[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 10 (Friday, January 16, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S635-S639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FAREWELL TO THE SENATE
Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I thank the Chair, the distinguished
Senator from Rhode Island. I thank my great friend the majority leader,
Senator Reid, for his inspiration and for his leadership of this body
and his love for this Nation. I think our journey together in many ways
has been a similar journey because if you think about a man from
Searchlight, NV, raised in the house where he was raised, raised in the
circumstances in which he was raised, working in the mines and being
essentially part of the poorest part of Nevada, and yet today he is
serving in the Senate as majority leader, that is a pathway that
illustrates the opportunity and promise of America.
For his support and his leadership, I will be forever grateful, and
for the support from his family, Landra and Rory and all of his
children as well. I admire him and admire them. I appreciate the
comments that were so heartfelt from him, and I appreciate the comments
as well from Senator McConnell.
I thank my colleagues who are here this morning. I know almost
everybody took off last night, so the Chamber is not exactly full this
morning, but I see both Democrats and Republicans who came to hear me
say the last few words I will say from this desk in the U.S. Senate.
Let me start out first by giving tribute to my family. My wonderful
wife Hope, and my daughter Melinda, who is at Stanford, my daughter
Andrea and my granddaughter who are in Denver today watching us on the
Senate floor, they truly are the bedrock of my life. Without them I
would not be here, and without them I would not have traveled the 64
counties of my great State of Colorado probably 20 times in the last 10
years because they were always there at my side since they were little,
holding up balloons and walking parades and doing all the rest of the
things it takes to become part of an elected office in such a large
geographic area of Colorado. So today I say thank you, and I love you
all very much.
I wish to pay tribute as well to my father Henry. As Senator Reid
described his history, it is a very true history. He was born into
poverty and lived through a lot of sacrifice but always remembered the
two most important things in his life, as my brother Congressman
Salazar often says: No. 1, family; and No. 2, love for country. I think
those two values guided him to achieve what he still at the end of his
life considered to be his greatest success, and that is that all eight
of his children--all eight of his children--became first generation
college graduates. So of my father Henry who taught me so many things
about life, I will always be forever proud.
Within his family, as well as within my mother's family, if you look
at the genealogy, which I will insert for the Record, we started back
with Juan de Salazar who was born in 1520 and Juan de Salazar born in
1555, who became one of the original founders of the City of Sante Fe--
the City of Holy Faith--NM, and then Jose Bernardo de Salazar. It goes
on to the point where I am a 12th generation son of the southwest of
New Mexico and Colorado. It is a history I am very proud of. It is a
history that I hope is not forgotten. It is a history that for a long
time was essentially shoved beneath the dust and was not given the
illumination of its reality. I hope in some small part my role here in
the Senate has been to give credence as well as to celebrate that
history that makes us such a wonderful and diverse America. So I
appreciate everything I received from my father's side. Yes, he was a
proud soldier in World War II. He was a tough master as we grew up. He
made us understand the importance of hard work. He had a strong sense
of pride, a strong sense of community and giving back, and a strong
sense of love for his family.
My mother Emma likewise in so many ways was a strong spiritual person
whom I still today call Saint Emma. I call her Saint Emma because
nothing can even shake her from her roots. She is who she is. She has a
great faith. She is not afraid to live or die. I remember many times in
my life, including the death of my oldest brother Leandro, my mother
was the one who held the family together after a tragic accident on our
ranch back in 1992. To her selfless--completely selfless--love which
she has taught the world and has taught my family, I thank her from the
bottom of my heart.
I often have asked my mother: Is there a single person in the world
you do not like, or is there a single person in the world you hate? My
mother will think about it for a minute, and she will say no. She says:
I love everybody. Just as she loves everybody, everybody loves her. So
I thank her for her faith and all that she has taught us.
To my brothers and sisters--there are seven of us still left. My
oldest brother Leandro, who passed away, taught us a lot about history
and about the culture of our community. I remember his days working
with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers and then coming back to
the ranch and farming and working with us for so long. He is and always
will be my hero. I miss him.
To all the rest of my brothers and to my sisters, they have all been
the bedrock also of my successes. Today, here on the floor of the
Senate, as I give my farewell address, I have the honor of being joined
by Congressman John Salazar, who is a Congressman for the Third
Congressional District which covers about 65 percent of the State of
Colorado. Congressman Salazar, in his own way, is a personification of
many things that my family stands for. If you look at his history and
his profile, he is a farmer, he is a soldier and veteran, he is a
businessman. He knows issues such as water. He knows and has taught me
so much. As he and I have grown up together, being here in Washington
with him has been one of the highlights of my entire life.
