[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 154 (Tuesday, November 30, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8277-S8282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         FAREWELL TO THE SENATE

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, first of all, let me express my gratitude to 
all of the colleagues and other individuals who have come to the 
Chamber at this moment.
  Everyone who serves in Congress usually recalls two moments in their 
service: the maiden speech they give shortly after their arrival and 
their closing remarks. I can't recall what the first speech I gave as a 
new member of the House of Representatives 36 years ago was even about. 
I do, however, recall very vividly that there was no one else in the 
Chamber when I gave it. It was an empty hall early one evening with the 
exception of one colleague, Johnny Dent from Pennsylvania. He was 
sitting in his chair with his trademark dark glasses, listening 
patiently as I gave my knee-rattling, hand-shaking maiden address. 
Midway through the speech, he walked up to me and said quietly: You 
know, kid, it is not on the level. Well, that was my first speech 
before the House, and I am deeply honored that so many of you have come 
out to listen to my closing remarks today so I do not have to speak to 
an empty Chamber.
  For more than 200 years, a uniquely American story has unfolded here 
in the Chamber of the United States Senate--a fascinating, inspiring, 
often tumultuous tale of conflict and compromise, reflecting the 
awesome potential of our still-young democracy and its occasional 
moments of agonizing frustration.
  For much of my life, this story has intersected with my own in ways 
that have been both thrilling and humbling. As a 14-year-old boy, I sat 
in the family gallery of this very Chamber watching as my father took 
the oath of office as a new Senator. A few years later, in 1962, I sat 
where these young men and women sit today, serving as a Senate page. 
John F. Kennedy was President and Lyndon Johnson presided over this 
body. Eighteen years later, in the fall of 1980, the people of 
Connecticut gave me the honor of a lifetime when they asked me to give 
voice to their views, electing me to serve as their U.S. Senator. For 
the past 30 years, I have worked hard to sustain that trust. I am proud 
of the work I have done, but it is time for my story and that of this 
institution, which I cherish so much, to diverge. Thus, Mr. President, 
I rise to give some valedictory remarks as my service as a U.S. Senator 
from Connecticut comes to a close.
  Now, it is common for retiring Senators to say the following: I will 
miss the people but not the work. Mr. President, you won't hear that 
from me. Most assuredly, I will miss the people of the Senate, but I 
will miss the work as well. Over the years, I have both witnessed and 
participated in some great debates in this Chamber, moments when 
statesmen of both parties gathered together in this Hall to weigh the 
great questions of our time. And while I wish there had been more of 
those moments, I will always remember the Senate debates on issues such 
as Central America, the Iraq war, campaign finance reform, securities 
litigation, health care, and, of course, financial reform.
  And when I am home in Connecticut, I see the results of the work we 
did every day. I see workers coming home from their shifts at Pratt & 
Whitney, Electric Boat, the Sikorsky helicopter plant--the lifeblood of 
a defense manufacturing sector so critical to our national security and 
to the economic well-being of my home State. I see communities 
preparing for high-speed rail and breaking ground for new community 
health centers. I see the grants we fought for helping cities and towns 
to build sustainable communities and promote economic development.
  When I am home, I meet parents who, because of the Family and Medical 
Leave Act, don't have to choose between keeping their jobs and taking 
care of their sick children. I visit with elderly folks who no longer 
have to choose between paying for their prescription drugs and paying 
for their heat. I hear from consumers who have been victimized by 
unfair practices on

[[Page S8278]]

the part of credit card companies and who will no longer be subject to 
those abuses. And I meet young children as well who, through Early Head 
Start or access to afterschool programs, have blossomed academically in 
spite of difficult economic circumstances.
  As proud as I am of the work that has made these stories possible 
over the last three decades, I am keenly aware, particularly today, 
that I did not do any of this alone. Until this last Congress, with 
rare exceptions, every major piece of legislation I authored that 
became law--including the ones I have just mentioned--had a Republican 
cosponsor as well as support from my Democratic caucus. So to my 
Democratic and Republican Senate colleagues who joined me in all these 
efforts over 30 years, I say thank you this afternoon.
  I also want to thank, if I can, the unsung heroes of this 
institution--the Senate staff and my personal staff. It would be a 
grievous understatement to simply say they make the trains run on time. 
Without them, as all of us know, the trains would never leave the 
station at all--the floor staff, the cloakroom professionals of both 
parties, and the hundreds of unknown and unseen people who show up 
every day in this body to make this critical institution of democracy 
function. Without them, no Senator could fulfill his or her obligations 
to the American people.
