[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S11247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING SENATORIAL SERVICE

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, we are coming to the end of the session 
and 10 of our colleagues are retiring. I want to say a word about them, 
especially one of them, my colleague, Senator Bill Frist, from 
Tennessee.


                               Bill Frist

  I can still remember when Bill Frist came to my office in Nashville 
in 1994 and said he wanted to run for the Senate. I didn't know what to 
think. Bill Frist lived in the neighborhood where I lived in Nashville, 
but I didn't know him very well. Our ages are a little bit different 
and he had been away while I was Governor of Tennessee, practicing 
medicine and honing his skills.
  What I did know about him was that he was extraordinary. He was one 
of the pioneers in our country of heart and lung transplants. He 
performed the first one in Tennessee, the first one in the Southeast. 
When he decided to run for the Senate, only a handful of physicians in 
the world had made as many heart transplants as Dr. Bill Frist.
  He had almost no chance of being elected to the Senate in 1994. 
However, he was elected. He had almost no chance, after having been 
elected, to help the Republicans gain the majority in 2002, but he did 
that. No one expected him to be the majority leader of the Senate, but 
he has been and he has done it very well.
  As we look at the record of the accomplishments over the last 4 
years, Senator Frist can take credit for his leadership in creating an 
environment where we have had tax cuts that have benefited Americans, 
where we have confirmed judges who will interpret the law rather than 
make it up as they go along. His hand was in the Medicare prescription 
drug benefit which benefits millions of seniors. We would not have had 
the $15 billion for HIV/AIDS in Africa had it not been for Bill Frist.
  In Tennessee, we have had a sales tax deduction against our Federal 
income tax and a new governing board for the Tennessee Valley 
Authority, neither of which would have been accomplished were it not 
for Bill Frist. When Lyndon Johnson was majority leader, he often said, 
having Lyndon Johnson as majority leader is good for the country and 
hasn't hurt Texas one bit. I would say, having Bill Frist as majority 
leader has been good for the country and it hasn't hurt Tennessee one 
bit.
  He has been the perfect colleague. His ego has been completely under 
control in a body where that is rare and difficult. And one thing is 
certain: Anyone who knows Bill Frist won't underestimate him again. 
History has proven that is a dangerous thing to do. I don't know very 
many people who have ever been in public life who have as many 
interesting and important and viable options open to him as he does as 
he looks forward to the next step in his contributions to public 
service.
  One of the joys of being a Senator is simply the privilege of serving 
with other Senators. Each one of the Senators has something remarkable 
and special. For example, Senator Frist was president of the skydiving 
club at Princeton when he was there. He spends vacations in Sudan, 
doing surgery on poor people. He once got up at 4 in the morning and 
went to the National Zoo to operate on the heart of a gorilla--which I 
guess is a pretty good way of preparing for coming to the Senate floor 
and dealing with what he has to deal with here. He is not the only one 
who is a very special Senator.


                              Conrad Burns

  My friend, Conrad Burns, who is retiring, was a marine, an 
auctioneer, had his own radio program and TV program in Montana. He 
would sometimes pick up hitchhikers on his way in to work in the 
Senate--a pretty good surprise for a Government employee to be picked 
up by a U.S. Senator.


                              Mike DeWine

  Or Mike DeWine, with his eight children and ninth grandchild, whose 
heart is nearly as big as he is. He lost a child, and he and Fran have 
gone to Haiti time after time after time to help people there who need 
help.


                              George Allen

  Or George Allen. I remember vividly the first time I met him, I 
campaigned for him in Virginia. He was 40 points behind. I went back to 
Tennessee and I said, I believe he will win, he is such a good 
candidate. We haven't heard the last of him in public life.


                             Rick Santorum

  Or Rick Santorum, Karen, and their six children whom they home 
school, and his Italian heritage--which explains a lot about his 
enthusiasm and vigor for the things he believes in most strongly.


                             Paul Sarbanes

  Or Paul Sarbanes, who was in the same Rhodes Scholar class with 
Senator Dick Lugar.


                               Jim Talent

  Or Jim Talent, who was the outstanding political science student at 
Washington University in St. Louis when he was there. No one would be 
surprised to learn that.


                             Lincoln Chafee

  Or Senator Linc Chafee, also retiring, was a wrestler in college. He 
spent several years in the United States and Canada as a professional 
blacksmith before he got into politics.


                              Mark Dayton

  Or Mark Dayton, whose interest in the environment in Minnesota has 
been so exceptional.


                              Jim Jeffords

  Or Jim Jeffords, a former Navy captain, who has had so much to do 
with offering legislation for clean air and children with disabilities.
  When the most recent class of Senators was sworn into office nearly 2 
years ago, in the gallery were three women. One was the grandmother of 
Barack Obama. She was from Kenya. One was the mother of Senator 
Salazar, a 10th generation American. One was the mother of Mel 
Martinez, the new Republican National Committee chairman, who, with her 
husband, put her son on an airplane when he was 14 years old and sent 
him from Cuba to the United States, not knowing if she would ever see 
him again.

  In a way, each one of us who is here is an accident. None of us knew 
we would be here. Each of us is privileged to serve, and one of the 
greatest privileges is to serve with our colleagues. We will miss them 
and we are grateful for their service.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia is recognized.

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