[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 178 (Tuesday, December 3, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6764-S6765]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Tribute to Joe Manchin III

  Mr. President, this afternoon another dear colleague of ours will 
give his farewell address, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. It 
fills me with great pleasure and a little sadness to say a few words in 
his honor.
  Every now and then, you get to work with someone who reminds us that 
politics, just like practically all other pursuits in life, is 
deceivingly simple. It is about relationships, about strong 
partnerships, about strong beliefs, and it takes having good friends in 
this place to get difficult things done.
  Today, I wish to pay tribute to a very dear friend, one of my closest 
friends in the Senate--even when we disagreed, we stayed friendly, 
stayed good friends--and, of course, a longtime colleague, Senator Joe 
Manchin of West Virginia.
  On the surface, Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer will appear to have 
little in common. For one, Joe was born in Farmington, WV, a coal 
mining town of around 400 people. I was, of course, born in Brooklyn, 
where you can walk past 400 people before breakfast.
  Joe's family on his father's side traces their lineage to hilly 
enclaves of the Calabria region of Italy. Much of my family, meanwhile, 
comes from Galicia, in modern day Ukraine.
  While Joe got a scholarship to play football at West Virginia 
University--he was going to be great star until he was injured--I was 
cut from the college basketball team on day one. Coach asked me could I 
dribble. I said: It is not my strong suit, sir. He said: Go home.
  Beneath the surface, however, Joe and I have some unexpected common 
links. We both have grandparents whose lives were shaped in dramatic 
ways by union life. My grandfather went as far as helping his employees 
form a union in Utica, while his grandfather, sadly, was fired for 
trying to organize a union in Farmington.
  Both of our fathers were small business owners. Joe's dad took over a 
family grocery store where Joe himself worked for much of his early 
years, while my dad ran an exterminating business.
  Both our families found home within communities where everyone knew 
your name and where hard times forced everyone to come together.
  For Joe's family, it was the awful day that the Manchin Grocery store 
burned down. When Joe recalls the incident, he has said that moment 
taught him the value of persistence--that is something my dad, my late 
father, always talked about--and the importance of leaning on your 
community to rebuild from tragedy. And that is something any New Yorker 
will relate to.
  So yes, Mr. President, it is these common threads that fill me today 
with gratitude. These are links that shape who Joe Manchin the public 
servant is at his core: someone who wants to keep alive the very same 
American dream his family got to enjoy--a place where hard work, 
community and equal opportunity are the keys to a better life.

[[Page S6765]]

  Some of the biggest accomplishments of the past few years would not 
have gotten done without Joe's help. He was always able to reach across 
the aisle to help us achieve bipartisan legislation that we are so 
proud of in these past two Senates. Without him, we couldn't have 
gotten the Inflation Reduction Act done. He was persistent. He was a 
tiger on that one.
  He and I got together alone in one week--we sat in a room, a little 
room. No one knew we were negotiating the IRA. Joe didn't want anyone 
to know because he would be besieged by people. So we sat in that room 
day in and day out. Then all of a sudden, the legislation, after no one 
knew we were doing it, popped out. As a result, so much was 
accomplished.
  We made historic strides towards climate change in a very positive 
way--tax breaks to help clean energy evolve--and it has grown beyond 
what either of us thought. This was the first major legislation in 
decades that lowered the cost of prescription drugs. And there were Joe 
Manchin and Chuck Schumer--close friends, colleagues with a mission--
getting this done. And we did it in that little room all alone.
  At the same time, Senator Manchin was always reminding us that 
deficit reduction was important. And in the IRA--which he appropriately 
named the Inflation Reduction Act--for every dollar we invested, we 
also saved towards cutting down the deficit through this bill.
  Very few pieces of legislation, major pieces, have ever done that, 
but to Joe's great credit, the IRA did.
  Joe was also an important player on a number of other key bipartisan 
wins, like the gun safety bill and infrastructure legislation. Under 
our majority, even though I had lots of disagreements, and we had a few 
fights--not physical, he would have clobbered me in those--Joe Manchin 
has been an invaluable partner, a dedicated public servant, and a dear 
friend until the end.
  Of course, Joe and I didn't agree on everything, after all, who here 
thinks that New York and West Virginia could agree all the time? But 
despite these disagreements, what mattered was this: No matter the 
issue, I always knew that Joe would be true to who he was, to put the 
people of West Virginia first, and to seek consensus, even if there was 
just a shred of an opportunity. He was so persistent at it, and that is 
why he was as successful as he was. These things I will always cherish 
about serving with the Senator from West Virginia, but also we were 
just close friends, aside from politics. We talked to each other all 
the time. We each knew each other's phone numbers by heart. That 304 
number popped up on my phone more than just about any other. And we had 
some great times together.
  Some of the happiest times I had in the Senate were on Joe Manchin's 
boat. He would bring in great Italian food. And then he would turn on 
his sound system, and we would all be singing--Democrats and 
Republicans--hits from the fifties, sixties, seventies. Joe would just 
play the first two or three notes, and then we would have to guess what 
the song was. We were both pretty great at it, and what great times 
they were.
  Joe is the kind of friend who breaks the tension with a sudden joke, 
the kind of colleague who breaks gridlock with a helping hand, and the 
kind of public servant who breaks cynicism by reminding everyone that 
what we do here, we do for the people back home.
  So, Joe, thank you for the many good years of partnership in this 
Chamber. As you know, I tried to recruit you, successfully, when you 
first ran, and you have had great service to our country since then. 
And I hope you don't regret that I recruited you, and you came here. I 
am sure you don't because you have done so much and made so many good 
friends.
  Joe, thank you for all you have done serving our country and serving 
the people of West Virginia. We wish the best to you, to Gayle, to your 
beautiful family, which you always talk about, and to all the people of 
West Virginia whom you so admirably served.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 
to complete my remarks before the recess.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.