[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 10 (Friday, January 16, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S639-S640]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE
The VICE PRESIDENT. If the Senator-designate will now present himself
at the desk, the Chair will administer the oath of office.
Mr. KAUFMAN, escorted by Mr. Biden and Mr. Carper, advanced to the
desk of the Vice President; the oath prescribed by law was administered
to him by the Vice President; and he subscribed to the oath in the
Official Oath Book.
The VICE PRESIDENT. Congratulations.
Mr. KAUFMAN. Thank you very much.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.
Mr. REID. On behalf of all Senators, I congratulate and welcome our
new colleague, Ted Kaufman, to the Senate. Senator Kaufman earned his
bachelor's degree from Duke University, his MBA from the Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania. He moved to Delaware to work for
the DuPont Company, as many people have done over the years, working in
finance, technical, and marketing positions.
When Joe Biden was elected at the age of 29, in 1973, Senator Biden
asked Ted to take a leave from DuPont to help him set up his new office
in Washington. Senator Biden asked Ted for 1 year, only 1 year. He, of
course, has given him a lot more than that.
This is a remarkable tenure. It shows Ted Kaufman's extraordinary
loyalty to the service of his country by working for Senator Biden.
There is only one Joe Biden. Senator Kaufman will replace him, but no
one will ever fill the shoes of Joe Biden. As was said on this floor
yesterday at great length, Joe Biden is a unique individual. But
Senator Kaufman has known Senator Biden for a long time and worked with
him, up real close. He
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knows he has to be Ted Kaufman, not Joe Biden, and he will do that.
We who work in the Senate know of the strength of Joe Biden, but one
of the reasons he has had the strength he has had over these years was
because his back was always protected by Ted Kaufman.
In this time of great consequence, Senator Kaufman's decades of
experience and the wisdom accumulated over those years will serve him
well as he serves the people of Delaware and the country in the Senate.
Senator Kaufman, welcome to the Senate.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The senior Senator from Delaware is
recognized.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, actually it is not the first time I have
been recognized as senior Senator. For about 2 months now, since Joe
Biden was nominated and elected as Vice President, people have been
referring to me as the senior Senator. I always have to correct them
and I say no, it is 4 days, 3 hours, 12 minutes away. Today we counted
down, today we counted down to zero.
Yesterday, when Senator Biden resigned at 5 o'clock, I think for 17
hours I was both the junior and senior Senator. Dick Durbin was that
for almost 2 months, from Illinois.
I asked one of my colleagues, Do you think I will get paid more for
that? He said no, probably not. You shouldn't be.
We lament the loss of Joe Biden from the Senate. I am thrilled he is
going to have the opportunity to become the first Delawarean ever to be
the Vice President of the United States. As wonderful as he is as a
Senator, he will do more good for his country in his new role than he
could have done in this service, so it is a good thing for the
administration and for the country and ultimately for Delaware.
If we have to lose Joe Biden to the Vice Presidency of the United
States, we could not ask for a better person to take his place than Ted
Kaufman. Sometimes people come here and they have never served in
elected office. Ted has not. But he comes here steeped in the knowledge
of the Senate. He knows the place, knows the way this place works, has
a pretty good idea of how to make it work better.
He has served as Joe Biden's chief of staff for about 20 years. Joe
has been in the Senate for 36 years. For over half those years, Ted was
his chief of staff and maybe in a sense his alter ego. We all have
those. You couldn't ask for a better one than Ted Kaufman.
Our leader said, Ted couldn't get into University of Delaware but he
was able to get into Duke as an undergraduate and studied mechanical
engineering there. Later he couldn't get into the University of
Delaware MBA program but he did get into the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania and went on to work for the DuPont Company
for a while and met a guy running for the Senate at the tender age of
29. A lot of people in our State got excited by Joe Biden, signed up to
volunteer for his campaign, and then ended up being his chief of staff.
I think it is fair to say that Joe Biden would not have been maybe
the only Senator in our State's history to be elected to 7 terms as
U.S. Senator but for the support of Ted; not just for those 19 years,
but for being his friend all those years and all the years since to
work with Joe through two Presidential campaigns, to be his adviser and
counselor, and to always have his back.
Ted is smart. We have a lot of smart people here. But he is also
wise. Ted is very well spoken. He is a wonderful speaker. There are a
lot of good speakers here. He is also a very good listener.
Ted takes his work seriously, takes our work seriously. One of the
things I love about Ted is he doesn't take himself all that seriously.
He is a lot of fun to be with. He will be a good colleague and a good
friend.
He inherits a good staff. He shared with me he expects to largely
keep that staff together. People come and go in these jobs, but the
good news is most of the people on board now will stay on board. For
us, myself and our at-large Congressman Mike Castle, I think that is
very good news. He will be taking over the same committees Senator
Biden has been serving on, in Judiciary and Foreign Relations, and I am
sure he will do an excellent job there.
In addition to working for DuPont and spending 20 years as Joe's
chief of staff, he has also taught. He taught at Duke in a couple of
capacities there. He taught at Sanford, as I recall. And for the last,
gosh, I want to say for 15 years, he served on the board of governors
that oversees and tries to make sure we promote democracy in other
countries. We do that through a variety of ways but in part through our
media operations. He has been confirmed, I think, on the board of
governors maybe four terms. I don't know he will serve four terms here.
He promised his wife he would not but time will tell.
Speaking of his wife, Ted tells me he started dating his wife when
she was 12--no, it was 18--and they have been married since 1960. They
have three kids. They are not kids--daughters, and they have seven
grandchildren, something like that. It is a wonderful family.
I was talking about Joe Biden when he stepped down yesterday and gave
a beautiful speech. I said Joe is the real deal in terms of family
values--a loving father, grandfather, and Ted is very much out of that
same mold.
While we lament the departure of Joe and are thrilled about his
opportunity to be our Vice President, we very warmly welcome Ted to
this family. I think in the history of this country there are maybe
1700 or so people who have been privileged to serve as Senator. Add a
few extra ones this week out of the regular order. But this is a good
thing for our State, for the Senate. As a point of personal privilege,
it is a special joy for me.
Ted Kaufman, to you and Lynne and your family, welcome to this
family. God bless you.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Delaware is
recognized.
Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, one of the really great things about this
job is I am going to be able to achieve one of his great objectives;
that is, to be the senior Senator from Delaware. I thank you for your
remarks; they are gracious as usual.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Delaware is
recognized.
Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, we are joined on the floor today by
Senator Biden. He is standing back here talking to three of our new
Senators. Unfortunately, he cannot speak as a Senator, but we will find
an opportunity for him to preside from time to time and get some things
off of his chest. But I know if he could speak he would like to share
with us.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island is
recognized.
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