation behind the scenes that 
             cements and defines our relationships. I will leave the 
             Senate knowing I have worked with men and women of great 
             patriotism, intellect, and heart on both sides of the 
             aisle.
               I wish to thank my colleagues, Democrat and Republican, 
             for the many wonderful years working together. We seconded 
             one another at times and engaged in rigorous debate in 
             others. Yet the American people should know that either 
             way, we are collegial and we all understand that our 
             States have different needs and there will be differences 
             in priorities. In the Senate, an adversary today will be 
             an ally tomorrow. It is a rare occasion for acrimony to 
             turn personal.
               It would be my parting hope that this collegiality will 
             not be lost. Protecting the rights of the minority has 
             assured that every Senator's voice is heard and every 
             State represented is heard, as intended by our 
             Constitution. Open debate and open amendments are what 
             differentiate the Senate from the House.
               When our committees function, we pass bills in vigorous 
             markups, we put the bills in shape for floor debate. If 
             they don't go through committees and are not allowed floor 
             amendments, the quality of the legislation suffers and 
             mistakes are often made.
               Let me give you some examples of how relationships can 
             produce results.
               During the anthrax scare, the Hart Building was closed 
             for a month, which made it very difficult, of course, for 
             Senators based there to do their work. So Senator Dianne 
             Feinstein's staff joined in my offices in the Russell 
             Building. My chief of staff at the time gave them full 
             access. One of Senator Feinstein's staff members commented 
             on that: A Republican office giving Democrats free rein? 
             But my chief of staff said, ``They had full access because 
             we trusted them.''
               Senator Feinstein and I have teamed up to pass important 
             legislation--the Hutchison-Feinstein Overseas Basing 
             Commission--that studied the training capabilities and 
             costs of overseas military bases to determine their value 
             compared to American bases. This resulted in consolidation 
             and closures that brought thousands of troops back to the 
             United States where training and rapid deployment were 
             superior. We passed the Feinstein-Hutchison Breast Cancer 
             Research Stamp bill that, through voluntary purchase, has 
             raised $72 million for breast cancer research. That was 
             Senator Feinstein's idea. Senator Feinstein and I took the 
             AMBER Alert for abducted children nationwide, which has 
             accounted for rescuing almost 600 children since its 
             passage.
               I remember when Senator Hillary Clinton stopped by with 
             her chief of staff to wish me happy birthday the first 
             year she was in the Senate. It was just a few months after 
             she had arrived, and my staff was surprised--and possibly 
             a bit star struck--to see the former First Lady walk into 
             the room. We went on to work together on Vital Voices, a 
             global partnership dedicated to supporting and empowering 
             women leaders and social entrepreneurs in emerging 
             economies. We also teamed up with Senators Mikulski and 
             Collins to assure public schools had the option to offer 
             single-sex schools and classes, after I visited with 
             Secretary of Education Rod Paige and the Young Women's 
             Leadership Academy in the Harlem area of New York City--
             one of the first and most successful pilot projects for 
             girls' public schools, with which I know the Presiding 
             Officer is very familiar.
               I remember the time I invited Senator Barbara Mikulski 
             to Texas, because she and I have worked together 
             supporting NASA for so many years, and this year she had 
             been chair and I ranking member of the Appropriations 
             subcommittee funding NASA. We went to visit the Johnson 
             Space Center because I wanted her to see the great work 
             they are doing there. Then I took her to the Houston rodeo 
             because I wanted her to see the Texas culture. Well, I am 
             not sure the Senator who grew up in the inner city of 
             Baltimore knew exactly how people would dress at the 
             rodeo, but suffice it to say there were a lot of 
             rhinestones and cowboy boots and big hair and big hats. 
             Senator Mikulski whispered to me during this time, ``Kay, 
             if we were here Monday and we went to the chamber of 
             commerce, would these people look like this?'' I said, 
             ``Yeah, pretty much.''
               Senator Mikulski and I also teamed up to pass the 
             Homemaker IRA, to make sure our stay-at-home moms and dads 
             would have the same opportunity for retirement security 
             savings that those who work outside the home have, and it 
             has been a huge success. We also cosponsored the National 
             Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program. She is 
             a skilled legislator and a dear friend.
               Senator Jay Rockefeller has been an outstanding chairman 
             of the Commerce Committee. We don't always agree, but as 
             the lead Democrat and Republican we have worked hard to 
             reach consensus, and we have gotten things done--the FAA 
             bill started the planning for the next generation of air 
             traffic control systems; the highway bill; the NASA 
             reauthorization that ensured we would keep the focus on 
             our space program that has been instrumental in our 
             national security and economic development, with 
             tremendous help from Senator Bill Nelson, who is the only 
             one among us today who has actually been into space.
               In a Congress that has been marked by little progress, 
             we have found a way forward. For some, that might not be 
             something to take pride in. But we have served the 
             American people by passing legislation that keeps the 
             country running, and I am very proud of what we have been 
             able to accomplish. Our Commerce Committee has been one of 
             the most productive in the whole Congress. And I count him 
             as a friend.
               Leader Mitch McConnell has guided our party and our 
             conference through the past 6 years. He is a gifted leader 
             and one whom I have witnessed time and time again come up 
             with strategies that have gotten things done in the right 
             way.
               Senator Jon Kyl and I have worked on immigration and 
             death tax relief. Senator Lamar Alexander and I have 
             championed the America COMPETES Act, so we would continue 
             the priority of scientific research and that we would 
             never fail to invest in research because it is the sequel 
             for our economy.
               I am very pleased that the distinguished ranking member 
             of the Judiciary Committee and the Finance Committee--
             Finance Committee now and Judiciary before--is also on the 
             Senate floor. He has been a wonderful friend to me, 
             helping me in my very first election when he was the rock 
             star at my fundraisers in Texas. I thank Senator Orrin 
             Hatch for his long membership in this body.
               I have had the wonderful, good fortune to serve with two 
             colleagues from my home State. First, Senator Phil Gramm, 
             who was a wonderful mentor and colleague. They broke the 
             mold after Senator Gramm. We always enjoyed our school 
             rivalry--he being a Texas Aggie and me being a University 
             of Texas alum--they like to call them hopeless Tea-sips, 
             but we are proud Longhorns.
               I have had a great relationship with my other Senator, 
             who is soon going to be the senior Senator from Texas, 
             John Cornyn. John Cornyn, I am very pleased to say, is 
             going to get the opportunity that I have had all these 
             years when people trip up and introduce me as the senior 
             citizen of Texas. I turn that mantle over to my colleague, 
             Senator Cornyn.
               I am very proud he is going to be the deputy Republican 
             leader in the next Congress. I know he is going to be a 
             steady hand at the wheel as we try to steer the ship of 
             state in the right direction. He has proven time and again 
             that his steady leadership is the one that rises to the 
             top. I thank him for being on the floor as well today.
               In fact, I want to praise our entire Texas congressional 
             delegation. We call it Team Texas. It is a spirit that 
             holds our delegation together, Republicans and Democrats. 
             I have noted that there are those in Washington who think 
             Texans are a little too loud, and we have a little too 
             much fun, but I can assure everyone that Team Texas' 
             hearts are as big as our mouths.
               It has been a long and wonderful 19-plus years. We hit 
             the ground running, and we have never stopped. When I was 
             first elected in a special election in 1993, we had two--
             actually four full planeloads of people flying up for my 
             swearing in. Because it was a special election, we filled 
             the entire gallery. Those rowdy Texans were so happy to 
             watch my little swearing in ceremony. It was a great day 
             for me, as well as my wonderful and loyal friends and 
             supporters.
               I started having weekly constituent coffees that first 
             year because there were so many visitors from Texas and I 
             wanted to make sure at least there was one time every week 
             that any Texan who was here who wanted to see me could 
             come and visit and was welcome. So every Thursday morning 
             around 9 or 9:30 we would have a coffee. The person in 
             charge of this first effort was the wife of a three-star 
             general who volunteered her time in our offices. I think 
             it was as much her handling of the event as the idea 
             itself that has led many other Senators to take up this 
             practice and get a chance to always visit with their 
             constituents at least once a week if they were otherwise 
             going to committee meetings or having to do their work and 
             were not able to see everyone. I want to thank Gert Clark 
             for putting her stamp on our Senate hospitality.
               Some of the most powerful moments that will stay with me 
             forever were spent with our members of the military. 
             Visiting with them where they are in harm's way across the 
             world is one of the most moving of all experiences. I will 
             never forget the first time, in the early 1990s, flying 
             into Sarajevo in an undercover C-130 that was disguised as 
             a Red Cross delivery of peas--2,000 pounds of peas that we 
             actually had on the C-130--and I have to say my good 
             friend, Danny Inouye, was on that trip with us, as I look 
             over at his empty desk with the white flowers, as was 
             Senator Ted Stevens. We flew in to see our troops in 
             Bosnia.
               Later I went back to Bosnia to spend Easter with our 
             troops where we had the most beautiful Easter sunrise 
             service I have ever attended or ever will. It was in an 
             open-air hangar with our service men and women who were 
             deployed there. For the first time it was a Texas Guard 
             unit that was in command of the base, and it was the first 
             time since the Korean war that we had a Guard unit in 
             command of an operation overseas. They did a great job, 
             which led to many Guard units from other States also to 
             take command of bases and operations.
               I flew out of Baghdad--this was in the last few years--
             in another C-130 when there were no lights on the plane 
             and no lights on the runway to make sure there was no clue 
             to the enemy that we were leaving when they were firing 
             missiles around the airport. Or the times I had visited 
             Afghanistan, where the first time I visited with Senator 
             McCain, our troops were sleeping on cots. There were 
             probably 600 or 700 cots in an old Russian-built aircraft 
             hangar, before anything had been brought in for living 
             quarters for our troops. All of their belongings were 
             under their cots, and that was all they had for that first 
             mission into Afghanistan.
               I have always been one who has such great respect and 
             gratitude for our men and women in uniform. They put their 
             lives on the line and pledge to give their all for our 
             freedom. The power to wage war is an enormous one, and the 
             weight of its responsibility should rest heavy on our 
             shoulders.
               I leave this Chamber proud to have worked to assure our 
             men and women in uniform have the best training, the best 
             equipment, and the quality of life to do the job we are 
             asking them to do. Because of my deep respect for our 
             Armed Forces, my first choice of committees when I came in 
             1993 was Armed Services, and I was honored to be the first 
             woman in 20 years to chair a subcommittee on Armed 
             Services. The woman before me was Margaret Chase Smith. As 
             the only woman to chair the Senate Republican Policy 
             Committee, I was pleased to be a part of Republican 
             leadership for many years--again, the first since Margaret 
             Chase Smith.
               When I was first running for office I said I wanted to 
             make things better for our sons and open for our 
             daughters. I leave the Senate knowing that January will 
             see the greatest number of female Senators in our Nation's 
             history. I know the torch will be carried on by the next 
             generation.
               It is no secret that Texans have a particular sense of 
             State pride. I am no exception. I have deep Texas roots. 
             The Senate seat that I hold first belonged to Thomas 
             Jefferson Rusk, my great-great-grandfather's law partner 
             and good friend. They both signed the Texas Declaration of 
             Independence from Mexico in 1836. That history reminds me 
             every day that we must protect the freedom that so many of 
             our ancestors fought to produce and retain. My colleague 
             sitting on the Senate floor is in the Sam Houston line, 
             and that is a proud line too. Thomas Jefferson Rusk and 
             Sam Houston were the commander in chief and secretary of 
             war of the Texas army when we fought for independence. It 
             is so fitting that those two were our first two selected 
             Senators when Texas became a State in 1845.
               Each summer I take a week to tour one part of Texas on a 
             bus. It has been so much fun. We did the first one, which 
             was the El Camino Real de los Tejas that we had just 
             passed a bill to designate as a national historic trail, 
             and we went from the Louisiana border to the Mexican 
             border. It took us a week on the bus. It was so great that 
             we have done it every year since in a different part of 
             Texas. It is my State staff's favorite week of the year as 
             well.
               I am one of the few to have had the opportunity and the 
             absolute pleasure to visit all 254 counties in Texas. I 
             have met Texans from all walks of life who have opened 
             their homes, their businesses, and shared their stories.
               I will be sad to leave, but it is time. I believe 
             strongly that we should keep the lifeblood of Congress 
             pumping. It is good to have new waves of legislators come 
             in with fresh ideas and perspectives after every election. 
             But while I believe that new generations should invigorate 
             Congress, I also want to say a few words of praise for 
             experience.
               Knowing the history of an issue is essential to monitor 
             progress. Knowing what an agency should be doing, knowing 
             what was put in law and why allows for better oversight. 
             The expertise of our longer serving Members is an 
             essential part of good governance.
               I hope some of the priorities I have championed will 
             continue. Investment in science, technology, and higher 
             education, and encouraging more young people to study 
             science, technology, engineering, and math, known as STEM, 
             will make sure we are bringing forward those young minds 
             with the creativity and the engineering background to 
             create the economies for the future. It is so important. 
             This has been the lifeblood of our economy, and it must 
             continue.
               Saving the manned space exploration program and ensuring 
             the long-term future of NASA is an essential generator for 
             our economy. Ensuring that stay-at-home moms and dads who 
             worked so hard raising children and contributing to the 
             community have Spousal IRAs to save for retirement, and 
             easing the marriage penalty by doubling the standard 
             deduction--these are a few of the things I hope will 
             continue to be championed as I leave.
               It has been such an honor to serve in the Senate. I 
             leave with the hope that the values that built America 
             into the greatest nation on Earth will be protected so 
             that future generations will have the same opportunities 
             we have had in this great country, opportunities for which 
             our forebears sacrificed so much.
               I yield the floor.
?

