[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 127 (Thursday, September 10, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9195-S9229]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REMEMBERING SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I thank Majority Leader Reid and Minority 
Leader McConnell for the time they have set aside for us today to 
remember Ted Kennedy, our beloved colleague, my senior Senator for 
nearly a quarter of a century, a friend, a man I met first and who had 
great influence on me in politics back in 1962 when, as a young, about-
to-be college student, I had the privilege of working as a volunteer in 
his first campaign for the Senate.
  It is difficult to look at his desk now cloaked in the velvet and the 
roses, a desk from which he championed so many important causes, a desk 
from which he regaled us, educated us, and befriended us for so many 
years, and even more difficult for us to think of this Chamber, our 
Nation's Capital, or our country without him.
  On many occasions in the Senate, he was the indispensable man. On 
every occasion in this Chamber and out, he was a man whose heart was as 
big as heaven, whose optimism could overwhelm any doubter, and whose 
joy for life was a wonderfully contagious and completely irresistible 
thing.
  Ted loved poetry, and though the verse was ancient, the poet could 
have had Ted in mind when he wrote:

       One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day 
     has been.

  Our day with Ted Kennedy was, indeed, splendid, its impact 
immeasurable. Just think for a moment what a different country we lived 
in before Ted Kennedy came to the Senate in 1962 and what a more 
perfect Union we live in for the 47 years he served here. Before Ted 
Kennedy had a voice in the Senate and a vote in the Senate, there was 
no Civil Rights Act, no Voting Rights Act, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no 
vote for 18-year-olds, no Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday, no Meals on 
Wheels, no equal funding for women's collegiate sports, no State health 
insurance program, no Family Medical Leave Act, no AmeriCorps, no 
National Service Act. All of these are literally just a part of Ted's 
legislative legacy.

[[Page S9196]]

It is why the Boston Globe once wrote that in actual measurable impact 
on the lives of tens of millions of working families, the elderly, and 
the needy, Ted belongs in the same sentence with Franklin Roosevelt.
  Ted's season of service spanned the administrations, as we heard from 
the minority leader, of 10 Presidents. He served with more than 350 
Senators, including those for whom our principal office buildings are 
named: Richard Russell, Everett Dirksen, and Philip Hart. He cast more 
than 16,000 votes. He wrote more than 2,500 bills. He had an important 
hand in shaping almost every single important law that affects our 
lives today. He helped create nearly every major social program in the 
last 40 years. He was the Senate's seminal voice for civil rights, 
women's rights, human rights, and the rights of workers. He stood 
against judges who would turn back the clock on constitutional 
freedoms. He pointed America away from war, first in Vietnam and last 
in Iraq. And for three decades, including the last days, he labored 
with all his might to make health care a right for all Americans.
  Through it all, even as he battled, he showed us how to be a good 
colleague, always loyal, always caring, always lively. His adversaries 
were never his enemies. And his friends--his friends--always came 
first.

  In my office there is a photograph of the two of us on day one--
1985--my first day in the Senate. Ted signed it: As Humphrey Bogart 
would have said: This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. For 
almost 25 years it was a beautiful friendship, as I worked at his side 
learning from the best. And, yes, like any colleague in the Senate, 
there were moments when we had a difference on one issue or another, 
but we always found a way to move forward in friendship and in our 
efforts to represent the State.
  Teddy was the best natural teacher anyone in politics could ask for. 
I may not always have been the best student, but he never stopped 
dispensing the lessons. I came to the Senate out of an activist 
grassroots political base, where the coin of the realm was issues and 
policy positions. Activists are sometimes, as I learned, so issue 
focused and intent that they can inadvertently look past the personal 
touch or the emotional connection for fear that it somehow distracts 
from the agenda. But Teddy, through his actions, showed us how 
essential all of those other elements of political life are.
  Yes, Tip O'Neill taught a generation of Massachusetts politicians 
that all politics is local. It was Teddy who went beyond that and 
taught us that all politics is personal. All of us knew the kindness of 
Ted Kennedy at one time or another, Mr. President.
  During my first term in the Senate, I came down with pneumonia. I was 
then single and tired and Ted deemed me not to be getting the care I 
ought to get. So the next thing I knew, he literally instructed me to 
depart for Florida to stay in the Kennedy home in Palm Beach and be 
cared for until I got well. Indeed, I did exactly that.
  He also showed up at my house the evening of Inauguration Day of 
2005, and together with Chris Dodd we shared laughter and stories from 
the campaign trail. We were loud enough and had enough fun that someone 
might have wondered if we were somehow mistaken and thought we had won. 
He understood the moment. He knew the best tonic was laughter and 
friendship. Many times that is all he needed to do, just be there. You 
couldn't help but feel better with him around.
  All of us who served with him were privileged to share Ted's 
incredible love of life and laughter. In the cloakroom, sometimes the 
roars of laughter were so great they could be heard out on the Senate 
floor. Once I remember Ted was holding forth--I will not share the 
topic--and the Presiding Officer pounded the gavel and demanded, 
``There will be order in the Senate and in the cloakroom.'' It was the 
first time I ever heard that call for order.
  His pranks were also works of art and usually brilliantly calculated. 
One night after a long series of Thursday night votes that had pushed 
Senators past the time to catch commercial flights home to the 
Northeast, Senator Frank Lautenberg had arranged for a private charter 
for himself in order to get up to Massachusetts. It turned out a number 
of Senators needed to travel in that direction, and when Frank learned 
of it, he kindly offered Senator Claiborne Pell, Ted, and myself a ride 
with him. There was no discussion of sharing the cost. Everyone thought 
Frank was being very generous.
  But the next week, when we were reassembled on the floor of the 
Senate, official looking envelopes were delivered to each of us under 
Frank Lautenberg's signature with exorbitant expenses charged for this 
flight. Senator Pell roared down the aisle, came up to me sputtering 
about this minor little aircraft and how could it possibly cost so much 
money. Senator Lautenberg was red faced, protesting he knew nothing 
about it, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted Ted Kennedy up 
there by his desk with this big Cheshire cat grin starting to split a 
gut, so pleased with himself. The mystery was solved. Ted had managed 
to secure a few sheets of Lautenberg stationery, and he sent false 
bills to each of us.
  He once told me his earliest recollections were of pillow fights with 
his brother Jack and, in the years following, sailing with Jack. At the 
end of the day Ted's job was the long and tedious task of folding and 
packing the sails away. In politics and in the great progressive 
battles that were his life's work, Ted never packed his sails away. 
Were he here today, he would exhort us to sail into the wind, as he did 
so many times. There is still so much to do, so much that he wanted to 
do, and so much that he would want us to do now, not in his name but in 
his spirit.
  When Ted was 12 years old, he spent hours with his brother Jack 
taking turns reading the epic Civil War poem ``John Brown's Body,'' by 
Steven Vincent Benet. It is book length and filled with great and 
terrible scenes of battle and heartbreaking vignettes of loss and 
privation and home. It surprises me to read it now and find so much in 
it that in fact reminds me of Ted. Benet wrote:

       Sometimes there comes a crack in time itself. Sometimes the 
     earth is torn by something blind. Sometimes an image that has 
     stood so long it seems implanted on the polar star is moved 
     against an unfathomed force that suddenly will not have it 
     anymore. Call it the mores, call it God or Fate, call it 
     Mansoul or economic law, that force exists and moves. And 
     when it moves it will imploy a hard and actual stone to 
     batter into bits an actual wall and change the actual scheme 
     of things.

  Ted Kennedy was such a stone who actually changed the scheme of 
things on so many issues for so many people. Over the years, I have 
received hundreds of handwritten notes from Ted--some funny, some 
touching, all of them treasures.
  Just before Thanksgiving Ted sent me a note that he would be spending 
the holiday with his beloved sailboat, the Maya. He added: If you are 
out on the sound, look for the Maya. She will be there. Indeed, I will 
never sail the sound again without thinking of the Maya and her big 
hard skipper.
  There is an anonymous quote that I once read, which because of Ted's 
faith--which was grounded and deeply important to him--I think it 
describes how we should think of his departure from the Senate. It 
says:

       I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads 
     her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue 
     ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and 
     watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white 
     cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with 
     each other. Then, someone at my side says; ``There, she is 
     gone!'' ``Gone where?'' Gone from my sight. That is all. She 
     is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when 
     she left my side and she is just as able to bear her load of 
     living freight to her destined port. Her diminished size is 
     in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my 
     side says, ``There, she is gone!'' There are other eyes 
     watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the 
     glad shout; ``Here she comes!'' And that is dying.

  That is the way Ted Kennedy will live in the Senate--his spirit, his 
words, and the fight that still comes.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, first, let me thank my colleague from 
Massachusetts for his eloquent statement which I have had the privilege 
to hear. Let me make a short statement myself about my friend and 
colleague, Ted Kennedy.
  I came to the Senate in January of 1983, and my first real 
opportunity to work with Ted came in the Armed

[[Page S9197]]

Services Committee at the beginning of that service. Although he had 
already been in the Senate for 20 years, he had chosen that year to go 
on the Armed Services Committee. Since we were both going on that year, 
in 1983, we were considered the two freshmen committee members. Ted and 
I were able to work together on the Armed Services Committee for many 
years.
  He has been described as a visionary leader, a great orator, the 
keeper of the faith for the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. All 
of those descriptions, of course, are true. But the Ted Kennedy I came 
to know and with whom I had the great opportunity to work was a 
passionate, committed advocate and was the workhorse of the Senate. 
Frankly, Ted Kennedy set a very high standard for himself in the effort 
that he made on each and every issue that came up for debate. He set a 
high standard for the homework he did in preparation for that debate. 
All of us who served with him found ourselves trying to meet a similar 
standard. The result was that he raised the level of performance for 
those of us who served with him by the example he set.
  In addition to serving with Ted Kennedy on the Armed Services 
Committee for many years, in May of 1990, following the death of 
Senator Matsunaga, I had the good fortune to be assigned to what was 
then called the Labor and Human Resources Committee--Ted's committee. 
As chairman, Ted gave a whole new meaning to the word ``proactive'' in 
that committee. The volume of useful legislation he was able to move 
forward through the committee was truly impressive. A major key to his 
success was the way he found to underscore for all members the 
importance of what the committee was working on. As chairman, he 
rightly saw it as his job to put together the agenda and the priorities 
for the committee's work. But before doing that he would sit down with 
the rest of us over dinner at his house to get our views on what those 
priorities needed to be. The serious approach he took to the 
committee's work inspired those of us who served there to elevate the 
importance of that work in our own minds as well.
  During the course of our work in the Senate, each of us gets the 
opportunity to interact with many colleagues, to form judgments about 
those colleagues. During my 27 years I have served with many capable 
and dedicated public servants who deserve recognition and praise. But 
it is clear to me none of us exceeds Ted Kennedy in our passion or 
commitment for accomplishing the work we have been sent to do.
  Hendrick Hertzberg wrote a short piece in the New Yorker last week 
that captures well the Ted Kennedy with whom I was privileged to know 
and serve. Mr. Hertzberg wrote:

       The second half of his 47-year senatorial career was a 
     wonder of focused, patient, unwavering service to a practical 
     liberalism that emphasized concrete improvements in the lives 
     of the poor, the old, the disabled, children, the uninsured, 
     the undocumented, the medically or educationally 
     disadvantaged.

  That phrase--focused, patient, unwavering service--is a good 
description of the Ted Kennedy I knew as my chairman and my friend, and 
I will miss him very much.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I also want to rise this morning to share 
some brief thoughts about our colleague from Massachusetts. I want to 
commend John Kerry and Jeff Bingaman for their comments capturing the 
good qualities of the Senator from Massachusetts.
  This is a hall noted for a robust amount of noise, and it seems quiet 
today because Teddy is not here. So we gather to share a few thoughts.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
some remarks I made at the memorial service for Senator Kennedy at the 
John F. Kennedy Library.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       What A Golden Friend I Had

                           By Sen. Chris Dodd

       Tonight, we gather to celebrate the incredible American 
     story of a man who made so many other American stories 
     possible, my friend Teddy Kennedy.
       Unlike his beloved brothers, his sister Kathleen, and his 
     nephews, Teddy was granted the gift of time--he lived, as the 
     Irish poet suggested, not just to comb gray hair, but white 
     hair.
       And if you look at what he achieved in his 77 years, it 
     seems, at times, as if he lived for centuries.
       Generations of historians will, of course, chronicle his 
     prolific efforts on behalf of others. I will leave that to 
     them.
       Tonight, I just want to share some thoughts about my 
     friend.
       And what a friend he has been--a friend of unbridled 
     empathy, optimism, and full-throated joy.
       Examples of that friendship are legion.
       I remember, many years ago, a close friend of mine passed 
     away. Teddy didn't know him.
       I was asked to say a few words at the funeral.
       As long as I live, I will never forget that, as I stood at 
     the pulpit and looked out over the gathering, there was 
     Teddy, sitting in the back of the church.
       He obviously wasn't there for my friend. He was there for 
     me, at my time of loss.
       That was what it was like to have Teddy in your corner.
       When our daughters Grace and Christina were born, first 
     call I received was from Teddy.
       When I lost the Iowa caucuses last year, not that anyone 
     thought I was going to win, first call I received was from 
     Teddy and Vicki.
       When my sister passed away last month, first call I 
     received was from Teddy, even though he was well into the 
     final summer of his own life.
       And two weeks ago, as I was coming out of surgery, I got a 
     call from Teddy, his unique voice as loud and booming as 
     ever. ``Well,'' he roared, ``Between going through prostate 
     cancer surgery and doing town hall meetings, you made the 
     right choice!''
       And though he was dying, and I was hurting, he had me 
     howling with laughter in the recovery room as he made a few 
     choice comments, I cannot repeat this evening, about 
     catheters.
       As we all know, Teddy had a ferocious sense of humor.
       In 1994, he was in the political fight of his life against 
     Mitt Romney.
       Before the first debate, held in Boston's historic Faneuil 
     Hall, I was with Teddy and Vicki and his team and, along with 
     everyone else, offering him advice.
       ``Teddy,'' I cautioned, ``We Irish always talk too fast. 
     Even if you know the answer to a question, you have to pause, 
     slow down, and at the very least appear thoughtful.''
       Out he went, and, of course, the first question was 
     something like this: ``Senator, you've served the 
     Commonwealth of Massachusetts for nearly 35 years in the 
     United States Senate. Explain, then, why this race is so 
     close.''
       Teddy paused. And paused. And paused. Five seconds. Ten 
     seconds.
       Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he answered.
       After the debate, I said, ``Good Lord, Teddy, I didn't mean 
     pause that long after the first question! What were you 
     thinking about?''
       He looked at me and replied, ``I was thinking--that's a 
     damn good question! Why is this race so close?''
       In these last months of his life, I have so treasured our 
     conversations.
       At 6:30 in the morning of July 16th, the morning after his 
     Senate health care committee finished five weeks of 
     exhausting work on the bill he had written, and that I 
     believe will be the greatest of his many legacies, my phone 
     rang.
       There was Teddy, beyond ecstatic that we had finished our 
     work, and that his committee had been the first to report a 
     bill.
       Always the competitor.
       Teddy was never maudlin or self-pitying about his illness, 
     but he was always fully aware of what was happening.
       Over the last year or so, Teddy got to enjoy what is, of 
     course, every Irishman's dream--and that is to attend your 
     own eulogies. That's why we call the obituary page the Irish 
     sports page.
       And I know he enjoyed a uniquely Celtic kick out of hearing 
     people who abhorred his politics say incredibly nice things 
     about him.
       Volumes, of course, will be published by those attempting 
     to unlock the mystery of why Teddy was such an effective 
     legislator.
       Was it his knowledge of parliamentary procedure? His 
     political instincts? His passionate oratory? His staff?
       Please let me save the pundits and political scientists 
     some time--and all of you some money--and tell you what 
     Teddy's secret was: People liked him.
       Now, he always had a great staff, and great ideas, but that 
     only counts for so much in the United States Senate, if you 
     lack the respect and admiration of your colleagues.
       And Teddy earned that respect.
       He arrived in Washington as the 30-year-old brother of a 
     sitting president and the attorney general of the United 
     States.
       Many people drew their conclusions about him before he 
     spoke his first words in the Senate.
       And over the years, he became a target of partisans who 
     caricatured him as a dangerous liberal.
       Now, liberal he was, and very proud of it.
       But once you got to know him, as his Senate colleagues did, 
     you quickly learned he was no caricature.

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       He was a warm, passionate, thoughtful, tremendously funny 
     man who loved his country, and loved the United States 
     Senate.
       If you ever needed to find Teddy in the Senate chamber, all 
     you had to do was to listen for that distinctive thunderclap 
     of a laugh, echoing across that hallowed hall as he charmed 
     his colleagues.
       He served in the Senate, as you all know, for almost a 
     half-century alongside liberals and conservatives, Democrats 
     and Republicans, and he befriended them all with equal gusto.
       It's great, of course, to see his friends Senators Orrin 
     Hatch and John McCain here.
       It is to their credit that they so often supported Teddy's 
     efforts.
       And, I say in some jest, it is to Teddy's great credit that 
     he so rarely supported theirs.
       But Teddy's personal friendships with Orrin and John, and 
     so many others, weren't simply the polite working 
     relationships that make politics possible.
       They are the real and lasting bonds that make the United 
     States Senate work.
       That's what made Teddy one of our greatest Senators ever.
       Some people born with a famous name live off of it. Others 
     enrich theirs. Teddy enriched his.
       And, as we begin the task of summing up all that he has 
     done for his country, perhaps we can begin by acknowledging 
     this:
       John Fitzgerald Kennedy, inspired our America; Robert 
     Kennedy, challenged our America; and our Teddy, changed our 
     America.
       Nearly every important law passed in the last half century 
     bears his mark, and a great many of them bear his name.
       Teddy was defined by his love of our country, his passion 
     for public service, his abiding faith, and his family.
       His much-adored Vicki, his children Kara, Teddy, and 
     Patrick, his step-children Caroline and Curran, his 
     grandchildren, nieces and nephews--all of you need to know, 
     you brought him unbounded joy and pleasure.
       Teddy was a man who lived for others.
       He was a champion for countless people who otherwise might 
     not have had one, and he never quit on them, never gave up on 
     the belief that we could make tomorrow a better day. Never.
       Last August in Denver, one year to the day before his 
     passing, Teddy spoke at our national convention.
       His gait was shaky, but his blue eyes were clear, and his 
     unmistakable voice rang with strength.
       As he passed the torch to another young president, Teddy 
     said: ``The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the 
     dream lives on.''
       He spoke of the great fight of his life--ensuring that 
     every American, regardless of their economic status, is 
     guaranteed the right to decent health care.
       We are all so saddened that he did not live to see that 
     won.
       But in a few short days, we will return to our work in 
     Teddy's Senate.
       The blistering days of August will be replaced, I pray, by 
     the cooler days of September.
       And we will prevail in the way Teddy won so many victories 
     for our country: by listening to each other; by respecting 
     each other and the seriousness of the institution to which we 
     belong, and where Teddy earned an immortal place in American 
     history.
       As he so eloquently eulogized his brother Bobby 40 years 
     ago, Teddy doesn't need to be enlarged in death beyond what 
     he was in life.
       We will remember him for the largeness of his spirit, the 
     depth of his compassion, his persistence in the face of 
     adversity, and the breadth of his achievement.
       We will remember him as a man who understood better than 
     most that America is a place of incredible opportunity, hope, 
     and redemption.
       He labored tirelessly to make those dreams a reality for 
     everyone.
       Those dreams, the ones he spoke of throughout his life, 
     live on like the eternal flame that marks President Kennedy's 
     grave, the flame that Teddy and Bobby lit 46 years ago.
       And in all the years I knew and loved him, that eternal 
     flame has never failed to burn brightly in Teddy's eyes.
       Now, as he re-joins his brothers on that hillside in 
     Arlington, may the light from that flame continue to 
     illuminate our path forward.
       And with the work of our own hands, and the help of 
     Almighty God, inspired by Teddy's example, may we lift up 
     this great country that my friend Teddy loved so much.

  Mr. DODD. I was very honored to be asked by Mrs. Kennedy and her 
family to share some thoughts that evening, and I was proud to do so.
  I commend my colleague from Rhode Island, Patrick Kennedy, for his 
comments at his father's funeral, and Teddy's son Edward Kennedy, as 
well, who made wonderful comments about their father at that funeral 
service.
  A few short thoughts this morning, and a proposal I wish to make to 
our colleagues as we recognize the contribution of Senator Kennedy. 
When we consider how to pay tribute to our colleagues, we often try to 
devise monuments, to celebrate the work of those who served here and 
made a significant contribution to our country. It is not an easy task. 
I have tried to think about what would be an appropriate way to 
celebrate, in some concrete way, the work of Ted Kennedy. He certainly 
has been, as our colleagues and others have pointed out over these last 
couple of weeks, one of the greatest Members to ever serve in this 
body.
  I had the distinction and honor of serving as the chairman of the 
Rules Committee a few years ago. I was asked to complete some of the 
ovals in the reception room. For those who have not been to Washington, 
or to the Capitol, there is a room a few feet from where I am speaking 
here this morning called the reception room. It was designed by the 
great artist, Brumidi, and he intended that work to celebrate the work 
of the Senate.
  In the mid-1950s, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, then a freshman Senator 
from Massachusetts, was asked by the leadership of this body to form a 
committee to identify the five most significant Senators who had served 
up until the 1950s. Then-Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts went to 
work, reviewing the contributions of the people who served in this body 
since the founding of our Republic in 1789. He concluded there were 
five Members who deserved recognition. The first three were the obvious 
ones: Clay, Calhoun, and Webster. The last two, Senator LaFollette of 
Wisconsin and Senator Taft of Ohio, were more controversial, but were 
accepted as fine contributions to that room that celebrates those who 
have contributed the most to this body and our country.
  I was asked a couple of years ago to help add a couple more names to 
that honor roll of renowned Members of this body. We concluded that 
Senator Vandenberg, who made such a contribution to the post-World War 
II foreign policy of our Nation, along with Senator Wagner of New York, 
who back in the 1920s and 1930s and 1940s was the author of much of the 
social legislation that we celebrate in this country today, were fine 
additions to those who had already been recognized in this reception 
room just off the floor of the Senate.
  One day it will be appropriate to add our colleague and friend from 
Massachusetts, who deserves to be in that hall of celebrated heroes, 
having made a significant contribution to this institution and to the 
people of our country.
  But there are other ways to celebrate him as well. I suspect that 
Senator Kennedy, if he had a chance to weigh in on how he would like to 
be recognized and remembered, might choose other means.
  There are very few issues over the last half century on which Senator 
Kennedy did not leave his mark, and a good many of the most significant 
pieces of legislation that passed this Senate in his time not only bear 
his mark but bear his name as the author. That, in a sense, is a 
monument, one with a meaning far broader than anything we might 
inscribe on any wall.
  Across America there are people who might have lacked for an advocate 
had Ted Kennedy not stood up for them, people who can now stand up for 
themselves with dignity and hope and a chance to make it in America 
because they had a friend by the name of Edward Moore Kennedy.
  These Americans are also a monument that I think Senator Kennedy 
might say is fitting enough--that there are people today doing better, 
living more secure lives, growing up with a sense of confidence and 
optimism about their future and the future of our country because of 
his contribution. That in itself is a great monument.
  Perhaps we could consider the flood of tributes that have come from 
across the aisle as well as across the globe, from those who shared in 
his crusade for social justice and those who spent their careers 
opposing him, and those who never enjoyed the privilege of working 
alongside him. All understood how important Senator Kennedy was, not 
only to this Nation but to millions of people around the globe who 
today lead better lives because he stood up for them even though they 
were not citizens of our own country.
  He understood that the Founders of our Republic, when they talk about 
inalienable rights, were not limiting those rights in our minds to 
those who happen to enjoy the privilege of being citizens of our 
country but knew that they were God-given rights that every human being 
is endowed with upon

[[Page S9199]]

birth, regardless of where they live. Ted Kennedy understood that 
intuitively, deeply, and passionately. That in itself, I suppose, could 
be a great tribute, knowing there are people whom he never met, never 
even knew what he looked like, who lead better lives today because of 
his contribution.
  Then perhaps we might consider these tributes offered by our 
colleagues here and others, the literally thousands who lined up in 
those long hours to pay tribute to their Senator from Massachusetts at 
the John F. Kennedy Library, the more than 50,000 people in 
Massachusetts who had known and respected, elected and reelected and 
reelected and reelected, over and over again, their Senator. They 
appreciated him immensely for the work he did for them and their 
Commonwealth for almost 50 years. In itself that is a great tribute. It 
would be enough, I think, for many of us, being recognized by the 
people of your State for having fought on their behalf.
  Teddy's monument can be found in his talented and wonderful family as 
well. Joe Biden talked about this in the memorial service in the John 
Kennedy Library. When you consider this remarkable family of Senator 
Kennedy and those of his brothers, their children, their nieces and 
nephews, it is a source of inspiration when you think of what each of 
them has done, the contributions they have made.
  A few short weeks prior to Teddy's passing, he lost his sister 
Eunice, who was a wonderful friend of mine over many years. She did 
remarkable things as an individual. To think, millions of people who 
suffer from mental disabilities enjoy a greater respect today because 
of one individual, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Teddy's brother Joe lost his 
life in World War II, defending our country and fighting for freedom. 
His sister Jean has done a remarkable job with the very special arts in 
her contribution to the country. And then look at his wonderful wife 
Vicki, who was such an incredible source of strength and inspiration 
for him during their life together and particularly over the last 15 
months. There is no doubt in my mind Teddy lived as long as he did with 
brain cancer because Vicki was at his side and took such nurturing care 
of him and has done a remarkable job providing all of us the 
opportunity to celebrate his life as we all wished to do.

