[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 8, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7250-S7251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Tribute to Tom Udall

  Madam President, finally, as we approach the end of the Senate 
session, I have the unhappy task of bidding farewell to Senators who 
will be concluding their time in this Chamber. Within an hour, our dear 
friend and dear colleague, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, will give 
his final speech here on the Senate floor.
  For the past 12 years, Senators have been lucky to work with a 
legislator of Senator Udall's caliber, someone who possesses a mastery 
of public policy, who is practical as well as principled. You always 
know where Senator Udall stands on an issue, but you also know he is 
always willing to sit with you and work with you until you find common 
ground. Because of these qualities, Tom will leave this Chamber as a 
supremely accomplished legislator, a fierce defender of the 
environment, and a true champion of the American West.
  A lot of politicians get described as wunderkinds for getting elected 
at a young age. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who got their 
start in politics earlier than Tom. He made his debut at the plucky age 
of 5, hoisting campaign signs on the back of his dad's convertible 
during his dad's first bid for Congress.
  Public service runs deep in the veins of a Udall. It might be called 
the sap of the Udall family tree. Alongside his father, Tom looked up 
to his uncle Mo, who succeeded his father in Congress and ran for 
President as one of his generation's great environmental advocates. Not 
too long ago, the Senate rollcall featured two Udalls, Tom and his 
cousin Mark. Even now, our colleague from Utah, Senator Lee, is a 
second cousin to the Udall clan.
  Ultimately, it was Tom's dad who taught him a lifelong love of the 
political process. During the years Stewart Udall served as Interior 
Secretary, Tom

[[Page S7251]]

would watch from the living room as his dad sat at the dinner table 
surrounded by Democrats and Republicans alike--both sides at dinner 
working together. Those memories left a mark. Tom would spend his time 
in Congress trying to do much the same. Tom's work with Senator Vitter 
led to one of his greatest accomplishments in office: the first major 
revision of the Toxic Substances Control Act in 40 years. At the time, 
it was the most significant environmental law to pass Congress in over 
20 years.
  Tom also had become one of the Senate's leading authorities on Tribal 
policy, cosponsoring over a quarter of the bills that passed through 
the Indian Affairs Committee on their way to being signed into law. 
Legislation to improve Tribal access to affordable healthcare and 
funding to support Native American language preservation programs and 
boost support for Native American entrepreneurs all bear the Udall 
stamp.
  When it comes to protecting our environment and public lands, no one 
commands greater respect than the senior Senator from New Mexico. Tom 
helped increase funding for the Department of Interior by 25 percent, 
including billions to protect our national parks and expand our 
wildlife preserves. Through the Great American Outdoors Act, Tom helped 
secure permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund--a 
fund his dad helped establish over 40 years ago.
  One of Tom's favorite authors, Wallace Stegner, once wrote:

       Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever 
     let the remaining wilderness be destroyed. . . . We simply 
     need that wild country available to us, even if we never do 
     more than drive to its edge and look in.

  Well, Tom did a whole lot more than ``look in.'' He preserved, he 
conserved, and he expanded the great American wilderness for 
generations hence.
  These highlights, impressive as they are, are only the tip of the 
iceberg. Over his 12 years in office, Tom's legislative accomplishments 
ran the gamut of consumer protection, conservation policy, climate 
change, the protection of Tribal nations, and, most recently, a 
principled stand against the current administration's attempts to roll 
back critical environmental protections. Through it all, Tom has been 
unendingly civil, decent, and kind. He has deep friendships, real 
friendships, long-lasting friendships in our caucus and across the 
aisle. He prefers to solve problems, no matter who gets the credit, 
sometimes resisting the urge to make a splash in public.
  Kidding aside, Tom is as down-to-earth as they come. There is just no 
artifice about him. He is a decent Senator and a man. You couldn't find 
any better. Other Senators will attest to these qualities, I am sure, 
and so will his staff--a tribute that is perhaps even greater. The 
respect and loyalty that Senator Udall commands from those who work for 
him day in and day out is something extraordinary.
  We don't know when a Udall will next grace the halls with their 
presence, but I do know this: Our country needs more leaders like Tom.
  Senator Udall once said his father and his uncle were lifelong role 
models because they had the right mix of inspiration and perspiration. 
He said: ``They were both visionaries, but they were also doers.'' I 
can think of no better description of Tom Udall himself--a visionary 
but also a doer.
  Tom, as you move on to the next chapter in your life, I wish you and 
Jill the very best of luck on the road ahead.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.