[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23796-23798]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO SENATORS


                              Wayne Allard

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to my friend 
and colleague, Wayne Allard, the senior Senator from Colorado. As all 
of us in the Senate know, Senator Allard will retire from the Senate at 
the end of this legislative session.
  Senator Allard is a Coloradan through and through. Raised on a ranch 
in Walden, CO, a very small town in the northwest corner of our State, 
he found his calling in animal medicine. He followed this passion to 
Colorado State University at Fort Collins, where he received his 
doctorate of veterinary medicine. Even today, he proudly wears his tie 
as a Colorado State University Ram. At CSU, Wayne

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met his future wife Joan who was studying microbiology at the time.
  After graduating, Wayne and Joan built the Allard Animal Hospital in 
Loveland together. They made their home there. They had two wonderful 
daughters, Christi and Cheryl. Living and working in Loveland, Wayne 
developed a passion for public service. He developed a passion for the 
good that could come from serving in politics.
  He began his political career in the Colorado State Senate. There, he 
served the people of Weld and Larimer Counties in the State legislature 
for 7 years. A strong believer in preserving the idea of citizen 
legislators, Senator Allard championed a Colorado law that limits 
legislative sessions to 120 days, a law that is still in our 
Constitution today. It works to ensure that Colorado representatives 
are able to spend the bulk of their time in their communities as 
opposed to the corridors of the State Capitol.
  In 1991, the people of the fourth congressional district elected 
Senator Allard to the U.S. House of Representatives. Five years later, 
Coloradans elected him to serve as Colorado's United States Senator.
  Throughout his career on the Federal level, Senator Allard has been a 
strong voice for fiscal responsibility and ensuring the security of 
America at home and abroad. He has used his position on the Senate 
Appropriations Committee to champion priorities important to Colorado. 
He has played an active role on the Senate Budget Committee to restore 
integrity to the government's use of taxpayer dollars.
  Yet, even as Senator Allard served in Washington, he has never 
forgotten where he came from and who he works for. He was always 
traveling throughout Colorado, engaging his constituents, hearing their 
hopes and concerns. It is there, in those communities of Colorado, that 
Senator Allard feels most at home.
  I have been privileged to work with Wayne Allard in the Senate for 
the past 4 years. We fought together for clean and safe drinking water 
for the communities in the Lower Arkansas Valley and through the 
construction of the Arkansas Valley Conduit which we hope will happen 
in the next several years. We worked to ensure the Animas La-Plata 
Water Project in southwest Colorado and making sure that project is 
fully funded to implement the historic settlement between Colorado and 
its Indian tribes. Over the past few months, we came together to move 
judicial nominees for the Federal Court in Colorado through the often 
contentious Senate confirmation process. It has been a productive and 
fulfilling partnership.
  Now, to be sure, Senator Allard and I have not always seen eye to eye 
on a number of issues. But in spite of our differences, I have always 
respected him. He works hard. He is humble. He loves the people of 
Colorado.
  But more than his love for Colorado and his country, Senator Allard 
is devoted to Joan, Christi, Cheryl, and his five grandsons. You will 
never see him have a smile wider or laugh harder than when he is in 
their company. I am happy that his return to Colorado will afford him 
the opportunity to spend more time with them. He deserves it.
  I know Senator Allard is a great admirer of a Democrat from Colorado 
by the name of Wayne Aspinall, who served in this Congress for a very 
long time. Wayne Aspinall was a strong protector of Colorado's water 
and the champion of the people of the Western Slope during his 24-year 
tenure in Congress. Congressman Aspinall once said:

       We all have moments when we feel that ``the system'' is 
     wrong, but that does not entitle us to assume that only we 
     could be right and therefore permit us to secede from our 
     society. We have to learn to live with it--to improve on it 
     if we can, to change it through established procedures, if we 
     must, but we must always remember that individually we are 
     only one person and that the views and ideas of others might 
     be equally valid as our own.