  His children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews all are following 
Teddy's example by making a difference in this country. His son Patrick 
I mentioned already, serves in the other body. His son Teddy is a great 
friend of mine, lives in Connecticut and is making a significant 
contribution as citizen of our State. He holds no office, doesn't have 
any title. He and his wife make a wonderful difference on many issues 
in our State every single day, and his daughter Kara, for whom he has 
such great affection, has also made her contributions as well. That in 
itself can be a monument. How many would say if your children and 
family do well and stand up and make a difference in the lives of other 
people, what better tribute; what higher form of compliment could you 
have, or form of flattery, than to know that your children, your 
family, your nieces or nephews, your sisters and brothers are out 
making a difference in the lives of others?
  In a way, it is hard to decide what is an appropriate way to 
celebrate the life of someone who filled the room on so many occasions, 
not only with his booming voice--as we all are familiar with here, 
particularly the staff of the Senate who would, many times, be the only 
ones in this room as Ted Kennedy would be pounding that podium back in 
that corner, expressing his passionate views about some great cause of 
the country. But we remember also his determination that this country 
live up to its expectations, that it become the more perfect union that 
our Founders described more than two centuries ago.
  Today, I wish to make a suggestion to my colleagues. I talked to the 
leadership about it and to the Republican leadership as well. Never 
before in the history of this country have three brothers served in 
this Chamber: Jack Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and, of course, Teddy 
Kennedy. That has never happened before in the history of our Nation. 
One of the rooms that has been of similarly historic significance to 
our Nation is the caucus room in the Russell Office Building. It has 
been the site of remarkable hearings and meetings. Since its building 
almost a century ago, that room has been very important. The hearings 
on the Titanic were held in that room; the Watergate hearings, going 
back years ago, were held in that room. It is there that we have 
commemorated tragedies. We have met to celebrate triumphs in that room. 
We have gathered as Members with our spouses from time to time to share 
some quiet moments with each other as we reflected on our 
responsibilities here as Senators. We have held some of the greatest 
debates that have ever occurred in that room. It is there that Senator 
Kennedy's Health Committee, in which I was privileged to act as sort of 
a fill-in for him over the last number of months, held 5 weeks of 
hearings and debate and markup of a bill that concluded in the adoption 
of the health care reform legislation that he authored.
  It is in that room that Senator Kennedy's brothers each announced 
their candidacies for the Presidency of the United States. Both Jack 
Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, in that very room, announced that they 
intended to seek that office. And it is there that I propose we affix 
the Kennedy name, not just as a monument to the things these three 
brothers did as Senators and as colleagues of ours here, but in the 
spirit of compassion and compromise, the fierce advocacy and tender 
friendship that Teddy and his brothers brought to this body.
  This was Teddy's wish and desire. I asked him what could we do to 
recognize him, and he said, I would like to have you recognize my 
brothers as well for their contribution.
  Ted Kennedy believed in impassioned debate. He believed in pounding 
that podium when it was appropriate. But he also believed that at the 
end of the day we best serve the people of our great Nation when we 
respect each other and work together in common cause to solve the 
problems of our day. Whatever history is made in the caucus room of the 
Russell Senate Office Building in the next century, I would like to 
believe it will be guided by that spirit of respect and good humor that 
Teddy Kennedy brought to this institution for almost a half century. 
Thus, may the Kennedy Caucus Room stand as one monument to the 
contribution of a family what has made such a difference to our 
country. They devoted their considerable talents and energy and their 
lives to serving our Nation that they loved and that loved them back.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island is 
recognized.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise along with my colleague to pay 
tribute to an extraordinary American, probably the greatest Senator to 
serve in this body. I think time will confirm that as we go forward. I 
particularly want to express my deepest sympathy to Vicki and Kara and 
Patrick and Ted Jr. I have had the privilege now of serving with 
Senator Ted Kennedy but also with Congressman Patrick Kennedy, and both 
of these gentlemen have demonstrated zeal for public service and 
commitment and passion to help people that has been emblematic of the 
Kennedy family.
  I particularly am proud of Patrick, his words at his father's 
funeral. His continued dedication to the people of Rhode Island is not 
only commendable but inspiring to me and to all of us.
  Like so many of my generation, I grew up with the Kennedy family. In 
1960, John Kennedy carried the banner of the Democratic Party as the 
Presidential candidate. He won, but, as we understood then and now, we 
got the whole family, not just President John Kennedy, and it was a 
remarkable family--his brother Robert, the Attorney General and later 
the U.S. Senator from New York, and then, of course, Ted Kennedy.
  His contribution to the country and to the world is probably 
unmatchable as we go forward in every area: health care, which was his 
particular passion and on which President Obama spoke so movingly last 
evening about his commitment to moving forward in this Congress and 
finally achieving a dream that has alluded our country for years and 
years and years; his work with his son Patrick on mental health parity, 
which is so important.
  On education, I had the privilege of serving with him on the 
Education

[[Page S9200]]

Committee and as a Member of the House to collaborate with him on 
education bills, and every major education initiative in this country 
bears his stamp, his input, his inspiration. He worked very closely 
with my predecessor, Senator Claiborne Pell, for the creation of the 
Pell grants and for so many other initiatives in education. He not only 
worked with Senator Pell, they developed a very deep and abiding 
friendship.
  One of the impressive things about Ted Kennedy is that the public 
persona was impressive, the private persona was equally impressive and 
extraordinarily endearing. He was someone who had a great sense of 
camaraderie and friendship and good humor.
  I can recall being invited to join Senator Kennedy at the Pells' home 
in Newport after Senator Pell retired. Every year, unannounced, without 
any fanfare, Senator Kennedy would sail his boat up into Newport and 
insist on taking Senator Pell out for a cruise, and then they would all 
retire to the Pell home for a delightful supper. I was privileged to be 
there on a couple of occasions.
  Toward the end of his life, Senator Pell had difficulty moving 
around, but Senator Kennedy would insist on coming every summer. The 
last outing, we literally had to carry Senator Pell aboard. Senator 
Pell at that time was not communicating as effectively as he was 
previously, but he didn't have to because Senator Kennedy could take 
both parts of the conversation--in fact, he could take multiple parts 
of the conversation. There was never a lost word or a dull moment. It 
was a great opportunity to see an extraordinary statesman but an 
extraordinary gentleman at the same time.
  He said famously about his brothers that they lived to see the 
American dream become reality, and he said famously that the dream 
lives on. But he also, more than dreaming, tried to give substance, 
shape, and texture to that dream, effectively to try to ensure that 
opportunity was available to every American family, that they could use 
their talent to build their family and to secure their future and to 
contribute to a better America. That was why he led on health care, 
because without adequate health care, you cannot realize your talents, 
your potential, and you cannot contribute as much to this great 
country. He led on education because it is the great engine that pulls 
this Nation forward and individually gives people an opportunity to 
move up and to help their families move forward.
  On civil rights, he was a strong advocate. In fact, I think it is 
fair to say that his first major speech was in favor of the 1964 Civil 
Rights Act because he understood that the talent of America was not 
restricted to any group and that to meet the challenges of this Nation 
and this world, we need the contribution and the participation of every 
American, regardless of race, regardless of gender.
  He also was someone who understood that for the working men and women 
of this country, they needed help, they needed to share in the bounty 
of this country. What we have seen over the last decade has been 
growth, up until the crisis of last September, but that growth was not 
shared fairly or evenly, executives getting huge salaries and bonuses 
and working men and women were barely keeping up. In order to have a 
strong, prosperous economy, we need a strong, prosperous middle class. 
His work in terms of education and health care and labor--all of that 
had a purpose not only of helping individuals but, wisely, trying to 
establish an environment for economic growth that we all could share.
  He also served on the defense committee with me. And he was very 
perceptive. He had spent many years viewing the world, and his 
understanding of not only the military but the forces, economic and 
cultural, that shape our interaction with other countries was profound 
in its insights. He was, very clearly, opposed to the operation in Iraq 
because he understood that it was a strategic deviation from the real 
task, which continues in Afghanistan, to root out al-Qaida, to 
stabilize the region, the most volatile region in the country. That is 
just one example of his insight into the international arena.
  There is a story, and it is attributed to either his brother John or 
to Senator Kennedy, but I think it might be apropos for both. It might 
be slightly apocryphal, but either John or Ted, according to the story, 
was standing outside a factory and a worker came up and said: They tell 
me you have never worked a day in your life.
  And Kennedy was taken aback.
  Then shortly, the worker said: Don't worry, you haven't missed 
anything.
  A family of great privilege, of great opportunity, in fact worked 
every day of their lives, and particularly Ted Kennedy, hard, 
relentlessly to ensure that person coming out of the factory had a 
chance.
  Finally, what I sensed when I was at the funeral service, which was 
extraordinarily moving and inspirational, the outpouring of affection 
and regard for Senator Kennedy, not by the dignitaries who assembled 
but by ordinary citizens of Massachusetts and here lining the route to 
Arlington, bespeaks a connection and a validation by the American 
people of an individual who had trials and tribulations but rose above 
it in constant service to the country, in constant service to the 
people who do not have a voice, and constant service to those who need 
a chance to help themselves, to help their family, and to make the 
Nation a better place. It reminded me of words spoken about Franklin 
Delano Roosevelt. His cortege was moving through Washington, DC, and a 
man was visibly shaken and weeping.
  A reporter went up to him and said: You know, you are so upset, did 
you know the President?
  He said: No, I did not know him, but he knew me.
  Ted Kennedy knew us all. He knew our strengths, he knew our 
weaknesses, he knew that this government could make a difference, a 
positive difference in the lives of people. He had shared the same 
difficulties and challenges we face: children stricken with cancer, the 
loss of his brothers and one of his sisters in an airplane crash, the 
human reality.
  And because he knew us, he never stopped working for us.
  His legacy is extraordinary. It will inspire and sustain us as we go 
forward. His loss, not just to his family, which is considerable, but 
for all of us, is balanced by how much he made us better, more attuned 
to the challenge of serving America and leading the world. We will miss 
him. But our task now is to take up his work, to continue his effort. 
That is the greatest tribute we can pay. Let us begin with this debate 
on health care.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Gillibrand.) The Senator from Kansas.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Madam President, I rise to add my voice to those who 
have already paid tribute to our friend and colleague, the late Senator 
Ted Kennedy, who passed away this last month after a courageous battle 
with cancer.
  He was quite an institution. I came into this body in a seat held by 
an individual who was quite an institution as well. Bob Dole was in 
this seat. So I know that when people look to the person who follows 
after Ted Kennedy, you just can't replace an individual like that who 
was such a towering figure in this body, was the lion of the Senate, as 
many have noted, and certainly deserved that topic and that accolade.
  While Senator Kennedy and I did not see eye to eye on most political 
issues, I admired him greatly as a colleague and certainly as a 
dedicated public servant. Ted Kennedy fought for what he believed and 
did so with passion and conviction and incomparable ability. When he 
was your opponent on an issue, you knew you had a fight on your hands, 
and when he was on your side, you knew you had an advocate who worked 
hard and effectively.
  His skills as a legislator were unmatched. I think really what was at 
the core of that was he really enjoyed working with other people. He 
had built relationships across the aisle with individuals, so that he 
could personally go to other individuals with that relationship he had 
built. Even though there were huge disagreements on policy issues on 
many other fronts, he had the personal relationships. To him, I think, 
in many cases, it was a lot more about the person rather than policy. I 
think that is a good lesson for many of us to learn. He mastered the 
legislative process, became one of the most effective Members of this 
body and that this body has ever known. One

[[Page S9201]]

of the keys of his effectiveness was his tenacity and perseverance and 
attending to, in many cases, the unglamorous details and the sometimes 
tedious work that goes into crafting and passing a bill.
  He also understood that getting things done as a politician means 
compromise. He had a great sense of when to fight on principle and when 
to reach out to the other side and arrive at an agreement in order to 
advance the cause for which he was fighting. I think you can probably 
look back over the last decade or 15 years of this body and no major 
piece of legislation passed without Ted Kennedy's fingerprints 
somewhere around or on that piece of legislation.
  Despite our political differences, I always found him to be 
professional, courteous, thoughtful, and a caring individual. He was 
always looking for ways to find common ground and had a wonderful 
ability to win others over to his side with that charm, Irish wit, his 
fellowship, and gregarious nature. And once he made an agreement, you 
could depend on him to be true to his word and honor in public an 
agreement he had made in private.
  Over the years, I had the opportunity to work on several legislative 
issues with Senator Kennedy. As many testified, he was the best ally 
one could ever hope for.
  Most recently we worked together to pass the Prenatally and 
Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, a pro-life piece of 
legislation. When I would travel around the country saying that Ted 
Kennedy and I had introduced a pro-life piece of legislation together, 
many people would be quite startled. I would explain what this was. It 
was a piece of legislation that would encourage people, once they had a 
diagnosis that their child had Down Syndrome in utero, not to abort the 
child but instead to have the child, put together an adoption registry 
of individuals who were willing to adopt children with Down Syndrome. 
We have this terrible plague in the country where 90 percent of our 
children who are diagnosed with Down Syndrome never get here; they are 
aborted.
  In our office we went to the disability community. We went to his 
sister Eunice and talked with her about it. And I went to Ted. I 
remember how effective his sister Eunice would be on lobbying Ted on 
this piece of legislation. Just this past year, when we were able to 
move things forward with it, I met with Eunice. She was obviously 
getting more difficult and failing of health at that point. She said: 
Is Teddy being helpful? Is Teddy working with you and helping? I would 
say: Yes, he is, but you can always help us more and push him more. And 
she did. What an effective team that was on providing help for those 
especially with mental disabilities, even on this pro-life piece of 
legislation that I hope will result in more people getting here who 
have disabilities so that they are not killed in utero but instead that 
they get here and, if people can't handle that issue in their families, 
that they put them up for adoption. We have adoption registries ready 
to go for people who want to adopt a child who may have more 
difficulties. Working together we were able to find common ground on 
protecting the dignity of these precious Americans by providing parents 
who receive a pre- or postnatal diagnosis of genetic disability with 
resources, information, and a network of support.
  I am so pleased to know Senator Kennedy lived to see this bill passed 
and signed into law. It stands as an example of how we can find common 
ground to advance the interests of all Americans in spite of 
differences. This body truly will not be the same place without Ted 
Kennedy, without his rhetoric and his strong voice, his abilities as a 
legislator.
  My thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and friends.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, I join today with colleagues to pay 
tribute to the life and legacy of Senator Ted Kennedy. Each of us has 
lost a friend with his passing--and all Americans--but especially those 
in need have lost a champion of government's ability to bring light to 
dark places. All of us stand in awe of the lengthy record of 
accomplishment Senator Kennedy leaves us. It was a great privilege to 
serve many years with Ted Kennedy on the Armed Services Committee and 
to witness firsthand the traits so well known to Members of the Senate: 
the tireless preparation, the intimate knowledge of the legislative 
process, the relentless focus on justice and equality.
  Today our citizens are safer, our military more capable, our troops 
better equipped because of his service.
  Senator Kennedy approached his work with diligence and dedication. 
But he also knew that work goes more smoothly when it is accomplished 
with friendship and good humor. It was possible to disagree with Ted 
Kennedy but never to dislike him. His sense of humor was contagious, 
and his concern for those around him, from fellow Senators to staff, to 
the many often unheralded people who make the Senate function, ensured 
that he was loved as well as respected throughout this body. That love 
extends across lines of party and ideology, in part because of that 
good humor and genuine concern for others for which he is so rightly 
known.
  But it was not just these qualities that endeared Ted Kennedy to 
figures of all political persuasions. It was the seriousness and good 
faith with which he approached ideas that differed from his own. In 
1983, this liberal Catholic from Massachusetts traveled to the 
conservative Liberty Baptist College in Virginia where he told the 
students:

       The more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they 
     are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and 
     essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side.

  Ted Kennedy lived out that sentiment every day. We salute his ability 
to work across party lines to achieve consensus, to work on a piece of 
legislation until doubters became enthusiastic supporters. He excelled 
in transforming nays to yeas. Senator Kennedy was a master of our own 
specialized world, and his legislative legacy stands with those of the 
giants of this Chamber. He tackled what some see as the great game of 
politics with gusto.
  But Ted Kennedy's life's work was not a game. Politics was not a 
contest staged for its own sake or in pursuit of power or prestige. Ted 
Kennedy was a master not of the politics of the moment but of the 
politics of meaning.
  Ted Kennedy's task was to touch lives. He touched the family whose 
children have health insurance because of the Children's Health 
Insurance Program he helped establish; the child who has a better 
chance at an education because of his work on the No Child Left Behind 
law. More Americans can fully participate in our democracy because of 
the civil rights and voting rights legislation he pushed forward.
  We saw Ted Kennedy's passion for justice, tolerance, and 
understanding again recently when we were working on the Matthew 
Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention legislation. I 
quoted him during that debate on that legislation when the Defense 
authorization bill was on the floor, and I quote him again now. He 
said:

       We want to be able to have a value system that is Worthy 
     for our brave men and women to defend. They are fighting 
     overseas for our values. One of the values is, we should 
     not, in this country, in this democracy, permit the kind 
     of hatred and bigotry that has stained the history of this 
     Nation over a considerable period of time.

  The children of our men and women in uniform have some of the best 
childcare available, thanks to the National Military Child Care Act Ted 
Kennedy championed in 1989. He was actively involved more recently 
following the outrages at Walter Reed Army Medical Center when we 
passed the wounded warrior legislation in 2008.
  The lesson of Ted Kennedy's life and career is that politics at its 
best is not a game to be refereed by TV pundits. It is not a contest of 
poll numbers or a scorecard of grievances to nurse and favors to 
return. Senator Kennedy struck many deals. He brokered many 
compromises. He won many votes. But the true majesty of his career is 
not to be found in this Chamber, though his work was done here. His 
lesson for us is that democracy is best understood in the homes and 
lives of its citizens. It is in the homes of families less burdened by 
want. It is in the minds of children freed by education. It is in the 
relief of parents who no longer fear for a child in need of medical 
care. It is in the

[[Page S9202]]

souls of Americans who find inspiration in his triumph over tragedy and 
over his own shortcomings. It is in the hearts of the colleagues he 
leaves behind who will be inspired to rededicate ourselves to a 
politics that recognizes our common humanity and seeks common ground in 
the pursuit of justice.
  My wife Barbara and I will always keep in our hearts Vicki, the love 
of Ted's life, and we will always remember Ted's love affair with the 
American people.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic whip.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, there was a historic moment on Capitol 
Hill last night. The President of the United States asked for a joint 
session of Congress to address one of the most important and 
controversial issues of our time. Emotions were running high in the 
House Chamber as Members of the House and Senate gathered to hear the 
President. We know they ran high because there were expressions of 
support and disapproval during the President's speech. I sat with Harry 
Reid and other leaders from the Democratic side in the Senate and 
watched carefully as the speech unfolded. I thought the President was 
at his best, even under fire, with the high emotions in the Chamber. I 
wondered what the ending would be and how it would be received.
  If Members will recall, at the end of the speech, the President 
referred to a letter that had been sent to him by the late Senator Ted 
Kennedy to be read after the Senator had passed away. As the President 
referred to that letter, an amazing thing happened in that Chamber 
filled with hundreds of hundreds of people. The emotions quieted down. 
At one point, one could have heard a pin drop in the House Chamber as 
President Obama recalled the legacy and the promise of the life of 
Senator Edward Kennedy.
  I came today to this seat on the Senate floor. It is not my ordinary 
desk, but it is the row where I sat for a number of years as a new 
Member of the Senate. It was a particularly good assignment to sit in 
this row because behind me was Paul Wellstone and then Ted Kennedy. One 
never had any better back-benchers than those two men. Now they are 
both gone.
  As I reflect on the absence, particularly of Senator Kennedy, I 
recall for history his first speech on the floor of the Senate. It was 
April 9, 1964. Here is the amazing fact: This speech took place 16 
months after he took his Senate seat. That booming voice and presence, 
which was so dominant in the Senate for decades, waited patiently for 
his turn, 16 months after the special election in Massachusetts that 
gave him the Senate seat once held by his brother John. When he rose to 
make his first speech on April 9, 1964, he said he planned ``to address 
issues affecting the industry and employment in my home state [of 
Massachusetts],'' a thoughtful decision by someone recently elected, to 
make sure that your first speech touches issues important to the 
friends at home. He said he would make that speech one day. But he 
decided his first speech would be much different.
  On that day, with his first speech, conscience and the cause of 
freedom compelled Ted Kennedy to speak instead in eloquent support of 
the bill the Senate was then debating. It was a measure President 
Kennedy proposed nearly a year earlier. Now, less than 5 months after 
that terrible day in Dallas, TX, when his brother was assassinated, the 
youngest Kennedy brother stood at the same desk his brother John had 
used when he served the Senate, the same desk Ted Kennedy used for the 
47 years he served in the Senate. He presented more than a dozen 
letters he had received from religious leaders all urging Congress to 
pass the Civil Rights Act and end the evil of segregation in America. 
That was Ted Kennedy's first speech in the Senate.
  He said:

       When religious leaders call on us to urge passage of this 
     bill, they are not mixing religion and politics. This is not 
     a political issue. It is a moral issue to be resolved through 
     political means.

  He continued.

       Religious leaders can preach, they can advise, they can 
     lead movements of social action. But there comes a moment 
     when persuasion must be backed up by law to be effective. In 
     the field of civil rights, that point has been reached.

  He concluded by saying:

       My brother was the first President of the United States to 
     say publicly that segregation was morally wrong. His heart 
     and soul are in this bill. If his life and death had a 
     meaning, it was that we should not hate but love one another; 
     we should use our powers not to create conditions of 
     oppression that lead to violence, but conditions of freedom 
     that lead to peace. It is in that spirit that I hope the 
     Senate will pass this bill.

  That first speech by Ted Kennedy bore so many of the qualities that 
would define his public career. The moral courage to take on the most 
urgent moral question of his time no matter how controversial, the 
determination to pick up his brother's fallen standard, the prodigious 
amount of work behind the scenes building alliances, and an optimist's 
unshakable faith that his beloved America would become an even more 
just and decent Nation.
  Listening to Senator Kennedy's speech that day were some of the 
giants of the Senate--Hubert Humphrey, a man who more than anyone 
brought me to public life when he allowed me to serve as an intern in 
his Senate office. The first to speak was a man whom I would come to 
know well, Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois. He said:

       I have never heard an address of a more truly noble and 
     elevated tone.

  He called the young Senator from Massachusetts:

       A worthy continuer of the great traditions of the seat 
     which he occupies in the Senate, beginning, I believe, with 
     John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster and Charles Sumner and 
     through . . . to his beloved and lamented brother . . .

  Senator Wayne Morse stood to speak as well, and he made a prediction 
on the first day Ted Kennedy spoke in this Chamber. He said:

       [I]n my judgment, the junior Senator from Massachusetts has 
     already demonstrated that before he leaves the U.S. Senate, 
     he will have made a record in this body that will list him 
     among the great Senators in the history of the Senate.

  That prediction was made 45 years ago by Senator Wayne Morse of 
Oregon.
  Edward Moore Kennedy was one of the greatest Senators not only of our 
time but of all time. There was no better advocate and no more 
determined fighter for civil rights and human rights. He was a son of 
privilege, but he was a man, despite that background, who identified 
with the poor and the dispossessed and the voiceless in America.
  His fingerprints can be found on significant legislation of the last 
half century: health care, voting rights, women's rights, gay rights, 
immigration reform, worker safety, fair housing, consumer protection, 
campaign finance reform, sensible gun laws, national service, minimum 
wage--the list goes on and on.
  He was a protector of the vulnerable--of widows and orphans, the 
wounded and maimed, the grieving and dispossessed. He was a champion of 
people with disabilities. He believed we should all be judged by what 
we can do, not by what we cannot do.
  When I was asked by my local media in Illinois, after Ted Kennedy's 
passing, if there was something about him that I knew that other people 
did not know, I said there was one thing most people did not know. As a 
result of an airplane crash early in his Senate career, where his 
broken body was dragged out of the plane by his Senate colleague, 
Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, whose son now serves in this Chamber, 
Ted Kennedy, with a broken back and ribs, went through a long period of 
convalescence and a lifetime of problems as a result of that almost 
fatal accident.
  Those of us who were around him every day knew that Ted was in pain a 
lot of the time--physical pain--because of his back problems. If you 
had a press conference with Ted Kennedy, you brought a little stool 
that he could perch on because standing caused pain. You watched him as 
he labored to get out of a chair trying to make sure he could stand and 
speak. But never a word of complaint--not one. A physical condition 
that might have created a total disability for some other people did 
not stop him. In addition to the intellectual part of this man, there 
was this physical commitment that he would give whatever it took to 
serve his people in Massachusetts and serve the causes and values which 
motivated his public life.

[[Page S9203]]

  He was an advocate for the elderly throughout his career. Little did 
he realize his passion would eventually affect him personally, as he 
served long enough to qualify for Social Security and Medicare.
  He believed education was the key to the American dream and he worked 
tirelessly to extend it, helping to create programs from Head Start for 
preschoolers to the Direct Lending program for college students.
  He helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa and violence in 
Northern Ireland.
  His office wrote more than 2,500 bills and more than 300 of them 
became law. In addition, some 550 bills he cosponsored became law. 
Nearly every major legislative achievement of his was advanced with a 
Republican partner.
  He was a genius at compromise, principled compromise. As someone 
said, he was able to maintain a sense of idealism in setting goals and 
realism in achieving them. He had an optimist's willingness to settle 
for progress, not perfection.
  It was from his bother Jack, he said, that he learned the most 
important lesson: that you have to take issues seriously, but do not 
take yourself too seriously. As we all know, he was gracious and 
generous in sharing credit for success. But he also, because of the 
suffering in his life through his family and personally, developed this 
heart of gold, this empathy for other people and their own misfortunes.
  If one of his colleagues in the U.S. Senate had something bad come 
their way, you could almost bet the first call they would receive would 
be from Ted Kennedy, regardless of which side of the aisle you were on. 
He would be the first to talk about some misfortune or illness in your 
family. How he learned this so quickly we never figured out, but the 
Kennedy network was there gathering that information, making certain he 
always offered a helping hand and a pat on the shoulder if you needed 
it.
  Health care was such an important part of his public career--decent, 
affordable health care, as a right but not as a privilege. And he did 
more than anyone in our Nation's history to advance that noble cause.
  He voted to create Medicare and Medicaid, protecting those programs 
for decades. Community health centers were a Kennedy initiative in 
1966. How much good that has done for America is incalculable.
  He was the chief architect of the WIC program, the COBRA law, and the 
Ryan White Act. Fewer Americans are forced to make the agonizing choice 
of keeping their job or caring for a loved one who is sick because Ted 
Kennedy helped pass the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  Eleven million children of low-income working parents are able to see 
a doctor this year--11 million of our young kids in America--because 
Ted Kennedy helped create the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  He was the driving force behind cancer research and speedier approval 
of drugs. He helped lead the fight to end discrimination by insurance 
companies against people with mental illness and addiction, which his 
son Patrick has managed to pick up that standard and help, with his 
father, pass that legislation, a bill which meant so much to Senator 
Paul Wellstone and so many others, Pete Domenici included.
  During the last few months of his life, he expended what little 
energy he had left to urge us to pass health care, and that is why the 
President's speech last night struck a chord with so many people. He 
continued to work hard at his job, even on the phone, during the last 
days of his life.
  His son Patrick said that while his father was hospitalized this last 
year for treatment in North Carolina and Massachusetts, he would roam 
the halls of the hospital--you can just see him--asking other cancer 
patients and their families how they were doing and how they were 
managing their bills. Some of the answers, they said, broke his heart.
  He was ready to come back and vote on health insurance reform if the 
vote was needed. Even in the closing days of his life, Senator Reid, 
reaching out to Vicki, knew that Ted would be there if his vote made 
the difference, even if it was the last physical act of his life.
  Just as he implored the Senate in his first speech so many years ago 
to pass the civil rights bill in honor of his brother, the fallen 
President, we all know that Senator Kennedy, were he here today, would 
urge us to finish the cause of his life and make affordable health care 
for every American a right, not a privilege.
  It is our obligation to search in good faith, as he did so often, for 
the principled compromise that will enable us to finish this urgent 
moral challenge of our time in the name of Ted Kennedy.
  I was fortunate to attend the memorial service in Boston at Our Lady 
of Perpetual Help--a packed church with hundreds standing in the rain 
outside, wishing they could attend. Thousands had passed by to see his 
remains and to pay a tribute to him over the final days. It was a great 
sendoff to a great man.
  I was so touched by his family--that extended Kennedy family--
starting with Vicki, his best ally in his life, a woman who stood by 
him through those tough times in the closing months of his life, his 
children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren. All of them gathered. As they 
went to take Communion, John McCain leaned over to me and said: You can 
see the map of Ireland on all those faces. And you could. It was a 
great gathering of the Kennedy clan.
  I want to express my condolences not only to the family but to the 
great Kennedy staff, always regarded as the best on Capitol Hill. Ted 
Kennedy not only did great work, he helped build great people, who 
continue to serve us in public careers. They have done so much for this 
Nation. They will continue to do so, inspired by his example.
  We are saddened by his passing, but we are determined to carry on. We 
know if he were here today his voice would be booming on this floor for 
the extension of unemployment benefits, making sure COBRA deductions 
are still there for those who have lost work, not forgetting to 
increase the minimum wage, making sure health care does not forget the 
tens of millions who are being left behind without health insurance in 
this country.
  We are going to miss that booming voice, but he is going to continue 
to be an inspiration to all of us.
  Last year, at the Democratic National Convention in Denver there was 
a little breakfast for Ted. He gave a great speech at the convention, 
even though there was a question at the last moment as to whether he 
would be able to physically do it. At that breakfast, Vicki, his wife, 
came up to me and she handed me this little plastic bracelet, and she 
said: I thought you might want to have this. It has written on it one 
word: ``Tedstrong.''
  Well, I put that bracelet on, and I just took it off for the first 
time since then at this moment. I will not be wearing this bracelet, 
but it will be in my Senate desk, and each time I open it, I will 
remember that great man, Ted Kennedy.
  Thank you, Madam President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, the assistant Democratic leader, in 
his eloquent remarks, mentioned Ted Kennedy's maiden address, which is 
a tradition we have here in the Senate. We try to wait for an 
appropriate time before we say much, and then we try to say something 
we think makes a difference.
  I waited an appropriate time and made some remarks on the floor in 
support of legislation that would help put the teaching of American 
history and civics back in its rightful place in our schools so our 
children could grow up learning what it means to be an American. I know 
the Presiding Officer has a great interest in that subject as well, and 
she and I have worked on that together. I proposed that we create 
summer academies for outstanding teachers and students of United States 
history.
  Ted Kennedy was on the floor. He was the chairman or ranking member 
of the committee that handled that at the time. He came over afterwards 
and said: I will get you some cosponsors. The next thing I knew, he had 
20 Democratic cosponsors for my little bitty bill that I had 
introduced. However well I thought of him before that, I thought even 
better of him after that. I think it is a small example of why he was 
so effective here in what he cared about.
  I remember him talking about taking his family--his extended family--
once

[[Page S9204]]

a year to some important place in America, some place that made a 
difference. He was especially taken with their trip to Richmond, I 
believe it was, where they went to the place where Patrick Henry went 
down on one knee and made his famous address. I guess one reason he was 
so interested in U.S. history was because he and his family were and 
are such a consequential part of it, but he made a big difference in 
what we call the teaching and learning of traditional American history.
  On another occasion, he called me up to his hideaway--he had been 
here long enough to have a great room somewhere; I do not know where it 
is, but it has a great view of the Capitol--to talk about Gettysburg 
and what we could do to preserve that.
  Then, we were working together, when he died, with Senator Byrd, who 
has been such a champion through U.S. history, on legislation that 
would tie the teaching of American history to our national parks, which 
we are celebrating this year, with Ken Burns' new movie, and with other 
ways to try to help use those nearly 400 national park sites we have to 
teach American history.
  He and I and David McCullough had breakfast, for example, and talked 
about David McCullough teaching a group of teachers about John Adams at 
the John Adams House in Massachusetts, as one example. Then, of course, 
that turned to what was Ted Kennedy going to do about finding an 
appropriate place to honor John Adams in Washington, DC. That was 
another piece of unfinished business Ted Kennedy left that others of us 
will have to continue to work on. That is why he got along so well 
here.
  When he cast his 15,000th vote, I remember saying the sure-fire way 
to bring a Republican audience to its feet was to make an impassioned 
speech against high taxes, against more Federal control, and against 
Ted Kennedy, and he laughed that great big laugh of his. But it was 
true. But almost everyone on this side will say there was no one on 
that side who we would rather work with on a specific piece of 
legislation because no matter how much we might disagree with him--and 
we certainly did on many issues--when it got to the point where it was 
time to decide: Can we do something? he was ready to do something. And 
his word was good. And his ability to help pass an important piece of 
legislation was unquestioned. Plus, we liked him. We liked his spirit, 
and we liked his personality.
  My first engagement with Senator Kennedy was as a very young man when 
I came here in 1967 as a young aide to then-Senator Howard Baker. 
Senator Baker, who was the son-in-law of Senator Dirksen, then the 
Republican leader, teamed up with Ted Kennedy, the younger brother of 
the former President, and they took on the lions of the Senate, Sam 
Ervin of North Carolina and Everett Dirksen, and won a battle over one 
man, one vote. I was the legislative assistant on this side and Jim 
Flug, the longtime friend and aide of Senator Kennedy, was the 
legislative assistant on that side.