  Many of my personal staff and committee staff are present in the 
Senate gallery today. Neither I nor the millions of Americans whose 
lives you have enriched or whose burdens you have lightened can ever 
thank you enough. I only hope your time with me has been as fulfilling 
as my time with you.
  Of course, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the people of 
Connecticut, whose confidence, patience, and spirit have given my life 
and its work deep meaning. As rich as our common language is, words 
cannot even come close to capturing the depth of my affection for and 
appreciation of the people of the State of Connecticut. For almost four 
decades--three terms in the House of Representatives, five terms in 
this Chamber--you have entrusted me to labor on your behalf, and I 
deeply thank you for that honor.
  And lastly, my family. My parents are long since deceased, but their 
guidance, inspiration, and example have never departed. For the past 30 
years, I have sat at this very same desk occupied by my father during 
the 12 years he served in this Chamber. His courage, character, and 
conviction have been a constant reminder of what it means to be a U.S. 
Senator. I thank my siblings and their children and other relatives for 
their enthusiastic support, particularly during the rough patches. From 
time to time, we all need the safe harbor of family at the darker 
moments. And to Jackie, Grace, and Christina, who have supported and 
inspired me every day: You mean more to me than I could ever say in 
these few short moments. So come January, I am glad I will have more 
time to say it to you more often. And to Jackie in particular: You have 
been my anchor to windward in the rough and turbulent waters of public 
service. When it was the darkest, you were the brightest. I love you 
more than life.
  As this chapter in my career comes to a close, a new chapter in the 
Senate's history is beginning. When this body is gaveled to order in 
January, nearly half of its Members will be in their first term. And 
even though I could spend hours fondly recalling a lifetime of 
yesterdays, this new Senate and the Nation must confront a very 
uncertain tomorrow. So rather than recite a long list of personal 
memories or to revisit video highlights of my Senate service, I would 
like to take this brief time, in these few short moments, to offer a 
few thoughts to those who will write the Senate's next chapter.
  I will begin by stating the sadly obvious. Our electoral system is a 
mess. Powerful financial interests, free to throw money about with 
little transparency, have corrupted, in my view, the basic principles 
underlying our representative democracy. As a result, our political 
system at the Federal level is completely dysfunctional. Those who were 
elected to the Senate just a few weeks ago must already begin the 
unpleasant work of raising money for their reelection 6 years hence. 
Newly-elected Senators will learn that their every legislative 
maneuver, their every public utterance, and even some of their private 
deliberations will be fodder for a 24/7 political media industry that 
seems to favor speculation over analysis and conflict over consensus.
  This explosion of new media brings with it its own benefits and its 
drawbacks--and it is occurring simultaneously as the presence of 
traditional media outlets in our Nation is declining. So while the 
corridors of Congress are crowded with handheld video and cell phone 
cameras, there is a declining roll for newspaper, radio, and network 
journalists reporting the routine deliberations that are taking place 
in our subcommittee hearings. Case in point: Ten years ago, 11 or 12 
reporters from Connecticut covered the delegation's legislative 
activities. Today, there is only one doing the same work.
  Meanwhile, intense partisan polarization has raised the stakes in 
every debate and on every vote, making it difficult to lose with grace 
and nearly impossible to compromise without cost. Americans' distrust 
of politicians provides compelling incentives for Senators to distrust 
each other, to disparage this very institution, and to disengage from 
the policymaking process.
  These changes have already had their effect on the Senate. The 
purpose of insulating one-half of the national legislature from the 
volatile shifts in public mood has been degraded. And while I strongly 
favor reforming our campaign finance system, revitalizing and 
rehabilitating our journalistic traditions, and restoring citizen faith 
in government and politics, I know that wishes won't make it so.
  I have heard some people suggest that the Senate as we know it simply 
cannot function in such a highly charged political environment; that we 
should change Senate rules to make it more efficient, more responsive 
to the public mood--more like the House of Representatives, where the 
majority can essentially bend the minority to its will. I appreciate 
the frustrations many have with the slow pace of the legislative 
process, and I certainly share some of my colleagues' anger with the 
repetitive use and abuse of the filibuster. Thus, I can understand the 
temptation to change the rules that make the Senate so unique and 
simultaneously so terribly frustrating. But whether such a temptation 
is motivated by a noble desire to speed up the legislative process or 
by pure political expedience, I believe such changes would be unwise.
  We 100 Senators are but temporary stewards of a unique American 
institution, founded upon universal principles. The Senate was designed 
to be different, not simply for the sake of variety but because the 
Framers believed the Senate could and should be the venue in which 
statesmen would lift America up to meet its unique challenges.