I wish to also thank all of my colleagues here, and I will say just a
few specific words about them in a few minutes.
In early February, the Senate selects a Member to perform its oldest
nonlegislative tradition, the reader of George Washington's Farewell
Address on the floor of the Senate. In 2006, Senator Harry Reid, the
majority leader, gave me the honor of doing that reading. I think
Washington's famous words are important for us to remember at this time
of transformation in America. In his farewell to public life in 1796,
Washington warned us of the dangers of partisanship, of geographic
sectionalism, and the politics of division. Washington said:
We are one Nation. With slight shades of differences you
have the same religion, manners, habits, and political
principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed
together; the independence and liberty you possess are the
work of joint counsels and joint efforts of common dangers,
sufferings, and successes.
Washington's Farewell Address is a message to be reborn today. In
this moment, in this time, with the inauguration next Tuesday, with
this body in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, there is a
new hope, with a growing sense that we are all in this together, and we
are again becoming the one Nation the first President of the United
States of America imagined.
Our next President, Barack Obama, embodies this historic change. He
is asking us not to think of ourselves first as red States and blue
States but as Americans first, with obligations of service to one
another. We can solve our problems, no matter how difficult they are.
We can reach the horizon of human possibilities no matter how difficult
it might seem, but in order to do that, we must all work together. It
is in this spirit of collaboration--of Nation before party, of
compromise, of results-driven government--that Americans believe we can
get it done this time.
I owe a debt of gratitude to all of you in this Chamber who have
guided me in our work over the last several years. I wish to comment
specifically just on four or five areas I am very proud of that we have
worked on together in the Senate.
[[Page S636]]
The first is about the forgotten America and the work we have done
together to make sure the rural part of America that has so often been
forgotten is no longer forgotten. When you look at the United States of
America, the fact is, there are about 3,000 counties. About 1,700 of
those counties are characterized as rural, and in each of those
counties, we have significant unemployment. We have income disparities
of some $10,000 per capita between people who live in those rural
counties and the people who don't live in those rural counties. So it
has been important for us to address the issues and needs of rural
America. We have done that in some significant ways. The passage of the
farm bill, which we ultimately had to pass out of this Senate, I think,
on three or four different occasions during the last year, was a
culmination of that promise to the forgotten America.
I wish to thank Senator Reid for making sure we kept our feet to the
fire to get that bill done. I wish to thank the people who were
involved in that legislation, including the chairman of the committee,
Senator Tom Harkin; our ranking member, the great Senator from Georgia,
Saxby Chambliss; as well as Kent Conrad and others who were involved in
that historic effort, including all of the members of the Agriculture
Committee.
Secondly, the creation of a new energy frontier. There were many of
us, including some of us who are on the Senate floor this morning, who
set about some 4 years ago with a vision that we could set America
free; that we could deal with the reality of the inescapable forces of
our time of national security and economic opportunity at home and
environmental security for our planet; and that we could set America
free from our addiction to foreign oil. Under the leadership of Senator
Bingaman from New Mexico as chairman of the committee, and the work of
Senator Pete Domenici and other members of the Senate Energy Committee,
I believe we have taken some steps in that direction which are very
significant. There is much more we must do, and we are absolutely
committed to making sure we take the moon shot to energy independence
in the years ahead. Of this I am confident: this time we will not fail.
We cannot afford to fail in the energy imperative for our Nation.
I thank all of my colleagues with whom I have worked on the Senate
Energy Committee. I also wish to thank every Member of this Chamber who
has worked to make sure America's defenses remain strong and that we
protect America at home through homeland security efforts and the
implementation and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and the
efforts we have worked on together in this Chamber to give the United
States of America a new direction with respect to the war in Iraq.
It is because of the debates that have taken place in this Chamber
that today we are on a new pathway and new plan in Iraq. As divisive as
those debates have been, I am confident that the people who worked on
that issue had the best interests of the United States of America in
mind.
It is in that vein that I enjoyed very much the work I did with many
Senate Democrats and Republicans in trying to craft the legislation
that implemented the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. Sixteen
Members of the Senate joined us in that legislation. Because that
legislation really created the roadmap for where we are in Iraq today,
I am pleased with the work I was able to do in that effort.