  For the past 25 years, Senator Allard has committed himself and his 
talents to the people of Colorado in this spirit--a spirit of reform 
and a spirit of humility. He has served with honor and distinction and 
with an unyielding focus on what he thinks is best for our State. I 
thank him for his service and his friendship, and I congratulate him on 
his retirement.
  Mr. President, I thank the Presiding Officer. I yield the floor and I 
note the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Salazar). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning 
business for up to 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                              Larry Craig

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, as the 110th Congress comes to a close this 
fall, a chapter in Idaho politics also comes to a close. After serving 
in public office, first in the Idaho State Legislature from 1975 to 
1981, then in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1990, and 
finally in the U.S. Senate from 1991 to 2009, my colleague Senator 
Larry Craig is retiring from elective office. Over the years, he has 
doggedly pursued initiatives important to Idahoans and staunchly 
defended Western values.
  Our colleagues in the Senate know about Senator Craig's work over the 
years ensuring that the U.S. agricultural community has the support 
needed to thrive and continue ensuring our food security and playing a 
major role in the global economy.
  Our colleagues know about Senator Craig's consistent stand on public 
lands, his unflinching defense of private property rights and reliably 
supporting those who are caretakers of this invaluable national 
resource.
  Our colleagues know Senator Craig's stalwart defense of our second 
amendment rights and his tireless call for a balanced budget and lower 
taxes.
  Our colleagues in the Senate know that Senator Craig has, on a number 
of occasions, reached across the aisle to promote bipartisan 
legislation.
  Our colleagues in the Senate know and have depended on the leadership 
exhibited over the years by a man with humble beginnings, born in a 
small Idaho town, on a family farm where he returned after college 
until the people of Payette and Washington Counties elected him to 
represent them in the Idaho State Legislature.
  What may not be so well known about the senior Senator from Idaho is 
his commitment to adoption, to our youth, to community service, to our 
veterans, and to our seniors.
  Senator Craig's three children are adopted. Over the years, he became 
a congressional leader in promoting adoption and working on policy 
initiatives that help adoptive parents and young children needing to 
find loving homes. He also helped found the Congressional Coalition on 
Adoption.
  Senator Craig did not only champion adoption in Congress, he took a 
strong leadership role in the Congressional Awards Foundation. This is 
an outstanding program that encourages young people to set high goals, 
to work toward them, and then when they have achieved these goals, it 
gives this body the opportunity to recognize their extraordinary 
accomplishments. The sense of community service this program grows in 
young people imparts a lifelong sense of civic duty and responsibility. 
In short, it grows great Americans.
  Speaking of great Americans, Senator Craig has been a champion of 
veterans as well, prioritizing their changing needs over the years and 
helping remind all of us that when a man or a woman defends the United 
States of America, that individual deserves to have this Nation care 
for them in their return and in their time of need.
  A believer in bringing Washington to Idaho, Senator Craig has hosted 
over 300 townhall meetings since his election to the Senate. He has 
also made national priorities that involve Idaho and his priorities; 
namely, Department of Energy and defense operations and research at the 
Idaho National Laboratory, the Mountain Home Air Force Base, and Gowan 
Field for the home of the Idaho National Guard.