  As a Senator from the State of Connecticut--and the longest serving 
one in its history--I take special pride in the role two Connecticut 
Yankees played in the establishment of this very body. It was Roger 
Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, delegates from Connecticut to the 
Constitutional Convention in 1787, who proposed the idea of a bicameral 
national legislature. The Connecticut Compromise, as it came to be 
known, was designed to ensure that no matter which way the political 
winds blew or how hard the gusts, there would be a place--one place--
for every voice to be heard.
  The history of this young democracy, the Framers decided, should not 
be written solely in the hand of the political majority. In a nation 
founded in revolution against tyrannical rule which sought to crush 
dissent, there should be one institution that would always provide a 
space where dissent was valued and respected. E pluribus unum--out of 
many, one. And though we would act as one, and should, the Framers 
believed our political debate should always reflect that in our beliefs 
and aspirations, we are, in fact, many. In short, our Founders were 
concerned not only with what we legislated but, just as importantly, 
with how we legislated.
  In my years here, I have learned that the appreciation of the 
Senate's role in our national debate is an acquired taste. Therefore, 
to my fellow Senators who have never served a day in the minority, I 
urge you to pause in your enthusiasm to change Senate rules. And

[[Page S8279]]

to those in the minority who routinely abuse the rules of the Senate to 
delay or defeat almost any Senate decision, know that you will be 
equally responsible for undermining the unique value of the Senate--a 
value, I would argue, that is greater than that which you might assign 
to the political motivations driving your obstruction.
  So in the end, of course, I would suggest this isn't about the 
filibuster. What will determine whether this institution works or not, 
what has always determined whether we fulfill the Framers' highest 
hopes or justify the cynics' worst fears is not the Senate rules or the 
calendar or the media; it is whether each of the 100 Senators can work 
together, living up to the incredible honor that comes with this title 
and the awesome responsibility that comes with this office.
  Politics today seemingly rewards only passion and independence, not 
deliberation and compromise as well. It has become commonplace to hear 
candidates for this body campaign on how they are going to Washington 
to shake things up--all by themselves. May I politely suggest that you 
are seeking election to the wrong office. The U.S. Senate does not work 
that way, nor can it, nor should it. Mayors, Governors, and Presidents 
can sometimes succeed by the sheer force of their will, but there has 
never been a Senator so persuasive, so charismatic, so clever, or so 
brilliant that they could make a significant difference while refusing 
to work with other Members of this body.
  Simply put, Senators cannot ultimately be effective alone.
  As I noted earlier, until last year's health care bill, there had not 
been a single piece of legislation I had ever passed without a 
Republican partner.
  Of course, none of those victories came easily. The notion that 
partisan politics is a new phenomenon, or that partisan politics serve 
no useful purpose, is just flat wrong.
  From the moment of our founding, America has been engaged in an 
eternal and often pitched partisan debate. That is no weakness. In 
fact, it is at the core of our strength as a democracy, and success as 
a nation.
  Political bipartisanship is a goal, not a process.
  You do not begin the debate with bipartisanship--you arrive there. 
And you can do so only when determined partisans create consensus--and 
thus bipartisanship.
  In the end, the difference between a partisan brawl and a passionate, 
but ultimately productive, debate rests on the personal relationships 
among those of us who serve here.
  A legislative body that operates on unanimous consent, as we do, 
cannot function unless the Members trust each other. There is no hope 
of building that trust unless there is the will to treat each other 
with respect and civility, and to invest the time it takes to create 
that trust and strengthen those personal bonds.
  No matter how obnoxious you find a colleague's rhetoric or how odious 
you find their beliefs, you will need them. And despite what some may 
insist, you do no injustice to your ideological principles when you 
seek out common ground. You do no injustice to your political beliefs 
when you take the time to get to know those who don't share them.
  I have served with several hundred Senators under every partisan 
configuration imaginable: Republican presidents and Democratic 
presidents, divided government and one party control.
  And as odd as it may sound in the present political environment, in 
the last three decades I have served here, I cannot recall a single 
Senate colleague with whom I could not work.
  Sometimes those relationships take time, but then, that is why the 
Framers gave us 6-year terms: so that members could build the social 
capital necessary to make the Senate function.
  Under our Constitution, Senators are given 6 years, but only you can 
decide how to use them. And as one Senator who has witnessed what is 
possible here, I urge each of you: Take the time to use those years 
well. I pledge to those of you who have recently arrived, your tenure 
here will be so much more rewarding.
  More importantly, you will be vindicating the confidence that the 
Framers placed in each person who takes the oath of office, as a U.S. 
Senator, upholding a trust that echoes through the centuries.