I will never forget the fact that Senator Levin, Senator Warner, and
Senator Reid were among the first people who took me to that place in
the Middle East, places I had never traveled to before, right into
Baghdad, to places around that country. It was information I gleaned
from those trips that helped me participate in one of the debates of
our time that characterizes the last 4 or 5 years in America.
I wish to make a quick comment about health care. There are many
people who have worked on this issue over time. I do think that what we
were able to do with the Children's Health Insurance Program and the
passage of that bill last year demonstrates how Republicans and
Democrats can come together. When I see an Orrin Hatch and a Max Baucus
working together to move forward with legislation that is so enormously
important for the children of America, it is the right step for us as
we try to deal with this enormous domestic problem that faces all of
us. And there have been so many people who have been involved in those
efforts.
Finally, I have spent a lot of time in this Chamber at this desk and
my other desk working on the issue of immigration. It is an issue
which, frankly, still continues to call out in a very clarion and clear
voice that we must get to a resolution with respect to this issue
because it affects so much. It affects our national security, it
affects whether we really are a Nation of laws, and it affects the
reality of 12 million people who live in the shadows of America today.
I am hopeful that with President Obama's leadership, the leadership of
the Senate, and the leadership of the House of Representatives,
Republicans and Democrats coming together, this is an issue we will
finally resolve in the year ahead.
As I conclude, I want to make one more tribute to Senator Harry Reid.
We both are men of faith, and we often share our faith together. He
encouraged me, along with Senator Mark Pryor, to be a part of the
Wednesday Prayer Breakfast in the Senate. I was proud to chair that
breakfast with Mark Pryor over the last several years and with my
colleague, Senator Mike Enzi.
I appreciate the fact that among those of us who attended that Prayer
Breakfast, I am certain that among the 100 Members of the Senate, there
is a great common sense that the possibilities of humanity are somehow
achievable to all of us, that it is we as human beings who somehow
stand in the way of finding what those human possibilities are for all
of humanity.
I think back to a story some of you have heard of my grandmother who
lost five of her eight children before those children reached the age
of 5 years old. I always ask myself: What is it that kept her going? At
the end of the day, my answer to my question has been that what kept
her going was the fact that she had a faith in the future, that somehow
around the corner, in a future she could not see, the world would be
much better for her children and for her grandchildren. For sure she
could not have seen that the eight surviving children of her only son
would all graduate from high school. I am sure she could not foresee
that one would become a U.S. Senator, another a member of the U.S.
House of Representatives. What she could see was the world would be
better for humanity. It is a common bond for Members of this august,
wonderful Chamber of the U.S. Senate.
As I close, I want to share the prayer that I have shared with
Senator Reid and many of my colleagues in this Chamber before. It is a
prayer that my brother, Leandro, the oldest in the family, learned when
he worked with Cesar Chavez, the founder of the United Farm Workers of
America. In many ways, I believe this prayer embodies what we do in
public service.
The prayer is as follows:
Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So I will know my people's plight.
Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person.
Help me take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.
Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.
Give me honesty and patience;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.
Let the spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.
Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.
Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world.
Mr. President, one thing I forgot to say. The 5 million people of the
State of Colorado have give me a great honor to serve as their attorney
general and to serve on their behalf. I will submit for the Record some
of the work we have done in the representation of all of the 5 million
people of the State of Colorado. No matter where they were from, no
matter what their economic circumstance, they knew we were working on
their behalf.
I am elated that Senator Mark Udall has joined us in the Senate
because I am absolutely confident he will become one of the stellar
Senators of this body.
[[Page S637]]
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record
the genealogy chart of my family and a list of the wonderful DC and
Colorado staff.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Descendants of Capitan Juan de Salazar
Juan de Salazar, Conquistador, born 1520, became a Noble in
1543,
Juan de Salazar, Conquistador and founder of Santa Fe, born
1559. Jose Bernardo de Salazar, born in 1595. Francisco de
Salazar, born in 1630. Jose Juan de Salazar, born 1670.
Enrique de Salazar, born 1700. Demetrio de Salazar, born
1750.
Julian de Salazar, born 1780; Maria de las Mercedes de
Sandoval.
Francisco Esteban de Salazar y de Sandoval, born 1800;
Maria del Carmen Valdez.