  I am here today, as we all are, to pay our respects to Senator 
Kennedy. Maybe some of us can help with some of that unfinished 
business, such as helping to make sure we expand the idea of teaching 
American history in our national parks to larger numbers of outstanding 
teachers and to outstanding students of U.S. history; and continuing 
the effort to do something about the long lines of adults in America 
who are waiting to learn our common language--English. Ted was very 
interested in that, as I am. But most of all, what I wish to say is 
what I believe most of us feel: We will miss him. We will miss his big 
voice, we will miss his big smile, and we will miss his big presence.
  Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, I am deeply honored to pay tribute to 
Ted Kennedy today and to honor his extraordinary legacy.
  I will always think of Ted Kennedy as many think of him--as the lion 
of the Senate. From that seat, in that seat in the back of this 
beautiful Senate Chamber, he used his powerful voice to speak out for 
those whose voices were rarely heard. I also have described Ted as the 
drummer in a large orchestra. Ted Kennedy was a steady drumbeat--a 
steady drumbeat for justice, for fairness, for compassion, and for 
progress. On days when the Senate wasn't that interested in listening; 
on days when maybe the polls were against him; on days when his 
compassion might not have been in fashion, that drumbeat got louder and 
louder and louder because Ted Kennedy knew that at the end of the day, 
the values he stood for would be embraced again.
  Ted never let us forget why we are here--never. He always reminded us 
to be courageous. He always reminded us to be strong in fighting for 
the causes we believe in, not by lecturing us about it but by being 
brave, being strong, being courageous, taking on the tough issues. He 
spent 9 long years standing in the back of the Chamber talking about 
raising the minimum wage and explaining why people needed it--9 long 
years--but he knew the drumbeat would go on until we passed it. And we 
did.
  Ted Kennedy had genuine and deep friendships in the Senate on both 
sides of the aisle. His greatest legislative skill was to know every 
Senator and to know their passions. When I first came to the Senate in 
the early 1990s, I had spent 10 years in the House and Senator Kennedy 
was already an icon, but he knew I was passionate about health issues 
and, in particular, women's health issues. So even though I was new to 
the Senate, he came to me when he was managing a bill on the floor to 
protect the rights of women who were trying to get into reproductive 
health care clinics. At that time, protesters were blocking the 
entrances to the health care clinics so the women could not get in and 
get treated. So Senator Kennedy wrote a bill that simply said: It is 
fine to express your views, but you cannot block women or individuals 
from entering those clinics. It is dangerous, it is wrong, and you are 
denying women health care. Senator Kennedy asked me if I would be his 
lieutenant--that was his word, his ``lieutenant''--and help him manage 
that bill on the floor of the Senate. Well, clearly, I was so pleased. 
It was such a thrill to watch him work and, as did so many of Ted 
Kennedy's bills, it passed and it became the law of the land and women 
can get health care without being intimidated and frightened and 
harmed.
  Later, when he was championing the bill to increase the minimum 
wage--and he did it year after year after year--he asked me and the 
other women of the Senate to come to the floor and to organize and 
speak about the impact raising the minimum wage would have on women and 
families across the country. He said: Barbara, you know, 60 percent of 
the people earning minimum wage are women. A lot of our colleagues 
think it is teenagers. That is not true. It is women. They are 
supporting their families. Can you help me with this? I said: Senator, 
I am all over it. I am with you.
  The women of the Senate had a special role to come to the floor--
unfortunately, for 9 years in a row--until we made the case that it was 
important America's families, working so hard, can actually afford to 
live in this, the greatest country of all.
  Although Ted had deeply held views, he worked beautifully with 
Members across the aisle. We have colleague after colleague coming down 
to speak about their experiences. He was an expert at finding the 
thread of common ground. Sometimes it was just a tiny little strand of 
commonality, but he could weave it into something bigger and bigger and 
come to an agreement without losing his principles.
  Ted's legislative work has touched the lives of every American, and I 
think it is going to take 5, 6, 7, 10 of us to pick up this void he has 
left. I am so proud that Tom Harkin, who has come to the floor, will be 
the chairman of the HELP Committee because Tom shared with Ted those 
deep feelings about us being here not to champion the voices of those 
who have a strong voice and are heard but for those who don't have a 
strong voice: the middle class, the workers, the working poor, the 
families, the children. They don't have a voice here.
  Ted Kennedy worked to help get 18-year-olds the right to vote. He 
made it easier for Americans to change jobs and keep their health 
insurance. He expanded Head Start Programs. He wrote

[[Page S9205]]

the law creating Meals-on-Wheels. He was the driving force behind the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the 
Family and Medical Leave Act. Many of these Senator Harkin and he 
partnered up on. He led efforts to reform the Nation's immigration 
system--never a popular issue, a tough, hard issue. He worked to 
increase competition in the airline industry. He worked to protect 
women from violent crime.
  Virtually every major health care advance of the last four decades 
bears his mark--Whether it is the CHIP program, the Ryan White CARE 
Act, COBRA, the mental health parity bill or increased funding for 
cancer research. The list goes on and on and on.
  Senator Kennedy was once asked what his best quality was as a 
legislator, and he answered with a single word: ``Persistence.'' 
Persistence. That is a message to all of us on both sides of the aisle. 
If you believe something in your heart is right, you don't give up. You 
don't give up because progress takes time. Piece by piece, every year, 
for almost half a century, he advanced the causes he believed in: 
expanding access to health care, educating our children, extending 
civil rights, helping our society's least fortunate.

  I will say, if we were in danger of losing our way in the Senate, 
Senator Ted Kennedy held steady. He stayed true to his ideals. That is 
why it is fitting that his new biography is entitled ``True Compass.'' 
In many ways, he was a compass in the Senate.
  I wish to thank the people of Massachusetts for sending Ted Kennedy 
to us for these last 47 years. He loved his State. He fought for you 
and he fought for all Americans.
  I wish to thank his wife Vicki, who gave him so much joy, and the 
entire Kennedy family for sharing Ted Kennedy with us.
  I will miss his warm and engaging presence, his sense of humor, his 
bellowing laughter, and the way he reached out to all Senators in 
friendship. No one person will ever be able to fill his shoes. No one. 
He was one of a kind and irreplaceable. But we know how to honor his 
legacy. We know how to fill this void and that is by continuing his 
life's work. I believe the most fitting tribute we can give him is to 
carry on his fight for a quality education for all our children, 
affordable health care our families can rely on and an economy that 
works for everyone.
  Ted Kennedy came from a privileged and renowned family, but he saw so 
much suffering in his lifetime, so much loss. He saw what happens in 
your family when two of your three children have cancer. Even though 
you have every bit of financial stability to give them what they need, 
he saw how hard it was. And then to have another child with an 
addiction and the pain of that. So what Senator Ted Kennedy understood 
is, if it is so hard for me to see my children suffer, what must it be 
like for someone without the financial resources or someone who had an 
insurance company walk away from them at the time they needed it the 
most, they needed help the most.
  Ted Kennedy could put himself in other people's shoes, and that is 
what he did every single day. Even when it was hard for him to get up 
from his chair, he stood and he fought. As he said during his 
concession speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention: ``For all 
those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause 
endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.''
  I say to Ted and to his family, I believe these words are true. The 
hope still lives and the dream shall never die.
  Thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, it is difficult to imagine or accept 
the fact that Ted Kennedy is no longer serving in the Senate. He was 
such a presence here, a big man with a big smile and a bigger heart. He 
was sympathetic to those in need and willing to do all he could to 
address their needs. He got results, improving and expanding Federal 
programs to make available education and nutrition benefits to more 
Americans than ever before.
  I first met the Senator from Massachusetts when he was running in his 
first campaign for the Senate in 1962. It was a happenstance meeting. I 
was an instructor at the Naval Officer's Candidate School in Newport, 
RI, and a friend had invited me up to Hyannis Port during the weekend. 
I ended up at Ted and Joan Kennedy's house. He was there working with 
his friends from Massachusetts on fund-raising activities. We exchanged 
greetings. He said: You are in law school?
  I said: Yes, I am.
  He said: It is hard as hell, isn't it?
  I said: It sure is.
  Well, that was about all the conversation we had that day and I had 
no idea, first of all, how his campaign would turn out and certainly 
the most remote thing in my mind would have been my being a Member of 
the Senate. But he and his wife Joan were spending the summer in 
Hyannis Port near the other Kennedy family members, so I was getting to 
see some of them as well as enjoying the New England weather; the 
ambiance in the summer was a real treat. But instead of politics, we 
talked about how hard law school was.
  I didn't think I would ever see him again. I had no reason to think I 
would, much less end up serving in the Senate with him and serving the 
day he took charge as chairman of the Judiciary Committee from my 
predecessor in the Senate, James O. Eastland. It was a day that 
attracted a lot of attention. The hearing room was absolutely full of 
people. As a matter of fact, the news media was all over the place. It 
was hard to get near the seats of the committee members.
  I remember when Alan Simpson and I were the two most junior 
Republicans, and as we were trying to get situated there at the end of 
the row of seats of committee members, one of the camera men bumped 
Al's head with his camera, and Al told him he should not do that again 
because he might have a hard time finding his camera--or some words to 
that effect. But what a day of excitement and interest. That is the 
kind of excitement Ted Kennedy brought not only to the Judiciary 
Committee and his leadership as a brand new chairman, but his entire 
career reflected that kind of exuberance. People responded and reacted 
to him in a very positive way in the Senate.
  We could make a long list of the things he did in terms of 
legislative accomplishments and political leadership in the Senate. But 
he was a good person. He was a thoughtful person and generous with his 
house. He invited all the members of the Judiciary Committee to come 
out for dinner at his house in Washington. What a nice, thoughtful 
thing to do, and what an exciting evening it turned out to be. Everyone 
enjoyed it enormously.
  Ted Kennedy became a very determined advocate for serious reforms, 
and he left an impressive record of legislative accomplishments and 
protecting and enlarging the civil rights of ordinary citizens.
  I came to respect Senator Kennedy and appreciate his friendship over 
the years we served together in the Senate. His personal qualities, his 
generosity, and his serious commitment to fairness and assistance for 
those who needed help from their government will long be remembered and 
appreciated.
  May he rest in peace.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont is recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I thank my dear friend from Mississippi 
for his kind words. I know they will be appreciated by the Kennedy 
family.
  Madam President, when I heard the Senator from Mississippi, and 
before him the Senator from Illinois, the Senator from California, the 
Senator from Massachusetts, and others who have spoken, it brought back 
so many memories. On August 26, very early in the morning, we heard the 
news about Senator Kennedy. Marcelle and I knew that day was coming. We 
knew the day was coming and that we would lose a close friend of over 
35 years, but our farmhouse in Vermont was still filled with grief upon 
the learning of the news. We walked back and forth on the road in front 
of the house, looking out over the mountains and finding it hard to put 
into words how we felt.
  We left Vermont to come down and join Vicki, such a dear and 
wonderful person, and all of Senator Kennedy's family at the memorial 
service in Boston, where so many offered touching stories of how they 
remembered Senator Kennedy.
  Ted Kennedy, Jr., gave an incredibly moving tribute to his father. I 
told him

[[Page S9206]]

afterward that was the kind of eulogy Senator Kennedy would have liked. 
It was so Irish. Ted Kennedy, Jr., made us all laugh, and he made us 
all cry, almost in the same sentence. How Irish, how Kennedy, but how 
true were the emotions of every man and woman in that church--from the 
President, to the Vice President, to former Presidents, to Senators, to 
Members of the House, to close friends, and to so many of the Kennedy 
family.
  I think of being sworn into this body as a 34-year-old nervous 
Senator. One of the first people who came up to shake my hand after 
being sworn in was Ted Kennedy, then Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker. I 
was awed to think I was in the presence of such people.
  After serving with Ted for 35 years and speaking with him almost 
every single day, I look over at his desk, at something I have seen 
over the 35 years when we have lost colleagues, but I don't know of any 
time it has hurt so much to see the black drape across the desk, to see 
the vase of white flowers. I went by there yesterday and just put my 
hand on the desk. I will admit I was overcome with emotion and left the 
floor.
  I have so many memories, as we all do, of my friendship with Ted. 
Senator Durbin spoke about how Ted Kennedy had a way of--no matter who 
you were, if you had tragedy in your family or an illness or something 
had happened, he would call or write, and he would offer help. It made 
no difference who you were.
  I was very close to my father. He had met Ted a number of times. When 
my father passed away, virtually the first telephone call my mother 
received that morning was from Ted Kennedy. I remember my mother taking 
comfort in that.
  Senator Kennedy's office is just one floor below mine in the Russell 
Senate Building. We both have stayed there all these years. On many 
occasions, especially when he was going for a vote, we could hear his 
great laugh echoing down the halls, and it would change our whole mood, 
our whole day. We often talked about the bond of the New England Irish 
and spoke about that again when we came back from Pope Paul John II's 
funeral and refueled the plane in Ireland. It was like following the 
Pied Piper at Shannon Airport. There were paintings of President 
Kennedy there. The Senator from Iowa remembers that.
  As we walked through, Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd were telling Irish 
stories. There are memories of when Ted was walking the dogs outside of 
Russell Building, and we would talk and chat, saying: How is your 
family? How is this one or that one?
  After Ted died, one of our newspapers in Vermont had a front-page 
picture that my wife Marcelle had taken back in 1968. It showed a young 
Ted Kennedy in Vermont campaigning for his brother Robert and talking 
with an even younger State attorney. We talked about Robert Kennedy--
the two of us--and I gave that photograph to Ted a few years ago 
because I found it in my archives. He chuckled and talked about how 
young we looked, and then he asked for another copy so he could sign 
one to me. That day we sat there and talked about his brothers--
obviously, the President, John Kennedy; Senator Robert Kennedy; and 
also his brother, Joe Kennedy, who had died. I talked about being 
interviewed by Robert Kennedy, who was Attorney General, when he 
invited me down to the Department of Justice. I was a young law 
student, and he talked to me about the possibility of a career in the 
Department of Justice. That talk meant so much to me, and his brother 
told me how independent the Department of Justice must be, even from 
the President of the United States. We never have enough time in this 
body, and a rollcall started and that conversation stopped. But I 
remember every bit of that so much.
  I remember after that time we campaigned for Robert Kennedy, the next 
time I saw him was here when I was a Senator-elect. As a former young 
prosecutor, I walked into his office with trepidation and almost 
thinking I was going into the inner sanctum. I was going to talk with 
him about what committees I might go on. This great voice said: Good 
morning, Senator.
  Coming from him, I turned around, assuming another Senator was 
walking in behind me, and I realized he was talking to me.
  Ted's wonderful wife Vicki was part of a small book club, and my wife 
Marcelle was in that. The days they would meet, Ted would come up and 
put his arm around my shoulder and say, ``Patrick, we are in trouble 
today. Our wives are meeting, and tonight we are going to get our 
marching orders.'' You know what, Madam President. He was right.
  All of the years I served on the Judiciary Committee, until this past 
year, I sat beside him. I am going to miss him on that committee. I am 
going to miss his help and advice. I am going to miss him on the Senate 
floor because not having him with us in the Senate is going to make a 
huge difference in negotiations on legislation, whether it is on a 
current issue of health care reform or any other issue.
  I remember one meeting with Ronald Reagan when he was President. The 
President turned to Ted--and several of us, Republicans and Democrats, 
were meeting with him--and said, ``Thank goodness you're here, Ted. You 
are bringing us together.''
  That difference extended beyond our shores. He personally made such a 
difference in bringing peace to Ireland and ending apartheid in South 
Africa. I remember going with President Clinton after the peace 
agreement, and everybody--while they would thank the Prime Minister of 
Ireland and Great Britain and President Clinton, they all wanted to 
come over and thank Ted Kennedy.
  His sense of history and of our country and his firm and constant 
belief in America's promise and America's future was inspiring. His 
willingness to spend time with the most junior Senators as with all 
others of both parties made him a Senator's Senator. I think every 
single Senator, Republican or Democrat, would agree he was a Senator's 
Senator.
  It is easy in politics to appeal to the self-interests in each of us. 
Ted Kennedy appealed to the best in us, to the American verities that 
are written not on water but in stone. He appealed to our sense of 
justice, to our sense of responsibility to each other, and to our 
uniquely American sense of hope and possibility. In the Senate, he 
labored to help reach bipartisan progress on health care, education, 
civil rights, voting rights, immigration reform, and so much more.
  Madam President, the powerful have never lacked champions. Ted 
Kennedy was a champion for ordinary Americans and for those who 
struggle, those who do not have a champion. He believed everyone in 
this great land deserved the opportunity to pursue the American dream.

  I thought last night at the President's speech--I talked before the 
speech with Mrs. Kennedy and after the speech with Senator Kennedy's 
three children. It was just impossible to fully put into words how much 
I miss him.
  Marcelle and I miss our friend dearly, but we know it was a privilege 
to call him our friend. It was a privilege to serve alongside such a 
public servant dedicated as he was to making better the lives of 
millions of his fellow Americans.
  It is a sad passing of an era, but Ted Kennedy would also tell us it 
is a time to look to the future.
  Madam President, I close with this. I always thought when I left the 
Senate I would say farewell to this body and Ted Kennedy would be here 
to wish me Godspeed. I wish him Godspeed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I thank all of our colleagues who have 
taken the time to come to the floor to speak for and on behalf of our 
great friend and colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy. I particularly enjoyed 
the remarks of the distinguished Senator from Vermont who served with 
him for 35 years. I only served 33 years with Ted. I thank them for the 
remarks and the reverence most everybody has had for our departed 
colleague.
  I rise today to offer my remarks on the passing of my dear friend and 
colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy. Over this past recess, America lost one 
of its greatest leaders and this Chamber lost one of its most dynamic 
and important Members. I mourn the loss not only of a respected 
colleague but of a dear personal friend. I think I speak for all my 
colleagues when I say that Senator Kennedy will be missed and that the 
Senate is a lesser place without him here.

[[Page S9207]]

  People have often remarked about the working relationship I had with 
Senator Kennedy, oftentimes calling us the ``odd couple.'' We used to 
laugh about that. But the truth be told, he and I really didn't agree 
on a lot of things. Over the years, Senator Kennedy and I were on 
opposite sides of some of the fiercest battles in this Chamber's 
history. While we have long been good friends, we did not pull any 
punches on one another. If we were opposing one another in a debate, 
Senator Kennedy would come to the floor and, in his classic style, he 
would lay into me with his voice raised--and he had a terrific voice--
and his arms flailing. Of course, I would let him have it right back. 
Then, after he finished, he would finally come over and put his arm 
around me and say: How was that? I would always laugh about it, as we 
did. We laughed at each other all the time.
  That is what set Senator Kennedy apart from many in Washington. For 
him, politics rarely got personal. He was never afraid to voice his 
disagreement with the views of a fellow Senator. But, in the end, I 
believe he always maintained a warm and cordial relationship with 
almost every one of his colleagues. That is difficult to do sometimes, 
particularly when partisan tempers flare up, but it always seemed to 
come easy for Senator Kennedy.
  Despite our tendency to disagree on almost everything, Senator 
Kennedy and I were able to reach common ground on many important 
occasions and on some important issues.
  As I mentioned at the recent memorial service, one of my defining 
moments as a Senator came when I met with two families from Provo, UT. 
The parents in these families were humble and hard working, and they 
were able to provide food and clothing and shelter for their children. 
But the one necessity they could not afford was health insurance. Their 
children were children of the working poor. The struggles of this 
family touched me and inspired me to work with Senator Kennedy to 
create SCHIP, which continues to provide health care coverage to 
millions of children of the working poor and others throughout the 
country and which passed with broad bipartisan support.
  Over the years, Senator Kennedy and I worked successfully to get both 
Republicans and Democrats on board for a number of causes. We drafted a 
number of pieces of legislation to provide assistance to AIDS victims, 
including the Ryan White AIDS Act. I named that bill right here on the 
floor with Mrs. White sitting in the audience. We worked together, 
along with Senator Harkin, to craft and pass the Americans with 
Disabilities Act. There was also the Orphan Drug Act, as well as the 
FDA Modernization Act, and a whole raft of other bills that would take 
too much time to speak about, all of which bear the Hatch-Kennedy, 
Kennedy-Hatch name.
  Our final collaboration came just this year in the form of the Edward 
M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which I was pleased to name after Senator 
Kennedy right here on the floor. He came up afterward, and we hugged 
each other. Then we went back to the President's Room, and he had 
pictures, even though he was not feeling well. He had so many pictures 
with so many people who were involved.
  All of our bills passed because of the willingness of Senator Kennedy 
and myself to put consensus ahead of partisanship--something we see far 
too infrequently in Washington.
  It is axiomatic in politics that timing is crucial. No one understood 
or practiced that principle better than Senator Kennedy. He had a sixth 
sense and an open mind to notice when the time was ripe for the key 
compromise. He knew when to let events sift and when it was time to 
close the deal. More importantly, he knew when he should stick to his 
guns and when he needed to reach across the aisle to get the help of 
his Republican colleagues. He was always able to recognize and work 
with those who shared his goals, even if they had different ideas on 
how to achieve them.
  I will never forget, after I had made the deciding vote on civil 
rights for institutionalized persons--it was a Birch Bayh-Hatch bill, 
and Birch had led the fight on the floor, and so did I.
  Later came the Voting Rights Act. I felt very strongly about not 
putting the effects test in section 2. I had no problem with it in 
section 5, but I did not want it in section 2 so that it applied to all 
the other States. I lost in committee. I voted for the bill out of 
committee because I considered the Voting Rights Act the most important 
civil rights bill in history.
  The day they were going to have the bill signed at the White House, 
he caught me right inside the Russell Building where we both had 
offices, and he said: You are coming with us, aren't you?
  I said: Well, I was against the change in section 2.
  He said: You voted for it and were very helpful in getting that bill 
passed, and I know how deeply you feel about it.
  I did go down with him. I would not have gone without Senator Kennedy 
recognizing I did feel deeply about the Voting Rights Act. And even 
though I lost on what I thought was a pivotal constitutional right, the 
fact is I voted for the bill.
  At the risk of riling my more liberal colleagues in the Senate, I 
would like to point out that Senator Kennedy shared an utterly 
optimistic view of the American experiment with President Ronald 
Reagan. They both deeply believed that whatever the current trials or 
challenges we must face as a nation, America's best days were ahead of 
her. That is something many people do not appreciate well enough about 
Senator Kennedy.
  Because of his optimism and hope for our Nation's future, Senator 
Kennedy was, throughout his career in the Senate, a great practitioner 
of the Latin motto ``carpe diem,'' ``seize the day.'' Few worked harder 
day-in and day-out than Senator Kennedy. As a result, every Senator had 
to work a little bit harder, either to follow his lead if you were on 
the same side of the issue or to stand in his way if you were the 
opposition. I have been in both positions. I am not saying it was 
inherently difficult to work with Senator Kennedy. But as anyone who 
has negotiated a tough piece of legislation can tell you, it can be 
sheer drudgery, even when you agree on most issues. But Senator Kennedy 
brought a sense of joy even to the most contentious negotiating 
sessions. And when you were working with Senator Kennedy, you knew he 
would keep his word. If after these long sessions an agreement was 
reached, he would stick by it no matter how much heat he would have to 
take.
  All this was no doubt the result of his love for this great 
institution and his commitment to the American people. Political 
differences notwithstanding, there can never be any doubt about Senator 
Kennedy's patriotism.
  Few had a presence in the Senate as large as Senator Kennedy's. More 
often than not, you could hear him coming down the hall--a mini-
hurricane with a bevy of aides in tow, a batch of amendments in one 
hand and a stack of talking points in the other. He was almost always 
effective but seldom very quiet.
  I also want to share a few thoughts about his staff. While at the end 
of the day the full responsibility of the Senate falls squarely on the 
shoulders of each Senator, it is also true that during the day and 
often long into the night and on many weekends much of the work of the 
Senate is conducted by a group of the most committed team of staff 
members of any institution anywhere. Throughout his career, it was 
known that the Kennedy staff was comprised of one of the most 
formidable and dedicated collections of individuals of the Senate. Many 
of them have gone on to have distinguished careers, including now-
Justice Stephen Breyer; Dr. Larry Horowitz, who managed his health care 
right up to the end and loved Ted Kennedy deeply; Nick Littlefield, who 
ran the Labor Committee for Senator Kennedy and was an adviser right up 
to the time Senator Kennedy passed away; and, of course, Michael 
Myers--just to name four, with no intention of leaving out the others. 
Senator Kennedy would be the first to recognize how their efforts 
contributed to his success. I salute them for their hard work over the 
years. I cannot exactly say I have always been totally pleased with all 
of the Kennedy staff all of the time, but, as was true of their boss, 
while we might have been frequent adversaries, we were never enemies.
  I am saddened by the loss of my dear friend Senator Kennedy. I will 
miss