  I share the confidence that Roger Sherman, Oliver Ellsworth, and the 
Framers placed in this body and in its Members. But I am not blind. The 
Senate today, in the view of many, is not functioning as it can and 
should.
  I urge you to look around. This moment is difficult, not only for 
this body, but for the nation it serves. In the end, what matters most 
in America is not what happens within the walls of this Chamber, but 
rather the consequences of our decisions across the Nation and around 
the globe.
  Our economy is struggling, and many of our people are experiencing 
real hardship--unemployment, home foreclosures, endangered pensions.
  Meanwhile, our Nation faces real challenges: a mounting national 
debt, energy, immigration, nuclear proliferation, ongoing conflicts in 
Afghanistan and Iraq and so much more. All these challenges make the 
internal political and procedural conflicts we face as Senators seem 
small and petty.
  History calls each of us to lift our eyes above the fleeting 
controversies of the moment, and to refocus our attention on our common 
challenge and common purpose.
  By regaining its footing, the Senate can help this nation to regain 
confidence, and restore its sense of optimism.
  We must regain that focus. And, most importantly, we need our 
confidence back--we need to feel that same optimism that has sustained 
us through more than two centuries.
  Now, I am not naive. I am aware of the conventional wisdom that 
predicts gridlock in the Congress.
  But I know both the Democratic and Republican leaders. I know the 
sitting members of this chamber as well. And my confidence is unshaken.
  Why? Because we have been here before. The country has recovered from 
economic turmoil. Americans have come together to heal deep divides in 
our Nation and the Senate has led by finding its way through seemingly 
intractable political division.
  We have proven time and time again that the Senate is capable of 
meeting the test of history. We have evidenced the wisdom of the 
Framers who created its unique rules and set the high standards that we 
must meet.
  After all, no other legislative body grants so much power to each 
member, nor does any other legislative body ask so much of each member.
  Just as the Senate's rules empower each Member to act like a 
statesman, they also require statesmanship from each of us.
  But these rules are merely requiring from us the kind of leadership 
that our constituents need from us, that history calls on us to provide 
in difficult times such as the ones we're encountering.
  Maturity in a time of pettiness, calm in a time of anger, and 
leadership in a time of uncertainty--that is what the Nation asks of 
the Senate, and that is what this office demands of us.
  Over the past two centuries, some 1,900 men and women have shared the 
privilege of serving in this body. Each of us has been granted a 
temporary, fleeting moment in which to indulge either our political 
ambition and ideological agenda, or, alternatively, to rise to the 
challenge and make a constructive mark on our history.
  My moment is now at an end, but to those whose moments are not yet 
over, and to those whose moments will soon begin, I wish you so much 
more than good fortune.
  I wish you wisdom. I wish you courage. And I wish for each of you 
that, one day, when you reflect on your moment, you will know that you 
have lived up to the tremendous honor and daunting responsibility of 
being a United States Senator.
  To quote St. Paul, ``. . . the time of my departure has come. I have 
fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the 
faith.''
  So, Mr. President, it is with great pride, deep humility and 
incredible gratitude, as a United States Senator, that I yield the 
floor.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  (Applause, Senators rising.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have on many occasions spoken of my 
affection for my friend Chris Dodd. At the caucus today--the Presiding 
Officer was

[[Page S8280]]

there--I indicated very few people have had the opportunity and the 
challenges in a single Congress as Chris Dodd. He found himself 
chairman of the Banking Committee at a time when the country was 
collapsing, the banks were collapsing. Yet he led the way to working 
with the Republican President to do the so-called TARP. It was 
something that was done on a bipartisan basis. There was never a better 
example in my entire government career of a more cooperative group of 
Senators, Democrats and Republicans, House and the Senate, working 
together to create something that was badly needed.
  Then we had, of course, many other issues beginning with Wall Street 
reform. Then, to complicate his life and to add to the challenges in 
his life--the best friend a man could ever have was Chris Dodd's best 
friend, Ted Kennedy--Ted Kennedy was stricken very ill. Senator Dodd 
knew he would not be back to the Senate. Very few people knew that, but 
he knew that. He, in effect, was chairing two major committees at the 
same time, the HELP Committee and the Banking Committee. He did it in a 
way that is so commendable, so exemplary.
  I have so much, I repeat, affection for Chris Dodd that I am not 
capable of expressing how deeply I feel about this good man. I will 
have more to say later, but I did want to take this opportunity, as 
soon as the Republican leader makes his remarks, to allow his colleague 
from the State of Connecticut to speak following the two leaders, if 
that is OK.
