[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S12867]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PRAISE AND FAREWELL FOR SENATOR WENDELL FORD

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I would like to say a few words before the 
close of the 105th Congress about my friend and colleague, Wendell 
Ford, the very distinguished senior senator from the great state of 
Kentucky. His retirement from the Senate this year leaves this body of 
government missing a cornerstone that I am not sure we can replace 
anytime soon.
  From the heartland of these United States, he is a strong, resonant 
voice for the working people of this nation. This Senate chamber will 
sound a bit hollow without that gruff, but friendly voice crying out 
for ``order'' in these chambers.
  I have served for six years now with Senator Ford. During our time 
together I have known him as a stalwart ally in our party and a 
valuable friend. As an indefatigable champion for Kentucky, he never 
betrayed that trust that the people who elected him four times to the 
United States Senate bestowed upon him. That he has been able to keep 
his feet firmly grounded in Kentucky's interests while extending his 
helping hand to Senators from every region of this nation is a 
testament to his skill, temperament and wisdom.
  I cannot speak of Senator Ford without expressing my admiration for 
his leadership on the Committee on Commerce, Science and 
Transportation, particularly his service as chairman and ranking member 
of the Subcommittee on Aviation. No issue is small to Senator Ford if 
it is a big issue to his colleague. I remember early in my tenure here 
that he worked with me on an issue that I have struggled with every 
since I came to House of Representatives and later as a Senator. We 
needed the Federal Aviation Administration to work with other Federal 
agencies and clean up an abandoned radar site on Mt. Tamalpais in my 
home county of Marin.
  I had been here only a year or so before Senator Ford sliced through 
the bureaucratic tangle and resolved this local problem at long last in 
the 1994 FAA Reauthorization bill.
  He was also there for the State of California when we were trying to 
get the California Cruise Ship Industry Revitalization Act accepted in 
conference. He stood in the door of that conference--refusing to call 
it complete--until our provision was accepted. This provision has 
provided enormous benefits for our ports in California, and we are 
grateful for his untiring assistance.
  While helping on these local and State issues, he has been the 
strongest advocate for our airports, particularly in using the Airport 
trust fund for what it was intended modernizing and upgrading airports 
across the country to keep them safe and competitive. I was proud to 
see that we named the FAA reauthorization bill this year, the Wendell 
H. Ford National Air Transportation System Improvement Act. The truth 
is I feel like every time we have voted for the FAA reauthorization 
bill it has had his stamp upon it.
  I wish the Senator from Kentucky a fond farewell--but not goodbye. He 
will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. And I know his voice 
will still echo throughout these hallowed halls--and in the halls of 
our memories, we will forever remember Wendell Ford's decency, 
compassion, and plain old common sense.

                          ____________________