[[Page S9208]]

him personally. I will miss the fights in public. I will miss his sense 
of humor in private and public. And perhaps more significantly, I 
believe this Chamber will miss his talents as a legislator and, most of 
all, his leadership.
  While I cannot say I hope more of my colleagues will adopt his views 
on policy, I hope more of us can adopt his approach to the legislative 
process.
  I was in California giving a speech at a fundraiser when they came in 
with a cell phone and said: Senator Kennedy is on the line, and he 
sounds very agitated.
  So I went out on the plaza and I said: Ted, what is the matter?
  He said: Oh, I have great news for you.
  I said: What is that?
  He said: I am going to get married again.
  I said: Do I know her?
  He said: No, but you would love her. She is a wonderful, wonderful 
person, and she has two wonderful children. I am going to adopt them 
and treat them as my own. And I am so happy.
  I said: Ted, why would you call me in California?
  He said: Well, her daughter was bragging to her elementary school 
teacher at that time that her mother was going to marry Ted Kennedy.
  The elementary school teacher was married to a Washington Post 
reporter.
  So he said: I wanted you to become one of the first to know. I am 
very happy. I am going to marry Vicki Reggie.
  I have come to know Vicki very well. She has made such a difference 
in his life and in his family's life. She is a tremendous human being, 
as are his children. They are terrific.
  I was happy to be in the Catholic church where Teddy went to pray for 
his daughter every day he could when she was suffering from cancer. I 
know how deeply he feels about Patrick and Teddy, Jr. I thought they 
did a terrific job at the mass at his funeral. He has to be very proud 
of them. I am very proud of them.
  I think Vicki Kennedy deserves an awful lot of credit for all of the 
later happy years of my friend Ted Kennedy. I want her to know that I 
love her dearly for what she did and as an individual herself.
  I love Ted Kennedy's entire family. A number of them have come to me 
at times where I was able to help them because he could not as a member 
of the family. I have to say that I was close to a great number of the 
members of his family, and I really appreciate them as well and the 
influence they had on him and he had on them.
  He had a great influence on me as well. I want to personally thank 
him for it and say to my dear friend and colleague, as I look at his 
desk over there with the flowers and the drape, rest in peace, dear 
Ted, and just know that a lot of us will try to carry on, and 
hopefully, with some of the things you taught us and helped us to 
understand, we can do it better than we have in the past.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burris). The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I wish to speak about Senator Ted 
Kennedy. Clearly, I would have been proud to be on my feet to give such 
a testimonial, but as many of my colleagues know, I had a fall a few 
weeks ago coming out of church. I am ready to be at my duty station, 
but I can't quite stand to be 4 foot 11 and give these remarks.
  I do wish to speak and speak from my heart, speak from my memory, and 
speak with my affection. I have known Ted Kennedy a very long time. He 
has been my friend, my pal, my comrade in arms. I have enjoyed 
everything from working with him on big policy issues to sailing off 
the coast of Hyannis. I have been with him in his hideaway while we 
strategized on how to move an agenda of empowerment, and I have danced 
at his famous birthday parties. We have had a good time together.
  I remember one of the first parties was the theme from the 1960s, and 
I came with a big wig, hoping I would look like Jackie Kennedy. Ted was 
a chunky Rhett Butler because Vicki and he were coming as Rhett Butler 
and Scarlett O'Hara. As we jitterbugged, I said: Do you think I look 
like Jackie? He said: Well, nice try.
  The last party we went to was a movie theme, and I came with one of 
those big bouffants. It was to be a movie theme, as I say, and I looked 
like something out of ``Hair Spray.'' I will not tell you his comments, 
but, again, he said: Your hair gets bigger with every one. I can't wait 
until my 80th.
  Well, unfortunately, there will not be an 80th birthday party, but we 
will always carry with us the joy of friendship with Ted Kennedy.
  It is with a heavy heart that I give this salute to him. I first met 
him as a young social worker. I testified before his committee. As a 
young social worker, I was there to talk about a brandnew program 
called Medicare, about what was working, what were the lessons 
learned--once again from being on the ground; what was happening in the 
streets and neighborhoods--and how to help people get the medical and 
social services they needed. He listened, he was intent, and he asked 
many questions. Little did I know I would join him in the Senate to 
fight for Medicare, to fight for health care, and to fight for those 
senior citizens.
  Similar to so many others of my generation, I was inspired by the 
Kennedys to pursue a life in public service. I chose the field of 
social work and then went into politics because I saw politics as 
social work with power. As a Congresswoman, I was on the Energy and 
Commerce Committee. That was a counterpart to what Ted was doing in the 
Senate. We got to know each other at conferences working together. 
Those were the great days of bipartisanship. As we would come in from 
the Energy and Commerce Committee, there would be Ted Kennedy and Jacob 
Javits working to make sure we could pass good legislation. I saw there 
that good legislation came from good ideas that could be pursued with 
good humor in an atmosphere of civility.
  As we got to know each other, I admired his verve, his tenacity, and 
he admired me because I could dish it out with the best of them as 
well. When he ran for President in 1980, he asked me to nominate him at 
the Democratic Convention. I was thrilled and honored to do so. 
Remember the drama of that. Jimmy Carter was an incumbent President. 
Ted Kennedy was an upstart. I backed Kennedy. Well, it didn't work out 
and Ted called me and said: I am withdrawing from the race. We are 
going to support President Carter 100 percent. But though you are not 
going to nominate me for President, I hope you will still introduce me 
at the convention. I said: Absolutely. But one day I hope to be able to 
nominate you.
  That night, as I took the podium, it was the famous speech that 
everyone remembers Ted Kennedy giving about the work going on, the 
cause enduring, the hope still living, and the dream never dying. What 
was amazing about that speech was the way Ted Kennedy used a moment in 
his life--which some viewed as a defeat--as a time to redefine himself 
in public service and to claim the mantle of being one of the best 
Senators America has ever seen. He used that speech not as a retreat 
but as a reaffirmation and a recommitment of what he would do.
  That night I did introduce him. While all my colleagues were in 
Boston, and I watched the funeral from my rehabilitation room, mourning 
his death and feeling sad that I could not join with my colleagues 
there, I had that speech and I read it then and, as I looked at it, I 
realized I could give it again and again. Because when I took the floor 
of the 1980 convention, I first said: I am not here for Barb Mikulski. 
And I am here today for all those people who would like to say what 
they knew about Teddy Kennedy, and I am going to say some of those 
words I said then that would be appropriate for now.
  I said:

       I am here on behalf of a lot of people who want to be here 
     but can't: Old women desperately trying to use their Social 
     Security checks to pay for food and medicine and yet 
     frightened about their energy bills. Students whose tuition 
     has gone up so much they are going to have to work two jobs 
     just to stay in school.

  I spoke of small businesspeople trying to just keep their doors open 
and the returning war vet who is unemployed, and that while his brother 
has signed up for a tour of duty, he is standing in the unemployment 
line.
  I said during that speech that, day after day, Edward Kennedy has 
spoken out for those people; that he has been there talking about the 
economy, energy policy, and jobs, long before many

[[Page S9209]]

others. I talked about how Edward Kennedy said that when Black freedom 
riders were being attacked and beaten, he was the one who fought for 
racial justice and helped to get the Voting Rights Act through. I said 
that as a young social worker, working in the neighborhoods during the 
dark Nixon years, and wondering how old people were going to get the 
services they needed, Ted Kennedy introduced the first nutrition 
program for the elderly--a program that guaranteed senior citizens at 
least one hot meal a day. It was Ted Kennedy, I said, who won the 
passage of programs such as neighborhood health centers, who fought the 
war on cancer, who led the fight to save nurses' scholarships and save 
them he did. In his fight for legislation, he was always there.
  In my fight to help battered women, Senator Kennedy was one of the 
first to be a strong and active ally. He said he knew very early on 
that all American women work but that too many women work for too 
little or are paid unequal pay for their work. I said then, and I say 
again, Ted Kennedy wanted to change Social Security to make it fairer 
for women and to extend the Equal Rights Amendment so we would be 
included in the Constitution.
  It was amazing the issues he fought for then and that he continued to 
fight for all his life. In the time I knew him, I knew him not just as 
a news clip, but I found him to be truly gallant in public and in 
private--caring about others and modest about himself, always about 
grace, courage, and valor.

  When I came to the Senate, I was the only Democratic woman, and he 
was there for me, but I saw how he was there for so many other people. 
In 2004, when we were in Boston, Ted Kennedy and I had lunch in the 
North End. It was one of our favorite things, to get together for a 
meal and for conversation. What I realized then--as we enjoyed 
ourselves with big plates of antipasto; always vowing that we would eat 
more of the salad and less of the pasta--as we got up and left and 
walked around the North End, is that his best ideas came from the 
people. It was his passion for people. I knew he represented those 
brainy people in Cambridge who went to Harvard and who often came up 
through the Kennedy School with those great ideas. But as I walked 
around the neighborhoods with him, I saw he actually listened to 
people, trailed by a staff person who was actually taking notes.
  As we walked down the street, there was the man who came up and who 
talked about his mother's problem with Social Security. Take it down, 
he said. Let's see what we can do. We walked down a few feet more. Oh, 
my grandson wants to go to West Point; how does he apply? He said: He 
is going to love it and he is going to love my process. Let's see how 
we can do that. A few feet on down, the small business guy said: Keep 
on fighting, Ted. You know I can't buy this health insurance. Can I 
call you? Always call me, he said. And by the way, don't forget to call 
Barbara--the legendary Barbara Souliotis. And all of us know Ted 
Kennedy had an outstanding staff, whether it was the staff in 
Massachusetts, who took care of casework and projects and day-to-day 
needs, or the staff in Washington who helped Ted Kennedy take the ideas 
that came from the people, their day-to-day struggles, and converted 
them into national policy. That is what it was--people, people, people.
  When I came to the Senate, it was only Nancy Kassebaum and I. We were 
the only two women. He was a great friend, along with Senator Sarbanes. 
They were people I called my Galahads--people who helped me get on the 
right committees, show me the inner workings of the Senate. Ted was 
determined I would be on his Committee on Health and Education to get 
the ideas passed, but he also was determined I would get on the 
Appropriations Committee to make sure we put those ideas into the 
Federal checkbook. He was my advocate.
  One of the things that was clear is, he was the champion for women. 
He was a champion for this woman in helping me get on those committees. 
And during those sometimes rough days getting started, he would take me 
to La Colline with Senator Dodd, and while he drank orange juice with a 
little vodka--so no one would know he had a little vodka--he was giving 
me shooters of Chardonnay to boost my spirits. He and Chris would give 
me a pep talk, and I felt like I was Rocky. They would say: Get out 
there, fight; don't let it get you down. Pick yourself up. I felt like 
I was going to spit in the bucket and get back on the floor. He lifted 
my spirits, just like he lifted the spirits of so many.
  The story I wish to conclude with--because there are so many issues 
we worked on together--is when I went to him and said: Ted, did you 
know that women are not included in the protocols at NIH? He said: What 
do you mean? I said: In all the research we do, women are not included 
in the protocols. They just finished a famous study which said to take 
an aspirin a day, keep a heart attack away. It included 10,000 male 
medical students and not one woman. I said: I want to change that. 
Teaming up with Nancy and Pat Schroeder and Olympia Snowe and Connie 
Morella, who were in the House, he helped me create the Office of 
Women's Health at NIH so women would always be included in those 
protocols.
  Then we spoke out and said: Ted, the health care research for breast 
cancer is low. That is why they are racing for the cure. He helped us, 
working with Tom Harkin, to boost the money for research and to also 
get mammogram quality standards through so that when a woman would get 
her mammogram, it would be safe.
  But here is one of the most profound things we did, again working on 
a bipartisan basis. Dr. Bernadine Healy, who was the head of NIH, 
wanted to do a study on the consequences of hormone therapy. Ted and I 
and Tom did not believe we should earmark NIH--and I believe that 
today--but we made sure we put money and a legislative framework in 
place so Dr. Healy could institute the famous hormone therapy study. 
Well, let me tell you the consequences of that. That study has changed 
medical practice. That study has resulted in breast cancer rates going 
down 15 percent.
  So when someone says: What did Ted Kennedy do to help women? What did 
Teddy Kennedy do to work with Barbara Mikulski? Tell them we worked 
together and we worked to save the lives of women, one million at a 
time. This is my final salute to Senator Kennedy on the floor, but I 
will always salute him every day in the Senate to make sure we continue 
what he said about how the dream will continue on.
  I ended my speech at the Democratic Convention in 1980 when I said 
this--and I end my remarks today by saying this: Edward Kennedy has 
kept his faith with the American people. He hasn't waited for a crisis 
to emerge or a constituency to develop. He always led, he always acted, 
he always inspires.
  God bless you, Ted. And God bless the United States of America.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama is recognized.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to join 
with my colleagues, and I see quite a number on the Senate floor now, 
to pay tribute to Ted Kennedy. He was a truly remarkable force in the 
Senate, a champion of liberalism--perhaps the Nation's leading champion 
of liberalism. He believed government could serve the people, and it 
ought to do more to serve people. On that we sometimes disagreed, but 
he believed it with a sincerity and he battled for it with a 
consistency that is remarkable. He constantly sought to utilize the 
ability of government to do good for the American people, and that is 
admirable.
  He also was a champion of civil rights. He was a force during the 
civil rights movement, and his activities, his personal leadership, 
truly made a difference in making this a better country. Without his 
leadership, things would have been much more difficult for sure.
  I have a vivid memory of him--presiding as I did when I first came to 
the Senate, a duty given to the younger, newer Members--in the night, 
Ted Kennedy, alone on the Senate floor, roaring away for the values he 
believed in. It was just something to behold, in my view. I saw nothing 
like it from, maybe, any other Member. He had served so many years in 
the Senate--and I learned today from our chairman on Judiciary, Senator 
Leahy, that he served on the Senate Judiciary Committee longer than any 
other Senator in history. But even as his years went by, many years in 
the Senate, he did

[[Page S9210]]

not lose the drive, the will, the energy, the commitment to give of 
himself for the values he believed in.
  As I told one reporter after his death, I would just hope to be 
somewhat as effective in promoting the values I believed in as he was 
in promoting those values. If we disagreed, and sometimes we certainly 
did, people continued to admire him, I think, to a unique degree. There 
were no hard feelings. You would battle away, and then afterwards it 
would be a respectful relationship between Senators. I think that is 
pretty unusual and something that is worthy of commenting on.
  He talked to me about being a cosponsor, his prime cosponsor on a 
bill. He said he wanted to work with me on something important. It was 
a bill we commonly referred to as the prison rape bill. There was a lot 
of concern that in prisons, people who are arrested were subjected to 
sexual abuse. That, in my view, is not acceptable. I know the Presiding 
Officer, a prosecutor, knows people deserve to do their time in jail, 
but they should never be subjected to those kinds of abuses. So we 
passed a pretty comprehensive bill. I was proud of it and proud to be 
with him at the signing ceremony.
  I also talked to him and we met and talked at some length about a 
major piece of legislation to increase savings in America, savings for 
the average working American who had not been able to share in the 
growth of wealth that so many have been blessed with in this country. I 
thought we had some pretty good ideas. Savings at that time had fallen 
below zero--actually 1 percent negative use of people's savings which 
were going away. I guess now we are at 5 or 6 percent savings rate 
after this turmoil we have had economically. I do not think the idea 
should go away. Maybe it lost a little steam in the fact that we have 
seen a resurgence of savings today, but I was very impressed with his 
commitment to it, the work of his fine staff, and his personal 
knowledge of the issue.
  I see my other colleagues. I will join with them in expressing my 
sincere sympathy to Vicki and their entire family for their great loss. 
The Senate has lost a great warrior and a great champion of American 
values.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa is recognized.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the period of 
morning business be extended to 2:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to 
speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, as I look around this Chamber, I see men 
and women of remarkable talents and abilities. I also have a strong 
sense, we all do, that there is a tremendous void now in our midst. A 
very special Senator, a very special friend, a Member who played a 
unique role within this body for nearly a half century is no longer 
with us.
  We have had many glowing and richly earned tributes to Senator Ted 
Kennedy over these last couple of weeks. He was not only the most 
accomplished and effective Senator of the last 50 years, he was truly 
one of the towering figures in the entire history of the Senate. Yet 
for all his accomplishments, for all the historic bills he authored and 
shepherded into law, for all the titanic battles he fought, I will 
remember Ted Kennedy first and foremost as just a good and decent human 
being.
  I remember his extraordinary generosity, his courage, his passion, 
his capacity for friendship and caring, and, of course, that great 
sense of humor. I remember one time I was in my office and we had a 
phone conversation. It was about a disagreement we had. It was right at 
St. Patrick's Day so we were having this discussion on the phone and 
tempers got a little heated. I think I was holding the phone out about 
like this. He probably was too. I think our voices got raised to a very 
high decibel level, sort of yelling at each other, and pretty soon we 
just hung up on each other.
  I felt very badly; I know he did too. So several hours later, when I 
came on the Senate floor and I saw Ted at his desk, I went up to him, I 
pulled up a chair next to him. He would get that kind of pixie smile on 
his face, have a twinkle in his eye.
  I said: Ted, I'm sorry about that conversation we had. I should not 
have lost my temper as I did. I said: My staff is a little concerned 
about our relationship.
  He sort of got that great smile and chuckled. Well, he said, forget 
about it. I just told my staff that is just the way two Irish men 
celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
  That is just the way he was. He could disarm you immediately and you 
would move on. He had a great disarming sense of humor.
  Ted came from a remarkable family--so many tough breaks, so many 
triumphs, so many contributions to our Nation--both in war and in 
peace. Ted and his siblings were born into great wealth. They could 
have lived lives of luxury and leisure, but they chose instead to 
devote themselves to public service. They devoted themselves to making 
the world a better place for others, especially those in the shadows of 
life.
  There are so many things I could focus on this morning in my brief 
remarks, but I want to focus on just one aspect of Ted Kennedy: all 
that he did to improve the lives of people with disabilities in our 
country. I thought about this: With the death of Eunice Kennedy Shriver 
on August 11, and all she did to found the Special Olympics now being 
carried on by her son Tim, then the death of Ted on August 25, people 
with disabilities in this country lost two great champions.
  Their sister Rosemary lived her entire life with a severe 
intellectual disability. The entire Kennedy family is well acquainted 
with the joys and struggles of those with disabilities. Those of us who 
were in the church in Boston at the funeral--and those probably 
watching on television--heard the very eloquent speech by Teddy Jr. 
about his battle with cancer at a young age, losing his leg and his 
confronting his disabilities, and how Ted helped him get through that.

  In 1975, Senator Kennedy helped to pass what is now called the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act--IDEA. In 1978 he passed 
legislation expanding the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights Commission 
to protect people from discrimination on the basis of disability. In 
1980 he introduced the Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act, 
protecting the rights of people in government institutions, including 
the elderly and people with intellectual and mental disabilities.
  Nineteen years ago he was one of my most important leaders and 
partners in passing the Americans with Disabilities Act--1990. I will 
never forget, after I had been in the Senate for 2 years, Republicans 
were in charge, and then in 1986 Democrats came back, took charge, and 
Senator Kennedy wanted me on his education and health committee. I sort 
of played a little hard to get.
  I said: Well, maybe, but I am really interested in disability issues. 
He knew about that. He knew about my work on some of the stuff I had 
done in the House before I came here, especially for people with 
hearing problems. I said I would like to come on his committee, but I 
said I would be interested in working on disability issues.
  He got back to me and said: Tell you what, I have the Disability 
Policy Subcommittee and you can chair it.
  I am a freshman Senator. He didn't have to do that for me. I was 
astounded at his great generosity. So I have always appreciated that. 
He had already had this great, extensive record on disability issues. 
Yet he let me take the lead. Then when the Americans with Disabilities 
Act came up, he could have taken that himself. He was the chairman of 
the committee.
  As I said, he had this long history of championing the causes of 
people with disabilities. Yet he knew how passionately I felt about it, 
and he let me author the bill. He let me take it on the floor. He let 
me be the floor manager of it and put my name on it. He didn't have to 
do that. He was the chairman. He could have had his name on it. He 
could have floor-managed it. But he let me do it in spite of the fact 
that I was just a freshman Senator.
  He was an indispensable leader in bringing disparate groups together 
to get the Americans with Disabilities Act passed. I will never forget 
that great act of generosity on his part in letting me take the lead.
  Ted always insisted that our focus should be not on disability but on 
ability; that people with disabilities must be fully included in our 
American family. Americans with disabilities had no

[[Page S9211]]

better friend, no tougher fighter, no more relentless champion than Ted 
Kennedy.
  Yesterday I accepted the chairmanship of the Senate HELP Committee, 
the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. It is a great 
honor and a great challenge and, I must add, somewhat daunting to carry 
on the legacy of Senator Ted Kennedy. He dedicated his life to making 
our economy work for all Americans, to secure a quality education for 
every child and, of course, securing quality, affordable health care 
for every citizen as a right and not a privilege.
  In the Democratic cloakroom, there is a page from the Cape Cod Times 
with a wonderful picture of Ted and a quote from him. Here is the 
quote:

       Since I was a boy I have known the joy of sailing the 
     waters of Cape Cod and for all my years in public life I have 
     believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty 
     and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only 
     the next great voyage.

  We have heard many eloquent tributes to Senator Kennedy. But the 
tribute that would matter most for him would be for his colleagues to 
come together, on a bipartisan basis, to pass a strong, comprehensive 
health reform bill this year.

  It is time for us to sail ahead on this next great voyage to a better 
and more just and more caring America. So as we sadly contemplate the 
empty desk draped in black, we say farewell to a beloved colleague. He 
is no longer with us, but his work continues. His spirit is here. And 
as he said, the cause endures.
  May Ted Kennedy rest in peace. But may we not rest until we have 
completed the cause of his life, the cause he fought for until his last 
breath, ensuring quality, affordable health care for every American.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, it is my understanding that we are going 
back and forth. If Senator Lautenberg will let me go, I will not talk 
long, if that is appropriate.
  Today is a day to remember a colleague, a friend, someone whom it was 
a challenge to oppose and a joy to work with, and I wish we were not 
here today talking about the passing of Senator Kennedy.
  We disagreed on most things but found common ground on big things. 
And everyone has a story about Senator Kennedy. There has been a lot of 
discussion about his life, the legacy, his human failings, which we all 
have, his self-inflicted wounds, and his contribution to the country. 
But I want to talk about what will be missing in the Senate.
  We had a giant of a man who was very principled but understood the 
Senate as well as anyone I have ever met; he understood the need to 
give and take to move the country forward.
  My experience with Senator Kennedy was, I used his image in my 
campaign to get elected, like every other Republican did. We do not 
want another person up to help Ted Kennedy. And he loved it. He got 
more air time than the candidates themselves. He loved it.
  I remember him telling me a story about Senator Hollings. The 
tradition in the Senate is when you get reelected, you have your fellow 
Senator from that State follow you down to the well. He went over to 
Senator Hollings and said: I want you to come down and escort me.
  He said: Why? I am from South Carolina.
  He said: In my campaign you were. You were the other Senator from 
South Carolina.
  Ted got a lot of fun out of that. I think he appreciated the role he 
played, and Republicans, almost to a person, would use Senator Kennedy 
in their campaigns.
  But when they got here, they understood Senator Kennedy was someone 
you wanted to do business with. If you had a bill that you thought 
would need some bipartisan support, Senator Kennedy is the first person 
you would think of. And you had to understand the limitations on what 
he could help you with. He was not going to help you with certain 
things, because it ran counter to what he believe in. But where you 
could find common grounds on the big issues, you had no better ally 
than Senator Kennedy.
  We met in the President's Room every morning during the immigration 
debate, and at night he would call me up and say: Lindsey, tomorrow in 
our meeting you need to yell at me because you need to get something. I 
understand that. I will fight back. But you will get it.
  The next day he would say: I need to yell at you. It was sort of like 
all-star wrestling, to be honest with you, and that was fun. Because he 
understood how far I could go, and he challenged me to go as far as I 
could. But he never asked me to go farther than I was capable of going. 
And, in return, he would walk the plank for you.
  We had votes on the floor of the Senate on emotion-driven amendments 
designed to break the bill apart from the right and the left. I walked 
the plank on the right because I knew he would walk the plank on the 
left. He voted against amendments he probably agreed with, but he 
understood that the deal would come unraveled.
  The only thing I can tell you about Senator Kennedy, without any 
hesitation is if he told you he would do something, that is all you 
needed to hear. A handshake from him was better than a video deposition 
from most people. I do not how to say it any more directly than that.
  Opposing him was a lot of fun because he understood that a give-and-
take to move a ball forward was part of democracy, but standing your 
ground and planting your feet and telling the other side, in a 
respectful way, to go to hell, was also part of democracy. And he could 
do it with the best of them. But he could also take a punch as well as 
give one.
  So what we are missing today in the Senate is the spirit of Ted 
Kennedy when it comes to standing up for what you believe and being 
able to work with somebody who you disagree with on an issue very 
important to the country.
  If he were alive today, the health care debate would be different. 
That is not a slam on anybody involved, because this is hard. I do not 
know if he could deliver, but I think it would be different and I think 
it would be more hopeful.
  The immigration bill failed. But he told me: I have been through this 
a lot. Hard things are hard for a reason, and it will take a long time. 
He indicated to me that the immigration debate had all the emotion of 
the civil rights debate. And that was not something he said lightly.
  We sat in that room with Senator Kyl and Senator Salazar and a group 
of Senators who came and went, and the administration officials, 
Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, and Commerce Secretary Gutierrez, 
and we wrote it line by line with our staffs sitting on the wall.
  It was what I thought the government was supposed to be like in ninth 
grade civics. It was one of the highlights of my political life to be 
able to sit in that room with Senator Kennedy and other Senators and 
literally try to write a bill that was difficult.
  We failed for the moment. But we are going to reform our immigration 
system. And the guts of that bill, the balance we have achieved, will 
be the starting point for a new debate. Most of it will become law one 
day, because it is the ultimate give and take and it made a lot of 
sense.
  I say his wife Vicki, I got to know Ted later in his life. Through 
him I got to know you. I know you are hurting now. But I hope that all 
of the things being said by his colleagues and the people at large are 
reassuring to you, and that as we move forward as a Senate, when you 
look at the history of this body, which is long and distinguished, 
around here there are all kinds of busts of people who have done great 
things during challenging times.
  I will bet everything I own that Senator Kennedy, when the history of 
this body is written, will be at the top echelon of Senators who have 
ever served. The point is that you can be liberal as you want to be, 
you can be as conservative as you want to be, and you can be as 
effective as you want to be. If you want to be liberal and effective, 
you can be. If you want to be liberal and ineffective, you can choose 
that route too. The same for being conservative. You do not have to 
choose. That is what Senator Kennedy taught this body, and I think what 
he demonstrated to anybody who wants to come and be a Senator. So if 
you are a left-of-center politician looking for a

[[Page S9212]]

role model, pick Ted Kennedy. You could be liberal, proudly so, but you 
also could be effective.
  What I am going to try to do with my time up here is be a 
conservative who can be effective. That is the best tribute I can give 
to Senator Kennedy--being somebody on the right who will meet in the 
middle for the good of the country.
  Ted will be missed but he will not be forgotten.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, this corner of the Senate has become a 
lonely place. I sat next to Ted Kennedy here for a number of years. We 
miss him. We miss his camaraderie, his humor, his candor, most of all 
his courage. And though he will not be here to join us in the future, 
the things he did will last for decades because they were so powerful. 
He was a constant presence here. It is hard to imagine the Senate 
without Ted Kennedy's vibrant voice resounding throughout this floor or 
his roaring laughter spilling out of the cloakroom.
  Without doubt he was one of the finest legislators ever in this 
Chamber's history. Throughout his more than 46 years of service, Ted 
introduced 2,500 bills and shepherded more than 550 of those into law. 
He was a man of many gifts, but his greatest had to be his remarkable 
affinity for ordinary people.
  I saw that gift firsthand in 1982 when I was making my first run for 
the Senate. A rally was being held for me in Newark, NJ, and it drew a 
crowd of thousands. I wanted to think that they were there for me, but 
it was obvious that they were there for Ted Kennedy.
  The warmth, the affection with which he was received in this city far 
from the borders of Massachusetts, far from the halls of power in 
Washington, was amazing to witness. It was fitting that Ted came to 
Newark to help me campaign because he inspired me to devote myself to 
public service. He encouraged my entry into the Senate.
  As soon as I joined the Senate, Ted Kennedy became a source of 
knowledge, and information, and wisdom. He was a seatmate of mine here 
in the Senate, and freely offered ideas on creating and moving 
legislation that I thought of or sponsored.
  Even though he was born into privilege and was part of a powerful 
political family, his fight was always for the workers, for justice, 
and for those often forgotten. He was never shy to chase one down and 
demand your vote or to call you on the phone and insist on your 
support. Sometimes he would try to bring you to his side through 
reason, other times it was through righteous fury. Ted was such a 
tenacious fighter for a cause in which he believed that he would often 
put on the gloves no matter who the opponent might be.
  But he never let disagreement turn into a personal vendetta. No 
matter how bitter the fight, when it was done, he could walk across the 
Chamber ready to shake hands with his opponents, and was received with 
affection and respect.
  Despite his reputation as a divisive figure, he was at the top of the 
list of popular Senators beloved by both Republicans and Democrats. He 
carried a great sense of humor. He liked to play pranks, one of which I 
saw up close and personal. One Thursday night after a long series of 
votes, we chartered an airplane to take Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, 
Senator Claiborne Pell, and me north to join our vacationing families 
in the area.
  A week later we were here in the Chamber, and Claiborne Pell came 
over to me, hands shaking, with a letter in his hand. I looked at the 
letter. It was my stationery. On that stationery it asked for Claiborne 
Pell, a frugal man, to pay a far greater share of the total than was 
originally agreed to. I was embarrassed, mortified. I quickly declared 
that it was wrong and apologized profusely. And then I went to Ted to 
assure him that if he got a letter such as that, the letter was 
incorrect. Ted turned belligerent. He reminded me of the help he 
provided in my first election and asked: How could I nickel and dime 
him after all of that help. He turned on his heel, walked away red-
faced, and then I realized it was part of the creation of a plot to 
embarrass me. The two of us broke into laughter so loud, so 
boisterously, that the Presiding Officer demanded that we leave the 
Chamber.
  Ted Kennedy's love of life was always obvious in the Senate. Even 
though he could rise above partisan division, his life's work was 
deeply personal. It was Ted Kennedy who inherited the family legacy 
when two brothers were slain by assassins' bullets. He met that 
challenge by battling the powerful special interests to pass the Gun 
Control Act of 1968, which made it illegal for criminals and the 
mentally ill to buy guns.
  Together Ted and I joined the fight to keep our streets safe from the 
scourge of gun violence. For decades, he was a force that shaped the 
national political landscape. He crafted life-changing legislation year 
after year, always fighting to shape public opinion toward his causes. 
He believed public service was a sacred mission and the role of a 
leader was to make progress. No matter how hard, no matter how long the 
journey, he persisted.
  In fact, Ted Kennedy's signature talent was his precise, unmatched 
ability to get legislation passed. And he did that through the timeless 
requirements of this profession: preparation, integrity, fairness, 
patience, hard work, a little bit of table pounding and a profound 
respect for his colleagues and his constituents.
  I had the privilege of working with Ted Kennedy on many pieces of 
groundbreaking legislation. We worked closely on fighting big tobacco 
and their attempts to seduce children into a lifetime of addiction. We 
reached the high watermark in that struggle earlier this year, when a 
law was passed that gives the FDA the power to regulate tobacco. It was 
something we worked on together for a long time. We stood together on 
other struggles, from the creation of the Children's Health Insurance 
Program to the Ryan White Act, to the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  Think about it: Without Ted Kennedy, nearly 7 million children would 
not have health insurance. Think about it: Without Ted Kennedy, half a 
million Americans suffering with HIV would not be receiving vital 
services to cope with their disease. Think about it: Without Ted 
Kennedy, more than 60 million workers would not have the right to take 
time off from their job to care for a baby or a loved one or even 
receive personal medical treatment.
  And he did more. He gave people assurance that the government was on 
their side.
  Ted Kennedy was the guardian of opportunity. Look at his decades-long 
campaign to increase the minimum wage.
  He will forever be remembered as a leader who persevered despite some 
frailties, who remained a tower of strength despite crippling personal 
tragedy.
  Nothing symbolized his fortitude more than his first major speech on 
the Senate floor, which came on the heels of President Kennedy's 
assassination.
  Then, despite all he was facing personally, he fought for passage of 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to outlaw discrimination in employment, 
education and public accommodations.
  From there, Ted Kennedy became inextricably tied to the struggle for 
equal rights.
  He was the chief sponsor of the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
  Ted Kennedy was also a leader in the passage of the Voting Rights Act 
of 1965.
  This law abolished literacy tests at the polls and guaranteed the 
protection of all Americans' right to vote.
  In 1982, he was the chief sponsor of the Voting Rights Amendments Act 
which led the way to greater minority representation in Congress and 
state legislatures.
  That law, in no small way, made it more likely that Barack Obama 
would become President of the United States. We are grateful the last 
Kennedy brother had a chance to see America rise above racism, above 
prejudice. He had a chance, the last of the Kennedy brothers in office, 
to see President Obama take that oath. It was a proud moment for him 
and for all of us.
  As his life came to an end, Ted said he saw a new wave of change all 
around us. He promised us that if we kept our compass true, we could 
reach our destination. In the days and the weeks and the months to 
come, the years to come, decades to come, we have to keep Ted Kennedy's 
cause alive. It is the cause