  I ask unanimous consent that following the remarks of Senator 
McConnell, Senator Lieberman be recognized.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, like most Members of this body, I am 
rarely at a loss for words, but I think we have just had an opportunity 
to hear one of the most important speeches in the history of the Senate 
about our beginnings, about our traditions, about what is unique about 
this institution which makes it different from any other legislative 
body in the world. I have heard many people discuss that over the years 
but never anyone so cogently point out why the uniqueness of this 
institution is so important to our country as the senior Senator from 
Connecticut has done it today. So while we have a huge number of 
Senators on the floor, I am going to strongly recommend that those who 
were not here have an opportunity to take a look at his remarks because 
I think they are an enormously significant and important contribution 
to this institution and to its future.
  On a personal basis, I want to say to my good friend from Connecticut 
how much I am going to miss him--his wonderful personality, his ability 
to talk to anybody--a uniquely effective individual.
  So we bid adieu to the senior Senator from Connecticut and hope our 
paths will cross again in the future.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DODD. I thank the Senator.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, for 22 years it has been a blessing for 
me to have served with Chris Dodd in the Senate as my colleague from 
Connecticut, as my dear friend, as my legislative partner. I am going 
to miss him a lot, as everybody in this Chamber will. I think when we 
listened to the words he spoke to us just a few moments ago--how full 
of wisdom and warmth they were--we knew how much we are going to miss 
him and how much we should consider what has made him not only our 
great friend but a truly great Senator.
  Chris mentioned Sherman and Ellsworth, whose pictures are out in the 
reception area just off the Senate, who crafted the Connecticut 
Compromise, really created the Senate. I think Chris Dodd, who is the 
54th Senator from the State of Connecticut in our history, took this 
institution that Sherman and Ellsworth created in the Connecticut 
Compromise and made it work to the great benefit of the people of 
Connecticut and the people of America.
  To the great benefit of the people of Connecticut and the people of 
America, Chris Dodd was born to a legacy, an honorable legacy of public 
service, which he watched, as so many of us did in Connecticut, and, of 
course, learned from, from his father, Senator Thomas J. Dodd. I could 
say a lot about Senator Dodd, Sr. He was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg 
trials, remarkably principled, skillful prosecutor, who became a Member 
of the Senate.
  I will tell you that as a young man in Connecticut, me, growing up, 
thinking about a political career, when I heard that Senator Tom Dodd 
was somewhere within range of where I lived or went to school, I went 
to listen to him speak. He was a classic orator, an extraordinarily 
principled man who had a great career in the Senate.
  As we know from the years we have served with Chris, the 
characteristics I have described of his father were taken and put to 
extraordinarily good use in the Senate.
  Chris's words were very important, and, as Senator McConnell said, 
should be studied by all of us and by anyone thinking about coming to 
the Senate. We all talk about this being an age of hyperpartisanship. 
But I think that misses the point because, as Chris said, he is a 
partisan in the best sense of the word. He is a principled partisan. He 
is passionate about what he believes in. But he knows we come to a 
point when partisanship ends, and you have to get something done for 
the public that was good enough to send you here.
  Over and over again, any of us on both sides of the aisle who have 
watched Chris work a bill know how persistent, how open, how anxious he 
was to try to find common ground, yes, to compromise because ultimately 
our work is the art of the possible. Somebody once said to me: The 
futility of the failure to compromise, there is no result from it. But 
if you have a goal, a principled goal, you know you can achieve a 
significant part of that goal if you can build enough support in this 
Chamber, and time and time again Chris Dodd did that.
  The other reason I think he did it is because of the truth that he 
spoke in his remarks, which is that beyond the great debates and the 
headlines and the sniping back and forth, the Senate, after all, is 100 
people who go to work in the same place every day, and your ability to 
get things done in the Senate, as is true in offices and factories all 
over America and other places of work, your ability to get things done 
here is affected, in great measure, by the trust your colleagues have 
in you and even the extent to which they like you.
  I think, by those standards, Chris Dodd has been totally trustworthy. 
As we were taught when we grew up in Connecticut politics, his word has 
been his bond, and his personality has warmed each of us as we have 
gone through the labors we go through here.
  Chris Dodd has served longer in the Senate than any Senator from 
Connecticut. So on this day--and he will forgive me a little bit of 
hyperbole. I would guess, as a matter of friendship and faith, that he 
has probably accomplished more than any other Senator in the history of 
the State of Connecticut, and he has done it because he cares about 
people. When he takes something on, he simply does not quit.
  I just want to tell you one story. In 1989, Chris met a woman named 
Eva Bunnell at her church in East Haddam, CT. She told him her daughter 
had been born with a rare brain disease and was fighting for her life 
in the intensive care unit. But when her husband asked his employer for 
time off to be with his wife and critically sick infant, he was told to 
go home and never come back, leaving a family without income or health 
insurance.