                                           

                                      TRIBUTES

                                         TO

                                KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON
                              Proceedings in the Senate
                                            Thursday, November 29, 2012
               Mr. KYL. Mr. President, first, let me thank my colleague 
             from Texas [Mrs. Hutchison] for her leadership on this and 
             so many other issues that we have worked on over the 
             years. One of my regrets in leaving the Senate is that I 
             will not be able to work with her, and she has said the 
             same thing about me. We will be off doing something else, 
             but we are not going to give up on some of the fights we 
             have been engaged in during these years. ...
                                              Monday, December 10, 2012
               Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, last week I came to the 
             floor and was honored to give tributes to some of our 
             departing colleagues. Tonight I am going to take advantage 
             of this time to pay tribute to two other outstanding 
             Senators, colleagues and friends of mine whom I will miss 
             greatly. They are Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Senator 
             Scott Brown.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine is 
             recognized.

               Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, in her marvelous book 
             entitled American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped 
             Our Country, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison wrote the 
             following: ``No history can be written appropriately 
             without acknowledging the part women have played in 
             building the greatness of our country.''
               As my valued colleague and good friend begins a new 
             chapter in her life, I hope she finds the time to add a 
             new chapter to her own book, one that will be fascinating, 
             inspiring--and autobiographical.
               Like the women Kay celebrates as an author, from Amelia 
             Earhart to Sally Ride, from Clara Barton to Condoleezza 
             Rice, Kay Bailey Hutchison is a pioneer, a breaker of 
             barriers. In the special election in 1993, the people of 
             Texas made her the first woman to represent them in the 
             Senate. In the three regular elections since then, they 
             have confirmed their trust in her by ever-increasing 
             margins. As the leader of the Senate Commerce Committee, 
             Kay has been a strong voice for transportation systems 
             that are efficient, safe, and secure. In my own work on 
             the Homeland Security Committee, I am well aware of the 
             major role she played in drafting the airline security 
             bill that Congress passed after the attacks on 9/11/01. 
             She has also worked successfully to include more effective 
             air cargo screening.
               From the America COMPETES Act to her steadfast support 
             for NASA, Kay is determined our country will not cede its 
             position as the world's leader in science, technology, and 
             space exploration. When the NASA rover Curiosity thrilled 
             all of us with its perfect landing on Mars this past 
             August, the hands of Kay's legislative leadership were on 
             the controls. Working with Kay as a member of the 
             Appropriations Committee, I know how dedicated she is to 
             ensuring that taxpayers' dollars are spent wisely and 
             efficiently. She is a champion for our small business 
             owners and for policies that promote free enterprise and 
             job creation.
               Her complete commitment to the men and women of our 
             Armed Forces is reflected in her years of service on the 
             Armed Services Committee as well as the Military 
             Construction Subcommittee on Appropriations, and her 
             unanimous election this year to serve as chairman of the 
             Board of Visitors at West Point.
               In the afterword to her book, Kay wrote that as a young 
             girl growing up in Texas she was so inspired by the lives 
             of great Americans that by the sixth grade she had 
             exhausted all of the biographies on the school library 
             shelf and had to turn elsewhere for book report material. 
             I am sure the story of her own contributions and 
             accomplishments will be avidly read by generations of 
             girls and boys to come.
               I wish her all the best as she turns a new page in what 
             has truly been a remarkable life of public service.

               Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce 
             legislation to rename the section of the Tax Code that is 
             currently known as the Spousal IRA so that it carries the 
             name of its champion--my friend and colleague from Texas--
             Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
               Senator Hutchison has been an excellent partner to work 
             with on the Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee 
             watching over the Nation's checkbook for investments in 
             research, discovery, innovation, and law enforcement. We 
             have sought to find the sensible center in addressing 
             issues like cancer research, building a balanced space 
             program at NASA, and most recently--on legislation to stop 
             inmates from using cell phones in prison.
               Senator Hutchison must be recognized for her long-
             standing advocacy for women. Her advocacy has been 
             steadfast. We have worked together on the women's health 
             agenda. We have mammogram standards in this country 
             because of the Hutchison-Mikulski amendment. We have 
             helped with breast cancer research funding because we have 
             worked together, and I could give example after example.
               But what I rise to discuss today is the very first issue 
             that Senator Hutchison and I took on together--expanding 
             the availability of individual retirement accounts, IRAs, 
             for spouses who work at home. Along with Senator Kay 
             Bailey Hutchison, I am the author of the Spousal IRA bill.
               I have always said that one of my principles is to 
             listen to the people and the stories of their lives. My 
             best ideas come from the people. The Spousal IRA bill was 
             one of those kinds of ideas. This bill was a product of 
             Senator Hutchison's personal experience before joining the 
             Senate. After putting aside money for her retirement as a 
             single working woman, Senator Hutchison found that she 
             could only put aside several hundred dollars in an IRA 
             once she married her husband.
               This kind of policy, that discouraged women from saving 
             for retirement, was completely backward. Women tend to 
             live longer than men. Women are more likely to take years 
             off of work outside of the home because of family 
             responsibilities. And women are more likely to work in 
             jobs that don't have a pension.
               When Senator Hutchison joined the Senate in 1993, she 
             came to me to sign on as the lead Democratic sponsor for 
             her idea to help women save for retirement. Together we 
             worked to build support for this bill and after 3 years 
             and 62 cosponsors, the Spousal IRA bill became the law of 
             the land.
               Suddenly, women weren't limited to a small amount; they 
             could put away $2,000. All women--single, married, working 
             outside the home, or working at home--could set aside the 
             same amount for retirement. Over time, that amount has 
             grown, and so it is not $2,000, but it can be $2,500, or 
             $3,000, or $5,000, depending on a woman's age.
               This law is important because it reflects the values of 
             our Nation, it rewards good parenting and families, and it 
             recognizes that not all work is done in the marketplace. 
             American families feel the pressure from all sides, paying 
             for their children's education, their homes, taking care 
             of elderly parents, and being prepared for unforeseen 
             emergency medical care costs. What the Spousal IRA law 
             finally said was, ``Moms and dads are struggling to do the 
             right thing for their family, and they should not be 
             penalized for staying at home.''
               Earlier this year, an interviewer on PBS asked Senator 
             Hutchison what she's most proud of in her Senate career, 
             and she said the Spousal IRA. Senator Hutchison has a lot 
             to be proud of, but we must recognize her work in fixing 
             Federal policy to help women save for retirement. We 
             should amend the Tax Code so that women in America know 
             that they're benefiting from the Kay Bailey Hutchison 
             Spousal IRA.
                                           Wednesday, December 12, 2012
               Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise during this 
             morning business hour to speak--particularly during this 
             time of tension as we are looking at the fiscal cliff--to 
             really use a few minutes to pay a tribute to two 
             wonderful, outstanding Senators with whom I have served 
             and who will be leaving us at the end of this term. They 
             are wonderful women named Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine 
             and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, dear friends 
             across the aisle. Although they were on the other side of 
             the aisle, there was no great divide between us. We have 
             known each other for many years....
               Then there is my good friend Kay Bailey Hutchison, who 
             has just come to the floor. I am glad she is going to be 
             here to hear what I am going to say about her. I hold her 
             in such enormously high esteem.
               Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is known for her 
             competence, her strong character, and being an outstanding 
             champion for Texas, an advocate for women, and a real 
             patriot dedicated to serving our Nation. I too know her as 
             a dear friend, someone deeply committed to creating that 
             zone of civility among the women in the Senate.
               When Senator Hutchison arrived in the Senate in 1983, 
             there were prickly politics beginning to emerge. She came 
             from the Texas Legislature and knew the dynamics of a 
             rough-and-tumble legislative body. As we worked together 
             on something called the Homemaker IRA, we said, ``Why 
             don't we just get together to see if we can create a zone 
             of civility?'' That was when we brought the women together 
             for those monthly dinners. The rules were no staff, no 
             leaks, and no memos. We talked about everything from 
             hairdos to the hair-raising and how we could stop the 
             Global War on Terror and fight the deadly scourge against 
             breast cancer. We worked together, again across the aisle.
               In 1992 we also worked to hold these power workshops to 
             make sure every woman would know how to get started in the 
             Senate, and we worked together on that.
               The other thing Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and I 
             helped establish was that we could disagree without being 
             disagreeable. We, the women of the Senate, do not have a 
             caucus because we represent States. That is what the 
             Constitution says is our job--we are here to represent 
             States. We also have different philosophies and viewpoints 
             on governance.
               A story I like to tell is that during debate on the 
             Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Senator Hutchison and I 
             agreed on absolutely the same goal: equal pay for equal or 
             comparable work for women. However, we disagreed on the 
             means. Senator Hutchison had about nine amendments, and we 
             duked it out here. We went earring-to-earring in terms of 
             our debate, and the Senate commented on what intellectual 
             rigor it had, what a sense of comity and exchanging of 
             ideas. At the end of the day, we not only passed the 
             legislation, but we did it in a way where everybody could 
             feel proud of the process. Why can't we do that every day? 
             Gee, I wish we could.
               Then working with Senator Hutchison--and this is how we 
             got started, was on the Homemaker IRA. This was Senator 
             Hutchison's idea. She came to me and she said, ``You know, 
             Senator Barb, they are stay-at-home moms, and they are 
             limited to several hundred dollars that they can 
             contribute to an IRA. If they have the money and if they 
             have the will and the wallet, we should give them the same 
             tax opportunities as if they were working in the 
             marketplace because their work at home should be valued as 
             well.''
               Absolutely. We changed that legislation. I have pending 
             here legislation to permanently change the name of that 
             Homemaker IRA to the Hutchison IRA because she really did 
             lead the way. I was an able ally, and we made a 
             difference.
               So I could go through item after item--the way we have 
             worked on breast cancer together, the way we have worked 
             on appropriations. She was my ranking member on Commerce-
             Justice-Science. We have worked together on the space 
             program. We have worked together to keep our areas safe. 
             From the start, we shared a personal commitment that 
             technology and space could help America remain 
             exceptional, a belief in supporting research and science, 
             leading to new ideas that would be not only new areas that 
             we would explore but new technologies for new products and 
             new jobs. Yes, I visited her down at mission control, and 
             I have been there during the great research we were able 
             to see being done in that area.
               Remember, the home of the Komen Foundation is in Texas. 
             Senator Hutchison was very clear that she wanted to be 
             sure that she too was an advocate for women's health. We 
             worked together on mammogram quality standards. Were you 
             aware that in the early days--and I know that sometimes we 
             sound like we built the Pyramids together when I tell 
             these stories; it is both ancient history and a recent 
             reality. If you went into a doctor's office 10, 12 years 
             ago for a mammogram, you might have gotten a chest x ray 
             and they would have called it a mammogram. It was often 
             given by untrained technicians. There were no standards 
             for the equipment that it would really work the way it was 
             supposed to work, and it was often uncalibrated and 
             ineffectual.
               Senator Hutchison and I worked using sound science, 
             thorough hearings, working with the Institute of Medicine, 
             FDA, and the National Institute of Standards. Now if you 
             go into your doctor's office for that mammogram, you will 
             see a certificate from your government that says this is a 
             place where you know the technology will work and the 
             people who will be giving it will be trained. You know, 
             once again, this is early detection and screening, saving 
             lives a million at a time. Isn't that fantastic? Again, 
             across the aisle, we were able to do that.
               We also did a book together. She was the leader in 
             helping us publish our famous book, Nine and Counting. 
             Maybe there will be time for another book, but when the 
             chapter of the history of the Senate is written, we want 
             to be sure that the chapter really includes a big 
             statement to the work of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
               Again, in this institution it is the personal 
             relationships built often on policy. I went to Texas to 
             tour the space program with Senator Hutchison. That is 
             where we heard about the National Space Biomedical 
             Research Institute at Baylor. When I was there, I met 
             Senator Hutchison's brother, who faced the same blood 
             cancer disease Geraldine Ferraro faced. Gerry and her 
             brother became fast friends, so Kay and Barb teamed up. 
             Again, we pushed research at NIH. Cancer knows no party. 
             It knows no ZIP Code. It knows no ideology. But it knows 
             that we need to work together to be able to do it. On that 
             wonderful day of friendship, we learned the best ideas 
             will come out of our work in the space program to deal 
             with the dread cancer word. The kinds of things that we 
             study in space will help us be more effective here on 
             Earth.
               Kay invited me to the Houston livestock show and rodeo. 
             Now, I grew up in Baltimore, and you have been there many 
             times yourself. You know it is a city known for its row 
             houses, not for its rodeos.
               Kay invited me to come to the rodeo in the Astrodome. I 
             showed up, to her surprise. I had little boots, a cowboy 
             hat, and a vest. She put me in a buckboard, and, to ``Deep 
             in the Heart of Texas,'' we circled the Astrodome 
             together. I was in a buckboard, and she was on a palomino 
             next to me. The American flags were waving, and so was I, 
             yelling ``giddy up, little dogie.'' At the end of the 
             evening, I was there munching on barbecue, affectionately 
             called Buckboard Barb--and I have the pictures to show it. 
             They are locked up. I don't widely distribute them. But it 
             was a heck of an evening.
               I say that because, again, out of that comes great 
             friendships that also lead to paving the way to where we 
             put our heads together to solve our national problems and 
             to do it in a way where we get the best ideas from a 
             variety of government approaches. At the end of the day, 
             we feel better, and America is better off.
               I am pretty emotional, actually, when I think about Kay 
             and Olympia. We have been together a long time. We welcome 
             the Acting President pro tempore and your generation, but 
             for those of us who maybe didn't build the Pyramids--and I 
             hope Senator Hutchison can say the same--there is a lot of 
             meaning in a Latin phrase I learned in Catholic girls 
             school many years ago: Exegi monumentum aere perennius: We 
             will build a monument more lasting than bronze.
               When Senator Hutchison returns to Texas again to find a 
             new way to serve the people of this country, she will know 
             that here in this institution, along with Senator Olympia 
             Snowe, they built monuments to last far longer than any 
             statues made of bronze. They made a difference in the 
             lives of people, and they have done it in a way they can 
             be proud of and for which we can all be grateful.
               Madam President, I yield the floor.

               The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from 
             Texas.