[[Page S9213]]

of breaking gridlock to get things done. It is the cause of expanding 
health care as a right and not a privilege. It is the cause of bringing 
hope and justice and prosperity to all.
  We are likely never to see the likes of a Ted Kennedy again. But I am 
confident we can rise to the challenge the people's Senator set for us 
and carry on for those who remember him, for those, yes, who miss him, 
for those who loved him, and for those who will always need a champion 
like Ted Kennedy.
  Finally, if there was a demonstration of his humanity, the funeral 
tribute was one of enormous love and respect. It was enunciated 
particularly, because I road with other Senators on the bus, by the 
hoards of people standing by the curbside with signs of gratitude for 
his contribution to the life and well-being of America. We are thankful 
for that.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. I thank the Chair.
  Mr. President, on August 25, a towering figure on our national 
political landscape left us. Edward Moore Kennedy succumbed to a 
malignant brain tumor after an 18-month battle for his life. As I look 
now at his desk, draped with black cloth and covered with flowers, I 
still have difficulty believing that he is gone. My ebullient Irish-to-
the-core friend has departed this life forever. How bleakly somber. How 
utterly final. How totally unlike Ted Kennedy in life.
  Ted Kennedy in life was a force of nature--a cheerful, inquisitive, 
caring man, who never accepted somberness for long or the finality of 
anything. His energetic adherence to perseverance, his plain dogged 
determination, his ability to rise from the ashes of whatever new 
horrific event accosted him, always with grace, and usually with a 
liberal dose of humor, were his trademarks. It was almost as if Ted 
Kennedy were at the top of his form when coping with adversity. Life 
itself inspired him. He believed that life was a contact sport, but 
that it should never be played without joy in the game itself. That is 
how he saw politics as well.
  Ted Kennedy and I were friends and, yet, we were the oddest of odd 
couples. He was the scion of a wealthy and storied family. I am a coal 
miner's son who had no bottom rungs in my ladder. In earlier years we 
were rivals.
  What Ted and I discovered, though, was that somehow we had many 
things in common--a love of history; an affection for poetry; a 
fondness for dogs; a commitment to the less fortunate in our society. 
Many will speak of Ted's stunning Senate career, his huge and lasting 
impact on our culture, his domination of the political scene for so 
many, many decades. By all means, let us never forget Ted Kennedy's 
extraordinary contribution to this great country. It is largely 
unmatched.
  But I will especially cherish the personal side of this big man, with 
his infectious laugh, his booming voice, and his passion for the things 
and the people that he cared about. I will remember the dog lover who 
brought Sunny and Splash to my office to visit. I will recall a 
considerate friend who sent dozens of roses to mark my wedding 
anniversary or a special birthday. I will again enjoy a very special 
recitation of the ``Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.'' By habit, I shall 
immediately look for Ted Kennedy whenever I enter this Chamber. In a 
thousand ways large and small he will simply be deeply, deeply missed.
  My heart goes out to his steadfast wife Vickie and to his wonderful 
family. His spirit surely lives on in all of you.
  Not long ago, I picked up a book of poetry which Ted Kennedy had 
given to me in July of 1996. It bore this inscription:
  ``To Bob, the master of our legislative poetry who has already left 
so many extraordinary Footprints on the Sands of Time.'' After that, 
Ted had written, ``See page 371.''
  I close with a few stanzas from ``a Psalm of Life'' on page 371 of 
Ted's gift to me:

     Life is real! Life is earnest!
     And the grave is not its goal;
     Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
     Was not spoken of the soul.

     . . . .

     Lives of great men all remind us
     We can make our lives sublime,
     And, departing, leave behind us
     Footprints on the sands of time;

     Footprints, that perhaps another,
     Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
     A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
     Seeing, shall take heart again.

     Let us, then, be up and doing,
     With a heart for any fate;
     Still achieving, still pursuing,
     Learn to labor and to wait.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I have been very fortunate in my life 
in public service to witness a lot of historical events, but none 
parallels the tribute that was just paid by one icon of the U.S. Senate 
to another Member of the U.S. Senate.
  I rise to pay my respects to the late Senator Ted Kennedy. As one of 
my colleagues said earlier, it is a little bit ironic, when you come to 
the Senate you find out that those with whom you have significant 
political disagreements are folks you get to know well and you have the 
opportunity to work with.
  I am sure during my political campaign for the U.S. Senate Ted 
Kennedy raised me a lot of money by virtue of the fact that I would 
cite him in my fundraising mailouts because, coming from a very 
conservative part of the country, it was popular to cite the liberal 
Members of the Senate and say you needed to be there to counteract 
them. But when I came to the Senate--and certainly Senator Kennedy and 
I do come from opposite ends of the political spectrum--I learned very 
quickly from Senator Kennedy what the Senate is all about.
  I was here about, gee, it could not have been but a couple of days--
something less than 48 hours--when I was notified that I was going to 
be on the Judiciary Committee and that I would be the chairman of the 
Immigration Subcommittee on Judiciary and my ranking member would be 
Ted Kennedy.
  Senator Kennedy came to me on the floor, within a few hours of me 
being notified of that, and he said: Saxby, you and I need to sit down. 
Let's discuss some immigration issues that we want to accomplish during 
the next 2 years. I just want to talk with you about it, get your 
thoughts and give you my thoughts.
  I said: Well, sure, Ted, that will be great. I will be happy to come 
to your office and sit down with you.
  He said no. He said: Saxby, that is not the way the Senate works. You 
are the chairman. I will come to your office.
  So the next day, a Senator who had been in office for well over 40 
years came to the office of a Member of the Senate who had been here a 
little over 40 hours and sat down and had a conversation. That was a 
lesson about the way the Senate works that I will never forget.
  We began working together on the Immigration Subcommittee, and we 
worked for about a year--it was in excess of a year, I guess--on an 
issue we talked about the very first day in my office. It involved the 
expansion of the L-1/H-1B visas. At that time, our economy was booming 
and businesses across our country needed access to more employees who 
had a specialized expertise.
  We were successful in ultimately striking a compromise. It was 
difficult for Ted because the leftwing of his party was very much in 
opposition to what we were doing, and it was somewhat, although a 
little bit less, difficult for me because the rightwing of my party was 
in opposition to what we were doing.
  Ted called me up one day after we had finished our negotiations, and 
he was laughing, and he said: Saxby, I have to tell you, we have 
entered into an agreement on this, and I am going to do exactly what I 
told you I would do, but, boy, am I ever getting beat up by the far 
left in my party. They are just killing me. He said: It is to the point 
where I am up for reelection next year, and you may have to come to 
Massachusetts and campaign for me.
  We kind of laughed about that.
  Well, 2 days later, I had been besieged with phone calls from 
ultraconservative folks from my State, and I called Ted up, and I said: 
Well, Ted, you will not believe this, but I am getting beat up over 
that same issue by ultraconservatives in my party. But don't worry, I 
don't need you to come to Georgia to campaign for me.
  Well, he laughed about that like I had never heard him laugh. The 
very last conversation I had with him to

[[Page S9214]]

any extent was when he was here for President Obama's inauguration, and 
he reminded me of that story. He never forgot that.
  I also have a very fond memory of Ted by virtue of the fact that my 
grandchildren were 8 and 6 years old when I first came to the Senate, 
and we had this ice cream social out in the park across from the 
Russell building where his office was and my office is. In fact, his 
office was directly below mine. I am walking back from the ice cream 
social with my grandchildren--who were here for that because it happens 
at the same time as the White House picnic--and Ted is driving off in 
his car, and he sees me coming across with my grandchildren. He stops 
the car, gets out, and he says: Saxby, these must be your 
grandchildren.
  I said: They are.
  He said: Well, I want my dogs to see them and them have a chance to 
meet my dogs.
  So he got out of the car and got the dogs out, and my grandchildren 
just loved playing with those dogs.
  Every year after that--I never called him--he called me because he 
knew that when the White House picnic was going on, my grandchildren 
would be here, and he would insist on bringing the dogs up when the 
grandchildren were here so they would have a chance to play with them. 
That is just the kind of guy Ted was. It was a much softer side than 
what we have seen so many times with Ted with his passionate debates 
and whatnot.
  Lastly, let me mention another anecdote I will always remember. I was 
going down to speak to the Hibernian Society in Savannah, which has the 
second largest St. Patrick's Day parade in the United States. It is a 
big deal. We have about 1,000 folks who are at the Hibernian Society 
dinner that I was going to speak to. All you do is you go in and you 
tell jokes.
  Well, I needed a bunch of Irish jokes, so I called up Ted and I told 
him what I was doing, and I said: I know you must have a book of Irish 
jokes.
  He said: I do. I am going to send it to you. And he said: I will tell 
you something else you need to do. I know Savannah is a very 
conservative part of the world, and you are going to see in these jokes 
that you will have an opportunity to point out somebody to kind of poke 
fun at. He said: Every time you have an opportunity in telling these 
jokes, you use my name.
  Well, I took him at his word, and I did. And, boy, did I ever get a 
rousing welcome from all those Irish men in Savannah, GA.
  So I have very great and fond memories of a man who certainly came 
from a different part of the country than where I come from, who came 
from a very different political background than where I come from, and 
somebody who certainly had much more political experience than I will 
ever have. But the thing I appreciated in Ted Kennedy was--and I have 
said this often--he was the best legislator in this body. When Ted 
Kennedy told you something, you could take it to the bank. You never 
had to worry about it thereafter.
  While we disagreed on many things, we agreed on some things and were 
able to work together in a very unusual way. Even when we disagreed, we 
were able to walk out of this Chamber and still be friends.
  To Vicki and Patrick and the children, Ted was a great American, a 
great guy, and he is going to be missed in this body. He was a true 
inspiration to a lot of us, and we are going to miss that compromising 
aspect of Ted Kennedy that will not be here even though someone else 
will take up the mantle.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is recognized.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, as I sit here and listen to the 
remarks of my colleagues and I look over at that black velvet-draped 
desk, with the pristine white roses, and the poem by Robert Frost, and 
I think about the past 17 years I have been here and have looked up--
and perhaps it is late at night, perhaps it is in the morning, perhaps 
it is in the afternoon--and Senator Kennedy is at his desk and he is 
talking about a bill he cares a great deal about--and, as Senator 
Lautenberg had said earlier, he introduced 550 bills that became law. 
Around here, you can introduce a bill, and maybe it goes somewhere and 
maybe it does not. You can introduce a bill, and maybe it is a small 
bill, but introducing a big bill that goes somewhere, that passes the 
House and is signed by the President of the United States, is not a 
small feat.
  I listened to Senator Byrd, and in the past he has spoken about lions 
of the Senate. Ted Kennedy was a lion of the Senate.
  During 47 years--and this morning in the Judiciary Committee, we 
learned he had been the longest serving member--during 47 years, if you 
look at the big bills: the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980, which 
enabled people with mental illnesses to live in their communities with 
minimal hospital care; the Children's Health Insurance Program, which 
has been spoken about, which provided health insurance to uninsured 
children of low-income families; the commitment to health care reform 
that did not diminish even as he suffered through terminal illness; his 
dedication to education, he was a leader in the landmark Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act, which established the Federal Government's 
commitment to fund school for poor children in public schools; No Child 
Left Behind, widely hailed as the greatest example of bipartisan 
cooperation during the Bush administration; the bill he did with Orrin 
Hatch, the Serve America Act, the greatest expansion of national 
service since the New Deal--it goes on and on and on, big bills, bills 
that changed people's lives, not just in a county or a city but all 
across this great land.
  In civil rights, as you look across at that desk, he had no peers. He 
would stand up, and I would watch: The lower jaw would quiver slightly, 
and he would begin, and there would be the thunderous tones, either in 
the Judiciary Committee or here on the floor, that would fill the room, 
filled with passion, filled with conviction, filled with determination.
  He played a major role in every civil rights battle in this Congress 
for 40 years. Who else can say that? He fought for people of color, for 
women, for gays and lesbians, for those seeking religious liberty. His 
amendments to the Voting Rights Act in 1982 led to significant 
increases in minority representation in elective office. He was a major 
sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure that millions 
of disabled Americans could live productive lives. These are not small 
bills; these are big bills--the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which 
strengthened civil rights protections against discrimination and 
harassment in the workplace; again, a big bill which became law.
  I was part of that small group of Senators who met on immigration 
reform hour after hour in small hot rooms. I watched Senator Kennedy 
with his sleeves rolled back, when he would sit back and wait for just 
the right time to move or change the tenor of the discussion. True, 
that was one that was not successful, but it wasn't because he did not 
try.
  Seventeen years ago, Joe Biden asked me if I would be the first woman 
on the Senate Judiciary Committee. I had the honor of doing it. Ted 
Kennedy was No. 2 in seniority sitting on that committee. I saw his 
commitment firsthand. It was very special. You see, I was a volunteer 
in the campaign for John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I was a full-time 
volunteer for Bobby Kennedy for his campaign. I saw the Nation ripped 
apart by these double assassinations. I saw Senator Kennedy, in 
addition to being a lion in the Senate, become a surrogate father to 
nieces and nephews. I saw him accept this mantle with great enthusiasm, 
with great love, and with a commitment that spanned the decades. That 
is very special. It is a very special human dimension of a great 
individual.
  I lost my husband Bert to cancer, and I know well what the end is 
like. I know the good times that grow less and less and the bad times 
that become more and more. Ted Kennedy's life was enriched by a very 
special woman, and her name is Vicki Kennedy. For me, she is a mentor 
of what a wife should be. I have watched her sitting with him, writing 
speeches. I have watched her at weekend retreats. I have watched her 
fill his life with love, companionship, understanding.
  I know a little bit about what the last months of a cancer victim are 
like. I can only say to her that we will do everything we can in this 
body to end cancer in our lifetime.

[[Page S9215]]

  Yes, Ted Kennedy leaves very big shoes, shoes that probably will 
never be filled in quite the same way, from a family that will probably 
never be replicated.
  I wish to end my remarks with a passage in the Prayer Book of the 
High Holy Day services for Reform Judaism. It was written when I was a 
teenager by a young rabbi I very much admired, and I wish to share it 
at this time:

     Birth is a beginning and death a destination.
     And life is a journey:
     From childhood to eternity and youth to age;
     From innocence to awareness and ignorance to knowing;
     From foolishness to discretion, and then, perhaps, to wisdom;
     From weakness to strength or strength to weakness
     --and, often, back again;
     From health to sickness and back, we pray, to health again;
     From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love, from 
           joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion, and grief to 
           understanding--
     From fear to faith; from defeat to defeat to defeat--
     Until, looking backward or ahead, we see that victory lies 
           not in some high place along the way, but in having 
           made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage.
     Birth is a beginning and death a destination.
     And life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage--
     To life everlasting.

  Ted Kennedy leaves a giant legacy in this body and we should not 
forsake it.
  Thank you very much, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Udall of New Mexico). The Senator from 
Montana is recognized.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, following the passing of President John F. 
Kennedy, Senator Mike Mansfield said: ``He gave us of his love that we, 
too, in turn, might give.''
  These words ring true today as we remember the life of our late 
colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy.
  So much of this country's history in the past half century can be 
attributed to this one man. But Ted Kennedy was also a modest man, and 
he would not have put it that way.
  Speaking almost 30 years ago at the 1980 Democratic National 
Convention, he quoted Tennyson:

     I am a part of all that I have met . . .
     Tho much is taken, much abides.
     That which we are,
     we are one equal temper of heroic hearts
     Strong in will
     To strive, to see, to find
     and not to yield.

  In the more than 46 years that Senator Kennedy served this body, he 
did not yield and, in turn, he affected each and every American.
  During his career in the Senate, Senator Kennedy authored thousands 
of bills, and hundreds of them became law. From championing civil 
rights to advocating equal opportunity and higher education, to 
fighting for access to affordable health care for all Americans, 
Senator Kennedy's work has quite simply improved the quality of life 
for millions of Americans. Over the past 2 weeks we have heard many 
speak of his accomplishments.
  It didn't take long for me to realize when I came to this body, and 
more and more as each year passed, that Ted Kennedy was probably the 
greatest legislator in modern American political history. The guy was 
amazing, absolutely amazing; an inspiration for me personally to try to 
be a very good legislator. Many people have also said that. I am not 
the only one who has recognized his talents and that he is probably the 
best legislator in modern American political history.
  Let me just say why that was true for me. First of all, it was the 
passion of his convictions. His moral compass was set so true: for the 
average person, the little guy, the person who didn't have 
representation, health care, the poor, civil rights. He just believed 
so passionately, so steadfastly. His moral compass was just so firmly 
set. There is no question of what Ted Kennedy was and what he believed 
in, and it made him alive. It was his dream to fulfill the lives of the 
people he worked so hard for.
  All of us remember Ted Kennedy working so hard to fulfill his dreams. 
From his desk over here, he would stand up and he would thunder, red-
faced. He would get so involved, so passionate, speaking so loudly, 
almost shouting what he believed in. You couldn't help but know that 
here was a guy who believed what he said and, by gosh, let's listen to 
him. He also had terrific staff. Ted Kennedy's staff had him so well 
prepared. All of these briefing books--I will never forget the briefing 
books Ted took, and he read them. He studied them. He was so well 
prepared. Along with his passion was his preparation, and his staff 
just helped him prepare because they were all one team. They were 
working so closely together for the causes they believed in.
  I also was impressed and found him to be such a great legislator 
because after the speeches he believed in so thoroughly and 
passionately, he would sit down with you and start to negotiate, try to 
work out an agreement, try to work out some solution that made sense 
for him and made sense for you if you happened to be on the other side. 
It was amazing to sit and watch him work, a different demeanor, a 
different temperament. He would sit there and cajole, talk, tell jokes, 
all in good spirit, all in an attempt to try to get to the solution.
  On the one hand he would be here in the Chamber and he would be 
thundering, but in the conference room he would be saying: OK, let's 
figure out how to do this. How do we get this done? It was amazing. It 
was such a lesson to learn just watching him legislate.
  I think he is also one of the best legislators in modern American 
political history because he had such a light touch. He really cared 
individually for people, not just groups but individually. We have 
heard references to a book he gave Senator Byrd, a poetry book, and how 
Senator Kennedy would bring his dogs over to Senator Byrd's office; and 
listening to Senator Chambliss, how Senator Kennedy made sure he knew 
when Senator Chambliss's grandchildren would be here so the 
grandchildren could see his dogs. He loved his dogs and he had that 
very light touch.
  I remember not too long ago--and Senator Byrd referred to it--I think 
it was Senator Byrd's 67th wedding anniversary, and Senator Kennedy had 
the foresight and the caring to send 67 roses to Robert Byrd and Erma 
Byrd. It was one of the things he just did, as well as all the letters 
he wrote, the handwritten letters he wrote.

  Here is this wonderful guy who probably never used a BlackBerry; 
didn't know what they were. We know what they were. We use them. He 
wrote notes, hundreds of notes, thousands of handwritten notes, tens of 
thousands of handwritten notes. It was incredible. He would write a 
note to anybody at any time--just a light touch--on their birthday or 
call them on their birthday or call somebody who was in the hospital. 
He would just do that, more than any other Senator here I can think of, 
and I would venture to say probably more than most Senators combined. 
He was just that way.
  Let me give one small example. Several years ago, in my hometown of 
Helena, MT, I was at a meeting and came back late at night after the 
meeting, and my mother said: Max, Ted Kennedy called.
  Really?
  Yes, Mom said. Well, I told him you were out, but we had a nice chat, 
Ted Kennedy and I.
  What did you talk about?
  We talked about the Miles City bucking horse sale. It is an event in 
Montana that comes up every year. Ted came and rode a horse at the 
Miles City bucking horse sale back in 1960.
  A few days later I was back on the floor of the Senate, and I walked 
up to Ted and I said: Ted, I understand you talked to my mother.
  Oh, he said. Sometimes on the telephone you are talking to somebody, 
you can tell who the person is. Your mother, she is such a wonderful 
person, so gracious, on and on talking about my mother and the 
conversation the two of them had.
  They had never met before. My mother is a staunch Republican, and 
here is Ted Kennedy.
  So I went back home a few days later, and I told my mother, I said: 
Mom, Ted was sure impressed with the telephone call you had.
  Oh, gee, that is great. That is wonderful.
  My mom wrote Ted a note thanking him for being so--for praising her 
so much to me, her son, just a few days earlier.
  Well, the next thing I knew, my mother and Ted were pen pals. Ted

[[Page S9216]]

wrote a letter back to my mother, and they were back and forth and back 
and forth. I would be at a committee hearing someplace and Ted would 
say: Hey, Max, look. Here is the letter I am writing your mother. Just 
out of the blue. Basically, they were just reminiscing about Montana 
and again about the bucking horse sale, which is another reason Ted was 
such a great guy.
  He lived life so fully. He just loved life. He embraced life in all 
of the ways that life is available to a man. He was just wonderful that 
way.
  Back in 1960 when his brother was running for President, Ted was 
assigned the Western States in the 1960 Presidential campaign. So Ted 
was out in Montana, and they went to a Democratic gathering. There 
wasn't anybody there, so he went to the Miles City bucking horse sale. 
We in Miles City, MT, have this bucking event. We take these horses off 
the prairie and buck them. You bid on the horses and, obviously, the 
best bucking horses get the highest bid and go off with the rodeo 
operators and they use them.
  Anyway, the long and the short of it is, Ted was there and he went to 
the bucking horse sale and got in the booth because he wanted to speak 
on behalf of his brother. The announcer said: Well, young man, if you 
want to speak, first you have to ride a horse.
  Ted said: Why not.
  So Ted got on a horse and there is this wonderful photo of Ted at the 
Miles City bucking horse sale in Montana that somebody took. So there 
is Ted on his bronco. I don't think he made the full 8 seconds, but he 
sure had a great time on that horse.
  The long and short of it is, he is a great man for so many reasons, 
and we love Ted for all he was. Again, I think he was the greatest 
legislator I think, in modern American political history.
  I am touched by what a family man he was. As the years went by, after 
his brothers were tragically lost and all that happened in the Kennedy 
family, Ted was a rock to others in the family. He experienced so much 
and he went through so much tragedy and it has built so much character.
  Ted was more than a Senate icon who fought for causes, more than a 
voice for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As I mentioned, he was a 
loving son, brother, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, and friend. 
Working with him for the past 30 years is one of the greatest honors I 
have had as a Senator.
  Ted, as far as I am concerned, we are going to take up your last 
great cause, health care reform. We are, in the Senate, doing all we 
can to get it passed. I, personally, pledge every ounce of energy at my 
command to help get health care reform passed for all the American 
people and for Ted Kennedy.
  He was a wonderful man, and he will be sorely missed. I don't think 
there is going to be another man or woman in the Senate who will be a 
giant such as Ted Kennedy. He was that great a guy.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming is recognized.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I appreciate having this opportunity to join 
in the celebration of the life of Ted Kennedy. His loss was deeply 
personal to all of us because he was a strong and vital presence not 
only in the day-to-day work of the Senate but in our day-to-day lives 
as well. He was interested and concerned not only about his colleagues 
but our staffs and all those with whom he worked on a long list of 
issues that will continue to have an impact on our Nation for many 
generations to come. That was the kind of individual Ted was--active 
and completely involved in all things that had to do with the work of 
the Senate.
  For my part, I have lost a Senate colleague who was willing to work 
with me and with Senators on both sides of the aisle. He was my 
committee chairman and my good friend.
  For those across the country who mourn his passing, they have lost a 
trusted and treasured voice in the Senate, a champion who fought for 
them for almost 50 years.
  The political landscape of our country has now been permanently 
changed. I think we all sensed what his loss would mean to the country 
as we heard the news of his passing. Now we take this time to look back 
to the past and remember our favorite stories and instant replay 
memories of the Senator from Massachusetts.
  In the more than 12 years I have had the privilege of serving Wyoming 
in the Senate, I had the good fortune to come to know Ted on a number 
of levels. As a Senator, he was a tremendous force to be dealt with on 
the floor. If you were on his side, you knew you had a warrior fighting 
alongside you who went to battle without the slightest fear of failure 
or defeat. If you had to face him from the other side of the arena, you 
knew you had a tremendous battle on your hands because, when it came to 
the principles he believed in, no one said it better or with more 
passion or more depth of understanding of the issues involved. As a 
result, he was able to notch an impressive list of legislative 
victories.
  During his long and remarkable career, there were few initiatives 
that didn't attract his attention and his unique spirited touch that 
often turned them from faint hopes for change to dreams at long last 
come true. Whether it was an increase in the minimum wage, equal rights 
for all Americans or the effort to reform our Nation's health care 
system, which was his greatest dream, Ted operated at one speed and one 
direction--full speed ahead--and it always found him making progress on 
the task at hand.
  Over the years, I was fortunate to have an opportunity to work with 
him on a number of issues of great importance to us both. He knew what 
he had to have in a bill to get his side to agree on it, and I was 
fortunate to have a sense of what it would take to get votes from my 
side. So, together, we were able to craft several bills that we were 
able to move through committee and to the Senate floor.
  When I served as the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions Committee, the partnership we had forged over the years helped 
us to compile a record of which we were both very proud. We passed 35 
bills out of committee, and 27 of them were signed into law by the 
President. Most of them passed unanimously. I remember attending a bill 
signing during which the President remarked, ``You are the only 
committee sending me anything.'' We checked, and he was right, and that 
was due, in large part, to Ted's willingness to work with us to get 
things done.
  I will always remember two stories about Ted. One was a time when we 
were working together on a mine safety law. Nothing had been done in 
that area for almost 30 years. The average bill takes about 6 years to 
pass around here. Thanks to Ted, we got that one done in 6 weeks, and 
it has made a difference.
  Another had to do with my first legislative initiative after I 
arrived as a newly sworn-in freshman Senator. I knew Ted had quite a 
good working relationship with my predecessor, Alan Simpson. So as I 
began to work on an OSHA safety bill, I started to discuss the bill 
with Ted and other colleagues and go through it section by section. I 
knew Ted's support would be instrumental if my efforts to pass the bill 
would be successful. So I arranged to meet with him.
  Ted opened our meeting by presenting me with some press clippings he 
had collected for me about my mother's award as ``Mother of the Year.'' 
That impressed me and showed me how he kept up on anything that was of 
importance to those people he worked with--members and staff.
  Then he spent a great deal of time going over the bill with me 
section by section. He helped me to make it a winner. Although the 
bill, as a whole, didn't pass, several sections made it into law. I 
found out later that this wasn't the way things are usually done around 
here, and in all the years Ted had been in the Senate, nobody had gone 
over a bill with him a section at a time. I probably didn't need to.
  That started a friendship and a good working relationship with him we 
both cherished. I tried to be a good sounding board for him, and he 
always did the same for me. Our friendship can best be summed up when 
Ted came to my office and presented me with a photo of a University of 
Wyoming football helmet next to a Harvard football helmet, with the 
inscription, ``The Cowboys and the Crimson make a great team.'' We did, 
and I will always remember his thoughtfulness and kindness in reaching 
out to me.
  Ted was one of those remarkable individuals who made all those he