Eusebio Salazar, born March 9, 1849; Amade Garcia, born
1859.
Juan Bautista Salazar, born June 24, 1894; Antonia Cantu,
born 1884.
Henry S. Salazar, born March 10, 1916; Emma M. Montoya,
born April 23, 1922.
Leandro, LeRoy, John, Ken, Elaine, Margaret, Elliott, and
June.
____
dc Staff
Black, Steve, Leg Counsel; Dunham, Ian, Leg Aide; Ibarra,
Beatriz, Leg Counsel; Johnson, Aya, Leg Aide; Koehler, Jim,
Legislative Asst; Lane, Jeff, Chief of Staff; Leahy, Andrew,
Leg Aide; Lee-Ashley, Matt, Communications Dir; Leslie,
Grant, Legislative Dir; Mitchell, Sam, Legislative Asst;
Nieters Su, Piper, Leg Counsel; Olsen, Tommy, Deputy Press
Sec; Padilla, Joan, Scheduler; Paladino, Emily, Legislative
Asst; Perko, Mary, Administrative Dir; Phillips, Jeffrey,
Spec Asst for Const Ser; Plumb, John, Legislative Asst; Reis,
Ariane, Legislative Aide; Scott, Denise, Spec Asst for Const
Ser; Squarrell, Elena, Asst Scheduler; Terry, Anne, Systems
Admin; Ulrich, Elaine, Legislative Fellow.
COLORADO STAFF
Amodeo, Michael, Press Secretary; Bobicki, Charlotte,
Regional Rep/Ala; Brown, Ann, Regional Dir/Dur; Giron,
Angela, Regional Rep/CS; Corwin, Meg, Regional Dir/FtC;
Fagan, Renny, State Director; Fetcher, Jay, Regional Rep/GJ;
Gardner, Dwight, Regional Dir/PU; Joslyn, Angela, Regional
Rep/CS; Kareus, Trudy, Regional Dir/GJ; Kessler, Zane,
Community Liaison/Den; Lane, Ken, Senior Counsel; McGraw,
Mac, Regional Rep/FtM; See, Randy, Regional Rep/GJ; Milliner,
Bennie, Community Liaison/Den; Montoya, Pres, replacemn
Regional Rep/FtC; Oatman-Gardner, Annie, Regional Dir/CS;
Otero, Jerry, Regional Rep/GJ; Pacheco, Romaine, Statewide
Dir/Constit Ser; Schwantes, Lisa, Regional Rep/DU; Serenil,
Eva, Community Liaison/Den; Sepulveda, Catherine, Staff Asst/
CS; Sweeney, Betty, Community Liaison/Den; Tesky, Jonathan,
Staff Asst/Den; Wallick, Velina, Scheduler/Den.
Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I thank my wonderful staff, many of whom
are here today, some of whom are watching back in Colorado, for having
made this possible. Without their great effort, frankly, we would not
be able to do what we have done. I thank them.
I thank my good friend, the Presiding Officer. I look forward to our
continuing to work together.
I yield the floor.
(Applause, Senators rising.)
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut is
recognized.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise simply to say a few words of
personal tribute to our dear friend, the distinguished Senator from
Colorado, who has just spoken so beautifully.
We are going to miss this man. He has only been here 4 years, but he
has made an extraordinary contribution to the Senate and to our
country. I first got to know Ken Salazar in 2000 when I had the honor
to be the Vice Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party and went
to Colorado. I could see at the first meeting at which I met him--I had
an instantaneous reaction to him--that this was a person of strength,
of warmth, of character, of purpose. Every day I have known Senator
Salazar since then has only deepened those feelings about him. You can
feel all his strength and all of his purpose and all of his faith and
all of his passion and all of his humility as you listen to this final
statement he just made on the Senate floor.
I love the fact that one of the last items Senator Salazar asked was
unanimous consent to print in the Record his family genealogy because
it speaks not only to his extraordinary history and greatness but to
the greatness of our country.
It is, obviously, a fact that the Hispanic-American population has
grown and is growing significantly in our country. I have been with Ken
on a few occasions, I say to Senator Reid, when people have said: You
are Mexican-American. When did your family come to this country? And
they are expecting to hear 20 years ago, 50 years ago, maybe 90 years
ago. And Ken will say with that quiet strength: My family came here in
the 16th century. The 16th century, before the Pilgrims came. It
reminds us of a history which, as Senator Salazar said, was for a long
time suppressed. But the Hispanic, Mexican-American contribution to
America is long, it is deep, it is proud, it is strong, and it will
continue to grow.