               Mrs. HUTCHISON. I am so touched by the comments of my 
             colleague Senator Mikulski about myself and Olympia 
             [Snowe]. I appreciate so much that she has singled us out 
             because Senator Mikulski is a pioneer. She didn't build 
             the Pyramids, I might say, but it was close. She was in 
             the House first and then came to the Senate. She is our 
             longest serving woman Senator and she will probably be 
             dean of all the Senate at some point because she is a 
             legend. She is a legend in the Senate, she is a legend in 
             Maryland, and she is a legend in our country.
               I think back now on the things we have been able to 
             accomplish--and it was not just because we were women--
             here in this deliberative body where we have 100 people 
             representing 50 very different States. It is not that the 
             men were against anything we have teamed up to do, but it 
             is because of our experiences that we brought to the 
             table. Sometimes it wasn't thought of before Senator 
             Mikulski and other women came.
               I will point out a couple of things and embellish a 
             little on what the Senator said. When we wrote the book 
             Nine and Counting, there were nine women in the Senate at 
             the time. But it came from something much bigger. It came 
             from a meeting Senator Mikulski pulled together of the 
             women of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was the 
             Catholics and the Protestants who were trying to probe the 
             women Senators, the nine of us who were here, about how 
             they could be effective in making peace in Northern 
             Ireland.
               When we started telling our stories to them, to 
             encourage them that they could make a difference in 
             Northern Ireland, Barbara Mikulski and I looked at each 
             other and we said: You know, there is a book here. There 
             is a book about the obstacles women have faced getting to 
             the U.S. Senate and a book that can encourage our girls 
             and young women to play a part in settling the major 
             issues of our country.
               From that background, we contacted Bob Barnett, who was 
             an agent of Senators and House Members who write books, 
             and also Cabinet members and Presidents, and we said we 
             would like to get together and write a book. He 
             immediately got to work. It was Claire Wachtel at 
             HarperCollins who said: ``Oh, I love this. I love it.'' 
             She got a writer who went to each of us and interviewed us 
             and then wrote our stories, which were in our own words.
               Afterward, we got together and decided to give all of 
             the proceeds to the Girl Scouts of America, which was a 
             common organization that had affected almost every one of 
             the women at the time. The Girl Scouts were giving 
             leadership capabilities to the girls in our country. I had 
             been a Girl Scout and so had Barbara. Our book is still in 
             print and it has raised tens of thousands, if not hundreds 
             of thousands, of dollars for the Girl Scouts to continue 
             their leadership programs. And it all came from something 
             we learned about each other.
               I think the multiple myeloma disease, which my brother 
             has, and which Geraldine Ferraro had, was another area 
             where Barbara and I bonded. I bonded with Geraldine 
             Ferraro too, who was a champion for women up and coming in 
             our political system. She encouraged me a lot.
               Together with Barbara Mikulski, who was a dear friend of 
             Geraldine Ferraro's, and who spoke at her funeral--we both 
             went to that funeral--we were able to pass legislation 
             that provided funding for research and education for 
             multiple myeloma. We named it the Geraldine Ferraro 
             Multiple Myeloma Education Program so that more could be 
             learned about this very rare disease.
               Gerry was a fighter and she only died a year and a half 
             ago. My brother is a fighter and he is still doing great. 
             Now, because of our research, we are maintaining and we 
             are letting people live a quality life because we teamed 
             up.
               Barbara told the story, but I will tell the other side--
             the rest of the story--about the Houston rodeo, because 
             they still talk about Buckboard Barb. She came to the 
             rodeo from her ethnic background in Baltimore, and she was 
             such a great sport. I was riding my horse in the grand 
             entry and Barb was in the buckboard. She was waving and 
             having the best time, and of course all of us were in our 
             rodeo attire, which was sort of foreign to Barb, I have to 
             say. But she was right in there with her boots and her big 
             cowgirl hairdo. Barbara leaned over to me at one of the 
             rodeo events and she said, ``OK, Kay, if we were here 
             Monday morning and we went to a chamber of commerce 
             meeting, would these people look like this?''
               I still tell that story in Houston, TX, which they love, 
             and, of course, I said, ``Oh, yeah,'' which wasn't true. I 
             loved it. She was the best sport, and they still talk 
             about her. They did give her a cowboy hat that was to die 
             for.
               Let me mention one other thing. I know Senator Akaka is 
             here, so I won't take up much more time. We teamed up on 
             the issue of single-sex schools. The Senator from Maryland 
             mentioned her Catholic girls school upbringing. Well, 
             Hillary Clinton, Barbara Mikulski, Susan Collins, and 
             myself teamed up to ensure that every girl in this country 
             has the opportunity, if their school board decides to 
             offer it as an option, to go to a girls school. Likewise, 
             for every boy whose school board decides that it would be 
             better for boys--in middle school especially and high 
             school. We teamed up after about 15 years of trying, 
             starting with Jack Danforth from Missouri. He started the 
             effort to allow single-sex schools in our public entities 
             in America. When I came here in 1993, we finally passed it 
             with our coalition saying: We know this can be better for 
             some girls and some boys. Not all.
               I will say to the distinguished Acting President pro 
             tempore that it was the Young Women's Leadership Academy 
             in Harlem, NY, that gave us the courage to say this can be 
             done, because they fought all the efforts to not allow it; 
             all the lawsuits. They stood up. Hillary Clinton went to 
             visit the Young Women's Leadership Academy, and I took Rod 
             Paige, the Secretary of Education, right there to New York 
             and I said, ``Secretary Paige, we can do this for all 
             Americans. We can.'' Hillary and I and Barbara and Susan 
             said, ``We are going to do it.'' We did, and it was a 
             great accomplishment.
               I just want to end by saying that I so appreciate 
             Barbara Mikulski and John Cornyn introducing the bill to 
             name the Homemaker IRA for me. It means so much to me, 
             because I experienced as a young single woman starting an 
             IRA, getting married, and being told I couldn't provide 
             any more for my own retirement security. I knew there were 
             so many women who, through divorce or the death of a 
             husband, had gone in and out of the workforce or never 
             been in the outside workforce, couldn't save for their own 
             retirement security. When I went to Barbara, I said, 
             ``Barbara, it is a Democratic Senate, so I will make this 
             bill the Mikulski-Hutchison bill to get it passed.'' 
             Senator Mikulski said, ``Not on your life, it will be 
             Hutchison-Mikulski because it is your idea.'' And she 
             worked just as hard as if it were the reverse. That says 
             more about the Senator from Maryland than anything I could 
             say. So thank you, Barbara, for introducing the bill that 
             would name it for me because I know it will help women 
             long after I leave.
               I yield the floor.

               Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to honor my 
             colleague, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who will be 
             leaving the Senate at the end of this term. Senator 
             Hutchison has represented the State of Texas in the Senate 
             since her election in 1993.
               Senator Hutchison has deep Texas roots, with her great-
             great-grandfather signing the Texas Declaration of 
             Independence in 1836. Growing up in La Marque, TX, Senator 
             Hutchison has represented her State as only a true Texan 
             could. Senator Hutchison attended the University of Texas 
             at Austin, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree. She 
             then went on to earn her J.D. from the University of Texas 
             Law School in 1967. Senator Hutchison began her career as 
             a political and legal reporter for KPRC in Houston.
               In 1972 Senator Hutchison began her long career of 
             public service by twice being elected to represent Houston 
             in the Texas House of Representatives. In 1990 she was 
             elected Texas State treasurer. In 1993 Senator Hutchison 
             won a special election, becoming the first and only woman 
             to date to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. She has 
             continued to represent Texas for almost 20 years in the 
             Senate, repeatedly winning her seat by overwhelming 
             margins, including her reelection in 2000 with more votes 
             than any statewide candidate in Texas history.
               Throughout her Senate career Senator Hutchison has been 
             known as a strong leader on defense issues. In 1993 
             Senator Hutchison became the first woman to serve on the 
             Senate Armed Services Committee since 1974. In 2003 
             Senator Hutchison introduced the legislation creating an 
             overseas basing commission, which ensured our forces were 
             capable of meeting the threats we face in the 21st 
             century. Following the September 11 attacks Senator 
             Hutchison was instrumental in securing provisions to 
             increase air cargo screening as part of the National 
             Intelligence Reform Act.
               Senator Hutchison has also been a champion of education 
             during her time in the Senate. She has used her firm 
             belief that every child is deserving of a quality 
             education to advocate for increased investments in 
             science, technology, and education.
               Senator Hutchison has served the people of the State of 
             Texas with integrity. I wish her success in whatever she 
             chooses to do in the next chapter of her life.
                                             Tuesday, December 18, 2012
               Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay 
             tribute to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who will be 
             retiring at the end of the year. Senator Hutchison has 
             been a dear friend and colleague for a long time. She has 
             always been ready to offer wise counsel, and I have 
             usually listened.
               It is truly bittersweet saying goodbye to Kay. On the 
             one hand, I understand her desire to spend more time with 
             Bailey and Houston; we are all glad she will now be able 
             to cheer from the sidelines at their soccer games. On the 
             other hand, we will miss seeing them practice their corner 
             kicks on the second floor of the Russell Building.
               By the way, if you have ever been with Kay on one of her 
             early morning power walks, you know where her kids get 
             their energy. I am told Kay has worn out multiple Members 
             of Congress, several staffers, and quite a few others on 
             those walks. It is a fitting metaphor for her career. 
             There are so many talents in the Senate, it is easy to 
             forget what remarkable stories many of them have. Senator 
             Hutchison's is without question one of the most 
             impressive.
               Raised in an era when women were a rarity in politics, 
             Kay forged her own path, kicking open the door of 
             opportunity wherever she went. In the process, she has 
             come to personify Texan independence; which is entirely 
             fitting, since one of Kay's great-great-grandfathers 
             signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.
               Kay's many successes in life are a testament to her 
             personal toughness and determination in the face of what 
             would have seemed like insurmountable obstacles to many 
             lesser talents. Though she was ``brought up,'' as she once 
             put it, ``to be a lady, to have good manners--and to be 
             ready to get married,'' she always excelled in school. She 
             was one of just a handful of women, out of a class of 
             hundreds, to graduate from her University of Texas Law 
             School class in 1967.
               Kay hit what she called her ``first brick wall'' after 
             graduation. Law firms in Texas just were not hiring women 
             back then, so she turned to an industry that would give 
             her a chance, becoming Houston's first female news 
             reporter. Indeed, thanks to Kay's success, two competing 
             Houston networks hired female reporters within 6 months of 
             her arrival at KPRC-TV, the NBC affiliate, in 1967. 
             Appropriately, Kay was assigned to cover the Texas 
             Legislature, and she gave it her all.
               Having inherited her dad's work ethic, she was soon 
             being encouraged to run for office herself. At the time, 
             few women served in the Texas Legislature, and not a 
             single female Republican had ever been elected to the 
             State house. But Kay had an idea: if those law firms were 
             not going to let her interpret the law, she might as well 
             ask her neighbors if they would elect her to make the law. 
             So, at the age of 28, Kay ran for the Texas House. She 
             dispatched her male opponents with ease, becoming 1 of 
             just 13 Republicans elected that year to the 150-member 
             Texas House. It was a tough transition. Kay says that as a 
             cheerleader at UT, she was not really prepared for the 
             combat of politics. As a cheerleader, she said, she wanted 
             everybody to like her. But she overcame that too. Kay has 
             engaged in a lot of tough battles over the years, and she 
             has won most of them.
               One story along those lines relates to Kay's office over 
             in Russell. Anybody who has ever been there knows that it 
             is at the end of a dead-end hallway, and that at the very 
             end stands a very large flag of Texas. Apparently, when 
             Kay put the flag out, the staff director of the Rules 
             Committee did not like it. He thought it violated a rule, 
             so he mentioned it to his boss, Senator John Warner. 
             Legend has it that Senator Warner nodded gravely at the 
             young man and told him he was free to approach Senator 
             Hutchison, but that he had no intention of taking on the 
             mission himself. She is tough.
               Following her service in the State legislature, Kay 
             worked as a businesswoman before winning election as State 
             treasurer in 1990. Three years later, when Senator Lloyd 
             Bentsen accepted an offer to become President Clinton's 
             Treasury Secretary, Kay jumped into the race to replace 
             him. Once again, she bested another all-male field to 
             advance to a runoff against Bentsen's appointed successor, 
             trouncing the incumbent Democrat with nearly 70 percent of 
             the vote, and becoming the first woman to represent the 
             Nation's second-largest State in the U.S. Senate.
               Kay came to Washington ready to work. She established 
             herself early on as a leader on transportation and NASA, 
             and as a fighter for lower taxes, and smaller, smarter 
             government. Kay won acclaim as an advocate for science and 
             competitiveness, helped secure bipartisan support for the 
             landmark America COMPETES Act, and she became known 
             throughout the State for the close attention she paid to 
             constituents.
               Shortly after her election to the Senate, Kay began a 
             tradition--imitated by many others since--of holding 
             weekly constituent meetings over coffee whenever the 
             Senate is in session. The groups usually range in size 
             from about 100 to 150, and at any given coffee you might 
             come across families in Bermuda shorts, bankers in 
             pinstripes, or college football players. Over the years, 
             Kay has hosted about 50,000 people in her office through 
             these coffees, but her attention to constituent service 
             goes well beyond that. Back home, she is one of few 
             politicians in Texas who have actually visited all 254 
             counties, some of which are home to more cattle than 
             people. During Kay's tenure, her office has helped broker 
             the rescue of a Texan from atop Mt. Everest, evacuated an 
             oil worker and students during a revolution in Albania, 
             evacuated tourists from Machu Picchu after a flood, and 
             helped evacuate workers and missionaries from Haiti after 
             the devastating hurricanes of 2008.
               All of us are grateful to Senator Hutchison for her work 
             in finally recognizing the hundreds of female Army Air 
             Force pilots, or WASPs, who flew noncombat missions in 
             World War II, so male pilots would be free for combat 
             missions. Thirty-eight of these women lost their lives 
             performing their duties. We thank Senator Hutchison for 
             raising awareness of their service and their sacrifice and 
             honoring their memory. Senator Hutchison's thoughts are 
             never far from our men and women in uniform. Her office 
             walls are filled with photos of her visits with our troops 
             in Bosnia, Iraq, and elsewhere. In the runup to the Budget 
             Control Act, she authored a bill to assure service men and 
             women would be paid in the event of a government shutdown, 
             recruiting more than 80 cosponsors. She served as chair 
             and ranking member of the Military Construction 
             Subcommittee on Appropriations. She was a tenacious 
             advocate for Texas during a series of BRACs, and the 
             results speak for themselves: Today, one out of five Army 
             and Air Force personnel are stationed at military 
             installations in Texas, many of which were once considered 
             likely candidates for closing.
               Throughout her Senate career, Kay has worked hard to 
             develop and maintain close relationships with fellow 
             female Senators from both parties. As a result of those 
             friendships, Kay helped coauthor the book Nine and 
             Counting: The Women of the Senate in 2000, teamed up with 
             Senator Feinstein to create the AMBER Alert System, and 
             coauthored legislation with Senator Mikulski to provide 
             stay-at-home moms with the same tax credit opportunities 
             as working women. One of her proudest achievements was to 
             lead the successful fight to lessen the marriage penalties 
             in our Tax Code.
               As the ranking member on Commerce, Science, and 
             Transportation, Kay has wielded outsize influence, partly 
             due to her strong working relationship with Chairman 
             Rockefeller, who sometimes refers to her as his 
             cochairperson. I can say for myself that having Kay at the 
             leadership table has been a tremendous asset as I have 
             navigated challenges over the years.
               A truly gifted politician, Kay secured reelection by 
             wide margins in 1994, 2000, and 2006, and still holds the 
             record for most votes in Texas history. One reason is she 
             will work with anyone--even those with whom she might not 
             typically agree--if it helps Texas.
               While I know many are sorry to see this giant of Texas 
             politics leave the arena in Washington, I am sure every 
             one of them admires the spirit in which she returns to Ray 
             and the kids and their busy Dallas home. Kay, on behalf of 
             the entire Senate, thank you for your extraordinary 
             service and for your friendship.
               I know you won't miss having to answer to that buzzer 
             anymore, but we will miss you. It has been a privilege to 
             serve with you. On behalf of the entire Senate family, I 
             wish you all the very best.
                                           Wednesday, December 19, 2012
               Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, Texans have a profound 
             sense of history, and it is only appropriate that Senator 
             Hutchison should mention the fact [in her farewell 
             address] that we both come from long lines of Texans, 
             starting with Thomas Jefferson Rusk, who first held her 
             Senate seat, and Sam Houston, who held the Senate seat I 
             hold. I will never forget Senator Hutchison coming to the 
             floor of the Senate every March 2, Texas Independence Day, 
             and regaling the Chamber with Travis' letter from the 
             Alamo, reminding everyone about another important event in 
             Texas history, a tradition which she carried on after 
             Senator John Tower did for so many years when he served 
             here.
               This is a historic moment for many reasons. First, 
             because we are paying tribute to an extraordinary woman 
             who has made history by being the first Texas female U.S. 
             Senator and someone who has spent the last two decades 
             fighting for commonsense values in our Nation's Capital. 
             While it is hard to summarize Senator Hutchinson's great 
             work in just a few short minutes, I am going to try. I am 
             going to try to highlight some of her signature 
             achievements and explain why she enjoys such outstanding 
             support from her constituents back in our great State.
               To start with, I cannot think of any Senator serving in 
             this Chamber who works harder than Kay Bailey Hutchison. 
             Sometimes I affectionately refer to her as the Energizer 
             Bunny of the Texas delegation. She is tireless and she is 
             relentless in her pursuit of what she believes is in the 
             best interests of the constituents in our State.
               As she mentioned, she has been a tireless advocate for 
             Texas military families. We take great pride in the fact 
             that 1 out of every 10 individuals who wears the uniform 
             of the U.S. military calls Texas home. Of course, some of 
             the most powerful tributes to Kay's legacy are what I have 
             heard from our men and women in uniform.
               It is no exaggeration to say every military base in 
             Texas has felt the impact of her work on various Senate 
             committees. I know how deeply proud Kay is of the work she 
             has done to help the troops stationed in Texas from Fort 
             Bliss in the west to the Red River Army Depot in the 
             east--which I dare say she pretty much singlehandedly 
             saved from being BRACed the last time that occurred--from 
             Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls to the Naval Air 
             Force Base in Corpus Christi in the south. Not only has 
             Kay worked to provide our troops with the resources they 
             need, she has done a whole lot to help returning veterans 
             and, of course, their families.
               We always talk about supporting our troops when they are 
             deployed overseas, but we spend less time--indeed not 
             enough time--discussing ways to help them assimilate back 
             into civilian life. As the son of a U.S. Air Force veteran 
             who spent 31 years in the Air Force, I am acutely aware, 
             as Kay is, it is not just those who wear the uniform who 
             serve but their families as well.
               Many returning vets and their families encounter a whole 
             range of social and economic hardships that can be hard to 
             overcome. Most notably, the unemployment rate among our 
             returning vets from Afghanistan and Iraq is significantly 
             higher than for the general population, something I know 
             Kay has worked on extensively. She has also worked to get 
             our veterans the medical assistance, the job training, and 
             the financial support they need. Indeed, I don't know of 
             any Senator who has done more to help America's heroes 
             adjust to life after the military. That is just one of the 
             reasons why she will be sorely missed.
               Here is another reason Kay will be missed. She has 
             fought time and time again to promote tax relief for hard-
             working Texas families. In the mid-1990s, as she alluded, 
             she helped to create the so-called Homemaker IRA to make 
             sure stay-at-home moms and dads were able to save for 
             their retirement on an equal basis with their counterparts 
             who worked outside the home. I know it is one of her 
             proudest achievements, and I am proud to join with the 
             Senator from Maryland, Ms. Barbara Mikulski, in attempting 
             to rename this IRA the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA in 
             her honor. I hope we can join together and honor Senator 
             Hutchison by getting that done before we close out our 
             business this year.
               Kay, of course, has always championed the State sales 
             tax deduction, which may not seem like a big deal to 
             others in this Chamber, but it is a big deal back home in 
             Texas as a matter of fundamental fairness because we don't 
             have a State income tax. I daresay we never will have a 
             State income tax as long as I draw a breath. However, we 
             do pay State sales taxes, and it is only fair that Texas 
             enjoys the same sort of deductibility for the State sales 
             tax that other States have enjoyed for the State income 
             taxes.
               Kay has also worked to reduce the marriage penalty tax. 
             She has been a strong defender of taxpayer interests, and 
             her efforts have made the Tax Code less hostile to saving 
             and to families.
               She alluded to her great work with NASA. She is one of 
             the Senate's leading supporters of NASA and human space 
             flight. NASA has contributed historical technological 
             breakthroughs that have benefited all Americans. Kay 
             appreciates the vital importance of basic scientific 
             research, long-term American prosperity, and the role NASA 
             has played in fostering innovation. She has long said and 
             advocated for support for NASA because she believes that 
             when we support NASA, we are supporting technologies and 
             the jobs of the future. That is why Kay has done so much 
             to help the Johnson Space Center and our universities to 
             promote Texas as a research State.
               Her beloved University of Texas is grateful for her 
             support over the years, which is one reason they will soon 
             launch the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Latin American 
             Law.
               Kay has also crafted legislation that has benefited some 
             of the most vulnerable Americans. Her work on behalf of 
             missing and exploited children includes the national AMBER 
             Alert Network, which she introduced back in 2003. As she 
             said earlier, this law has helped to rescue about 600 
             abducted children who would not have benefited but for her 
             work. That is a remarkable achievement, and it is more 
             than just a number when we count the human lives that have 
             been so dramatically affected by her work.
               A final note. As I said, Senator Hutchison has made 
             history serving as the first woman to serve the great 
             State of Texas in the Senate. Kay has always been a 
             pioneer of sorts. As a father of two daughters, that means 
             a lot to me. I am used to being surrounded at home by 
             strong, intelligent women, but having served with Kay, I 
             have also been a partner with a strong, intelligent Texas 
             woman. Kay has been a role model for so many young women, 
             not just in Texas but throughout the United States. I am 
             honored to be her colleague and I am proud to be her 
             friend.
               Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison leaves behind a tremendous 
             legacy of which she, Ray, and her children can be proud. 
             She has a legacy that will long be celebrated by Texans 
             from El Paso to Caddo Lake and from Amarillo to 
             Brownsville. Everyone in this Chamber will miss her, and I 
             know I speak for all my colleagues when I wish her the 
             very best in the next exciting chapter of her life.
               I join with my colleagues in saying to the Senator, vaya 
             con Dios.
               I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.

               Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I wish to join everyone here 
             in thanking Kay for her great service in the Senate. I 
             have worked closely with her on a wide variety of issues. 
             I have to say she is a fierce advocate. In fact, I have to 
             say all our women Senators have been fierce advocates, and 
             we have benefited from them being here.
               Kay has paved the way for Senators--both male and 
             female--to truly become better Senators and in many cases 
             great Senators. Kay Bailey Hutchison is a great Senator. 
             She worked her guts out the whole time she was here. She 
             is still here, but she is going to retire at this time and 
             she has represented Texas well.
               All I can say is she has been my friend all this time. 
             When I needed help from her, she was always there. I tried 
             to be there for her when she needed help as well. She has 
             not only been a delightful person to be around but a very 
             intelligent lawyer. She fought for what she believed--most 
             of which I believed in--in a way nobody could truly ever 
             get mad at Kay Bailey Hutchison.
               She is a wonderful person, wonderful mother, and we are 
             going to miss her terribly. This is a body where we could 
             use a few more women Senators--maybe a lot more than a 
             few. They are very good people who work very hard and not 
             the least of whom is Kay Bailey Hutchison.
               I remember at times when I had difficulties with the 
             BRAC system and difficulties with special NASA problems, 
             and so forth, we always worked together. We could always 
             count on her to come up with intelligent solutions to some 
             of the problems that should not have existed but did.
               I have personally appreciated her very much during those 
             times and in so many other ways as we worked together on 
             legislation to help this country and as we worked to 
             represent our respective States. I have so much respect 
             for Texas, the people of Texas, and what they stand for. I 
             have great respect for these Texan Senators who are two of 
             the best we have ever had in the Senate.
               Senator Hutchison has been an exemplary Senator, not 
             just for women but for all of us. She has also set some 
             standards that I think both women and male Senators are 
             going to have to try to emulate.
               I just want to say to the Senator that we love her, we 
             appreciate her, and we wish her the very best. We are 
             going to miss her. This is one Senator who will miss her 
             greatly, and I want her to know that. All I can say is God 
             be with her.
               I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

               Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my 
             colleagues in commending and congratulating our 
             distinguished colleague from Texas. Her service in the 
             Senate has truly been outstanding, and she has made an 
             impact in our Committee on Appropriations. We have 
             deliberated about the funding of all the Federal agencies 
             and departments of the Federal Government. She has been 
             very careful. She is very serious about her 
             responsibilities, and I am glad to be here today to wish 
             her well in the years ahead and compliment her on a very 
             distinguished career in the Senate.

               Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, Michigan and Texas have much 
             in common, despite the fact they are North versus South, 
             cowboy boots versus snowshoes, mesquite versus pine.
               One of the things we have in common is water. Our States 
             are, economically, historically, and culturally tied to 
             great waters: Texas to the Gulf of Mexico, Michigan to the 
             Great Lakes. This shared interest has afforded me the 
             pleasure of working alongside Senator Kay Bailey 
             Hutchison, a true Texas pioneer.
               As the lead cosponsor of the Harbor Maintenance Act, 
             Senator Hutchison has been an invaluable ally in the 
             effort to ensure that America's harbors receive the 
             maintenance funding they need to help our economy grow. 
             Her efforts were instrumental in recruiting 37 cosponsors 
             on our bill and in securing language regarding harbor 
             maintenance for the first time in a transportation bill. 
             Her efforts have made a significant difference in the 
             lives of the thousands of American workers whose jobs are 
             directly tied to well-maintained harbors, from the Port of 
             Galveston to the scores of ports dotting Michigan's 
             shoreline.
               Senator Hutchison has shown important leadership on 
             other transportation issues, such as a more equitable 
             formula for Federal surface transportation funding, and 
             for adequate funding for State maritime academies, 
             including academies in Texas and Michigan, that help meet 
             the needs of our commercial shipping industry as well as 
             the Department of Defense.
               She has been an able and dedicated advocate for our 
             Nation's veterans. She pioneered the concept of the 
             Homemaker IRA, which helped millions of American women 
             achieve greater retirement security. She has energetically 
             pushed for stronger science and educational programs, 
             including the establishment of a groundbreaking medicine, 
             engineering, and science academy in her State.
               We shouldn't be surprised at these and other successes. 
             When she first graduated from the University of Texas Law 
             School, she bumped up against the misguided tendencies of 
             the law firms at the time to dismiss female candidates, no 
             matter how talented. Undaunted, she walked into a local TV 
             station and asked for a job as a reporter and became the 
             State's first female TV reporter. She took a detour, but 
             her experience covering politics led to the Texas House of 
             Representatives, the State treasurer's office, and 
             eventually to become the first Texan woman elected to the 
             U.S. Senate.
               The Senate will miss her dedication, her quiet 
             effectiveness, her ability to seek practical, bipartisan 
             solutions. She has made a habit of making history, and I 
             wish her the best in whatever historymaking endeavors she 
             turns to next.
               I yield the floor.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

               Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise also to congratulate 
             and thank a terrific Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and to 
             wish her much success in her further efforts. I know she 
             will provide great leadership in whatever she is doing. It 
             has been wonderful to watch over the years, seeing the 
             pictures of Bailey and Houston and how they have grown, 
             celebrating and going to baby showers. On top of all the 
             other accolades today, Senator Hutchison is a devoted and 
             wonderful mother to two beautiful children.
               As everyone has said, she is the first and only woman to 
             represent Texas in the Senate and will always have that 
             distinction of opening doors and barriers. I know she 
             agrees with me that once the doors open, we want to make 
             sure more women are able to walk through those doors as 
             well.
               I wish to congratulate her for all she has done. We have 
             come together to fight for opportunities for women around 
             the world at the Senate Women's Caucus on Burma and other 
             efforts she has led. I am very supportive of adding her 
             name to the Spousal IRA law. I think that is a very 
             fitting tribute, and I am hopeful we can get that done as 
             well.
               I just want to congratulate her.
               I do want to have the opportunity to talk about 
             something else, but I see my friend wanting to say a few 
             words.

               Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, if the Senator would 
             yield for just a moment to let me say thank you to all the 
             wonderful Senators who have spoken and said nice things. 
             It is one of the few times Senators sort of pause and wish 
             someone well, as they are leaving. It has truly been very 
             touching, and I appreciate the kind words of the Senator 
             from Michigan. It has been a distinct pleasure to have 
             colleagues on both sides of the aisle feel we have done so 
             much together. My hope is that as I am going out the door, 
             the collegiality of the Senate will never change.
               Thank you.
               I yield the floor.
                                            Thursday, December 20, 2012
               Mr. REED. Madam President, at this time, I wish to take 
             a few minutes to salute my colleagues who are retiring at 
             the end of this year with the conclusion of the 112th 
             Congress: Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, Jeff Bingaman of New 
             Mexico, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Kent Conrad of North 
             Dakota, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Kay Bailey Hutchison 
             of Texas, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Jon Kyl of Arizona, 
             Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Richard Lugar of Indiana, 
             Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Jim 
             Webb of Virginia. They have all worked ceaselessly to give 
             their constituents the best representation and give the 
             country the benefit of their views, their wisdom, and 
             their experience. They are men and women who are committed 
             to the Nation, and they have every day in different ways 
             contributed to this Senate and to our great country.
               I wish to thank them personally for their service, and, 
             in so many cases, their personal kindness to me; for 
             listening to my points and for, together, hopefully, 
             serving this Senate and this Nation in a more positive and 
             progressive way.
               In particular, let me say a few words about some of the 
             Members with whom I have had the privilege to work more 
             closely. ...
               I have had the honor of serving with Kay Bailey 
             Hutchison on the West Point Board of Visitors, and I am 
             also grateful that she joined with me on a bill to improve 
             care for children who survive cancer. ...
               I could go on with all of my colleagues, just thanking 
             them for their friendship, for their camaraderie, and for 
             their commitment to the Nation and the Senate. As they 
             depart, they have left an extraordinary legacy. Now it is 
             our responsibility to carry on in so many different ways, 
             and I hope we measure up to what they have done. If we do, 
             then we can go forward confidently.
               With that, I yield the floor.
                                              Friday, December 21, 2012
               Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, now that the campaigns are 
             over, the elections have been held, and the Senate is 
             winding down its current session, I appreciate having this 
             opportunity to express my great appreciation to those 
             Senators who have had a great impact on me and our work 
             together in the Senate. Such an individual is Kay Bailey 
             Hutchison, who has had a remarkable career as the Senator 
             from the great State of Texas.
               Senator Hutchison and I go back quite a way--in fact, we 
             go back to the days before I was elected to the Senate. 
             That was when I had just beat the odds and managed to 
             receive the nomination of my party to the Senate. A great 
             part of the reason for my success had to do with the 
             support I received from my family and the enthusiasm we 
             put into everything we did that year. It really had an 
             impact throughout the State during the primary season. Now 
             that the primary was over, however, the real battle was 
             about to begin.
               I knew, as soon as I was nominated, that I had a 
             problem. I was running against a very strong candidate, a 
             woman with a wealth of experience in politics who had 
             already waged and won a statewide race. I had no doubts 
             that we could still win, but I wasn't kidding myself that 
             it would be easy, either.
               Fortunately, I had a secret weapon--Kay Bailey 
             Hutchison. She agreed to come to Wyoming and campaign with 
             me. That was a tremendous blessing because she had a 
             natural feel for politics and she more than made up for my 
             lack of experience in running a statewide campaign. She 
             gave me a lot of good advice and we took it all. Then we 
             set out on the campaign trail and that is where she really 
             proved to be an asset.
               Each stop we made Senator Hutchison showed that she was 
             a natural politician. People responded to her and the way 
             she spoke during our events. She made it clear that she 
             was a hard worker who said what she meant and meant what 
             she said. Her Texas style played well in Wyoming and it 
             really made a difference for me.
               Then, when I came to Washington to begin my work in the 
             Senate, I watched her take on some pretty difficult 
             issues. She had a talent for seeing the best solutions to 
             those complicated problems and that helped her to make a 
             difference in her home State and here in Washington.
               What most impressed me was her ability to see a problem 
             as it was developing and then formulate a strategy to deal 
             with it before it became any more difficult. She was very 
             focused on the needs of her home State and what she could 
             do here in the Senate to make sure that the issues of most 
             concern to the people of Texas were addressed.
               Back home, Senator Hutchison has always been concerned 
             about our young people and what she could do to ensure 
             they realize they can be anything they want to be if they 
             are willing to work hard to succeed. That is why the young 
             women of Texas look up to her and see her as a model of 
             what they can also hope to someday achieve. That led her 
             to publish a collection of stories about successful women. 
             Senator Hutchison knows that a good biography is more than 
             a source of inspiration, it is a very specific ``how to'' 
             manual that young women all across the country can look to 
             for inspiration, guidance, and direction on how they can 
             hope to achieve the same kind of success in their own 
             lives.
               Senator Hutchison has a remarkable family and I know 
             that she is very proud of them. Not too long ago, she and 
             her husband decided to adopt a child. They wound up 
             adopting not one, but two children who are blessed to have 
             two such special parents. It's just another example of the 
             way Senator Hutchison has been reaching out to help those 
             who need her in so many ways over the years.
               Senator Hutchison has blazed a trail in so many ways 
             during her career in public service. She was the first 
             woman ever elected to the Senate from Texas, and during 
             her service she has helped young women all across her home 
             State of Texas to realize that there are no limits to 
             their future. They can be anything they want to be if they 
             are willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, just as 
             Senator Hutchison has done. She is not just a role model, 
             she is an example of what is possible for everyone to 
             achieve.
                                            Thursday, December 27, 2012
               Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, when the 112th Congress 
             adjourns, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will retire, having 
             been the 22d woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. With 
             nearly 20 years of service to this Chamber, Senator 
             Hutchison has been a pioneer in her home State of Texas. 
             The first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from that 
             State, her record of public service began long before she 
             came to Washington.
               Senator Hutchison's dedication to her constituents, and 
             to the advancement of the Nation, has been easy to see. 
             When she helped to establish the Academy of Medicine, 
             Engineering & Science of Texas, TAMEST, in 2004, she put a 
             spotlight on the importance of encouraging advancements in 
             science and of supporting research and development. She 
             has understood that protecting our Nation's ability to 
             innovate is as vital to our economic security as anything 
             else.
               I am proud to have worked with Senator Hutchison on a 
             variety of pieces of legislation over the years, having 
             served with her on several subcommittees of the Senate 
             Appropriations Committee. Among our greatest achievements, 
             I believe was our partnership on Federal AMBER Alert 
             legislation, which won unanimous support in the Senate and 
             which was enacted in 2003. The AMBER Alert Act was a 
             signature achievement, and an example of what can be done 
             when partisanship is cast aside, and we work together.
               Senator Hutchison has worked tirelessly to advocate for 
             her State and for the good of the Nation. I wish her and 
             her family all the best.
                                              Friday, December 28, 2012
               Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I would like to pay tribute 
             to the Senators who will not be returning when the 113th 
             Congress commences next month. I have already spoken about 
             Senator Kyl and about Senator Inouye, one of the truly 
             great Americans and giants of this institution. At the 
             time of his death, Senator Inouye was just a few weeks 
             short of celebrating 50 years of Senate service. Only 
             Senator Byrd served in this institution longer.
               Turnover is a natural occurrence, but it's important to 
             acknowledge that the Senators who are departing have 
             served in the Senate for a combined total of 237 years, or 
             nearly 20 years per Senator, on average. Add Senator 
             Inouye, and the total is close to 300 years. That service 
             represents an enormous amount of expertise on issues 
             ranging from national defense and foreign affairs to the 
             Federal budget to energy policy. The departing Senators 
             will also take with them vast institutional knowledge and 
             bipartisan friendships and working relationships that will 
             leave a void we will need to fill. ...
               Mr. President, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has been 
             shattering glass ceilings her entire life in a career that 
             has spanned law, banking, TV news reporting, small 
             business ownership, and politics. She was one of five 
             women in her University of Texas Law School class. She was 
             the first Republican woman elected to the Texas House of 
             Representatives. In 1990 she became State treasurer--the 
             first Texas Republican woman elected to statewide office. 
             Her 1993 special election victory to succeed Senator Lloyd 
             Bentsen made her the first--and only--woman to represent 
             Texas in the Senate. She was reelected in 1994, 2000, and 
             2006, receiving over 60 percent of the popular vote in 
             each instance. In 2001 she was named 1 of the 30 most 
             powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal.
               Senator Hutchison was the Senate architect of our 
             military forces' transformation from cold war forward 
             basing, with extensive overseas infrastructure, to a 
             strategically balanced approach that emphasizes rapidly 
             deployable military forces based at large, modern, 
             centrally located U.S. military installations. As chair of 
             the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, she 
             has played a crucial role in developing larger, soldier- 
             and family-friendly U.S. installations and improving the 
             quality of life and the quality of health care for our 
             service men and women and their families. As ranking 
             member of the Senate Commerce Committee, Senator Hutchison 
             authored major legislation in 2005 and 2010 to create a 
             balanced, bipartisan blueprint for America's post-Shuttle 
             space program. She also protected $100 billion science and 
             research investment in the International Space Station by 
             paving way for commercial crews. Senator Hutchison is one 
             of the Senate's leading advocates for bolstering the 
             Nation's science and technology education and 
             competitiveness. In 2007 she cosponsored the America 
             COMPETES Act, which included her legislation to allow 
             college students majoring in science, technology, 
             engineering, or mathematics, STEM, to be concurrently 
             certified as elementary and secondary school teachers.
               Senator Hutchison has been a strong voice for women's 
             economic empowerment and family-supporting tax policies. 