[[Page S9217]]

worked with more productive. He was a man of exceptional abilities, and 
he was blessed to have a truly remarkable helpmate by his side. Vicki 
is a woman of great strength, who brought a renewed focus and direction 
to Ted's life. She was his most trusted confidant, his best friend, and 
a wellspring of good advice and political counsel. He would have never 
been all that he was without her, and she will forever be a special 
part of his life's story.
  For the Enzis, we will always remember how thoughtful he was when my 
grandchildren were born. He was almost as excited as I was. He 
presented me with a gift for each of them that will always be a 
cherished reminder that Ted had a great appreciation for all of us, and 
he treated both Members and staff with the same kindness and concern.
  Actually, we got Irish Mist training pants for each of them as they 
were born.
  When Ted was asked, during an interview, what he wanted to be most 
remembered for, he said he wanted to make a difference for our country. 
He was able to do that and so much more. He will be missed by us all, 
and he will never be forgotten. All those who knew and loved him will 
always carry a special memory with them of how he touched their lives 
as he tried to make our Nation and the world a better place.
  Now he has been taken from us and it will always feel like it all 
happened too soon. He has a record of achievements and success that 
will probably not be matched for a long time to come. He was a special 
friend and a mentor who had a lot to teach about how to get things done 
in the Senate. I know I will miss him and his willingness to sit down 
and visit about how to get something through the Senate and passed into 
law. Now he is at peace and with God. May God bless and be with him and 
continue to watch over his family for years to come.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington is recognized.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, when I was young, Ted Kennedy was larger 
than life. I was just 12 years old when he was first elected to the 
Senate as the youngest son of a political dynasty that seemed to 
dominate the television each night in my house and the newspapers every 
day.
  At first, he served in the shadow of his older brothers. But as I 
grew up, the youngest brother of the Kennedy family did, too--in front 
of the entire Nation.
  For me and so many others, Ted Kennedy became a symbol of 
perseverance over tragedy--from his walk down Pennsylvania Avenue at 
the side of Jacqueline Kennedy, to the heart-breaking speech he 
delivered at his brother Bobby's funeral, to his pledge to carry on the 
causes of those who had championed his bid for the Presidency.
  Ted Kennedy routinely appeared before the American people with great 
courage at the most trying times. And all the while, he was also 
standing in this Chamber each day with that same grit and determination 
to fight for the people of Massachusetts and the Nation.
  On issues from protecting the environment, civil rights, increasing 
the minimum wage, and health care, he was a passionate and unmatched 
advocate and leader.
  So it was with a lifetime of watching Senator Kennedy with admiration 
from afar that I arrived here as a freshman Senator in 1993. By the 
time I was elected, Ted was already on his way to becoming one of the 
most powerful and influential Senators of all time. So I couldn't 
believe it when I first walked out onto this floor and he walked over 
to personally welcome me. For me, that would have been enough--the lion 
of the Senate reaching out to a rookie--but to Ted Kennedy it wasn't.
  Through calls to my office, discussions on the floor, and by taking 
me under his wing on the HELP Committee, he became a friend, a mentor, 
and sooner than I could have ever imagined a courageous partner on 
legislation that I cared deeply about.
  As a State senator in Washington, I had worked very hard before I got 
here to successfully change the State laws in Washington on family and 
medical leave. It was an issue that was extremely personal to me. My 
father had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when I was very 
young. Since that time, my mother had always been his primary 
caregiver. But a few years before I ran and became a Senator, my mother 
had a heart attack and had to undergo bypass surgery.
  Suddenly, my six brothers and sisters and I were faced with the 
question of who was going to take time off to care for the people we 
loved the most, the people who cared for us for so long.
  A family leave policy would have allowed any of us just a few weeks 
necessary to see them through their medical crisis. But at the time, 
none was available.
  So after running and winning and coming to the Senate, the Family and 
Medical Leave Act was a bill I wanted to stand and fight for. As it 
turned out, it was the first bill we considered.
  Senator Kennedy was here managing that bill on the Senate floor, and 
I found out that he, too, had a personal connection to that bill.
  I well remember one day when Senator Kennedy pulled me aside to tell 
me about how he had spent a lot of time with his own son in the 
hospital fighting cancer and how he met so many people at that time who 
could not afford to take time off to care for their loved ones and how 
some were forced to quit their jobs to take care of somebody they loved 
because they were sick. He told me that, together, we were going to 
work hard and get this bill passed. Then he showed this rookie how to 
do it.
  Week after week, he fought against bad amendments to get the votes we 
needed to pass it.
  He blended the right mix of patience and passion. He spoke out loudly 
in speeches when he needed to, and he whispered into the ears of 
colleagues when that was called for. A few days after Senator Kennedy 
pledged to me we would get it done, we did.
  Through that effort, and many more battles on this floor, I learned 
so much from him and so have all of us because, more than almost 
anyone, Senator Kennedy knew the Senate. He knew how to make personal 
friends, even with those he didn't agree with politically. He knew how 
to reach out and find ways to work with people to get them to 
compromise for the greater good. He knew when not to give up. He knew 
when to change the pace or turn the page to get things done. He knew 
when to go sit down next to you or pick up the phone and call you. He 
knew how to legislate. Because of that, he built an incredible legacy.
  It is a legacy that will not only live on in the Senate Chamber, 
where he was so well loved and respected; it is a legacy that will live 
on in the classrooms across America, where kids from Head Start to 
college have benefited from his commitment to opportunities in 
education; on manufacturing floors, where he fought for landmark worker 
safety protection; in our hospitals, where medical research that he 
championed is saving lives every day; in courtrooms, where the legacy 
of discrimination was dealt a blow by his years of service on the 
Judiciary Committee; in voting booths, where he fought for our most 
basic rights in a democracy to be protected and expanded for decades; 
and in so many other places that were touched by his service, his 
passion and his giant heart.
  Senator Kennedy fought for and won so many great battles. But for 
many of us who worked with him every day, it may be the small moments 
that will be remembered the most--the personal touch he brought, not 
only to legislating but to life.

  As I mentioned a moment ago, my mom had to take care of my dad for 
most of his life. His multiple sclerosis confined him to a wheelchair 
and she could not ever leave his side. One of the few and maybe the 
only time she did leave my dad is when I was elected to the Senate and 
she flew all the way from Washington State to Washington, DC, to see me 
be sworn in.
  To my mom, Ted Kennedy and his family were amazing individuals whom 
she followed closely throughout their lives, through their triumphs 
and, of course, through tragedy. After I was sworn in, and my mother 
was up in the gallery watching, we walked back through the Halls of 
Congress to my office. Shortly after that, we had a visitor. Senator 
Kennedy unexpectedly came over to my office and gave my mom a huge hug. 
I will never forget the look on her face, the tears in her eyes,

[[Page S9218]]

the clear disbelief that she had met Ted Kennedy, and it was 
overpowering. It was a moment with my mom I will never forget, and it 
is certainly a moment I will never forget with my friend Ted Kennedy.
  I am going to miss him. I know our country is going to miss him. But 
as he reminded us in his courageous speech that he delivered last 
summer in Denver, the torch has been passed to a new generation, and 
the work begins anew.
  So today, as we honor all of his contributions to the Senate and the 
Nation, we must also remember to heed that brave final call and 
continue his fight for all of those who cannot fight for themselves.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, I thank my friend and colleague 
Senator Murray for her heartfelt words, and all of my colleagues. The 
love we all felt and feel for Ted Kennedy is genuine. It is person to 
person because that is how he was.
  There is so much to say. I know we are limited in time. We could 
speak forever. I think every one of us could speak forever about Ted 
Kennedy because he had so many interactions with each of us. It is 
amazing that every person in this body has a long list of stories and 
thousands of people in Massachusetts and thousands more throughout 
America. One would think there were 20 Ted Kennedys. He had so much 
time for the small gesture that mattered so much, such as the hug, 
going out of his way to go to a reception and hug Patty Murray's mom. 
It happened over and over again. So we could each speak forever.
  I know time is limited, my colleague from Oregon is waiting. We are 
going to shut off debate soon and others want to speak. I will touch on 
a few things.
  I could speak forever about Ted Kennedy. I thought of him every day 
while he was alive; I think of him every day that he is gone. I had a 
dream about him the other night where typically he was taking me around 
to various places in Boston and explaining a little bit about each one 
with a joke, with a smile, with a remembrance.
  There is also nothing we can say about Ted Kennedy because nothing is 
going to replace him. No words can come close to equaling the man.
  You read about history and you read about the great people in the 
Senate--the Websters, the Clays, the LaFollettes, the Wagners. What a 
privilege it was for somebody such as myself, a kid from Brooklyn whose 
father was an exterminator, never graduated from college, to be in the 
presence and was actually a friend to a great man. I don't think I can 
say that about anyone else. It is amazing.
  What I want to tell the American people--you all read about him. 
There were the good times and the bad times and the brickbats that were 
thrown at him, not so much recently but in the early days. But here in 
the Senate, when you get to know people personally and when you are in 
our walk of life, being a Senator, you get to know a lot of people 
personally. You get to meet a lot of famous people. Some of them, 
frankly, are disappointing. The more you see them the less you want to 
know them. But with Ted Kennedy, the more you got to see him, the 
closer you got, the better he looked.
  He had flaws, but he was flawless. He was such a genuine person and 
such a caring person and such an honorable and decent man that I wish 
my children had gotten to know him, that my friends had gotten to know 
him, that all of my 19 million constituents had gotten to know him a 
little bit the way I did.
  What a guy. There are so many stories and so many memories. One day 
Ted and I sat next to each other--I used to sit over there. I think it 
was one of the vote-aramas, a long session. We occasionally would go up 
to his hideaway to talk. I said: Why don't we bring some of the 
freshmen. This was a couple of years ago. I regret that you, Mr. 
President, and the Senator from Oregon in the class of 2008 did not 
have that experience. We would go up to his hideaway, and he would 
regale us with stories. He would talk about the pictures on the wall 
and tell each person in caring detail what each picture meant, what 
each replica meant. He would tell jokes and laugh. His caring for each 
person in that room, each a new freshman, was genuine, and they knew 
it. We would go up regularly. It sort of became a thing, freshman 
Members of the Senate. Ted didn't need them. He could get whatever he 
had to get done and they would support him. But he cared about them as 
if they were almost family.
  Whenever we had a late night, we would sort of gather--I would be the 
emissary and I would go over to Ted and say: Can we go upstairs? Of 
course. Amy Klobuchar, Sherrod Brown, Claire McCaskill, Bobbie Casey--
their faces would light up, and there we would go to hear more stories 
about the past, the Senate, the individuals. It is a memory none of us 
will forget.
  Ted Kennedy would size people up early on, and he would care about 
them. He was very kind to me, but he also knew I was the kind of guy 
you had to put in his place a little bit. I would get hazed by Ted 
Kennedy. Jay Rockefeller told me he went through the same thing when he 
got here. He knew who I was but would deliberately not mention my name. 
He would be standing there saying: Senator Mikulski, you will do this, 
and Senator Harkin, you will do this; Senator Conrad, you will do 
this--I was the last one--and the others will do this. It was fun. He 
did it with a twinkle in his eyes. We loved, he and I, the give and 
take, Brooklyn-Boston.
  The first year I was here, the Red Sox were playing the Yankees in 
the playoffs. Ted and I made a bet. He said: The loser will have to 
hold the pennant of the winning team over his head and recite ``Casey 
at the Bat'' on Capitol Hill. We had a bet. The Yankees won. I went 
over to him--and he was feigning fear, this man who had been through 
everything. When we went out on the steps, he was hiding behind me. I 
have a picture of it on my wall. We were joking and laughing. And then 
he did his duty.
  I was only a freshman Senator, sort of like Patty or anybody else. He 
went out of his way for all of us. He would tell me to remember the 
birthdays and the individual happenings in each person's life, in each 
Senator's life, and go over and say something to them. It was his way 
of teaching me. It was done like a father. An amazing person.
  As I said, the closer you got to him, the better he looked. As a 
legislator and as a giant in our history--and all the history books 
record it--people have referred to all his accomplishments. But I want 
to share with people how it was in person, one on one. You could be a 
Senator or you could be two guys on a street corner. He was fun and he 
was caring and he was loving. He was a big man, but his heart was much 
bigger than he was.
  He loved almost everybody. He saw the good in people and brought it 
out. He saw the faults in people, and in a strong but gentle way tried 
to correct them. He was great on the outside, and he was even more 
great on the inside.
  Again, I see my colleagues are waiting. I will part with this little 
memory that I will never forget. Ted and I became good friends. We 
spent time together in many different ways. When he got sick, I felt 
bad, like we all did. I would call him every so often. This was October 
of last year. He was ill, but he was still in strong health. I called 
him a couple of days before it was October. I said: We have a DSCC 
event a couple days from now in Boston. I thought I would call and say 
hello, let him know I was going to be in his State, his territory.

  He said: What are you doing before the event? He said: Why don't you 
come out to the compound at Hyannis. I did. He picked me up at the 
airport. I flew in on a little plane. I will never forget, he had his 
hat on. He was happy as could be pointing out everything, full of vim 
and vigor.
  It is obvious why the man was not afraid of death. When you know 
yourself and you know you have done everything as he did on both a 
personal basis and as a leader, you are not afraid of death. Anyway, he 
was not at all talking about that.
  We were supposed to go out sailing, but it was too windy. So we had 
lunch--he, Vicki, and I--clam chowder and all the usual stuff. Then he 
said: I want to show you something. He lived in the big house on the 
compound, the one you see in the pictures. He took me to the house by 
the side. That was the house where President Kennedy lived because when 
President Kennedy was

[[Page S9219]]

President, Joseph P. Kennedy, Ted's father, lived in the big house.
  For about 3 hours, he opened all these drawers and closets, things on 
the walls, and with each one in loving, teaching detail talked to me 
about the history of the family and of Boston, what happened from Honey 
Fitz, the mayor, through his father and Ted growing up in all these 
pictures laughing and reminiscing, and then about President Kennedy as 
he was growing up, and then as President in this little house and 
through to Ted. He was sort of passing on the memories. He did it again 
out of generosity, spirit, love, and friendship.
  As I say, he was a great man and every one of us knows his greatness 
was not only in the public eye but in the private one on one. A great 
man. The term is overused. There are not many. He was one. I was 
privileged to get to know him, to get to be his friend, to stand in 
that large shadow, learn from him, enjoy it, and to love him.
  So, Ted, you will always be with us. They may take those flowers off 
that desk and they may take the great black drape off the desk, but you 
will always be here for me, for all of us, and for our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown). The Senator from Oregon is 
recognized.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise today to remember and honor our 
colleague Senator Edward Kennedy. I first had the pleasure of hearing 
Senator Kennedy speak in 1976. I wanted to come out to Washington, DC, 
to see how our Nation operated. I had the great privilege of serving as 
an intern for a Senator from my home State, Senator Hatfield. My father 
had always talked about Senator Kennedy as someone who spoke for the 
disenfranchised, someone who spoke for the dispossessed, someone who 
cared about the working man. So I was looking forward to possibly 
meeting him or at least hearing him, when lo and behold, I found out he 
was scheduled to speak as part of a series of lectures to the interns 
that summer. So I made sure to get there early, and what followed was 
exactly the type of address you might anticipate--a roaring voice, a 
passionate spirit, a principled presentation of the challenges we face 
to make our society better. I walked out of that lecture and thought: 
Thank goodness--thank goodness--we have leaders like Senator Kennedy 
fighting for the working people, the challenged, the dispossessed in 
our society.

  Through that summer, each time I heard Senator Kennedy was on the 
Senate floor I tried to slip over and go up to the staff section so I 
could sit in and see a little bit of the lion of the Senate in action. 
During that time I never anticipated that I would have a chance to come 
back and serve in the Senate with Senator Kennedy. But 33 years later, 
this last January, when I was sworn in, that unanticipated, miraculous 
event of serving with him occurred.
  I wanted to talk to him about the possibility of joining his Health, 
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee--a committee where so many 
battles for working Americans, so many battles for the disenfranchised 
Americans are waged. So with some trepidation I approached him on the 
Senate floor to speak with him and asked if he thought I might be able 
to serve on that committee, if he might whisper in the ear of our 
esteemed majority leader in that regard, if he thought I might serve 
well. It was with some pleasure that weeks later I had a message on my 
phone in which he went on at some length welcoming me to that 
committee. That was the first committee to which I received an 
assignment here, and I couldn't have been more excited and more 
pleased.
  I didn't have a chance to have a lot of conversations with Senator 
Kennedy. I was very struck when a bit more than a month ago his staff 
contacted me and said, in conversation with Senator Kennedy, they were 
wondering if I might like to carry on the torch on the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, a civil rights measure he cared a great deal about. 
They were asking me because it was a battle I had waged in the Oregon 
Legislature. It had been a hard battle, fought over a number of years, 
and a battle we had won.
  I was more than excited, more than honored to help carry the torch on 
such an important civil rights measure, and I hope I will be able to do 
that in a way he would have been satisfied and pleased.
  The Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer, talked about the many 
conversations that took place in Senator Kennedy's hideaway with 
freshmen Senators and the stories that were passed on. I didn't get to 
share much in those types of conversations, but as we were working on 
health care, Senator Kennedy invited a group of us to his hideaway to 
brainstorm. Through the course of about 2 hours we went through many of 
the features and many of the challenges and how we might be able to go 
forward and finally realize that dream of affordable, accessible health 
care for every single American.
  When the meeting concluded, I had a chance to speak with Senator 
Kennedy about the picture he had on his wall of his beautiful yacht--
the Maya. Senator Kennedy and I both have a passion for sailing. It 
connected us across the generation, it connected us from the west coast 
to the east coast, it connected us between the son of a millwright and 
the son of a U.S. ambassador. It was magic to see the twinkle in his 
eye as he started to talk of his love of sailing and some of the 
adventures he had on various boats over time and with family.
  I asked him if he was familiar with one of my favorite stories--an 
autobiography written by CAPT Joshua Slocum. Joshua Slocum had been 
raised in a large family and, to my recollection, a family of no great 
means. He had gone to sea when he was a young boy--as a cabin boy or a 
deckhand--and he learned to sail the tall sheets. Over time he advanced 
through the ranks until eventually he was the captain of a merchant 
tall-masted ship. He had amassed some considerable amount of investment 
and value and loaned to share that ship. When the ship went down, he 
lost everything. He saved his life, but he lost all of his possessions.
  He was up in New England wrestling with how to overcome this tragedy 
and what to do with his life, and Captain Slocum had a colonel of an 
idea. He was offered the gift of a ship. Not really a ship, a modest 
boat between 20 and 30 feet long, single-masted. He later overhauled it 
and added an after-mast. But he thought: I can rebuild this ship. He 
said he rebuilt it, in his story, Captain Slocum. He rebuilt it all but 
the name. The Spray stayed from the beginning to the end. He rebuilt it 
and went to sea to fish. But it wasn't much to his liking, and so 
Captain Slocum had an idea that he was going to perhaps sail around the 
world.
  He thought: Why not just sail right out across the Atlantic. It was a 
revolutionary idea because no one had ever tried to sail around the 
world by themselves, just a single person. But he set off and he went 
to Europe.
  I tell you this story at some length because Senator Kennedy knew 
this story well, and we enjoyed sharing pieces of it back and forth.
  He had gone forth in 1895 and taken 3 years to circumnavigate the 
globe and came back to New England 3 years later, in 1898. So this was 
well more than a century ago, and people around the world were 
astounded to see him sail into a harbor all by himself having crossed 
the broad expanse of an ocean.
  In some ways, the life of Captain Slocum represents a version of the 
life of Senator Kennedy--someone who faced great adversity, who faced 
great tragedy, but looked at all of it and said: I am going to go 
forward. I am going to go forward and do something bold, something 
important. For Senator Kennedy, it wasn't literally sailing around the 
world but it was sailing through a host of major issues that affect 
virtually every facet of our lives--certainly the issue of public 
service, the National Service Act, the issue of mental health and the 
issue of health care and the issue of education.
  Others who have served with him have spoken in far greater detail and 
more eloquently than I ever could, but I just want to say to Senator 
Kennedy: Thank you for your life of service. Thank you for overcoming 
adversity to undertake a bold journey, a journey that has touched every 
one of our lives. Thank you for reaching out to converse with this son 
of a mill worker from Oregon who felt so privileged to be on the

[[Page S9220]]

floor of the Senate and to have had just a few months with this master 
of the Senate and who will hopefully carry forward some of the passion 
and the principle he so embodied.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia is recognized.
  (The remarks of Mr. Isakson are printed in today's Record under 
``Morning Business.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from North Dakota is 
recognized.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to remember our colleague, 
Senator Kennedy. There is a newspaper in the cloakroom that has Ted's 
picture, and it has a quote from Ted. It reads this way:

       Since I was a boy, I have known the joy of sailing the 
     waters off of Cape Cod. And for all my years in public life, 
     I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of 
     liberty and justice for all.

  He went on to say:

       There is no end to that journey, only the next great 
     voyage.

  I like to think that Ted is on that next great voyage now. What a 
man.
  I remember so well being elected in 1986 to the Senate and being 
sworn in in 1987. I held a reception in a little restaurant close by 
with friends and family from North Dakota. I will never forget it. It 
was packed. You couldn't move; so many people had come from North 
Dakota to be with me, family members from all over the country, and a 
cousin of mine came up to me, so excited, and he said to me: Senator 
Kennedy is here. I hadn't known he was coming. But that was so typical 
of Ted, reaching out to the most junior of us because he knew what his 
presence would mean. My family had been longtime supporters of the 
Kennedys, and it meant so much to my family for him to be there that 
day. That was so typical of him, taking time to do things he knew would 
mean a lot to others, even when it was inconvenient for him.
  The thing I remember and will remember most about Ted is his 
humanity: that smile, that twinkle in his eye, that kind of mischievous 
grin that would come over his face when he would be commenting on what 
was going on here, late at night sometimes--you know this place defies 
description. Yet he always maintained that sense of humor, that joy in 
life. He communicated it. He made all of us feel as if we were part of 
something important, something big.
  When somebody in this Senate family had a problem, had a challenge, 
had a medical issue, very often Ted was the first to call. I had 
someone in my family who had health issues, and somehow Ted found out 
and kind of sidled up to me one day on the floor and said: You know, I 
heard you have somebody who has a serious health issue. I suppose you 
already have doctors, but if you are looking for additional assistance 
or a second opinion and you want to find people who are experts in this 
area, I would be glad to help. That was Ted Kennedy, over and over 
reaching out to others, trying to help, trying to provide 
encouragement, trying to provide the lift. That was Ted.
  I remember so well about a decade ago when we were engaged in 
legislation on tobacco, we had a circumstance in which there was an 
important court decision and there had to be laws passed to deal with 
it. I was asked to lead a task force here in the Senate to try to bring 
together different sides to deal with that legislation. Of course, for 
a long time Ted Kennedy had been a leader on those issues, as was 
Senator Frank Lautenberg, and there were others as well. Ted far 
outstripped me in seniority. Yet I was asked to lead this task force. 
He came to me and said: Sign me up as a soldier in your effort. We had 
dozens of meetings, and Ted was always there, pitching in, helping to 
make a difference even when he was not the person leading the effort--
it was somebody much more junior. Of course, he had many other 
responsibilities, but over and over, coming up, stepping up, helping 
out.
  There was nothing small about Ted Kennedy. He had big plans, big 
ambitions, big hopes, and a big spirit. He was always reaching out to 
even the most junior of us, to help out, to connect, to be supportive, 
and to show how much he cared about what we were doing and to give us a 
sense of how we were fitting into making history. Ted also had a big 
view, a big view of the importance of the role of the Senate in making 
history and a sense of how critically important the decisions were that 
were being made in this Chamber. There was nothing small about Ted 
Kennedy.
  When he was engaged in negotiations--I will never forget him saying 
to me: Keep your eye on what is possible. Keep your eye on what is 
possible. You know, we might want to accomplish more, but take what you 
can get to advance the cause, to make progress, to improve the human 
condition, to make this a better place. That is what Ted Kennedy had in 
mind.
  I want to close. I see colleagues who are here wishing to speak as 
well.
  My favorite lines from a speech by Ted Kennedy are from the 1980 
convention, when he closed with these words:

       For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work 
     goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the 
     dream shall never die.