Senator Salazar was raised in a tradition, like so many of us, where
we were told by our parents that to be a good American, you don't have
to assimilate or homogenize. You contribute to our country by being who
you are and what you are. In the diversity of this great country, we
gain more strength. That has certainly been true of the Mexican-
American community, and it is particularly true of this great American.
Senator Salazar talked about his faith, about his family, about the
love of country he learned from his parents. This man is, in so many
ways, the quintessential American. He brings this unique cultural
heritage of his roots, family roots, way back in Mexico, but he
combines those with the values we associate with the American West, the
love of the land, individualism, a sense of honor, a sense of
confidence that has become so much a part of the American character.
And he added to that, which is where it all begins, as he believes and
I believe and most of us believe, with faith, that we are here for a
purpose, that our existence here is not an accident, and that we have a
series of values that come from our faith which are expressed in the
founding American documents and lead us forward.
Senator Salazar served our Nation brilliantly in this 4 years he has
been in the Senate. What a thrill to have met Ken in 2000 and to have
played some small part in having him come here and then to have him as
a colleague--as Senator Reid said so well, to watch the role he has
played. He is a doer. He did not come to make speeches. He makes a very
good speech, as we just heard. He came to get things done for the
people of Colorado and for the people of America, and he has done that
over and over again.
In the so-called nuclear option, I always viewed it as the integrity
of the Supreme Court selection process. Senator Reid referred to my own
recent situation. Senator Salazar came forward, a dear friend,
incredible across the entire Senate--in this case, the Senate
Democratic caucus--and just on my behalf and on behalf of what he
thought was right, created a path forward that made me feel great--I
can say that personally--but I hope also and I believe facilitated a
path forward and reconciliation within the Democratic caucus.
Obviously, it would not have happened without Senator Reid. That was
extremely constructive.
It was a tough decision for Senator Salazar to leave the Senate. It
is a tough one for us to see him go because he is unique here. But he
has responded to the call to serve our country. He will play an
extraordinarily important role as a true American environmentalist, a
lover of the land, in preserving all that the Interior Department
oversees that is America's great natural gift from God--the land. He
will also, in a very thoughtful way, play a central role in one of the
most significant transformations American Government has made in a long
time, which is to turn us toward energy independence and a cleaner,
more reliable source of American energy.
I wish him well. The only comfort in seeing him leave the Senate is
that he is only going down the street a bit. We know he will be here to
work with us.
I cannot think of a better way to end this simple tribute to a dear
friend and a great American than to say that over the years we have
come to know each other, both greeted each other and at moments of
challenge said a particular two words to one another and then said
goodbye to each other with these two words in which we have joined our
respective ethnic heritages. And the two words that I say to you, dear
friend, fellow colleague, as you leave the Senate to serve our country
as Secretary of the Interior, and with my confidence that will not be
the end of your service
[[Page S638]]
to our country but will go on, in my opinion, higher and higher, those
two words bringing our two ethnic heritages together are ``Viva
chutzpah.'' God bless you.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island is
recognized.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, I, too, rise to commend and thank the
Senator from Colorado for his extraordinary service to the Senate, to
the people of Colorado, and to the United States of America. He is a
consummate gentleman. He brought to this Chamber great judgment and
great passion to provide opportunity for all our citizens. He also
brought the distinctive values of his State of Colorado--a rough sense
of individuality, coupled with a commitment to building community; not
just an isolated group of people but a community of citizens--and these
values have been extraordinarily important to us. His friendship and
his leadership have been extraordinarily important to all of us.
I see the Presiding Officer is my colleague and friend from Rhode
Island, and as he pointed out a few days ago, they were both attorneys
general together: Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island, of course, and
Senator Salazar for the State of Colorado. But we were all together in
Rhode Island, and I was reflecting, Ken, I don't know what the
Department of the Interior has to do with Rhode Island. OK, the Outer
Continental Shelf. There is a reason for my tribute.
