[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 88 (Tuesday, June 12, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S3973]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO DAVE COTE

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I want to take a moment of the 
Senate's time to extend a 60th birthday greeting to a friend of mine, 
and a friend of the Senate as an institution, a voice in the private 
sector who has been a terrific public citizen, and a visionary in the 
business community who has always kept his eye on the future of his 
industry even when the present is extraordinarily challenging: 
Honeywell International CEO Dave Cote.
  On July 19, Dave will reach a milestone--he will be 60 years old. 
Zero to 60--and anyone who knows him can attest that as he enters his 
sixties, Dave is just getting started.
  Mr. President, Dave Cote exemplifies the best of what can be 
accomplished in corporate America--a one-man innovative force pushing 
us ahead in the global economy and, along the way and at the same time, 
proof positive that improving the health of our planet can be a job 
creator and a generator of economic activity.
  Under Dave's leadership, Honeywell has become a world leader in 
developing and producing technologies and products that save energy and 
strengthen the environment. From pioneering green jet fuels to 
reengineering wind turbines, from advanced energy metering to home 
solar panels, Honeywell is leading the way to the clean energy 
economy--an economy that could generate 4.5 million jobs over the 
course of a decade and save us tens of billions of dollars in energy 
costs.
  Long before many other corporate leaders recognized that profit and 
environmental protection can go hand-in-hand, Dave was pushing for 
alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons--HFCs--potent greenhouse gases. Now, 
the rest of the world is catching up. Just recently, Secretary Clinton 
announced she was making HFC reduction a priority through the Climate 
and Clean Energy Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate 
Pollutants, and Honeywell is there, ready to race ahead with the 
alternatives we need. For Dave Cote, that is typical--because Dave is 
always one step ahead.
  I say this having had the chance to work unbelievably closely with 
him over the last couple of years. The sheer number of emails and phone 
calls we've exchanged, not to mention his regular presence in the 
Foreign Relations Committee's room in the Capitol, reflect his energy 
and his interest in trying to get Washington to deal in facts and 
respond to reality. They also exemplify why I love working with him--he 
is a roll-up-your-sleeves, no drama, get-it-done kind of guy. It also 
doesn't hurt that he is also a big Red Sox fan--he has Boston jerseys 
adorning his office at Honeywell--and he loves riding motorcycles--you 
can find him tooling around the Jersey suburbs on his Harley most 
weekends.
  In 2009 and 2010, Dave, Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and I spent 
long hours working together on an effort around a comprehensive climate 
change bill. And when we needed someone to help convey to some of our 
more skeptical colleagues the importance of acting quickly on this 
issue, we knew that Dave was one of the best, if not the best, in the 
business community to do exactly that. When we convened a group of CEOs 
to meet with other Senators in June of 2010, as part of the lead-up to 
designing the climate change bill, Dave stepped forward as a leading 
business voice in the discussion. And when we finally introduced the 
American Power Act, Dave was right by our side.
  I turned to Dave again last fall when I was serving on the Select 
Committee on Deficit Reduction. He was proud of his own service as one 
of the Republican members of the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles Commission, 
which had put together a bold blueprint of its own to wrestle with the 
tough choices of the deficit and our national debt. I agreed completely 
with Dave's view that we needed to act rather than put off doing 
something about our deficit. He said--and I quote--``The faster we act, 
the less painful it will be for everyone.'' But more than any specific 
policy, what I admired most was Dave's sincerity about the issue--his 
frequent, encouraging text messages and emails during the long hard 
slog of the so-called Super Committee, always exhorting me and the 
Democratic and Republican members of the Committee to go the extra 
mile, put ideology aside, and do what was right for our country. Rather 
than a ``moment of politics'' for the Congress, Dave urged us to act 
responsibly and reach a ``moment of truth.''
  Mr. President, 60 is an age where many feel it's appropriate to start 
slowing down. But anybody who has ever met Dave knows that is not going 
to happen--he is anything but predictable or conventional, and he is 
not about to slow down, and that is good news for our country when it 
comes to this always thoughtful, always earnest public citizen.
  My hope--and my belief--is that Dave Cote will spend his sixties the 
same way he has spent his last decades: proving every day that doing 
the right thing can also be good business and good for our country.
  I wish Dave a very happy birthday, and I look forward to working with 
him for many years to come.

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