             She joined with my colleague, Senator Mikulski, in 
             sponsoring the Homemaker IRA legislation, which was 
             enacted in 1997 and allows affected spouses to make equal, 
             $2,000, fully deductible contributions to individual 
             retirement accounts, IRAs. She also successfully advocated 
             for elimination of the marriage tax penalty. In 1975, 
             while she was serving in the Texas House of 
             Representatives, she sponsored pioneering legislation to 
             protect rape victims by redefining consent and shielding 
             them from invasive personal questions that implied 
             ``blaming the victim.'' The Texas law became the national 
             model for State laws to protect rape victims. In 2003 here 
             in the Senate she won passage of a bill that created the 
             national AMBER Alert. About 600 abducted children have 
             since been reunited with their parents.
               Senator Hutchison is also an accomplished author. In 
             2000, she and other women Senators coauthored Nine and 
             Counting: The Women of the Senate. In 2004, she wrote 
             American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our 
             Country, which was followed in 2007 by the bestselling 
             book, Leading Ladies: American Trailblazers. I'm not sure, 
             but I believe she is the only sitting U.S. Senator to have 
             appeared on an episode of ``Walker, Texas Ranger'' with 
             Chuck Norris!
               Senator Hutchison has a solid conservative voting record 
             and outlook. She is thoughtful, accessible, and 
             collaborative. These qualities and her hard work have made 
             her an outstanding Senator. We will miss her. ...
               Mr. President, these men and women who will be leaving 
             the Senate soon have made extraordinary sacrifices to 
             serve our Nation. We are fortunate that they have chosen 
             to spend significant parts of their lives in public 
             service. All Americans owe them a debt of gratitude. Those 
             of us who will be in the Senate next month when the 113th 
             Congress convenes can best honor the legacy of our 
             departing colleagues by reaching across the aisle as they 
             have done so many times to forge bipartisan consensus and 
             solutions to our Nation's most vexing problems. The men 
             and women who will be leaving the Senate at the end of 
             this Congress understand that compromise isn't a dirty 
             word; it is the genius at the heart of our political 
             system. We will miss them.
                                              Sunday, December 30, 2012
               Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to honor my 
             colleague and friend from the State of Texas, Senator Kay 
             Bailey Hutchison, as she prepares to retire from the 
             Senate after almost 20 years serving her beloved State. I 
             have been honored to serve with Senator Hutchison and will 
             truly miss her presence and the guidance she has shared 
             over the last 10 years.
               Senator Hutchison is a Texan through and through. She is 
             the descendant of Texas pioneers, which might account for 
             the fighting spirit she has displayed here in the Senate. 
             She is a trailblazer, and in finding her own path broke 
             barriers and overcame the challenges she faced early in 
             her career. She was one of several women in a class of 
             nearly 400 who graduated from the University of Texas Law 
             School in 1967. After graduating, she faced a harsh 
             reality of the time as no law firm in Houston would hire a 
             woman; however she did not let this break her spirits. In 
             1972 she became the first Republican woman elected to the 
             Texas State House, where she learned the value of 
             bipartisanship, working across the aisle to address the 
             inequities and stigma that rape victims faced in the legal 
             system--and carried legislation which would become a model 
             for States across the country. This is one of the many 
             reasons I have come to respect and admire the senior 
             Senator from Texas--her ability to bring people together 
             to benefit those we serve.
               After being elected Texas State treasurer in 1990, she 
             again made history in 1993 by becoming the first, and 
             only, woman to be elected to the Senate from Texas. Here 
             in the Senate, she has been a champion for our military 
             forces, serving on the Intelligence and Armed Services 
             Committees, and as chairman and ranking member of the 
             Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations 
             Subcommittee. In those roles she has worked to ensure our 
             servicemembers and their families have the support they 
             need. She has also made major contributions through her 
             work to expand science and education, consistently 
             advocating for needed improvements so that our students 
             stay competitive. Her commitment to education has led her 
             to play a role in creating a program at the National 
             Science Foundation which will expand training for math and 
             science teachers of tomorrow, and she was a driving force 
             in establishing the Academy of Medicine, Engineering & 
             Science of Texas.
               In addition to her legislative accomplishments, Senator 
             Hutchison is to be recognized for her efforts to keep the 
             Senate schedule workable for families. Kay's children are 
             now 11 years old and many of us have watched as they have 
             grown. One of my favorite pictures is of Senator 
             Hutchison, the only woman in a sea of men, holding the 
             hands of Bailey and Houston as toddlers. Whether it was 
             late nights or flights to catch, Kay reminded the leaders 
             that we have an obligation to our families as well.
               Throughout her career Senator Hutchison has tackled 
             challenges with grace, resilience, and perseverance. As a 
             tireless advocate for her State, we can learn a lot from 
             Senator Hutchison's example of what a public servant 
             should be, and she certainly leaves an impressive legacy 
             here in the Senate. In her book, American Heroines, which 
             chronicles some of the first American women trailblazers, 
             she wrote that she believes America is the best place on 
             Earth to be a woman--that the opportunities are endless. 
             These opportunities are due to Senator Hutchison and women 
             like her, women whose independence and integrity have set 
             an example for those who will follow in their footsteps. I 
             thank Senator Hutchison for her leadership and her 
             friendship, and wish her the best.
                                              Monday, December 31, 2012
               Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I wish to recognize my 
             colleague Kay Bailey Hutchison for her many years of 
             distinguished service and leadership on behalf of our 
             country and the great State of Texas.
               Over the course of her 19 years in the Senate, Kay has 
             earned a reputation for being one of Washington's hardest-
             working and most masterful policymakers. I've seen this 
             first hand, while working with her on a number of 
             different issues over the years.
               During the debate over Wall Street reform, Kay and I 
             teamed up on legislation that helped keep the lights on at 
             over 600 community banks in Minnesota and over 2,000 in 
             the State of Texas. We also worked together to update and 
             improve our Federal antistalking laws, making it easier 
             for law enforcement to crack down on high-tech predators 
             using devices like spyware and video surveillance. In both 
             cases, I was impressed with Kay's ability to reach across 
             the aisle and find commonsense solutions.
               No matter what the issue, Kay has always stood up for 
             the people of her State. She has been a strong and 
             consistent voice for the people of Texas, but I also think 
             it's important to recognize her role as a pioneer for 
             women.
               I will never forget a story Kay once told me, about how 
             she was one of several women in her law school class and 
             couldn't find a job at any of the all-male Houston law 
             firms when she graduated. So instead, she took a job 
             covering the Texas State Legislature for a local TV 
             station.
               Kay clearly caught the political bug, because it was 
             just a few years later that she ran for a seat in the 
             Texas House of Representatives. When she won, she became 
             the first Republican woman ever elected to that body. She 
             shattered another glass ceiling in 1993 when she became 
             the first woman to represent Texas in the Senate. It was a 
             milestone for women everywhere from the Lone Star State to 
             the North Star State.
               When I was running for the Senate in Minnesota in 2006, 
             only two women had run before me and both of them had 
             lost. This came up during my campaign when reporters would 
             ask me, ``Can a woman win in Minnesota?'' My response? 
             ``Of course. A woman won in Texas.''
               So even before I knew Kay personally, I was inspired by 
             her story and by everything she had accomplished. Senator, 
             thank you for all of the friendship, wisdom, and support 
             you have shown me over the years. You will be missed, but 
             I know that even in retirement you will continue to find 
             ways to improve our great country and give back to the 
             people of the State you love so much.
                                             Wednesday, January 2, 2013
               Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute 
             to my colleagues, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and 
             Olympia Snowe.
               We have served together in the Senate for two decades 
             and I will dearly miss their grace and their friendship. I 
             know that whatever the next chapter brings, both Senator 
             Hutchison and Senator Snowe will leave a lasting and 
             important legacy.
               Both of these Senators are true pioneers. When she first 
             entered Congress, Senator Snowe was the youngest 
             Republican woman ever to serve in the House of 
             Representatives. Senator Hutchison graduated law school in 
             1967 as one of several women in a class of 445 men. When 
             she arrived in the Senate in 1993, she became the first 
             woman to represent Texas in this Chamber. ...
               Senator Hutchison was a strong and passionate voice for 
             the issues important to her beloved State of Texas.
               She played a critical role in so many of the important 
             issues facing our country over the years, from her work 
             ensuring the safety of our Nation as a senior member of 
             the Senate Armed Services Committee to her leadership on 
             the Senate Commerce Committee.
               We worked together to promote safety and security for 
             Afghan women and girls, and she played such a key role 
             during consideration of the transportation bill. I am so 
             grateful for Senator Hutchison's bipartisan efforts to 
             preserve and protect our critical transportation 
             infrastructure.
               Senator Hutchison has always noted that we women 
             Senators have repeatedly come together across party lines 
             to achieve action on women's issues: things like pay 
             inequality and creating tax-free individual retirement 
             accounts for spouses who work at home.
               I will miss my colleagues, both on the Senate floor and 
             at our monthly women Senators dinners.
                                             Thursday, February 7, 2013
                            ORDER FOR PRINTING OF TRIBUTES
               Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
             there be printed as a Senate document a compilation of 
             materials from the Congressional Record in tribute to the 
             retiring Members of the 112th Congress.

               The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so 
             ordered.
                     Proceedings in the House of Representatives
                                           Wednesday, December 12, 2012
               Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Kay Bailey Hutchison has 
             been a fighter for the State of Texas long before she came 
             to the U.S. Senate. As a graduate of the University of 
             Texas and the University of Texas Law School, she first 
             served in Austin, TX, in the house of representatives. She 
             then served as State treasurer, and then she made up her 
             mind to become the first woman to ever represent the great 
             State of Texas in the U.S. Senate.
               Texans have been fortunate to have Kay as a feisty 
             advocate for them. She's been a leader here in the Senate 
             for almost 20 years. My grandmother always used to say 
             that there's nothing more powerful than a woman who has 
             made up her mind. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is one of 
             those women. She is a leader and a role model for all of 
             us. She will be missed.
               Thank you, Kay, for your service to the great State of 
             Texas and the United States.
               And that's just the way it is.
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