But we were there together at an event, and Senator Pell, our dear
colleague, came. He was frail and ailing, but immediately Senator
Salazar rushed over to him to say: Thank you, Senator Pell. Because as
he told us, the fact is he and his brother, now in the Congress, and
other family members were able to go to college because of the Pell
grant. That spirit of opportunity, of giving Americans a chance, and
then standing back and letting them do remarkable things, embodied the
Pell grant and so many other programs. That is what not only prepared
you for the Senate but gave you the vision to do all you have done to
help your constituents and the people of this country to see the
opportunity which is America.
You and your family have been in Colorado for five generations. I
feel like a recent arrival. My folks got here from Ireland in 1850. So
from a new American, a new American to an old established family: Thank
you for your service; thank you for your friendship. Good luck, Mr.
Secretary.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arkansas.
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I didn't intend to say anything about our
friend, Ken Salazar today, but in listening to his remarks and knowing
the contribution he has made around here in 4 short years, I couldn't
resist. I am sure the Presiding Officer, if he wasn't presiding, would
come down and do the same thing.
I first met Senator Salazar before he was a Senator; in fact, as we
were getting sworn in as attorneys general together, probably in
December of 1998, if I remember correctly. We both had been elected to
our offices of attorney general in November of 1998, and we went to a
National Association of Attorneys General meeting. We immediately
bonded. It was very clear and very evident to everyone there that he
had the right stuff to be a great attorney general. It turned out he
was a great attorney general for the State of Colorado.
I encouraged him to come to the Senate when Senator Campbell
announced his retirement, and I think it was probably the best thing I
have done since I have been in the Senate was to try to get Ken Salazar
to come here.
You know, when I think back about our Founding Fathers and how they
designed the Senate and how I think they envisioned the Senate should
work, they had in mind a person such as Ken Salazar to be in this body.
They probably couldn't even imagine that Colorado would become a State.
I mean, they probably couldn't even fathom the way this country would
grow and change over the decades and centuries. But I think when they
set up the Senate, they wanted people with intelligence, work ethic,
character, and people who could put their personal views aside for the
greater good. That is what we have in Ken Salazar. He is all those
things.
He has been a Senator's Senator for the last 4 years he has been in
Washington. I know his brother John is here. I know John is very proud
of him, and I know the State of Colorado is very proud of the work he
has done. And they should be because there is a lot to be proud about
with Senator Ken Salazar.
I know all 100 of us couldn't be here today. We have some committee
hearings going on, and we also have the inauguration coming Tuesday, so
people are kind of bracing themselves and preparing for all of that.
But if all 100 were here, I think you would have 99 people stand up and
basically say what some of us have already said; that he has been an
extraordinary Senator, an extraordinary person, and he has had a great
impact in his short time in the Senate.
One last thing, on a personal note. One of the things I love about
Ken Salazar as a person is his deep and very serious faith. I asked him
to come in and chair the Senate Prayer Breakfast, which he took to new
heights. He expanded the number of people who were coming to that. He
was great. He chaired the National Prayer Breakfast for a year, and I
think they probably set a record that year for attendance and in the
quality of the speakers they had that year. So he has had not just a
political and governmental influence but an even broader and deeper
influence.
Senator Salazar, we are going to miss you very much. We all love you,
and we all know you are going to do great things at Interior. We know
there are a lot of challenges America is facing right now, but we know
you are part of the solution. God has called you to be where you are
going right now. So thank you for your service, and we are going to
dearly miss you in this body.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Pryor). The Senator from Rhode Island.
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, may I, first, thank you for your
courtesy in volunteering to take over the duties of Presiding Officer
for a moment so I could be relieved of those duties and come to my desk
and have the chance to say something about a very dear friend whom we
will miss enormously. I know we have something very important happening
in a few minutes, so I will speak very briefly, but I don't want to let
this opportunity pass.
We had an energetic group of freshmen Senators come in 2 years ago,
and we found Ken was feeling kind of lonely because his class had been
sort of a bit smaller than ours. So we sort of adopted him into our
group. He has been kind of a big brother to all of us. I have had the
privilege of knowing him as an attorney general, and I will not belabor
the point, but what people have said about him as a peacemaker, about
him as a friend, and about him as somebody who cares deeply about the
duty of public service, I can attest to firsthand from many years of
experience.
So I will only say we will miss you very deeply. We are enormously
confident in you. The Department of the Interior is lucky to have you,
President-elect Obama is fortunate to have you join his Cabinet, and we
wish you Godspeed, my friend.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Minnesota is
recognized.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am so honored to be here with my
friend, Ken Salazar. When I think about Ken Salazar, I think about Ken
Salazar in Colorado in his beautiful mountains, and I think of the idea
of him going to be the head of the Department of the Interior is
something that is a gift to this country.