  Ted, the dream will never die. You are always in our thoughts.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan is recognized.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to be here 
with colleagues, and I so appreciate the words of the Senator from 
North Dakota and those of the Senator from New York and all of our 
other colleagues who have been here, talking about our friend and 
colleague, the great Senator from Massachusetts.
  I think for me, being in my second term and still a relative newcomer 
here, one of the greatest honors of my life was the opportunity to work 
and become friends with Senator Ted Kennedy.
  I often have been asked what was the most surprising or exciting 
thing about being in the Senate. I always referred to Ted Kennedy, not 
only knowing him and the larger-than-life way he has been described, 
which was also true, but for me the images are of sitting in a small 
room going over amendments on the Patients' Bill of Rights when I was 
in my first term and having the great Ted Kennedy--not his staff but 
Ted Kennedy--sitting in a room with advocates talking about how we 
needed to mobilize and get people involved and what we needed to do to 
get votes or how to write something--doing the work behind the scenes.
  Ted Kennedy, because of who he was--his family, his certainly great 
leadership and knowledge, and his length of time here--could have 
simply stood on the floor and made eloquent speeches, which he always 
did--the booming voice in the back that would get louder and louder as 
he became more involved in what he was talking about--he could have 
just done that, and that would have been an incredible contribution to 
the Senate. But that is not what he did. He was as involved behind the 
scenes in getting things done, more so than in the public eye. He 
worked hard and showed all of us an example of someone who was 
dedicated to the details, to the advocacy as well as to what was 
happening on the floor of the Senate. It was a very important lesson 
for all of us.
  As chair of the Steering and Outreach Committee for our Senate 
majority, one of my responsibilities is to bring people with various 
interests together, usually on a weekly basis, to meet with Members on 
issues from education to health care, clean energy, civil rights, 
veterans. People always wanted to have Ted Kennedy in the room. Again, 
as a very senior Member with tremendous responsibilities, chairing the 
HELP Committee and all of the other responsibilities he had, he could 
have easily said to me: You know, I am just not going to be able to do 
that. We will have more junior Members come and join in these meetings. 
But he came, over and over again.
  One of the things we joked about all the time was that he would see 
me coming and say: I know, there is a meeting tomorrow. I will be 
there.
  He was someone who gave his all at every moment. He also understood 
that people needed and wanted to see him, to hear him, and the 
important leadership role he had here. It was important to people. And 
he treated everyone the same.
  He was committed to a vision of making America the best it could be, 
where every child would have the chance to grow up and be healthy, 
succeed in life, have a job, at the end of life a pension and 
retirement, and be able to live with dignity. His service

[[Page S9221]]

was great, but his legacy is even greater.
  I believe his challenge to each of us is even greater. It is true 
that nearly every major bill that passed in the last 47 years bears 
some mark from Senator Ted Kennedy--the Civil Rights Act; the Voting 
Rights Act; Meals for the Elderly; the Women, Infants and Children 
Nutrition Program; the Violence Against Women Act; title IX, which is 
giving so many women and girls the opportunity to participate and move 
through education's highest levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court, 
as well as the wonderful athletic abilities we have seen; the 
Children's Health Insurance Act; AmeriCorps; the National Health 
Service; the American Health Parity Act; legislation to allow the FDA 
to regulate tobacco; the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Act; the 
Americans with Disabilities Act--it goes on and on. These are just a 
few of the hundreds of bills Senator Kennedy sponsored or cosponsored 
during his time in the Senate, and each and every one of those bills 
made America a little bit better.
  His commitment to achieve the best for America, for every child, 
every family, every worker was unmatched. We have lost the lion of the 
Senate, and he will be sorely missed. Personally, I have lost a friend, 
someone for whom I had the highest personal respect and someone I cared 
deeply about as a person.
  To Vicki, to the family, we give our love and affection and thanks 
for sharing him with us. In his maiden speech in the Senate, Senator 
Kennedy spoke of his brother's legacy. Today, the same words can be 
spoken about him. If his life and death had a meaning, it was that we 
should not hate but love one another. We should use our powers not to 
create the conditions of oppression that lead to violence but 
conditions of freedom that lead to peace.
  Ted, we will miss you.
  Mr. BURRIS. Mr. President, it is with a heavy heart that I take to 
the floor of the U.S. Senate today. For each of the past 46 years, this 
Chamber has rung with the words of a man who came to be known as the 
lion of the Senate. But today, that familiar voice has fallen silent.
  For the first time in half a century, this Senate returns to its work 
without Edward M. Kennedy. With his passing, our country has lost a 
true giant--a compassionate public servant who became a legend in his 
own time, a man whose legacy is bound up in the history of the U.S. 
Senate, whose life and works have touched everyone in America since the 
day he entered public service almost 50 years ago.
  Over the course of his career, he influenced more legislation than 
just about anyone in history. He argued passionately for voting rights 
and helped extend the promise of our democracy to a new generation. He 
spoke out in defense of our Constitution and the principles of fairness 
we hold so dear. Time and again, he raised his booming voice on behalf 
of the less fortunate. He protected the rights and interests of the 
disabled. He extended health insurance coverage to children and fought 
to improve the American health care system, a struggle that would 
become the cause of his life. But perhaps his greatest single 
achievement came early in his career when he stepped to the center of 
the national debate and led the fight against segregation. He became a 
champion of the civil rights movement, lending his full compassion to a 
difficult and divisive issue.
  Today, we live in a nation that is more free, more fair, and more 
equal because of Edward Kennedy. He was the single most effective U.S. 
Senator of our time. He did more good for more people than anyone in 
the Senate has known before. And it will be a very long time before we 
see the likes of him again. Ted Kennedy reminded us of the greatness 
that lives in our highest aspirations. He enjoyed wonderful triumphs 
and endured terrible tragedy. Through it all, he taught us to keep the 
fire burning, to confront every challenge with passion and hope and 
with undying faith in the country we love so much.
  He reached across the aisle time and again. When everyone said 
compromise was impossible, Ted Kennedy did the impossible. When 
partisan politics divided conservatives from liberals and Republicans 
from Democrats, Ted Kennedy was always there to bring us together in 
the service of the American people.
  I first met Ted Kennedy in 1962 when his brother was President and 
Ted was a young man running for the U.S. Senate. I was a legal intern 
at the White House and a second-year law student at Howard University. 
For me, the chance to serve the Kennedy administration--and meet all 
three Kennedy brothers--was a remarkable and inspiring part of my early 
career in public service.
  I had the good fortune to meet Senator Kennedy one more time when I 
was running for reelection as state comptroller of the State of 
Illinois, having become the first African American ever elected 
statewide to office in my State. I was up for reelection, and I had a 
major fundraiser and I needed a big draw to come and help me raise 
funds.
  Someone said: Well, there is a Senator from Massachusetts named Ted 
Kennedy. He will come and help you.
  I said: No, no Senator of his caliber would come down to our capital 
for a fundraiser for a person who is running for State comptroller.
  Needless to say, I contacted the Senator's office. Without 
hesitation, Senator Ted Kennedy appeared at the fundraiser in our State 
capital to help me maintain my seat as State comptroller.
  During that same time, we had a little tragedy taking place that 
evening when our 15-year-old son in Chicago had been admitted to the 
hospital, and it was a question of whether I would be there at the 
fundraiser or go to Chicago to be with my son because my wife, his 
mother, was in Minnesota. So Senator Kennedy understood the dilemma but 
went on with the fundraiser. We got our son taken care of, but after my 
son was out of the hospital and home, guess who I got a call from days 
later wondering how my son was doing? It was Ted Kennedy. You just 
don't see a man of this caliber each and every day in this country.
  After I came to the U.S. Senate myself, I had the honor to serve with 
Ted only briefly. In all the time I knew Senator Kennedy, I came to see 
him as more than a living legend, more than a senior statesman, more 
than the lion he had become. For me, and for all who were fortunate 
enough to meet him over the years, he was a genuine human being, a 
remarkable ally, and a compassionate friend. He displayed nothing but 
kindness and respect for everyone he met, from his good friends to his 
bitter opponents.
  But for his many accomplishments and for all that he accomplished 
over the course of a lifetime in public service, there was at least one 
victory that eluded him. As I address this Chamber today, we stand on 
the verge of health care reform only because we are standing on Ted 
Kennedy's shoulders.
  And when the time comes, I plan to honor his legacy and pay tribute 
to his service by casting the vote he did not live long enough to see.
  When Senator Kennedy departed this life on August 25, he left more 
than an empty desk in this Senate Chamber. He left a fight for us to 
finish--a standard for us to bear. Long ago, he picked up the legacy of 
his fallen brothers and carried it forward into a new century.
  Ronald Reagan once said:

       Many men are great, but few capture the imagination and the 
     spirit of the times. The ones who do are unforgettable.

  He was talking about President Kennedy. But his words ring just as 
true when applied to John Kennedy's youngest brother.
  They speak to Ted's enormous vitality--to his towering impact on the 
lives of so many for so long. He is gone now, but his presence lingers 
in these halls.
  In the many Senators to whom he has been a friend and mentor, in the 
dedication, faith, and love of country that he inspired, in the wood 
and stone and soul of this Senate Chamber, his legacy is very much 
alive.
  Now, that legacy has been passed to each of us. And it is time to 
take up the standard once again. This is a moment to look to the 
future, not the past--to meet difficult problems with bold solutions.
  As the Lion of the Senate told us 1 year ago, at the Democratic 
National Convention:

       The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream 
     lives on.


[[Page S9222]]


  Mr. President, no single voice can fill this Chamber as his once did. 
But together, we can carry this refrain.
  Mr. President. I yield the floor.
  Mr. BROWN. I heard the eloquent speeches of Senators Stabenow, 
Schumer, Conrad, and Senator Merkley also about Senator Kennedy.
  I wish to tell two quick stories about him. I had the pleasure of 
serving on his committee from 2007 on. But early in my first year in 
the Senate, the Senators, as some know around the country, certainly 
all Members of the Senate know, we choose our desks on the Senate floor 
by seniority. And so in the first month or so of 2007, the freshmen, 
the other 9 Members of my class, the 10 of us were choosing our seats 
on the Senate floor. You can look around the Senate Chamber. There is 
no bad place to sit.
  I heard from a senior Member that Senators carve their names in their 
desk drawers; sort of like high school, perhaps. So I began to pull the 
drawers open in some of the desks that had not yet been chosen. I 
pulled open this drawer, and it had Hugo Black of Alabama, who was 
FDR's favorite Southern Senator, who introduced legislation for the 8-
hour workday, making President Roosevelt's 8-hour workday bill seem a 
little less radical, and successfully made its way through the Senate; 
Senator Green from Rhode Island, who came here in the 1960s and served 
more than two decades; Senator Al Gore, Sr., from Tennessee. And then 
it just said ``Kennedy,'' without a State and without a first name. So 
I asked Ted to come over, and I said: Ted, which brother is this?
  He said: It's Bobby's desk, I have Jack's desk.
  And I, of course, fell in love with this desk and got the opportunity 
to have sat here for the last 3 years.
  The other real quick story about Senator Kennedy; I know Senator Kyl 
is scheduled to speak. I and others were invited, from time to time, to 
go up to his study just off the Senate floor, one floor above us 
outside the Chamber, and to talk to him and hear him tell stories late 
in the evening as we were voting sometimes until midnight or 1 or 2.
  What struck me about his study were the photos on the wall. The 
photos were pictures we all recognized: President Kennedy, Joe Kennedy, 
Rose Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver; all 
the people whom we recognized.
  But Ted Kennedy said to us: These are my family photos.
  These were people we recognized in the photos, but I had never seen 
those photos, none of us had. These were not the photos in LIFE 
magazine; these were the photos of the Kennedy family.
  But what impressed me about that was they were the Kennedys at 
Hyannis Port, the Kennedys sailing, the Kennedys in the Capitol, the 
Kennedys at the White House. What impressed me was Ted Kennedy so 
easily could have given up; he could have gone back to a very easy 
life, particularly after the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968. 
Ted had been in the Senate for 6 years. It would have been so easy for 
him to walk away from this job, from this kind of life, from the danger 
he faced.
  Instead, he stayed and he fought. He had everything anybody could 
hope for in life. He had a loving family who cared so much about him. 
He had all the wealth he needed and the lifestyle so many would have 
been so tempted by. But, instead, he stayed and served right up until 
his death.
  That says to me everything I love about Ted Kennedy and everything we 
all should need to know about Senator Kennedy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown.) The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KYL. I would say to my colleague from Ohio, I commented on the 
same point. It is pretty obvious Senator Kennedy could have, because of 
who he was, done just about anything.
  He certainly would not have had to work as hard as he did. But I have 
never known a harder working Senator than Senator Kennedy.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to my friend, our 
colleague, civil rights icon of the Senate, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 
our lion in the Senate. I have lost someone who has been a mentor, a 
friend, and one of my heroes. The Nation has lost a great leader. To 
his family, he was a rock. To his wife Vicki, his children, Kara, 
Edward, Ted, Jr., and Patrick, my former colleague when I was in the 
House, and to his sister Jean and the entire Kennedy family, we extend 
our deepest condolences. To his Senate colleagues and his constituents 
in Massachusetts, he was a beacon of hope and perseverance for a better 
day in America.
  When I came to the Senate in 2007, I was frequently asked during my 
first year--I am sure the Presiding Officer has been asked this by 
people in his State--what is the highlight, what is difference, what 
makes this place a special place? What did you find different in the 
Senate than you did in the House? The example I gave during my first 
month in the Senate, when I was sitting by myself on the floor of the 
Senate, Senator Kennedy came by and sat next to me. He said: Do you 
mind if we talk for a moment? He sat next to me, a new Member of the 
Senate, and he said: Ben, can you tell me what you think we should be 
doing in health care? He wanted my views. He was looking to find out 
what this new Senator from Maryland thought was possible in health care 
reform. That was Senator Kennedy. Senator Kennedy engaged each Member 
of the Senate to find a common denominator to move forward in solving 
the major problems of America. It was truly a unique experience for me 
to see one of the most senior Members of the Senate, a person known 
internationally for his legislative skills, seek out a new Member.
  I remember one of my constituents asking me during my first year as 
to which Senator I most admire for his or her work ethic. I said 
immediately: Senator Kennedy. They were taken aback because they didn't 
realize that this senior Senator, this person who had served for over 
40 years in the Senate, was a person who dedicated every day to doing 
his very best. Whether it was working with staff or meeting with 
Members or working his committee or making a speech on the floor of the 
Senate, his work ethic was one of not wasting a single moment in order 
to deal with the Nation's problems.
  Senator Kennedy served for 46 years in the Senate and had a 
tremendous impact on the issues that have shaped our Nation for almost 
a half century. He authored over 2,500 pieces of legislation. All 
Americans have been touched by Senator Kennedy's work. He dedicated his 
life to the nameless, the poor, and the minority voices in America, and 
that dedication is legendary. He has touched the lives of all Americans 
by his work in the Senate, whether it was what he did for voting rights 
or improving educational opportunities, dealing with the rights of 
immigrants, minimum wage laws, national service, help for the mentally 
ill, equality for women, minorities, the disabled, children, the gay 
and lesbian community. The list goes on and on. He was there fighting 
for those who otherwise would not have had a voice in our government. 
He did it whether it was popular or not in the State or Nation. He was 
true to his principles. The list goes on and on of what he did.
  I had the great pleasure of serving with him on the Judiciary 
Committee for 2 years. What a legacy he has created on that committee. 
It was a great honor for me to be able to serve those 2 years on the 
committee with him and to listen to him engage. There has been no 
greater Senator on the Judiciary Committee to fight on behalf of civil 
rights than Senator Kennedy.
  He was clearly the conscience of the Senate, to make sure we used 
every opportunity to advance the rights of all Americans so they could 
achieve their best. He was a legislator's legislator. He had a gift. He 
had the ability to work across party lines and get work done.
  He believed in progress and doing the right thing. He had a voice 
that carried through the halls of the Senate with such passion and yet 
with such grace.
  Senator Kennedy once said:

       We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe 
     that all of us will live in the future we make.

  Senator Kennedy stood for and fought for a better America--even when 
it was not the popular thing to do. Senator Kennedy stayed true to his 
principles throughout his entire life.

[[Page S9223]]

  With great loss and much sadness, I give much thanks for his service, 
his friendship, and his dedication. Senator Edward Kennedy will never 
be forgotten.
  I thank my dear friend, Senator Kennedy, for the contributions he 
made to this institution, the U.S. Senate, where I now have the great 
honor of serving the people of Maryland. Senator Kennedy's legacy will 
live forever, and we thank him for his service to our Nation.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to my friend 
from Massachusetts, Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, who improved the 
lives of so many people during his 46 years of service in the Senate. 
My warm aloha and prayers continue to be with Vicki Kennedy, staff 
members, the Kennedy family, and his many friends.
  Senator Kennedy's extraordinary life-long commitment to public 
service produced a proud legacy that has included expanding access to 
quality of health care and education, protecting and empowering our 
Nation's workforce, ensuring civil and voting rights, and protecting 
our Nation's natural and cultural resources.
  Before outlining several of Senator Kennedy's important achievements, 
I want to share a story that demonstrates our shared commitment to 
helping working families and his optimistic outlook about the future 
despite temporary disappointments. A beaming Senator Kennedy flagged me 
down on the morning of March 2, 2005. He asked me if I had seen the 
Washington Post. In an editorial criticizing the bankruptcy overhaul 
under consideration in the Senate, the Post indicated the bill could be 
made more fair by the inclusion of several amendments by Senator 
Kennedy intended to protect consumers and my amendment to better inform 
consumers about the true costs associated with credit card use. After 
my amendment was defeated, Senator Kennedy was the first member to 
approach me. He complimented me for my work and told me that we would 
win on the amendment one day. Senator Kennedy was right. It took me 
another four years, but my credit card minimum payment warning and 
credit counseling referral legislation was enacted this May as part of 
the credit card reform law.
  As an eternal optimist, Senator Kennedy never stopped advocating for 
the causes so important to working families such as increasing access 
to quality health care. Senator Kennedy helped establish community 
health centers, the Children's Health Insurance program, and programs 
that assist individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS. These are just a few 
of the many health accomplishments that Senator Kennedy helped bring 
about that improve the quality of life for millions of people in our 
country. Despite continuing to battle cancer, Senator Kennedy's passion 
to expand access to quality health care never ceased.
  Senator Kennedy had an enormous impact on education policy. He 
championed early childhood education through his support of Head Start 
and creation of Early Head Start. His work in reauthorizing the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act included improvements such as 
the Star Schools Program Assistance Act, which improves instruction in 
critical areas such as mathematics, science, and foreign languages, as 
well as the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires standards-based 
assessments for elementary and middle school students among other 
reforms. With regard to higher education, Senator Kennedy supported the 
creation of the Pell Grant program, Direct Lending program, and 
Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act to aid Americans in 
paying for college. Throughout his efforts in education policy, he 
recognized the needs of underserved populations, and endeavored to make 
education more affordable. I also appreciated his working with me on 
the Excellence in Economics Education authorization and subsequent 
funding requests so that more children could be better prepared for the 
financial decisions they will have to make as consumers, investors, and 
heads of households.
  I also greatly appreciate all of the work done by Senator Kennedy to 
improve the lives of members of our Nation's workforce. Senator Kennedy 
helped increase the Federal minimum wage 16 times. He fought for strong 
workplace health and safety standards, promoted equal pay for equal 
work, and secure retirement benefits. Senator Kennedy believed the 
right of workers to unionize and bargain collectively was fundamental 
and was always a tireless advocate for this cause. In addition, Senator 
Kennedy was a champion of our Federal workers and opposed efforts to 
outsource Federal jobs and erode workers' rights. I recall his staunch 
opposition to weaken the a rights of Department of Defense and 
Department of Homeland Security employees and his strong statements in 
support of granting Transportation Security Administration Security 
officers real rights and protections.
  Senator Kennedy's career-long dedication to ensuring civil and voting 
rights helped bring about numerous changes that have made our country 
stronger, more equitable, and just. He condemned the poll tax, led 
efforts to lower the voting age to 18, and removed voting barriers. His 
fierce and noble opposition to discrimination by race, ethnicity, 
gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or religion guided much of 
his work.
  Senator Kennedy's advocacy for natural and cultural resources helped 
advance the protection of our environment for our benefit now and into 
the future. He was an important supporter of energy efficiency 
programs, including those that aid Americans most in need, and he 
helped improve fuel economy standards and energy research and 
development. His work led to the enhanced preservation of numerous 
treasured resources in Massachusetts including the Minute Man National 
Historic Park, the Taunton River, the New England Scenic Trail, the 
Freedom's Way National Heritage Corridor, the Boston Harbor Islands, 
the Quinebaug-Shetucket National Heritage Corridor, Essex National 
Heritage Area, and the Lowell National Historical Park.
  In addition to his accomplishments and advocacy on behalf of the 
people of our country, I will remember Ted Kennedy as a true friend, 
always generous with his assistance and time. For many years, my desk 
was next to Senator Kennedy's. He welcomed me to the Senate and always 
provided sound advice and guidance.
  In 1990, despite the long journey, Senator Kennedy came to Hawaii to 
help me during my first Senate campaign. I remember the rally that we 
held in Honolulu at McKinley High School as being one of the largest 
ever held in Hawaii. We also had a memorable visit to an early 
childhood development program. Footage of the event was recently 
replayed on the news in Hawaii, showing Senator Kennedy and me singing 
Itsy, Bitsy, Spider with the children.
  We toured Kapiolani Children's Hospital where we saw the devastating 
effect that crystal meth was having on families.
  Senator Kennedy visited the University of Hawaii's John F. Kennedy 
Theatre, where he received an award for his work on health care. He 
spoke eloquently about our Great Country, Congressional debates, civil 
rights, and economic empowerment programs.
  I, along with every Member of this body, will very much miss our 
friend from Massachusetts. Senator Kennedy's extraordinary work has 
improved the quality of life for so many people.
  We can honor his memory by continuing to work to address the issues 
Senator Kennedy was so passionate about such as meaningful health care 
and immigration reform.
  I say aloha to my good friend and colleague, Senator Kennedy.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, there are no words to express the sadness 
of the great loss of our dear friend Senator Edward M. Kennedy. America 
has lost a great patriot and great leader. I have lost a good friend.
  While it is difficult to say goodbye to a dear friend, I am consoled 
with the certainty that Ted's spirit and message will continue to 
resonate in the Senate. The solemn but joyful celebration of Ted's life 
reminded one and all that we should remember to help the poor, to heal 
the sick, to feed the hungry, and to be compassionate with those who 
are less fortunate than us. I will do my best to keep Ted's spirit 
alive.
  I offer my deepest condolences to the Kennedy family.
  Mr. President, as America mourns, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
paying tribute to this magnificent Senator.

[[Page S9224]]

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, the 1955 football season was not a good 
one for the Harvard Crimson. With only three victories, it was somewhat 
surprising that no less a team than the mighty Green Bay Packers 
reached out to a senior end with a professional job offer. ``No 
thanks,'' replied young Ted Kennedy, ``I have plans to go into another 
contact sport--politics.''
  Few have played this rough-and-tumble game with as much energy, 
determination, and joy as Senator Edward Kennedy. He served the people 
of his State and our Nation through five decades and under 10 
Presidents. He authored more than 300 bills that became law and 
cosponsored another 550. His remarkable record of legislation has 
touched the lives of virtually every American, always with a focus on 
improving lives, bringing justice, and creating opportunity.
  As we recall what he gave to our Nation, we also reflect upon what we 
have lost. It is my sincere hope that the Kennedy family will find 
comfort in the thoughts and prayers offered by so many around the 
country and the world. To those who have lost a friend and to his 
outstanding staff, which has lost an inspiring leader, I extend my 
deepest condolences. I considered him a dear friend as well as an 
esteemed colleague.
  When I first came to the Senate in 1997, I knew Senator Kennedy only 
by reputation. It was a reputation that was not entirely flattering, 
based upon such labels as ``ultra-liberal'' and ``utterly partisan.'' 
That was not the Senator Kennedy I came to know and admire. He was easy 
to work with, and his heart was always in the right place. I worked 
closely with Ted on many education issues, particularly by increasing 
Pell grants which help our neediest students. In our work together on 
the Armed Services Committee, we teamed up to strengthen our Navy as 
members of the Seapower Subcommittee.
  I found him to be a partner who always sought solutions. I saw in him 
the same traits that drew the attention of the Green Bay Packers--a 
tough competitor and a great teammate.
  The lion is a symbol of courage. Certainly, Senator Kennedy possessed 
great political courage. He fought for his convictions, but he was 
always willing to reach across party lines. He never, as he often said, 
let the pursuit of the perfect become the enemy of the good.
  But he also possessed courage at the most fundamental level--the 
willingness to face danger. His historic trip to South Africa in 1985, 
conducted against the stern warnings of the pro-apartheid government 
and in defiance of violent demonstrations, helped tear down the wall of 
racial separatism in that country.
  Senator Kennedy often said that a day never went by that he did not 
think of his brothers. He did more than merely think of them; he strove 
always to emulate them. Like Jack, he asked what he could do for his 
country. Like Bobby, he dreamed things that never were and said why 
not.
  The end of a life so devoted to public service brings to mind the 
Parable of the Talents. The master, leaving on a journey, entrusts a 
servant with a portion of his treasure. Upon his return, the master is 
delighted to find that his wealth has been wisely invested and 
multiplied.
  Edward Moore Kennedy was entrusted the great treasure of convictions, 
energy, and passion. He invested that treasure wisely and multiplied 
its benefits to all. Like the master in the New Testament, to him we 
say, ``Well done, good and faithful servant.''
  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the memory of one 
our Nation's most dedicated public servants. For most Americans, Ted 
Kennedy was an icon--part of an esteemed family that raised strong 
leaders and committed patriots. Much has been said since his passing of 
his contributions to our country and his love for his wife, children, 
grandchildren, and extended family. Those who eulogized him, at his 
funeral and on main streets across America, have done so with great 
admiration and respect.
  From my position on the opposite side of the aisle in this Chamber, I 
saw Senator Kennedy as every bit the legendary and tireless advocate 
that he was portrayed as. I may have been advocating the opposing view 
on many issues, but in this country we should always be able to join 
together to recognize someone who has--with the best intentions--
dedicated his life's work to improving opportunities.
  I had the privilege of working on a very significant piece of 
legislation with Senator Kennedy a few years ago. It was the America 
COMPETES Act. I was, and continue to be, passionate about making sure 
that our children remain competitive in this increasingly global 
economy. Students in Nevada aren't just competing against students in 
Massachusetts anymore. They are all competing against students in 
India, China, and around the world. If we don't give our students the 
tools to compete, the innovative fire and spirit that has always fueled 
America will be lost.
  Ted Kennedy understood this. We put together bipartisan legislation 
that was signed into law to increase investment in scientific research; 
strengthen educational opportunities in science, technology, 
engineering, and mathematics from kindergarten through graduate school; 
and help develop an innovation infrastructure for the 21st century. I 
am confident that the impact of this law will be felt for generations 
to come.
  I am also confident that Ted Kennedy's decades of service, his 
passion for health care and education, and his deep love for this 
country will inspire a new generation of public servants. When you look 
at the legacy of Ted Kennedy and at how he dedicated his life to 
service, you can't help but be moved to do more for this country.
  Senator Kennedy will be missed in this Chamber and in the Halls of 
Congress. God bless you, Senator Ted Kennedy.
  Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, I rise to join the chorus of those 
celebrating the life of our dear friend and colleague, Senator Edward 
M. Kennedy.
  So much has already been said about him, his life, and his 
contribution to our Nation, but I would like to take a few minutes to 
reflect upon the legacy he left as a warm individual and an exemplary 
statesman.
  His life was, to borrow the words of Robert Frost, ``a gift 
outright.'' Ted Kennedy was ours before we were his.
  As a young man and a young Senator, history bequeathed to him weighty 
expectations. He became the accidental shepherd not only to a flock of 
nephews and nieces but also to a storied legacy.
  An ordinary person would have been daunted by such expectations. But 
Ted Kennedy was extraordinary. He confounded them and, in the process, 
defined his life not by what others had left him to complete but by the 
goals he set for himself.
  For all of the rhetoric recently about Kennedy as the Senate's lion, 
we can never forget that he was also a deeply caring man with a gentle 
spirit. It was this dual nature of his to fight passionately and to 
befriend heartily that transformed adversaries into admirers and 
endeared him forever to his friends.
  In February of 1988, I was serving as chief of staff to then-Senator 
Joe Biden when he suffered a serious brain aneurysm. After two 
precarious surgeries, the doctors said that Senator Biden would need to 
avoid work completely for a few months while in that first stage of 
recovery or risk another aneurysm.
  When President Reagan called to check up on him, we knew that if he 
took that call, Senator Biden would be obliged to take all the calls 
that would follow. It would have been too much for him, so his family 
made the decision that he would not take any calls, even from the 
President.
  Ted Kennedy kept calling to check on his friend, but our office 
wouldn't put him through. One Sunday, while Senator Biden was resting 
at home in Wilmington, Jill heard a knock on their back door. To her 
surprise, Kennedy was standing there, holding a framed etching of an 
Irish stag. He had personally taken it upon himself to bring the gift 
in order to lift Senator Biden's spirits. He also had with him a 
bathing suit, ready to relax with his friend and keep him company 
without discussing Senate business.
  We shouldn't have been surprised, though. That was classic Ted 
Kennedy.
  With him there was always a personal touch, especially with those he 
represented. In the words of one of his

