[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 186 (Thursday, December 11, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10939-S10940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO SENATORS


                              Gordon Smith

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I would like to pay tribute today to the 
service of Senator Gordon Smith, who has served the people of Oregon 
and his country with honor. I have had the pleasure of serving with 
Senator Smith during his two terms here in the Senate, and during that 
time he, and his wife Sharon, have been become dear friends. Marcelle 
and I have often enjoyed traveling with Senator Smith and his wife 
Sharon, including a couple of trips to Davos, Switzerland, for the 
World Economic Forum.
  Senator Smith began his political career in 1992 when he was first 
elected to the Oregon State Senate. There he served as Minority Leader, 
and the President of the Senate during his first term in office. Since 
his election to the United States Senate, Senator Smith has always been 
willing to reach across the aisle to bring our colleagues together and 
his leadership has produced a list of impressive legislative 
accomplishments.
  During his two terms here in the Senate, Senator Smith has committed 
himself to efforts on behalf of the people of Oregon, supporting both 
criminal justice reform and expansion of youth services. Following the 
tragic death of his son Garrett, Senator Smith worked tirelessly as an 
advocate for the early intervention and prevention of youth suicide, 
establishing a grant program for youth mental health programs through 
the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act which was signed into law by 
President Bush in 2004. I also appreciate the partnership that we 
forged in advancing the Innocence Protection Act, a package of modest 
procedural reforms relating to the death penalty, which I introduced in 
2000, and much of which was enacted several years later.
  Marcelle and I have valued his friendship and wish Gordon and Sharon 
all of the best.


                              John Warner

  Madam President, for most of my time in the Senate it has been my 
privilege to serve alongside one of its most respected members, the 
senior Senator from Virginia, Mr. Warner. As he prepares to retire from 
his Senate service, I would like to pay tribute to him as a leader, a 
legislator, and as one of my closest friends in this body.
  John Warner is a living emblem of the finest the Senate has to offer. 
He is a skilled policymaker who actively contributes to the civility 
that helps the Senate function as the Founders intended.
  Senator Warner has represented the Commonwealth of Virginia with 
vision, persistence and wisdom. He has helped lead the Senate through 
debates on some of the most nettlesome national security issues of our 
time. Always a gentleman, he has carried himself with the utmost 
integrity and honesty. He is a Senator of his word. We have worked 
together on many issues, and I am going to miss his counsel and his 
friendship.
  John Warner came to the Senate in 1979, after early service in the 
U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corp's, which led to his successful 
tenure as the Secretary of the Navy. He quickly made his mark on one of 
Congress's most important committees for steering our national security 
apparatus, the Senate Armed Services Committee. He rose quickly in 
seniority and has served as the committee's chairman, ranking member, 
and chairman emeritus.
  He formed a now legendary partnership with Senator Sam Nunn of 
Georgia, and together they worked to fundamentally restructure the 
Nation's war-fighting organization in the mid-1980s. He has worked 
closely with the committee's current chair, Senator Levin, and with 
ranking member Senator John McCain, to support our troops through the 
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a member of the Defense Appropriations 
Subcommittee, I have seen how the two key defense committees have come 
together to make that extensive and crucial department work better. 
John Warner has been an important part of this superb working 
arrangement, and it was fitting that the fiscal year 2007 Defense 
Authorization Bill was named in his honor.
  Senator Warner is an accomplished advocate for Virginia--the home to 
a wide variety of military installations, as well as to rural and urban 
communities of varied needs. He has tackled the difficult 
transportation challenges of the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, 
making a real difference in the lives of millions. As a part time 
resident of Virginia I have always called him my Senator away from 
home.
  Marcelle and I have enjoyed the friendship and company of John and 
his wife Jeanne, including on the Senate's delegation to the recent 
60th Anniversary of D-Day. Foreign leaders know Senator Warner 
extremely well;

[[Page S10940]]

they see him, as we do here in the Senate, as a man of great stature 
and wisdom.
  I thank John for his service and for his friendship, and Marcelle and 
I join all Members of the Senate in wishing John and Jeanne all the 
best in their future endeavors.