But I wish to tell one story about Ken. He and I were in Colorado
together, out there for Barack Obama, and they had a big RV with the
President-elect's picture on it. And Ken Salazar is the only Senator
who would insist on driving the RV on his own. He did it in style, with
his big cowboy hat on. There we were, in the middle of the mountains on
this winding road, when all of a sudden we see flashing lights behind
us. Sure enough, we were being
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pulled over. There were 20 people in this RV and a caravan of media
behind us. Ken was as calm as he could be. He pulled over to the side
of the road, the deputy comes up--with his big cowboy hat on--and Ken
rolls down the window and says: Can I help you?
Of course, we think he is getting a ticket for speeding, and he was
ready to accept whatever this was. But the deputy says: Sir, your
license tabs are in the wrong corner.
And so Ken said: Oh, so sorry. And he gets out with this deputy
looking on and with the caravan of media behind with all the cameras,
and a press guy yelling: This is off the record.
So Ken's picture is there in the Denver Post trying to change his
license tabs around the corners.
But it was Ken Salazar who wanted to have that moment and that
freedom of driving through the mountains of Colorado at whatever the
cost, and he will be a true tribute to his home State and to this
country.
I am taking over the Prayer Breakfast from Ken, and I have seen
firsthand his great faith in God but also the faith he has in his
family, whom I see here, and the people of this country. We are all
very lucky to have him, though we will miss him as a mentor and friend
in the Senate.
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my
colleagues to strongly support my friend and colleague, Senator Ken
Salazar, as President-elect Obama's choice to lead the Department of
the Interior.
For reasons I will explain shortly, I believe this man--a fifth
generation son of the West whose ancestors settled Santa Fe before
America gained independence--is uniquely qualified and experienced to
lead the U.S. Department of the Interior.
I am very proud to have served the State of Colorado with him. He is
an outstanding public servant and he will make an outstanding Secretary
of the Interior.
Our colleagues in the Senate are well aware of Senator Salazar's
excellent record of leadership here--he has worked across the aisle and
with diverse stakeholders on many issues ranging from health care to
national security.
As a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Ken has
worked to extend critical renewable energy tax credits, protect our
natural resources and encourage environmentally responsible development
of domestic energy sources. I've been proud to work with him on a wide
range of issues, including protection of our public lands and water
resources in Colorado. I'm especially proud of our work together to
pass legislation that allowed a lovely older woman, Betty Dick, to pass
her final days in peace on land she treasured at the Rocky Mountain
National Park.
Ken, I think Betty would be proud of you today too.
Even before his time in the Senate, Ken has been a recognized leader
in the West. As a farmer and rancher, Ken has always had a close
relationship with the land and with rural communities. He has spoken
eloquently about what he calls ``the forgotten America'' and he has
been a steadfast champion of the land, water and people of the West.
As the executive director of Colorado's Department of Natural
Resources, Ken used his unique background and experience to protect the
environment and Colorado's communities, educate youth about our natural
resources, and defend Colorado's water.
He helped create Great Outdoors Colorado, GOCO, and led it to become
one of the most successful land conservation programs in the country.
While serving as Colorado's Attorney General, Ken worked to make our
communities safer and address gang violence. He also led efforts to
preserve open space during his two terms as Attorney General, where he
was well-known as a champion of the natural environment.
Ken will bring his rural values--hard work, honesty, and integrity--
to the Department of Interior and help address the many challenges
facing this Department. From addressing Interior's ethical lapses to
tackling our country's lack of transmission infrastructure, Ken will
work hard to put the Department of the Interior back on the right
track.
I would be remiss if I did not mention Senator Salazar's family and,
in particular, his mother, Emma. Like her sons, she is a remarkable
Coloradan. I had the opportunity to visit her at the Salazar ranch, Los
Rincones, last year.
And if her son, Ken, demonstrates the same indomitable spirit,
strength of character and wisdom of his mother--and I believe he will
he should be an outstanding Secretary of the Interior.
I urge my colleagues to swiftly confirm Senator Salazar as the
Secretary of the Interior.
I yield the floor.
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the
quorum call be rescinded.
The VICE PRESIDENT. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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