[[Page S9225]]

constituents, ``Teddy was Massachusetts.''
  But his constituency was always larger than just the residents of the 
Bay State. He felt that it was his responsibility to speak for those 
who could not. Kennedy was, first and foremost, a representative of the 
poor, the young, the silenced, and the oppressed. He fought tirelessly 
for the rights of the disabled and those suffering discrimination. 
Throughout decades of public service, he proved to be their faithful 
champion at every turn.
  For 47 years, Ted Kennedy was the Senate's steady compass through 
uncertain waters. When others coasted along, satisfied with the status 
quo or set uneasy by the prospect of change, he trimmed his sails and 
pushed forward.
  He pushed forward by building strong, meaningful relationships with 
his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. He was committed to civility 
in politics.
  That he so genuinely befriended those who debated vigorously against 
him on this floor testifies to Kennedy's greatest gift to his 
colleagues. As his son Teddy Jr. said so eloquently at his father's 
funeral mass, Kennedy taught us all that all of us who serve in 
government, regardless of party, love this country dearly--that we 
share a common bond of responsibility and commitment to public service.
  My hope is that the lessons Ted Kennedy taught his colleagues about 
bipartisanship will guide the Senate today and in the future.
  Just outside this chamber is the Senate Reception Room, ornately 
decorated by the 19th century immigrant and master painter of the 
Capitol, Constantino Brumidi. He adorned the ceiling with four 
allegorical scenes depicting what today we would call Justice, 
Security, Peace, and Prosperity--four virtues a great Senator should 
promote.
  It was decided that portraits of the greatest Senators ever to serve 
would cover its walls. In the 1950s, the Senate established a panel to 
choose the first five to be so honored. Chaired by a young, energetic 
senator from Massachusetts, who had authored a Pulitzer Prize winning 
book on political courage, this ``Kennedy Commission'' selected five 
Senators whose portraits now grace those walls.
  The commission chose to recognize Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. 
Calhoun, Robert La Follette, and Robert Taft. A few years ago, the 
Senate voted to extend this honor as well to Arthur Vandenberg and 
Robert F. Wagner.
  All seven earned their place in this pantheon by placing the good of 
the Nation above political interest. All but one ran unsuccessfully for 
President, distinguishing themselves not as commanders-in-chief, but as 
brilliant legislators and versatile statesmen. Each exemplified a 
commitment to the four virtues depicted by Brumidi on the reception 
room's ceiling.
  Ted Kennedy was a champion of all four of these virtues; indeed, he 
set a new standard by which future Senators will be judged.
  Whether it was leading the charge for the Civil Rights Act, 
enfranchising young people of military age, or promoting human rights 
around the world, Kennedy pursued justice without relent.
  Ted Kennedy was committed to ensuring our Nation's security by 
advocating for nuclear disarmament, leading the way on energy 
conservation, and supporting legislation to punish sponsors of 
terrorism.
  He worked tirelessly to bring peace to troubled regions, including 
Northern Ireland.
  Throughout his career in the Senate, Ted Kennedy did all he could to 
open the doors of prosperity to millions of Americans seeking fair 
wages, health insurance, or job opportunities.
  Furthermore, he fought to expand education access, fund scholarships, 
and promote community involvement. Kennedy's efforts have helped invest 
America in a bright future in fields such as science, technology, 
business, and the arts.
  Even with the seven distinguished senators now immortalized, the 
walls of the Senate Reception Room remain mostly bare. They await 
future Senate commissions, following in the tradition of John F. 
Kennedy's panel, to honor those serving from our generation or from 
generations yet to come.
  I am certain that, if I could cast my vote today for the next to be 
so honored, I would proudly and unhesitatingly choose Senator Edward M. 
Kennedy.
  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise today with great sadness to pay 
tribute to my friend, colleague, and great statesman, Senator Ted 
Kennedy.
  As many of my colleagues have noted here today, over his 47 years of 
public service in the Senate, Ted Kennedy displayed exemplary 
leadership, a commitment to progress, and the vision that by working 
together, this body could truly better the lives of Americans.
  For many years as a member of the Judiciary Committee, I had the 
privilege to work with and learn from Senator Kennedy. Since 1997, I 
sat just one seat away from him then-Senator Biden to my right and 
Senator Kennedy next to him. Senator Kennedy was always so encouraging. 
A simple ``good job'' or pat on the back might be expected from a busy 
Senator like him, but from time to time, he would take a moment to 
write a note and offer encouragement for a bill I was trying to move 
through committee or a concern I was expressing about an issue 
important to the people of Wisconsin. We have heard so much over the 
past weeks about what he gave to our country throughout his long Senate 
career. Just as important, he gave all of us on the committee and in 
the Senate an example of how to be an effective legislator, a fair 
negotiator, and a friend to allies and foes alike.
  As has been noted by many of those who worked alongside him, Senator 
Kennedy masterfully negotiated with others in the long process of 
shaping policy but refused to retreat from his principles--or from his 
quest toward equality and social justice for all. His tireless advocacy 
on the behalf of those Americans most in need of an advocate--children, 
senior citizens, the sick, disabled and mentally ill, students, 
workers, and families--has changed the course of this Nation and 
impacted millions of lives. Senator Kennedy's many legislative 
battles--for civil rights, voting rights, and workers rights, among 
others--illustrated that although we may differ in our politics and our 
ideologies, it is still possible work with each other, across the aisle 
and across the political spectrum, toward the common good. Although I 
am sad today to realize that we will never hear another of his fiery 
speeches, many of them given just a few desks away from mine in the 
back row of this Chamber, he leaves a legacy behind that will endure.
  I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Victoria and to the rest 
of his family during this difficult time. Senator Kennedy's passion, 
diligence, good humor, and kindness will be greatly missed, by me and 
by many others, in this body and across the Nation.
  Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the passing 
of our dear colleague and friend, Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
  Our great Nation has lost a true statesman, and the Kennedy family 
has lost its beloved patriarch. Senator Kennedy's unparalleled 
leadership and decades spent in service to his fellow Americans will be 
missed by all, especially here in the U.S. Senate. No one can deny that 
Ted was a man of convictions, passion and resolve for doing what he 
felt was best for the country. While I was not always in agreement with 
him on policy, I always knew he was my friend.
  His willingness to reach across the aisle and find common ground 
serves as an inspiration to all of us during this pivotal moment in our 
Nation's history. Senator Kennedy and I shared a passion for early 
childhood development, and together with Senator Gregg, we worked on 
legislation to improve the quality and availability of early education 
for all children.
  On a more personal note, Ted was a guiding light for me during my 
late-nephew's treatment for bone cancer. His uplifting spirit and 
thoughtfulness helped steer my family through a very difficult time, 
and I will never forget the words he shared with us: ``Even when it's 
sometimes stormy one day, the sun always seems to shine the next.''
  Janet and I will keep Victoria and the entire Kennedy family in our 
thoughts and prayers during this trying time, as they mourn the loss of

[[Page S9226]]

both Ted and his sister Eunice. Senator Kennedy's great shadow of 
leadership which loomed so large across the U.S. Senate will continue 
for years to come, and I hope the Kennedy family and my colleagues can 
find solace in the fact that Ted has joined our Heavenly Father.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I rise today to remember and 
celebrate Edward Moore Kennedy.
  Senator Kennedy passed away, as we know, on August 25. The American 
people, in more ways than they will ever know--as so often happens in 
history with historic figures, people don't know what they had when 
they had it, and then when they no longer have it, they discover how 
great that person really was if one deserves to be so identified, and 
surely Ted Kennedy did--the American people lost a touchstone. The 
cause of justice lost one of its bravest and boldest champions, and I 
lost a very close friend.
  I met Ted Kennedy back in about 1961, which is quite a long time ago, 
in Hyannis Port. His family invited me to come there for the weekend. 
He was still recovering from his back injury. He broke his back in 12 
places. He was in one of those old-fashioned circle things where they 
sort of turned you so you wouldn't get bed sores. We had a nice 
conversation, and he wrote and thanked me with his hand for coming to 
see him.
  Obviously, I have and will always be thinking about Vicki, his 
incredible wife, his children, and the entire Kennedy family who 
operates as one unit.
  Because of Ted, I think all of us are better. I know I am. I think we 
are stronger. We are more inclusive as a nation. He caused us to be 
that way.
  For 46 years, he was a legislative lion, as they say, who gave voice 
to the voiceless. That is not a cliche; that is an extraordinary and 
powerful deep fact from the junior Senator from the State of West 
Virginia. The people of West Virginia were given voice, and Ted Kennedy 
gave them that voice. He fought for working families, civil rights, 
women's rights, health care for all, and transformed the lives of 
children, seniors, Americans of all ages, all colors, all backgrounds. 
Everybody was part of his sphere, part of his responsibility.
  In his private life he worked tirelessly to touch so many people with 
endless human acts of kindness that came naturally to him. He sort of 
had--he had to do it. I don't think he chose to do these things; he 
just had to do them and, therefore, did do them. People forget, those 
who didn't know about what he did, but he never stopped reaching out to 
help people at every turn, in sometimes very small ways.
  Ted and his family reached amazing heights, and they inspired a 
nation. Each and every day of his life he honored the fallen heroes we 
always cherish.
  This needs to be said: Ted traveled to West Virginia often. I was 
personally very grateful for that. It is a small State, not unlike that 
of the Presiding Officer. Our State has always had very close 
communication with the Kennedy family. We are them; they are us. You 
know, we put them over the top, we feel, in the 1960 election, and we 
did. When President Kennedy returned to West Virginia, he, at the 
State's centennial, said that classic phrase which we have heard so 
many times in West Virginia: ``The Sun does not always shine in West 
Virginia, but the people always do.''
  People are still to this day moved by that statement. It is a 
sentiment I have always held near to my heart, that he and his brothers 
felt the way they did about West Virginia. I remember a picture of 
Bobby Kennedy sitting on a slag heap, a sort of pile of coal in 
southern West Virginia, just sort of thinking. He wasn't shaking hands, 
he was doing a typical Bobby Kennedy-type thing: thinking, deep in 
thought; philosophical, wondering about what to do in the world.
  Over the last four decades, Ted's frequent visits not only 
strengthened West Virginia's bond with him and the Kennedy family, but 
he also provided enormous color, interest, and fun. I remember him at 
political rallies in West Virginia where some politician was going on 
and on. I have an album of photographs that were taken sequentially of 
different faces, very long and large speeches, and he is this way, he 
is wiping his brow. He enjoyed all of it. He just loved it.
  Everywhere he went he found common ground. He spoke honestly. People 
came out to see him. He didn't hesitate to plunge into the crowd or 
jump on the back of a pickup truck. Indeed, the American worker knew a 
strong friend in Ted Kennedy. That much was clear in the tireless work 
he did as an advocate for our miners, for our seniors, for all of our 
people.
  He has been with us in some of our very darkest hours. We had a 
mining tragedy several years ago. Johnny Isakson, who was speaking not 
long ago, was there as were several members of the HELP Committee, the 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. We had a cave-in and 
a blowup in a mine in Sago in Upshur County. He came down there. He sat 
with those families and watched them. I watched his hurt resonating 
against their hurt, and the words he spoke to them had deep comfort to 
them. As a result, we had the first major overhaul of mine safety laws 
at the Federal level since 1977. He, obviously, was driving the 
committee and driving that, as was Senator Johnny Isakson and Mike 
Enzi.
  People liked Ted. They were drawn to his energy and his fundamental 
belief that America's best days were always ahead. I love that attitude 
because you can always pick it out. I just did a television thing and 
everybody was asking me about the person who spoke out last night, 
interrupting the President and saying something rather unusual, and the 
President just went right on ahead. He had bigger things to do. Ted was 
that way.
  He had hard parts of his personal life and his own family life. He 
was the father of endless numbers of nieces and nephews, as well as his 
own children. Nothing ever stopped him.
  People wanted to work with him. He never, ever talked about his own 
achievements. That is the incredible thing about him. As a result of 
the plane accident, he broke his back in 12 places. That is a lot of 
places to break a back. He never spent another day the rest of his 
life, he once told me fairly recently, without being in pain. You could 
see him walking across the floor of the Senate. He was always bent, and 
he walked quickly, sort of subconsciously, to cover up the fact that he 
was hurting. But he never said anything about it. He never said 
anything about himself. It was always: What is going on in your life? 
What is happening with you? What are your thoughts? What do you think 
we should be doing on such a subject? That was simply the way he was.
  He refused to be slowed. He brought that iron will to everything he 
did. He never quit. He never gave up. He was a happy fighter. He loved 
life. He loved the battle, driven not out of anger but out of passion 
for people and the individual parts of their lives he wanted to 
improve. It just drove him. He didn't do it out of duty; he did it 
because he had to. It was a natural thing. For Ted, every day was new. 
Everything could be made better through hard work and dedication. 
Nearly every piece of legislation that has passed in this body bore his 
imprint or bears his imprint and reflected his commitment to making 
life better for every American.
  It has been my honor to lock arms with him in our efforts, including 
the children's health program. Interestingly--we just found it--Senator 
Kennedy called it the most far-reaching step that Congress has ever 
taken to help the Nation's children and the most far-reaching advance 
in health care since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid a 
generation ago. Now, in the Finance Committee we are trying to decide 
whether we are going to cast them into the melting pot along with all 
the other plans and take away the defined benefits. I am obviously very 
much against that. Eleven million children's health care is at stake.
  Ted worked on the Higher Education Act of 1965 and to protect Federal 
student loans. Again, let me get back to the personal side.
  I have a daughter. We only have one daughter and three sons. She is a 
teacher, and she is trained in special ed. She teaches--she did teach 
at Jackie Robinson Junior High School in Harlem. Ted was in New York. 
His chief of staff at that time was my daughter's best friend. She 
said: You know, Jay Rockefeller's daughter teaches there.
  Ted said: Let's go in.

[[Page S9227]]

  So here is my daughter teaching class in junior high school and in 
walks Ted Kennedy. Of course, the whole place just falls apart with 
happiness. He loved doing it. He does it in the District of Columbia; 
he does it in Massachusetts. He is always interacting with students. He 
greets them, talks with them, and learns from them.
  The principal gave my daughter a very hard time. He said: Don't you 
ever bring a United States Senator into my school without telling me in 
advance.
  Well, of course, that is the beauty of it. There is no way she could 
because it was just a natural act of Ted Kennedy.
  It was that commitment to service that we celebrated just this spring 
when the President signed the Serve America Act which inspires young 
people to serve their country through public service. There are a lot 
of ways to remake America, but I think people, as the Presiding Officer 
has been in a variety of situations--people going abroad, people 
meeting other people who are unlike them, living with them, eating with 
them, sharing with them, coming to know them, coming to have very 
strong feelings about them--it is that kind of thing which makes people 
want to get into public service.
  So he doubled the Peace Corps, he doubled Legal Aid, he doubled 
Vista, he doubled all of those programs, a lot of which were run by his 
brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, who is one of the great men of America 
who is never discussed. He is a Kennedy, but he doesn't bear that as a 
last name.
  He changed my life--the Kennedy family did. When I went to West 
Virginia as a Vista volunteer, I was trying to figure out what I was 
going to do in life, and I kind of wanted to be a Foreign Service 
officer. Frankly, I wanted to be America's first Ambassador to China. 
This was back in 1961, so it does really make sense. I had studied 
Chinese for a year, so I thought I was on my way. But Vista started and 
Sargent Shriver called me and said: Come work for me at the Peace 
Corps. And I did that. Then I went to southern West Virginia as a Vista 
volunteer and it told me what I wanted to do in life. This part of your 
gut knows when you are doing something that is meaningful to you and is 
something that you want to dedicate your life to. That was the effect 
of the Kennedys.
  Ted Kennedy was a giant. There was not and never will be anyone like 
him in American history. He shaped this institution for decades by 
honoring its history and pushing us forward to be a better institution.
  Now that he is gone, I know his legacy and inspiration make him a 
giant greater still, moving us to reach across the aisle, hopefully, 
and make a difference in people's lives. He was a great friend. We are 
all forever grateful for his service and his kind heart. We will miss 
him very dearly. Now he belongs to the ages.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, this would be a particularly opportune 
important time for me to say a word about our friend, Senator Kennedy. 
I had not planned on doing so at this particular juncture, but someone 
very important to him, and in a very different way to me, is now in the 
gallery. So I will speak very briefly, but I do want to, as I have said 
before, thank Senator Kennedy for his kindness to me.
  As a very senior and distinguished Senator, a person with a national 
and, indeed, international reputation, a person whose standing in this 
body was unmatched, a person whose legislative prowess and capability 
was unmatched, he did not need to pay any attention to a new Senator of 
no particular seniority, clout, or renown from Rhode Island. Yet he 
did, I think in large part due to the friendship the new Senator from 
Rhode Island had with his son, a very talented and able Member of the 
House of Representatives, who is senior to me in our Rhode Island 
delegation and who represents Rhode Island with exceptional distinction 
over in the House of Representatives. For that reason, and for the 
reason of a number of other family friendships, he was particularly 
kind to me. I appreciate that more than he could have imagined.
  It is a bit daunting to come here as a new Senator not knowing 
whether you will find your way, not knowing whether you will evince any 
ability, not knowing whether you will have any effect, not knowing 
whether, indeed, you will be very welcome. You have to fight yourself 
through that stuff as a new Senator.
  I can remember when I was presiding, where the distinguished junior 
Senator from Alaska is now sitting, and a colleague of ours who shall 
remain nameless was giving a speech of some length. Senator Kennedy was 
waiting to speak, and he sent a note up to me inquiring whether I felt 
that the standards of the speech we were then being treated to met the 
high standards of our common alma mater, the University of Virginia 
School of Law. I could not help but smile back and return the note, 
saying: No, I do not think so, but that is okay because I am waiting 
for a great speech from you.
  There is one particular kindness I wanted to mention. Senator Kennedy 
was very important to Rhode Island. He was important to Rhode Island 
not just because of his son Patrick but because Rhode Island pays a lot 
of attention to Massachusetts, there is a lot of overlap in the 
constituencies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Rhode Islanders 
have long admired Senator Kennedy. When he came on behalf of 
candidates, on behalf of his son, on behalf of me, on behalf of others, 
there was always an atmosphere of celebration around him and around the 
events he attended. Other speakers have spoken of his ability to rev up 
a crowd and get people fired up and enthusiastic, and he was really 
remarkable in that respect. We never tired of his visits, and Rhode 
Island always welcomed him with open arms.
  He had a special place for Rhode Island, and in particular he had a 
special place for somebody who was very dear to both Congressman 
Kennedy and to myself; that is, a predecessor of mine here in the 
Senate from Rhode Island, Senator Claiborne Pell. Senator Pell was a 
political legend in Rhode Island, in many ways an improbable candidate.
  Senator Kennedy's brother, President Kennedy, at one point said, 
publicly enough that it became a matter of sort of common discussion in 
Rhode Island, that Claiborne Pell was the least electable candidate he 
had ever seen. So when Claiborne Pell ran ahead of President Kennedy in 
Rhode Island in the election, it was a matter of great pride to 
Claiborne Pell and one that he was fond of reminding all Kennedys 
about.
  It was, I guess as they would say in ``Casablanca,'' the beginning of 
a beautiful friendship. The friendship began back then. It continued 
long after Senator Pell had left the Senate. It continued long after 
Senator Pell had lost his ability to walk around and became confined to 
a wheelchair. It continued even long after Senator Pell had lost his 
ability to speak and could barely speak because of the consequences of 
his illness.
  One of the ways it manifested itself is that every year Senator 
Kennedy would take the trouble to sail his sailboat, the Maya, from 
wherever it was in New England to Newport, RI, and there take Claiborne 
Pell out sailing. I had the pleasure to be on that last sail, and you 
could just imagine the scene, with the heaving dock and the heaving 
boat and Senator Pell in his wheelchair and a rather hazardous and 
impromptu loading of Senator Pell into the sailboat. And then, of 
course, it got underway. Because Senator Pell was having such trouble 
speaking, he really could not contribute much to a conversation. But 
Senator Kennedy had the gift of being able to handle both sides of a 
conversation and have everybody feel that a wonderful time was being 
had. So he carried on in a full, roaring dialog with Senator Pell, 
essentially providing both sides of that dialogue, and Senator Pell was 
smiling from ear to ear.
  It said a lot about what I appreciate so much about Senator Kennedy. 
First of all, Rhode Island mattered to him, as it matters to Patrick 
Kennedy, as it matters to me. Second of all, as powerful as he was and 
as important as he was, friendship mattered more than authority or 
clout or power. There was nothing any longer that Senator Pell could do 
for Senator Kennedy. There was nothing that could be done to advance 
his legislative interests or his political interests or his fundraising 
interests or any other aspirations he may have had. But it mattered to 
him to do this because he was loyal and because friendship counted.
  In a body in which opportunism and self-promotion and self-
advancement are not unknown, it was remarkable of Senator Kennedy to 
give so much of his

[[Page S9228]]

time to this particular pursuit, to this particular visit, taking his 
old, now disabled friend, out for a sail and giving him so much 
pleasure, with no hope or hint of reward or return to Senator Kennedy 
himself.
  So I will conclude with that. I guess I will conclude with one other 
thing. He loved Robert Frost. On his desk here right now is a poem from 
Robert Frost, ``The Road Not Taken.''
  I know he was fond of Frost's work in particular. I keep a little 
book of poems and things that matter to me, quotations, and one of them 
is a poem by Robert Frost. It is not ``The Road Not Taken,'' which is 
the poem on Senator Kennedy's desk. It is a different one. But I will 
close by reading it. It is called ``Acquainted with the Night.''

     I have been one acquainted with the night.
     I have walked out in rain--and back in rain.
     I have outwalked the furthest city light.

     I have looked down the saddest city lane.
     I have passed by the watchman on his beat.
     And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

     I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
     When far away an interrupted cry
     Came over houses from another street,

     But not to call me back or say good-bye;
     And further still at an unearthly height,
     O luminary clock against the sky

     Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
     I have been one acquainted with the night.

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, once again, we mourn another Kennedy, 
the last brother, a friend, a colleague, a Senator's Senator, larger 
than life even in death, certainly the most effective legislator of our 
time and arguably the most effective Member of this body in the whole 
of American history.
  Across this Nation and across the political divide, we have seen the 
impact of his life and work in the tearful eyes of millions of 
Americans. Each face a challenge to continue his long and lasting 
legacy of hard-fought, hard-won battles for hardworking families 
everywhere. His is a legacy of hope for the unemployed, the 
dispossessed, the downtrodden, the undereducated, the uninsured; a 
legacy of hope for Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans, all 
Americans who have come to this country, often with little more than 
the clothes on their backs and a glorious dream for a better life.
  Ted Kennedy will be remembered by my generation as more than the last 
brother, more than the end of an era. He will be remembered as 
America's preeminent leader on fair, responsible, humane immigration 
policy that always put people first. For all of us, he was the standard 
bearer of headier days, of Camelot, of intellectual vitality, political 
energy, and a deep and abiding commitment to public service and to this 
beloved Senate. He taught us through actions and deeds, in times of 
great personal pain, the power of the human spirit to endure and 
prevail. He symbolized the best of an era of progressive, compassionate 
leadership in this country and a deep belief that we must always ask 
what we can do for the country, a torch unexpectedly passed to him 
which he carried with dignity and humility through great tragedy as 
well as great triumph.
  He understood our personal struggles, however profound, ``make us 
stronger in the broken places,'' as Hemingway said. For every Hispanic 
American and every American across this Nation whose family came here 
to find a better life, whatever their ethnicity or political views, Ted 
Kennedy was a leader. His deep and abiding concern for the struggles of 
hard-working people was not political. It is simply part of the Kennedy 
DNA.
  I remember the images of his brother, Bobby Kennedy, in 1967, 6,000 
people surrounding him on the flatbed truck that held a severely 
weakened Cesar Chavez. Bobby Kennedy shared a piece of samita with 
Chavez and the crowd cheered. They grabbed at Bobby to shake his hand 
and thank him. He stood in front of the crowd and said:

       The world must know from this time forward that the migrant 
     farm worker, the Mexican-American, is coming into his own 
     rights . . .
       You are winning a special kind of citizenship; no one is 
     doing it for you--you are doing it yourselves--and therefore, 
     no one can ever take it away.

  Fast-forward to Washington, DC, in 2006, walking in his brother's 
footsteps, Ted Kennedy stood in front of hundreds of thousands of 
marchers on the same ground his brothers had stood upon decades 
earlier. He stood with immigrants and faith leaders and organizers. He 
called for comprehensive immigration reform. The crowd of hundreds of 
thousands roared, and he roared back:

       Si se puede. Si se puede.

  Yes, we can.
  Now he is gone, having fought his last battle with courage and 
dignity, as he fought all others. But the memories remain. I remember 
first coming to the Senate, sitting down with him, his presence as 
commanding as I thought it would be. I looked at him to learn all I 
could from him about the Senate and, frankly, there was no more patient 
or willing teacher. When I first sought to come to the Senate, the one 
Member of the Senate who gave me the most time and gave me the most 
encouragement and the greatest opportunity to understand how to be 
successful in the Senate was a person I could do the least for. It was 
Ted Kennedy. I will never forget his kindness.
  We worked together to protect the Senate restaurant employees when 
their jobs were privatized. I learned what made him such an effective 
legislator--because even as he was dealing with the most incredible 
issues the country was facing and leading on many of them, he had time 
to remember the importance of that little person, people in the Senate 
restaurant who might have been unemployed.
  We all know no one can belt out an Irish ballad quite like Teddy 
could. One of my favorite memories was of him and I in New Jersey in a 
campaign where we sang Irish ballads together. I learned then what made 
him the unique person he is. I will never forget the sound of that 
voice and the warmth of that heart. Each of us has had our own memories 
of the man. Each of us has had our own deep emotions when we heard of 
his death.
  The editorial cartoonist, Lalo Alcaraz, said when his wife heard that 
Ted Kennedy had lost his battle with cancer, she pulled out one of her 
old buttons that her mother had worn during the Presidential campaign 
in 1960. That day, Lalo Alcaraz drew a cartoon of a much younger Ted 
Kennedy. It is captioned with two simple words on the campaign button: 
``Viva Kennedy.''
  As I sat in the basilica in Boston with our colleagues last week, I 
thought of all Ted Kennedy did to better the lives of so many 
Americans, and I thought of those two words over and over again: Viva 
Kennedy. He was a man who truly believed in the idea and ideal that is 
America. Although we may have come from different backgrounds, 
different places, different cultures, though we may speak different 
languages, we are one Nation, indivisible, forged from shared values 
and common principles, each of us united in our differences working for 
the betterment of all of us, and no one worked harder for the 
betterment of all of us than Ted Kennedy.
  It is my sincere belief that in his passing he has once again worked 
his magic and given us an opportunity to come together, united in a 
deep and profound feeling of loss and emptiness as we are even at this 
day. It would be like him to be looking down upon these tributes today, 
nodding his head and smiling, but he would be saying: Don't wait for my 
memorials to be laid. He would say: Don't wait for my words to be 
chiseled in marble at Arlington. Don't wait for some bronze statue in 
Washington or a bridge named after me in Boston. Stand up, do what is 
right for the American people now. Do what is right for hard-working 
families in your States, for hard-working families in my State--in New 
Bedford, Brockton, Fall River, or Worcester. I can see him standing 
over there where he always stood, committed, informed, imposing, 
pounding on his desk, shouting at the top of his lungs. You could hear 
it when you were outside of the Chamber when he was in one of those 
moments.
  Those families don't have time to wait for a decent job and wages. 
They don't have time to wait for a better job. They don't have time to 
wait for decent, affordable, quality care that is a right and not a 
privilege. That booming voice would echo through this Chamber, and I 
think it will echo through this Chamber for eternity.
  When it comes down to it, we are his legacy. We in the Senate are his 
memorial. We are the burning candles, and he would tell us to have them 
burn brightly: Stand against the wind. Stand against the storm. Stand 
against

[[Page S9229]]

the odds. For it is up to us now to light the world, as he did.
  In this past week, I think we have all found new meaning in those 
familiar words of Aeschylus, when he said:

       And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop 
     by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our 
     will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.

  Today, in our despair, let wisdom come. Let us honor the memory of 
Senator Edward Moore Kennedy by not only remembering the man but by 
continuing the good work he has done.
  I yield the floor.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am honored to be here to add my voice 
to so many of those who today have eloquently remembered Senator Ted 
Kennedy. Like so many who have spoken today, I was the beneficiary of 
so many personal kindnesses from Senator Kennedy.
  I actually first met him on the campaign trail. In 1980, I was 
actually on the other side in New Hampshire when he was running against 
Jimmy Carter. Despite the fact that was a very hard-fought campaign and 
we won and he lost, when I ran a winning campaign 4 years later in the 
New Hampshire primary, Senator Kennedy was one of the first people to 
call and congratulate me.
  After that, I had the opportunity to campaign over the years with 
Senator Kennedy. There was no one who could fire up a crowd as he 
could. In 2000, I remember he was there for Al Gore when times were 
tough in New Hampshire. He was there for John Kerry in 2004. And I had 
the opportunity to travel around the country with him in support of 
John Kerry, his very good friend.
  But I really got to see the difference he made in so many lives when 
I worked with him at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of 
Government at Harvard. I had the opportunity to be chosen to be the 
director there, and Senator Kennedy was one of those people who helped 
make that decision and make that happen for me. What was so impressive 
was that it did not matter how busy he was with the work in Washington, 
with what he was doing in Massachusetts, he never missed a meeting. His 
first concern was always: What are the students doing? What is going to 
excite them? What is going to get them involved in politics and public 
service, because that was the mission of the Institute of Politics. It 
was one of two memorials that were established by the Kennedy family to 
remember his brother, President John Kennedy. It was always amazing to 
me to see someone who was so busy, so prominent in national life, who 
never missed an opportunity to talk with the freshman student who was 
there who wasn't quite sure what they wanted to do, to talk with and 
encourage the young people who were involved at the institute to get 
involved in politics, in government, in public service.
  I know Senator Kennedy will be remembered by so many of the 
kindnesses he provided to people. He will be remembered by the tens of 
thousands of people whose lives he touched. But I think one of his most 
significant legacies will be those young people who are encouraged to 
get involved in politics, who appreciate that public service in 
government is an honorable profession because of his leadership and the 
work he did.
  I feel very honored and privileged to have worked with him and to 
have had the opportunity to serve with him, however briefly, in the 
Senate. I know we will all remember for future generations what Senator 
Kennedy has done.

                          ____________________