  The story, all too common at the time, is the kind of injustice that 
has repeatedly moved Chris Dodd to action. He authored, as we know, the 
Family and Medical Leave Act. He worked, as I said before, on 
compromises that made it acceptable to a large number of people, stuck 
with it through two Presidential vetoes, and then finally saw it signed 
into law by President Clinton in 1993.
  Today, the records will show that more than 50 million people, 50 
million people, have been able to take time off from work to care for a 
loved one or give birth to a child without fear of losing their jobs.
  That is a lifetime achievement, but it is only one of many such 
achievements Chris Dodd has had in the Senate. Senator Reid talked 
about this

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last session of his Senate career, extraordinary accomplishments: 
health care reform, Wall Street reform, the Iran sanctions bill which 
came out of the Banking Committee, which is, in my opinion, the 
strongest such bill we have ever passed and the last best hope to avoid 
the necessity to take military action against Iran. This is the kind of 
record Chris has built.
  Up until this time, I have been serious, and when you talk about 
Chris Dodd, it would be wrong to be totally serious because one of the 
things we are going to miss is that booming laugh and the extraordinary 
sense of humor. I have had many great laughs with colleagues here. I 
have probably given too many laughs to colleagues, as I think about it. 
But I have never laughed louder or more over the years than I have with 
Chris Dodd.
  Perhaps it is not totally appropriate on the Senate floor, but I have 
two of his comments, one about me, that I wish to share. I notice the 
former comedian is here. A while ago, only Chris Dodd would have told 
an audience here in Washington that he thought enough time had passed 
in my career that he could reveal that Joe Lieberman actually had not 
been born Jewish but was born a Baptist and raised a Baptist, and then 
when I got into politics and saw how many events I would have to go to 
on Friday night or Saturday, I converted to Judaism to take the Sabbath 
off. Then Chris said: And, you know, I am thinking of converting to 
Judaism myself but only for the weekends.
  Another quick quip. As my colleagues in the Senate know, it is our 
honor to walk our State colleagues down the center aisle in the Senate 
to be sworn in for a new term. The first time I did that, we walked arm 
in arm, as we always have. Chris turned to me and said: You know, Joe, 
there are people who are worried that you may be the only person I will 
ever walk down an aisle with.
  Well, fortunately, that was not true because, Chris and Jackie got 
married and had these two wonderful daughters, Grace and Christina, who 
have provided so much joy and satisfaction and hopefulness to Chris.
  We are going to miss you. I am going to miss you personally. I speak 
for myself, but I speak, I would bet, for just everybody in this 
Chamber in saying we feel so close to you that we know our friendship 
will go on.
  I would say Chris Dodd leaves, to sum up an extraordinary Senate 
career, having achieved a record of results that benefited the people 
of Connecticut and America in untold ways. He has a wonderful family 
with whom he looks forward to spending time, and he has oh so many 
great years ahead of him, including, I hope and believe, times when he 
will again be of service to our country.
  God bless you, Chris, and your family.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I wish to join with my colleagues in 
saluting the departure of one of our best, Senator Chris Dodd. I first 
saw his father, though I did not meet him, when I was a student intern 
for Senator Paul Douglas of Illinois, who had an office that was next 
door to Chris Dodd's father's. I saw Senator Thomas Dodd leaving that 
office and was certainly aware of the great contribution he made to 
America.
  Little did I know some 16 years later, when I would be a candidate 
for the House of Representatives, that his son would come to Decatur, 
IL, to do an event for me in my campaign. It was a smashing success, 
the biggest turnout ever. I am sure Senator Dodd believes it might have 
been because of his presence. It also could have been because it was a 
$1 chicken dinner and people came from miles around. But I was happy to 
advertise him as the star talent at that event.
  What a great life story. Christopher John Dodd, the fifth of six 
children of Thomas and Grace Dodd, was born in 1944 with a caul, a thin 
veil of skin thought to be a sign of good luck, covering his head. The 
doctor who delivered him told his mother that with this sign of good 
luck, this baby might grow up to be President, to which Mrs. Dodd 
replied: ``What is the matter with Franklin Roosevelt?''
  It was a great line, but the truth is, while Grace and Tom Dodd were 
both ardent New Dealers, they knew America would not depend on one 
leader forever, not even FDR. They knew and they taught their children 
they all have an obligation in our own time to try to move America 
closer to a more perfect Union.
