[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 155 (Saturday, September 27, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9971-S9972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO SENATOR JOHN WARNER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise also today to pay my respects to 
another retiring Member of the Senate, the squire from Virginia, a 
longtime colleague of the occupant of the chair, and a truly remarkable 
man.
  It is not a stretch to say that if most Americans were asked to 
conjure up in their minds the image of a U.S. Senator, the man they 
would see is the senior Senator from Virginia. To most people, John 
Warner seems as though he were born to be a Member of this body, and in 
a remarkable 30-year career, he has proven they were right. He has 
matched the image with the skill and, though it certainly never was, he 
made it look easy.
  Virginians are very proud of their history. They are proud of their 
traditions. And John Warner has lived up to the best of them. Like our 
Nation's first President and Virginia's most famous son, he has always 
been a patriot first.
  The son of a World War I field surgeon, John first heard the call to 
serve while still in high school, dropping his studies at age 17 and 
enlisting in the Navy in the closing months of World War II. The call 
to serve later led him to interrupt law school in order to join the 
Marine Corps in the Korean war. After that, it led him to fulfill his 
mother's dream by becoming Secretary of the Navy; to take charge of 
America's bicentennial in 1976; and, for the last three decades, to 
serve America and the people of the Old Dominion with distinction in 
the Senate. These are the deeds that define John Warner. They are the 
only things that can explain a career that has been as significant to 
the strength of our Nation--and as beneficial to the people of his 
State--as his.
  John always balanced the interests of his State and the Nation 
masterfully. Virginians have honored him for it, sending him back to 
the Senate four times after that first election in 1978, and he has 
repaid them time after time.
  Over the years, John has earned a reputation as one of the most 
knowledgeable, hardest working, respected Senators on Capitol Hill. He 
has distinguished himself among his colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle as a man of intelligence, deep humanity, and courage. The people 
of Virginia can be proud of his many years of service in the Senate. 
John's entire Senate career speaks of his skills as a legislator and 
his love of Virginia and country.
  But any list of his legislative accomplishments would have to begin 
with the work he has done on behalf of the men and women in our 
military. He has vastly improved the quality of life for military men 
and women by fighting for substantial increases in pay, including 
increases in separation, hardship duty, and imminent danger pay.
  He has played a central role in improving benefits for widows and 
survivors of fallen soldiers.
  And many of us are not too young to recall John leading the fight for 
the 1991 gulf war resolution.
  He played a major role in ensuring that America's missile defense 
system was built, and deployed.
  On being named chairman of the Armed Services Committee from 1999 to 
2001, and then for 5 more years from 2003 to 2007, he worked closely 
with Democrats and Republicans to ensure that the interests of American 
security and the interests of our servicemen and women were met.
  As chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Warner saw an 
emerging threat from radical terrorists that many others overlooked. 
And he acted on it by creating a new Emerging Threats Subcommittee on 
terrorism, chemical and biological warfare and cyberwarfare.
  He pushed and succeeded in approving a major increase in the Nation's 
submarine fleet.
  He has guided the annual Defense authorization act through Congress 
for years, using it in recent years to modernize our armed forces and 
to meet current and emerging threats in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  He has been a firm supporter and a trusted friend to the brave men 
and women bravely serving the cause of freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  Closer to home, Senator Warner secured major Federal funding to 
rebuild the Woodrow Wilson Bridge that connects Alexandria to Maryland, 
easing the commute for millions and improving the flow of commerce 
along the I-95 corridor between Maryland, Virginia, and the DC area.
  He has worked hard to improve the water quality and to restore 
wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay. He has designated thousands of acres of 
National Forest as wilderness, expanded Virginia's National Wildlife 
Refuges and National Parks, and secured funds to demolish the Embrey 
Dam.
  He led a 3-year campaign to preserve the Newport News shipbuilding 
shipyard in Hampton Roads--a show of grit and persistence that paid off 
with thousands of jobs for southeastern Virginia.
  Senator Warner has been unafraid, at times, to part ways with his 
colleagues when he disagreed with them--but he has never lost their 
trust, their confidence, their respect, or their deep admiration.
  In everything, he has been the consummate Senator, and always a 
gentleman. And the Senate will never be the same without John Warner.
  On a more personal note, the entire Senate family shared John's 
happiness when he married Jeanne, not least of all because we all enjoy 
her company so much.
  Elaine and I have valued their friendship over the past several 
years.
  John, I know, is a proud graduate of Washington and Lee.
  The school's motto--``Not Unmindful of the Future''--is meant to 
impress on graduates a sense of responsibility to the future, rooted in 
the past.
  In a long career of service to the current and future good of his 
country, John William Warner has made that motto his own.
  Virginia has produced some of America's greatest leaders. John 
William Warner is one of them.
  His colleagues in the Senate are deeply grateful for his service, his 
friendship, and his many contributions to this body and to the Nation.
  (Applause, Senators rising.)
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am deeply humbled like my dear friend, 
Pete Domenici. I don't know if I am going to measure the courage to say 
goodbye to the Senate, but that will wait until next week.
  But I remember going back to a day when the Republican leader, then 
Bob Dole, came to me. I adored him, as I do to this day. He said to me: 
You need to do something for the Senate.
  I said: What is that?
  He said: I want you to give up your seat on the Rules Committee 
because the Senate has been joined by a young man who I believe can 
best serve the Senate--because of the complexities of the rules of the 
Senate, because of the problems that face the Senate--if he were to 
serve on this committee. Senator Dole said: I will assure you if you 
wish to return you may do so without loss of seniority or otherwise.
  So I said: Who is this man?
  And he described him.
  I said: Well, if that is for the best interests of the Senate, I will 
step down.
  I did, and you, Mitch McConnell, joined the Rules Committee. Not long 
after that, Dole again expressed his appreciation to me, and he said: 
You

[[Page S9972]]

know, I predict that someday that man will become the Republican leader 
of the Senate.
  I was a bit taken aback. I hadn't been here that long, but that is 
quite a prediction for someone to make.
  Well, it has come true. It is almost as if the hand of Providence has 
directed it because here, in these final hours, these final days that 
my dear friend, Senator Domenici and I will serve in this institution, 
we will be a part of making a decision, a decision with regard to the 
future of America and our economy. It is a decision of a magnitude that 
I am not sure any other Senate has made in its 218-year history, save 
perhaps during the Civil War, a decision that this body will make 
affecting every single American--every single American.
  I just say in concluding, the Senate, the country is fortunate to 
have you and others in the leadership role in this institution today, 
on both sides of the aisle, to guide us through to make that decision. 
That comes from my heart.
  Good luck, God bless you, bless the leadership of the Senate and 
every Member of this institution as we assemble within the coming days, 
each of us in our seat, to cast this most important vote.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.

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