[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 117 (Friday, July 20, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9652-S9653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               PETE GEREN

  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I hoped to speak earlier this week when we 
were engaged in debate on the Defense authorization bill. That was a 
night, I am sure our Acting President pro tempore recalls, when folks 
didn't get much sleep around here. A lot of my colleagues decided as 
they spoke they wanted to speak for a long time. As a result, I suspect 
fewer than half of us got to speak, and I had just a few thoughts I 
wanted to share with respect to not just the Defense authorization bill 
but the war in which we find ourselves in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Before I do that, I wish to mention that I think it was last Friday 
at the end of the regular business session--maybe it was Thursday--we 
went through the Executive Calendar. As the Senator from Ohio knows, on 
the Executive Calendar we actually take up nominations submitted by the 
committee that need confirmation by the Senate and we deal with those. 
Oftentimes, if they are not controversial, we deal with them by 
unanimous consent.
  One of the nominations that came before us last week, under unanimous 
consent, was that of Pete Geren, who had been nominated to be Secretary 
of the Army. Our Acting President pro tempore spent a number of years 
in the House of Representatives. I was there 10 years. I think he was 
there for about as long, maybe even longer.
  One of the finest people I ever served with in the House of 
Representatives was a Democratic Congressman from Texas who actually 
succeeded Jim Wright. Jim Wright stepped down as our Speaker, resigned 
from the Congress, there was a special election, and who ended up 
getting elected but Pete Geren. He became a Congressman for four terms 
and was admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. Before that, he had 
served as an aid to a legendary Senator from Texas, a fellow named 
Lloyd Bentsen, who was also our party's nominee for Vice President.
  Pete went to Georgia Tech and the University of Texas. He got a law 
degree from the University of Texas, married well, had three kids, and 
ended up here in the Congress with all of us. He resigned after his 
fourth term and went back to Texas to become a businessperson and to 
practice law. He did that for I think about 5 years, and lo and behold, 
he got a call from a Republican administration to ask him to serve in 
the Department of Defense, where he was a senior aid in the Secretary's 
office, a role he played for I think about 3 or 4 years.
  Subsequent to that, Pete Geren was asked to serve in a variety of 
roles. He has been our Acting Secretary of the Air Force, he has been 
the Under Secretary of the Army, the Interim Secretary of the Army, and 
for the last week or so now, he has been the Secretary of the Army.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record his statement 
before the Armed Services Committee, his confirmation hearing 
statement.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [Congressional Hearings, June 19, 2007]

  Senate Armed Services Committee Holds Hearing on the Nomination of 
               Preston Geren to be Secretary of the Army

       GEREN: Mr. Chairman and Senator Warner and members of the 
     committee, it truly is an honor to be before you today as the 
     president's nominee.
       I want to thank the president for his confidence in me and 
     Dr. Gates for his confidence, as well. It's truly a privilege 
     to have this opportunity.
       Let me thank Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn for their 
     very kind remarks, two great leaders for our state and two 
     great leaders in this Senate, and I deeply appreciate, and I 
     know my family did, as well, their kind and generous remarks.
       Mr. Chairman, I'd also like to note Senator Hutchison's 
     predecessor, who was the person who brought me into public 
     life, Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and had it not been for the 
     opportunity to work for Senator Bentsen, I'm confident I 
     would not have the opportunities to serve in our government 
     today.
       Senator Bentsen passed away over the past year, a great 
     American, a great Senator, and I want to acknowledge my debt 
     to him.
       Senator, I had introduced my family earlier. I've got, as 
     you do, three wonderful girls, three great kids, and, again, 
     I want to thank them for standing with me and standing with 
     Beckie and me in our time here in Washington and all the 
     time.
       My family and I came to Washington planning a three-year 
     hitch and six years later, we're still here.
       I joined the Department of Defense in August 2001, 
     expecting a peacetime assignment in business transformation 
     of the Department of Defense. Then came September 11 and the 
     war.
       There's a sense of mission working among our military 
     during time of war that's hard to walk away from. For the 
     past six years, I've watched soldiers, sailors and airmen go 
     off to war and I've watched their families stand steadfast 
     and unwavering in their support of their departed loved ones 
     and live with the uncertainty of whether he or she would 
     return home.
       And they live with a certainty that there would be 
     birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, graduations and the ups 
     and downs of everyday life that their loved one would miss 
     for 12 months, originally, and now 15 months and too often 
     watch those families live with a loss when their loved one 
     did not return.
       I've been inspired by the selfless service of our soldiers 
     and humbled by the sacrifice of their families. I've held 
     staff and leadership jobs in the Pentagon over these past six 
     years and consider it the privilege of a lifetime to have the 
     opportunity to work on behalf of our men and women in our 
     nation's military and their families during the time of war.
       Our grateful nation cannot do enough and I'm honored to 
     play a part, a supporting role in their service to our nation 
     on the front lines.
       When I came before you seeking confirmation as under 
     secretary of the Army, I told you my top priority would be 
     taking care of soldiers and their families. I reaffirm that 
     commitment today with a greater understanding of that 
     responsibility.
       My year as under secretary of the Army taught me much. My 
     four months as acting secretary of the Army has taught me 
     much more.
       We have over 140,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. We 
     can never take our eye off of that ball. They're counting on 
     their Army, big Army, to continue to provide them the 
     training, equipment and leadership to take the fight to the 
     enemy and defend themselves.
       They count on their Army leadership back home to move the 
     bureaucracy on the home front. They count on their secretary 
     and their chief to stand up for them, get them what they need 
     when they need it.
       We must act with urgency every day, every day, to meet 
     their needs. Today, the issue is MRAP. Tomorrow, it will be 
     different. The enemy is forever changing and forever 
     adapting.
       Mr. Chairman, further, as an Army, we pledge never to leave 
     a fallen comrade. That is not an abstract notion. That means 
     on the battlefield, in the hospital, or in an outpatient 
     clinic or over a life of dependency, if that is what's 
     required to fulfill this pledge.
       I've witnessed the cost in human terms and to the 
     institution of the Army when we break faith with that pledge, 
     as a handful did at Walter Reed. A few let down the many and 
     broke that bond of trust.
       But I have seen soldiers, enlisted, NCOs and officers 
     respond when they learned that someone has let down a 
     soldier. They step up and they make it right. They make it 
     better and they do not rest until the job is done and they 
     expect and demand accountability.
       And I've seen the strain of multiple deployments on 
     soldiers' families. A wife and mother said recently, ``I can 
     hold the family together for one deployment. Two is harder 
     and three is harder still.'' Over half of our soldiers today 
     are married with families. Over 700,000 children are in the 
     families of our soldiers.
       The health of the all volunteer force depends on the health 
     of those families. We must expect that our future offers an 
     era of persistent conflict. We will continue to ask much of 
     the Army family. We must meet the needs of our families, 
     provide them with a quality of life comparable to the quality 
     of their service and sacrifice.
       It's the right thing to do and the future of our all 
     volunteer force depends on it.
       And as President Lincoln pledged to us as a nation, our 
     duty does not stop when our soldier or our nation leaves the 
     field of battle. We must care for those who have borne the 
     battle, his widow and his orphan.
       That commitment extends over the horizon and we have 
     learned we have much to do to fulfill that commitment. 
     Lately, we have come face to face with some of our 
     shortcomings, a complex disability system that

