[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 30, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S369-S370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING SENATOR JOHN KERRY

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I rise today to honor John Kerry, our 
colleague, the senior Senator from Massachusetts. I congratulate 
Senator Kerry on his confirmation as our Nation's next Secretary of 
State.
  I am pleased he will continue to serve his country in this important 
role. He will be missed by his Senate colleagues, that is for sure.
  Senator Kerry said at his confirmation hearing that the Senate is in 
his blood, and that is true. As he represents America's interests 
around the world, his experience as a Senator will serve him and our 
country well.
  For 28 years, Senator Kerry has been a dedicated representative of 
the people of Massachusetts in the Senate.

[[Page S370]]

Senator Kerry has also rendered distinguished service to his country in 
the Navy, to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Lieutenant Governor 
and as Senator, and to the Democratic Party and the people of this 
country as the 2004 Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party.
  He is a brilliant man. He was a debater at Yale and won awards for 
his skilled oratory over a number of years. That talent has allowed him 
to speak for freedom and justice at each stage of his career.
  Before he graduated college, he was a vocal critic of the Vietnam 
war. But upon graduation, Senator Kerry volunteered to serve in the 
U.S. Navy, and serve he did. Later he said he did it because ``it was 
the right thing to do.''
  Senator Kerry learned the value of service at home. His father was a 
Foreign Service officer, and his mother was a nurse during World War 
II. He served two tours as a Navy lieutenant in the jungles and rivers 
of Vietnam. He was awarded the Silver Star for his gallantry, a Bronze 
Star for valor also, and three Purple Hearts. But even after his 
service in the war, his opposition continued.

  On April 22, 1971, Senator Kerry became the first Vietnam veteran to 
testify before Congress about the war when he appeared before the 
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which was chaired by the famous 
Senator William Fulbright--a committee he would later chair. It was a 
remarkable appearance. He was the first veteran to testify.
  He went on to attend Boston College Law School. He worked as a 
prosecutor in Middlesex County before he was elected Lieutenant 
Governor in 1982. Just 2 years later he was elected to the U.S. Senate. 
He has served in the Senate for five terms. He has always been an 
unflinching advocate for veterans. He helped found the Vietnam Veterans 
for America and has worked tirelessly to secure treatment for 
servicemembers dealing with post-traumatic stress.
  Senator Kerry has served 6 years on the Senate Intelligence Committee 
and, remarkably, 28 years on the Foreign Relations Committee. He has 
been a leading advocate of doing something about global climate change.
  Senator Kerry has convened eight major hearings and roundtables on 
climate change and energy security since taking the gavel as chair of 
the Foreign Relations Committee, replacing Vice President Biden.
  It was in the early 1990s that Senator Kerry's brilliant mind and 
exceptional dedication came to my attention. I had the good fortune of 
being chosen by Leader Mitchell to be a member of the select committee 
on MIAs--missing in action--and POWs. It was very controversial at that 
time. There was a belief by many that there were live Americans either 
in Cambodia, Laos--maybe in Vietnam. We had not done as much as people 
thought we should do about those missing in action, and it was a very 
volatile period of time in the history of this country.
  I saw him with patience, with wisdom, serve as chairman of that 
select committee. As I have indicated, it was a difficult assignment, 
an important assignment, and he handled it--as he has done everything I 
have watched him do--thoughtfully and with integrity.
  Since coming to the Senate I have been fortunate to be invited to his 
home for lengthy but fascinating foreign policy discussions with Senate 
colleagues and foreign policy experts. In recent years, Senator Kerry 
was also instrumental in securing passage of the New START treaty with 
Russia, which is helping to reduce the danger of nuclear proliferation.
  He has served as an unofficial envoy for President Obama to 
Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, and some countries probably none of us 
even know where he went. There were many times he came to me and said: 
I have to go, and he tells me where he is going, and there was nothing 
in the newspapers about where he had gone. But he is a great evaluator 
of people, and because of that, the President has trusted him and has 
sent him on all these missions. Now he will do that as Secretary of 
State.
  He has authored numerous pieces of legislation to prevent the global 
spread of HIV/AIDS. He has also played a central role in crafting 
American policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, the war on terror. I can 
remember one very difficult time when he spent days and days, 
principally with President Karzai, working out a difficult issue 
following the elections they had there. He has been focused on the 
Middle East peace process and Israel's security for his entire time as 
a member of that committee, the Foreign Relations Committee.
  For more than 30 years, Senator Kerry has been a powerful voice for 
his constituents in Massachusetts as well as an engaged citizen of the 
world. Throughout those years, John has matched his unflinching passion 
for democratic values with forward-thinking actions to advance those 
values.
  No one is better qualified than John Kerry to continue the 
exceptional work of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. While we are 
saddened to lose his leadership in the Senate, we saw yesterday the 
support he has, where virtually every Senator voted to support him as 
the next Secretary of State. I wish him well as he embarks on this next 
challenge, and I am confident he will meet the challenge.

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