[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 162 (Friday, December 16, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S13945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMENDING SENATOR WARNER

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish I had the words to express the 
thoughts I have in my heart now. I love history. I love the Senate. I 
have spent a lot of my life here. The mere fact that I am a Senator is, 
every day, hard for me to comprehend. But I am, and I am so thankful to 
the people in Nevada for allowing me to serve.
  But I want to say to the senior Senator from the State of Virginia 
that when the history books are written about this institution and 
someone flips through like a dictionary, wanting to have described what 
a U.S. Senator should be, John Warner has to be near the top of that 
list, if not at the top. He is a man who is a gentleman. I have served 
with him now for 23 years. He is a man who believes in this institution 
and has the record to prove it. He is a person who is a good member of 
his political party, but he is also a patriot. As important as the two-
party system is to our country, to the Senator from Virginia, party 
comes second, country comes first.
  As I said, I don't have the ability to express my conviction about 
this man. But the statement he just made, his off-the-cuff statement, 
is what the Senate is all about. It is about protecting this country, 
the individual rights of Members of the Senate, and that is why John 
Warner is a great Senator.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, with a deep sense of humility, I thank my 
colleague. I am undeserving of those remarks. Each day I am here, each 
day I grow a little older, I grow more humble and thankful to the good 
Lord for allowing me to greet each day and do what I feel is best in 
the interests of this country.

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