[[Page S9653]]

     can frustrate and fail to meet the needs of soldiers, a 
     system that often fails to acknowledge, understand and treat 
     some of the most debilitating, yet invisible wounds of war, 
     leaving soldiers to return from war only to battle 
     bureaucracy at home and leaving families at a loss on how to 
     cope.
       The Department of Defense, working with the Veterans 
     Affairs Department and this committee and this Congress have 
     a opportunity that does not come along often to move our 
     nation a quantum leap forward in fulfillment of that 
     commitment. We cannot squander this opportunity.
       And, Mr. Chairman and Senator Warner, I commend this 
     committee for the step forward you all took last week in your 
     bill to start the process of meeting the needs of those 
     wounded warriors and we look forward to working with you, 
     again, to push that initiative.
       Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you for all 
     you do for our soldiers and their families. The Army has no 
     greater friend than this committee.
       Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution makes the Army and 
     the Congress full partners in the defense of our nation and 
     in the service of our soldiers and their families.
       If confirmed, I look forward to continuing to work with you 
     in discharging our duty to those soldiers.
       I look forward to your questions. Thank you.
       LEVIN: Secretary Geren, thank you for a heartfelt and a 
     powerful statement. I can't remember that I've ever heard a 
     better one, frankly, coming from a nominee. It was very 
     personal and I think it had power.
       I just wish every American, every soldier and everyone of 
     their families could have heard your opening statement.

  Mr. CARPER. Subsequent to his giving his statement, the chairman of 
the committee, Carl Levin, and later on Senator Joe Lieberman--both 
praised the statement, Senator Levin saying, ``I can't remember that 
I've ever heard a better one, frankly, coming from a nominee. . . .'' 
He said it was ``a heartfelt and a powerful statement.''
  One of my favorite sayings is: In politics, friends come and go, but 
our enemies accumulate. For a lot of us in this business, that is the 
truth. Pete Geren is the exception to that rule. He is admired and 
liked by people with whom he served in the House and Senate, Democrat 
and Republican. For a Democrat in Congress ending up to be asked to 
serve as Acting Secretary and Secretary of the Army is a compliment and 
really reflective of the kind of person he is. He is a person who tries 
to figure out what is the right thing to do and to do it. He routinely, 
consistently treats other people the way he would want to be treated. 
He has great values, great work ethic, and is just a terrific public 
servant to the people of this country.
  I am delighted he has now been asked to serve and was confirmed by 
all of us unanimously to serve as our Secretary of the Army. It is a 
big job, a tough job at a tough time to serve in that capacity, but I 
know he will have our full support. He certainly has my support and my 
long-time admiration.

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