  Thomas Dodd, Senator Dodd's father, worked to fulfill that obligation 
in his time. He chased John Dillinger as an FBI agent, prosecuted war 
criminals and KKK members as a government lawyer, and served in both 
the House and Senate. His son Chris followed his father's example, 
found his way to serve America by serving in the Peace Corps as a 
volunteer in the Dominican Republic, where he lived for 2 years in a 
mountaintop village in a house with a tin roof and no running water or 
telephone.
  In that village he started a maternity hospital, family planning 
program, a youth club, and a school. Those were the first installments 
of what would become, for Chris Dodd, a lifetime of work protecting 
women and children worldwide.
  Senator Dodd was elected to the Senate in 1980, at the ripe age of 
36. He is both the youngest person ever elected to the Senate in 
Connecticut history and the longest serving, as has been said. Early 
on, his colleagues recognized his talents and named him one of the 
three most effective freshman Senators. He has never let up on his 
efforts to help America and help Connecticut.
  He is a passionate, articulate voice for economic justice, for civil, 
constitutional and human rights and for America's role as a moral 
leader in the world. He is a champion of fairness, cofounder of the 
Senate Children's Caucus, lead sponsor, as Senator Lieberman mentioned, 
in 1993, of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which has helped 
countless millions of Americans.
  He has achieved more in the last 2 years, though, than most Senators 
achieve in long careers. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, 
he led the fight in the Senate for the most important Wall Street 
reform since the Great Depression. He picked up the fallen standard 
from his dear friend Ted Kennedy and helped lead the fight Ted Kennedy 
always dreamed of for affordable health care for all Americans. For 
that achievement alone, Chris Dodd has earned a place in history.
  Chris Dodd has, as Eugene O'Neill might say, ``the map of Ireland on 
his face,'' but he has the promise of America written in his heart. His 
work in the Senate has made that promise real for millions of 
Americans. In his office in the Russell Senate Office Building, an 
office once occupied by his father, are portraits of two Thomases: 
Thomas Dodd, his father, and another of his heroes, Sir Thomas More.
  I listened to Chris's speech just a moment ago, and I was reminded of 
what Thomas More wrote in his masterwork, ``Utopia.'' He said:

       If you can't completely eradicate wrong ideas, or deal with 
     inveterate vices as effectively as you could wish, that is no 
     reason for turning your back on public life all together. You 
     wouldn't abandon a ship in a storm just because you couldn't 
     control the winds.

  For 30 years in the Senate, even when he has had to sail through 
fierce headwinds, Chris Dodd has kept his compass fixed on the ideals 
that make America both great and good. In doing so, he has made the 
Senate, Connecticut, and America a better place.
  I am proud to have served with him and call him a friend. I thank him 
for his efforts that brought me to the House of Representatives so many 
years ago. I thank him for his service in the Senate and a special 
thanks to his wonderful family; Jackie, a great friend, and those two 
great daughters, Grace and Christine, whom I have seen as swimmers at 
the Senate pool, good health and good luck to the whole family for many 
more chapters in their lives.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to pay tribute to my 
dear friend and colleague and, in a very real sense, mentor. I can 
testify from the experience of the last 2 years to his remarkable 
contributions to this country.
  I don't believe any other Senator could have navigated the 
treacherous

[[Page S8282]]

waters of the Dodd-Frank bill. It was like watching a great conductor 
conduct a complicated piece of music: knowing when to pause and let 
tempers cool, knowing when to pick up the tempo, knowing when to come 
to the final conclusion. It was a virtuosos performance, in keeping 
with a career of contributing to Connecticut and to this country.
  The most remarkable tribute I have ever heard about this wonderful 
man was in a very unusual place by a person who honestly probably 
doesn't know who he is. It was May 21, 2010. I was visiting a wounded 
soldier at Walter Reed Army Hospital, a member of the Second Battalion, 
508 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. He had 
been wounded around Kandahar by an IED. Fortunately, he was on the road 
to recovery. We joked for a moment and talked about his experiences, 
and I turned to his mother, who was sitting there watching her son, her 
life, her hope make a full recovery, and I said: How are you doing?
  She said to me very simply: I am doing fine. You see, I was able to 
take family medical leave and be with my son while he recuperated.
  She probably doesn't know who Senator Dodd is or what he did, but 
she, along with 50 million other Americans, was by the hospital bed of 
a wounded son or a sick child or an ailing parent. To me, that is the 
greatest tribute to what Senator Dodd has done.
  There is a great line I recall about Franklin Roosevelt. His cortege 
was winding its way through Washington. A man was sobbing, sobbing, 
sobbing. A reporter rushed up to him: Well, you are so affected. You 
must have known the President. Did you know the President?
