[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 18, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4-S5]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I thank the leadership for according 
me an opportunity to present my new colleague. All of us are going to 
be missing Jon Corzine, a dear friend and former colleague who served 
this body very well but responded to the call of duty when things in 
New Jersey needed a leading hand. Jon Corzine responded and took up the 
assignment.
  In Senator Corzine's place, we are fortunate to be able to have a 
candidate of the skill and knowledge that Senator Robert Menendez has.
  Bob Menendez is a typical American story. He was born in America of 
parents who had immigrated from Cuba. He has worked his way through the 
system very well. As a very young man--high school age--he challenged 
the mayor and the leadership of the community in which he lived in New 
Jersey and fought his way to making certain they were going to be 
cleaning up some of their bad habits in Union City, such that he had to 
at times wear a bulletproof vest when he was 17 years old. He, thusly, 
had a place in the political mainstream as a very young man.
  He became mayor of Union City, NJ, and then served in our general 
assembly from 1987 until 1991 and in the New Jersey Senate--he has been 
through all of the steps to leadership--from 1991 to 1993. He then came 
to the U.S. Congress

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and was soon appointed--he worked hard to get it. I should strike the 
word ``appointed'' and say he worked his way so that he became the 
third most powerful member on the Democratic side in the House of 
Representatives.
  I look forward to working with Bob. Bob comes from Hudson County, one 
of our most populated counties in the most densely populated State in 
the country. He worked on the issues of transportation, and education 
is a particular interest of his. It can be reflected in the fact that 
his daughter, Alicia Menendez, was the commencement speaker at her 
graduation from Harvard.
  I was very impressed at the leadership provided by her family, by her 
father's interest in public speaking, and in Government. She had to 
prepare her address in a competition to see who would be the student 
commencement speaker. Alicia won that competition with a very lengthy 
speech. She then, contrary to our habits here, was told to put aside 
her notes, take a microphone, and make the speech verbally to the 
graduating class of Harvard, I think it was 2 years ago. And she did it 
wonderfully--again, a reflection of the leadership that Bob Menendez 
provided to the family.
  His son Robert is at a university in North Carolina and is also a 
very accomplished young man.
  Mr. Menendez and I will be working together on lots of issues that we 
worked on in the past, I as a Senator and he as a Congressman, 
particularly, again, focused on transportation, environment, and 
security.
  Bob Menendez's county had the biggest loss of those who perished on 
9/11--over 700 people from New Jersey. Bob Menendez was there to help 
provide some warmth, friendship, and leadership to the problems that 
followed the loss of those loved ones and the impairment that it 
brought to those families.
  I am so pleased to have someone who understands New Jersey fully, who 
has lived the traditional dream from very modest working class parents 
who escaped Cuba in those very dark days and lifted himself up by his 
bootstraps. We are going to be working together on issues such as 
transportation, education, security, and some of the problems we now 
see with Medicare.
  My State of New Jersey now has spent $15 million in the last couple 
of weeks trying to help people get their prescription drugs as a result 
of the enormous change that took place starting in 2006. They could not 
get the product, and the State of New Jersey jumped in, as I would 
gather almost every State in this country has done, and that is to fill 
in where Medicare dropped off.
  I look forward to working with Bob Menendez on that issue, and I hope 
it will be high on the list--on an urgent list--of matters to which we 
have to attend.

  Meanwhile, I once again say that Bob Menendez represents not only New 
Jersey, but he represents the contribution that Latino Americans make 
to this country. Bob Menendez will be the third person to join this 
Senate with a Hispanic background--Senator Martinez, Senator Salazar, 
and now Senator Menendez. It is so appropriate when such a large 
portion of our population has that cultural background. They are 
wonderful contributing citizens in our State. We have a very large 
Latino population, and they are all very proud of Senator Menendez.
  It is a historic day for the State of New Jersey and for the country 
that one of our terrific colleagues is now the Governor of the State of 
New Jersey. I predict he will be looking in the mirror one of these 
days and questioning the change he decided to make. He has a tough job. 
There is a lot of debt. We had some unfortunate mistakes in governance 
over the past few years. We are desperately in need of support for 
transportation and other programs. I think Jon Corzine, with his 
leadership training, having been the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, 
will make a difference. He left here to take on what he considered a 
more important, immediate test. We are so pleased that he is replaced 
by someone such as Robert Menendez, Senator Menendez, who just walked 
in.
  I remember the days--my colleague from Virginia is on the floor. We 
have been around here a long time. So very often the issues of 
wonderment disappear. We are into the nitty-gritty of issues and we 
forget sometimes about the excitement of being able to serve in this 
body. The Presiding Officer knows exactly what I am talking about, 
having been here only a short time, but also having come from the House 
of Representatives, and note that change.
  When I spoke to Bob Menendez and described to him the seat that he 
would have, which is the furthest away that one can get, he said to me 
that he is happy to have a seat anywhere in this Chamber. Sometimes we 
forget that in our daily toil.
  I wound up sitting right near where the Senator from Virginia is, and 
I was talking to Scoop Jackson. I said: Nice seat. He said: Don't get 
used to it, you're not going to keep it. In the next couple of days, I 
wound up over in the freshman seats.
  Bob Menendez is a freshman, skilled, able, knowledgeable. We are very 
excited about him being here. He is going to be a wonderful Member of 
the Senate.
  I thank the Chair and thank the leadership for granting me the 
opportunity to speak today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, first I commend my good friend, the good 
Senator from the State of New Jersey, for his remarks this morning on 
behalf of his colleague. I was privileged to attend what is known here 
as a reenactment in the Old Chamber just now and had the chance to wish 
him well. We do wish him well.
  I certainly say to my distinguished colleague, the new Governor of 
New Jersey, our former colleague whom we all hold in high esteem, we 
wish him well in his responsibilities. The Senator mentioned that, of 
course, he departed to take on this authority. You know, there is a 
precedent in your State for recycling back here. It seems to me the 
distinguished senior Senator is here on his second term.
  I thank my colleague.

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