                              Chuck Hagel

  Madam President, I rise to acknowledge the work and commitment of a 
colleague whom I have had the pleasure of serving with for the last 12 
years here in the U.S. Senate. Senator Chuck Hagel joined the Senate in 
1997 after an already successful career in business and public service, 
both in his home State of Nebraska and here in Washington, DC.
  While in the Senate, Chuck has been a strong independent voice for 
all Nebraskans and citizens of this country. He is not afraid to share 
what is on his mind and he is certainly not afraid to reach across the 
aisle to work with all Senators. In one of his first acts of 
bipartisanship, Senator Hagel joined me as a cosponsor of the Landmine 
Elimination Act of 1997. I worked with Chuck, who was himself injured 
by landmines while in Vietnam, to ban new deployments of antipersonnel 
landmines.
  Senator Hagel has demonstrated an incredible alacrity on defense and 
foreign policy issues. While it was not popular within his own party, 
he made the difficult decision to support a timeline for the withdrawal 
of troops from Iraq. This is just one example of many stances he has 
taken in Washington that demonstrates how Chuck Hagel was an 
independent voice that Nebraska is proud to call their own.
  I am also pleased to know Chuck and Lilibet as wonderful travel 
partners. The last trip we took together, in May 2007, was to the 
Middle East to assess regional conflicts in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and 
the West Bank. Trips like these provide the opportunity to get to know 
Senators and their spouses beyond the day-to-day encounters in 
Washington and I cherish the time we had to together.
  I am pleased to call Chuck a friend and voice of reason in the U.S. 
Senate. I will miss him as both a friend and colleague. Marcelle and I 
and wish him and Lilibet well in whatever way he will next serve 
Nebraska and our Nation.


                             Pete Domenici

  Madam President, I would like to pay tribute to the senior Senator 
from New Mexico, a dedicated public servant, a respected lawmaker and a 
man I am proud to call my colleague, Pete Domenici.
  From his first days in the Senate in the 93rd Congress, to now 35 
years later, Senator Domenici has earned a reputation as a powerful 
champion for New Mexico. While he and I have not agreed on some issues, 
I have never questioned his commitment to do what he believed was right 
for this country and the State of New Mexico. However, I might question 
which of our Italian grandmothers made a better meatball, but then 
again I wouldn't want a fight to break out here on the Senate floor.
  Senator Domenici has too many accomplishments to list here today. 
Senator Domenici has had a long and distinguished career in the U.S. 
Senate. However what stands out most to me is his unending drive to 
enact Mental Health Parity legislation which he worked on so closely 
with our late colleague Paul Wellstone. I believe it was a fitting 
tribute to enact this legislation in the closing days of the 110th 
Congress.
  I know it can sound repetitive when people hear Senators make remarks 
such as these about our colleagues as they are leaving the Senate. But 
I think it is important for the public to know that despite all the 
squabbling that goes on in Washington, there is the deep respect, 
affection, and caring that goes on among the Members of this body. 
After an incredible 35 years of service New Mexico and the whole United 
States are grateful, and I consider myself fortunate to have served 33 
years with Pete Domenici in the U.S. Senate. Marcelle and I wish Pete 
and Nancy the best.


                              Gordon Smith

  Mr. COLEMAN. Madam President, when the Founders envisioned this 
Senate, I believe they hoped it would be a place where strong opinions, 
established life skills and varied experience would come together to 
serve the nation. Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon has matched that 
standard and the whole nation has benefited.
  I have always been encouraged and inspired by Senator Smith's 
forward-looking mind and his energetic advocacy of a better life for 
all Americans. He has fought for better schools for our children. He 
confronted the reality of America's ``drop-out culture'' and fought for 
individualized attention for at-risk kids.
  We have worked together to ensure that the Medicaid Program fulfills 
its promise to America's less fortunate, and to extend the excellent 
quality of American health care to a broader and broader share of the 
population.
  It has been an honor to work with Gordon Smith on the Aging Committee 
in particular. His tireless advocacy to ensure that our seniors are 
afforded the dignity and respect they deserve has been an inspiration.
  Gordon Smith has also been a strong voice for Oregonians on the 
environment and the natural treasures in their State. And he turned 
personal tragedy into a nationwide effort to prevent suicide.
  On issue after issue, Gordon Smith has demonstrated a boundless 
enthusiasm for the process of reform, and a confidence that we can 
always make government programs more responsive, more relevant and more 
effective for the American people.
  Like the modern day Oregon pioneers he represents, Gordon Smith has 
always demonstrated both a fierce independence and a strong belief that 
there is a better way--if we dream big, work hard and stick together, 
there is no problem too big for America.
  In ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,'' Hollywood memorialized the 
commonsense man, of impeccable character, as the ideal Senator. Gordon 
Smith would have fit the part perfectly. I will dearly miss his 
integrity, his enthusiasm, and his friendship in this place. But I am 
excited for what the next chapter of his leadership will mean to Oregon 
and this country. I hope we can all bring more of his can-do spirit and 
positive energy to the urgent challenges we face in the days ahead.

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