  He said: No, I never knew the President, but he knew me.
  Chris Dodd knew the people of Connecticut and the people of the 
United States, and in every moment, he served them with integrity and 
diligence and honor.
  Chris, to you, to your family--and I say this because your mother is 
from Westerly, RI, God bless her; and your beloved sister, our dear 
friends Martha and Bernie, from Rhode Island--as an adopted son of 
Rhode Island, thank you for your service to the Nation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, may I associate myself with the 
remarks of my distinguished senior Senator and reemphasize our pride in 
the contacts that Chairman Dodd, Senator Dodd, our friend Chris Dodd 
has with Rhode Island.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I wish to take a couple of minutes to 
salute the service of one great Senator, Chris Dodd.
  Chris and I have served together for more than 25 years. When I 
arrived here--and I was not one of the youngest people to get here at 
that time, but Chris was someone I knew from other walks of life--I 
turned to him, as well as my dear friend who used to occupy this seat, 
Ted Kennedy, for advice and counsel. Sometimes the counseling was 
better than the advice, but we were younger then.
  Chris Dodd has that incredible personality that gets things done, 
that presents a leadership position on issues. He has shown incredible 
patience in the way he dealt with financial reform and with health 
care. But never, as I saw it, did Chris leave the people who disagreed 
with him with anger, with a feeling of anger or with anything other 
than respect and friendship.
  Chris comes from a distinguished family. His father occupied a seat 
here for a dozen years. Now Senator Chris Dodd has decided to leave the 
Senate. It was a decision he made with which I totally disagreed. It 
was bad judgment, I can tell my colleagues that. When I left after 18 
years of service, three terms, I decided I had had enough. I left. Good 
fortune smiled on me, and I came back after 2 years, after a 2-year 
absence, missing being here maybe more than it missed me.
  I remember, as I made my outgoing visits--no, my decisionmaking 
visits--Chris invited me to his office with Ted Kennedy and a colleague 
whom we had at the time, Paul Wellstone, now deceased but a wonderful 
colleague. The three of them sat with me in Chris's office, and Chris 
tried to talk me out of leaving. I said: No, it is a decision I made. I 
began to have misgivings about it, but by then, the die was cast; there 
were other people who wanted to run for the job. So I left with lots of 
regrets. I was away from here for a period of time. In 2001 when I 
left, it was a terrible year--the year of 9/11 and the beginning of a 
recession and the beginning of war and all of those things. So I tried 
to play turnaround with Chris, and I talked to Chris about leaving and 
I said: Chris, don't leave. Don't do it.
  Chris Dodd will leave a void. I think it is obvious that someone will 
follow, take the reins. It doesn't mean they will ever take his place. 
I don't think that is possible. Chris Dodd will have left an impression 
here of decency and honesty and honor and respect on all of us on both 
sides of the aisle--one of the few times we all agree.
  So I say to Chris and Jackie and your two little girls that we wish 
you well. Our friendship will endure way past our time serving 
together.
  Chris, follow my example. Give it a couple of years and get back 
here, will you. Thank you very, very much, Chris Dodd, for your 
wonderful service. We love you, and we will miss you, and we will 
always think about you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New York.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly in honor of our 
friend and colleague, the senior Senator from Connecticut. I have 
watched him from the day I came here. We knew each other a little bit 
when I was in the House. He left the House to go to the Senate, but we 
had many of the same friends when I came to the House. I always 
marveled at his abilities.
  For those of us who have served here--I have only been here 12 
years--we know the joys and difficulties of legislating in the Senate. 
We know it is not easy, and we know how satisfying it is. There are 
very few who reach the acme of how to do it and who devote their lives 
to it. I guess they are given a title--I don't know if it is official; 
it is probably not--they are the ``men and women of the Senate.'' We 
have had two leave us in the last year: Senator Robert Byrd and Senator 
Ted Kennedy. They were truly men of the Senate. It is not a title 
bestowed easily or lightly or frequently.
  Chris Dodd is a man of the Senate. He is in the category of Ted 
Kennedy and Robert Byrd in terms of his ability to get things done, his 
ability as a legislative craftsman, as somebody who is able to combine 
idealism and practicality, as somebody who is able to sit down with 
someone, as has been mentioned before, with a totally different 
viewpoint and get them to compromise and be on his side and be part of 
the effort he is leading. He is a man of the Senate. He will always be 
a man of the Senate. I will miss him personally for his guidance and 
friendship, and I think every one of us will.
  Chris, good luck and Godspeed.
  Mr. DODD. Thank you very, very much.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, if there is no other Senator wishing to 
speak, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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