[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 14044]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO SENATOR TED STEVENS

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to honor one of the true 
stalwarts of this institution an indefatigable legislator, a tireless 
advocate for his home State of Alaska, a public servant with a lifetime 
of contribution, and a treasured leader of this venerable Chamber, 
Senator Ted Stevens who, this past April 13, 2007, became the longest-
serving Republican member of the U.S. Senate. Our good friend and 
colleague has received countless, well-deserved accolades for a 
tremendous milestone indeed.
  It is fitting that we pay tribute to an esteemed lawmaker whose 
ongoing legacy and longstanding record of accomplishment over a 
remarkable span of nearly 39 years of service in the U.S. Senate stand 
as a testament to the courage, vigor, and sense of duty he feels toward 
this country and the issues and policies shaping it. Ted is a force of 
nature, steadfast and resolute, in this time-honored body and in our 
nation's capital. His constituents wouldn't have him any other way, and 
we wouldn't either.
  His legacy of achievement on behalf of Alaskans is as large as the 
State they call home, and began even before he entered politics when he 
first moved to Washington, DC, to join the Eisenhower administration. 
While working for the Secretary of the Interior, he was not only 
present at Alaska's creation as a State in 1959, but was also 
instrumental in helping advocate for statehood. As a U.S. Senator, he 
was essential in championing the development of the Alaskan pipeline 
which was critical to his state and to the energy future of the 
country. He successfully advanced Alaska's infrastructure and 
transportation capabilities, especially vital to the state that is one-
fifth the size of the entire lower 48. Alaska rightfully commemorated 
Senator Steven's indelible impact in these areas with the dedication of 
the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in 2000. With a far-
reaching litany of accomplishments too numerous to mention, it comes as 
little surprise that the Alaska State Legislature--where he served as 
House majority leader in only his second term in the mid-1960s would 
name him at the millennium, the Alaskan of the Century.
  The people of my State of Maine are especially grateful to Senator 
Stevens for his landmark legislation that bears his name--the Magnuson-
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act our Nation's 
indispensable fisheries act, which was reauthorized this past January 
and signed into law. First as the chair, and now the ranking member on 
the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
subcommittee handling fisheries issues, I had the pleasure of working 
with full committee chairman and now ranking member Stevens throughout 
the process to help bring this bill to fruition. From the 300 year-old 
fishing villages in downeast Maine to remote Aleutian Island outposts, 
Senator Stevens has always been bound by a commitment to sustain both 
fish and fishermen.
  Through many Congresses, as both a chairman and ranking member, 
Senator Stevens has spearheaded and done much to shepherd improvements 
in the largely uncharted world of telecommunications policy that have 
been historic and consequential, and which will reverberate for 
generations. On a personal note, I want to express my debt of enormous 
thanks to Senator Stevens for his pivotal support in his Universal 
Service Fund Reform bill of the E-rate program which provides 
discounted telecommunications services to schools and libraries. 
Senator Stevens has been a bulwark catalyst on this initiative, and, as 
we recently commemorated the 10th anniversary since its inception, I 
couldn't help but recall with gratitude his crucial role in the wiring 
schools in my State and across the country.
  It must also be noted that in an era of increasing partisanship, 
Senator Stevens shares an unassailable bond with the senior Senator 
from Hawaii, a Democrat, Daniel Inouye a friendship, profoundly steeped 
in their mutual, heroic tours of duty in World War II, which continues 
to this day as a model example of collegiality, bipartisanship, and 
comity that transcends politics.
  This decorated Army Air Forces pilot in the storied ``Flying 
Tigers,'' whose immense devotion to this land and its people extends 
across six decades, is not one to move to the side or step away when he 
is fighting for what he believes in or on behalf of his State or in 
defense of his country. That speaks volumes in explaining Senator 
Stevens' well-known trademark as he prepares to debate on the Senate 
floor and he dons his infamous tie emblazoned with the Marvel comic 
book character, The Incredible Hulk!
  With hallmark humor, strength, and aplomb, how could he approach his 
robust role any differently--a man whose larger-than-life tenure in the 
public arena reflects the enormity of his stunning and beloved Alaska, 
a State with a name that means literally ``the object towards which the 
action of the sea is directed.'' For more than half century, the action 
of the sea of public policy has always found its way to this great 
American and still does because he welcomes it, thrives on it, and 
seizes upon it in the name of The Last Frontier State and to the 
benefit of our Nation.

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