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  Senator Craig has not only supported children, young people, the 
military, and our veterans, he has also worked to champion the cause of 
the aging, serving on the Special Committee on Aging and keeping 
important senior issues at the forefront of our legislative policy.
  Senator Craig's public service demonstrates a rich history of strong, 
conservative leadership, characterized by an unapologetic defense of 
democratic ideals of private property and personal liberty, woven 
together with an abiding and proactive concern for those without a 
voice in Washington. Idahoans across the State have come to know they 
can depend on Senator Craig to defend their economic well-being and 
their values.
  It has been a privilege for me to serve with Senator Craig during my 
time in the Congress. I wish him and his wife Susan well as they enter 
this new chapter in their lives.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I thank my partner and colleague from 
Idaho, soon to become Idaho's senior Senator, Mike Crapo. Mike and I 
have had a working relationship and a friendship for literally decades, 
and it is one I have greatly appreciated over the years because of his 
consistent and wise counsel.
  While I came to the Congress before Mike, Senator Crapo was in the 
legislature during a period of time after I was there, and so he 
brought with him, first to the House and then to the Senate, the very 
similar experiences I had as a State legislator. I highly recommend 
that to anyone who wants to serve in the Senate, that they have that 
experience on the ground in their home State in a way that brings the 
reality of State governments and the Federal Government together. 
Certainly, over the years Senator Crapo has had that experience and has 
shared it with me. Together, I think we have made a very valuable team 
for our State.
  There is another aspect of Senator Crapo I have so highly regarded 
over the years, and certainly the Presiding Officer from Colorado would 
appreciate it. there is probably one single most valuable commodity in 
the high deserts of the West--such as many parts of the Colorado and 
the State of Idaho--and that is water. There is an old phrase that many 
have heard over the years, which is that whiskey is for drinking and 
water is for fighting over. And there is a lot of truth to that. Our 
States historically have that in their background as we sorted out our 
water problems and began to recognize these phenomenally valuable 
commodities.
  Mike Crapo, in his other life, spent a lot of time with water law. I 
always said that when it came to water issues here in Washington, while 
they best be fought out in the State Capitol in Boise, I wanted Mike 
Crapo by my side as we worked through water issues that were for our 
State and certainly for the Nation. Not only does he know the law, 
coming out of a high desert environment of the kind that is in 
southern, southeastern, and southwestern Idaho, he knows the reality. 
He knows the importance. He knows that water is life and death. It is 
economy or no economy based on its value. That is the kind of 
partnership we have had over the years.
  I will be replaced by Idaho's lieutenant governor, Jim Risch. I am 
confident he will be elected, for a lot of reasons. First, he is a 
highly competent person. Idaho knows him well and respects him. He has 
served Idaho well and he will serve us very well here. He will become 
the junior partner of the soon-to-be senior Senator, Mike Crapo. That 
teamship, that organizational effort, that combining of forces on by 
far a majority of issues will be held for Idaho's interests.
  Mike and I rarely split our votes. When we do, we talk about them, we 
know our differences and we understand them. But we have realized over 
the years that the team approach for Idaho and the Idaho delegation is 
very important for a small State--small by population, at least, 
certainly not small by geography. So the friendship and the 
relationship I have had with Senator Crapo over the years has been 
personally very valuable to me, but I trust it has been very valuable 
to the State of Idaho. But that kind of working, teaming partnership is 
going to continue as I step down and Jim Risch is elected in November 
to continue to work with Mike Crapo.
  So I say to my colleague, Senator Crapo: Thank you. Thank you for the 
kind remarks and the working relationship and friendship we have had 
over the years.
  And to the presiding officer, while he has not served here as long as 
either of us, I would say to him that he fits in immediately, because 
he is a westerner who understands our issues, because they are his 
issues, and we have already begun to work those kinds of partnerships 
and relationships that are very valuable to the West, to the public 
lands, and to the interests of our States' people.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I came down here to pay a tribute to our 
senior Senator from Idaho, Senator Larry Craig, and you can see the 
caliber of man he is--he came down and paid tribute to me. That is the 
way he is.
  I want to add to my remarks by thanking Senator Craig personally for 
his tremendous assistance to me. From the very first day that I stepped 
foot on the floor of the Senate--in fact, before that, when I was 
trying to get elected to the Senate--Senator Craig was there to help. 
And once I was elected, Senator Craig set about making sure I could be 
successful.
  As he has indicated by his gracious remarks, that is the kind of man 
he is. He is a tremendous friend and he is a tremendous advocate and he 
has the kind of principles and values that have helped him to represent 
the people of Idaho so well over the years. He has committed his life 
to public service and has shown the people of Idaho and the people of 
this Nation the kind of leadership we should have in this country, 
fighting for those kinds of principles that I have mentioned--whether 
it be private property rights, a balanced budget, lower, smaller 
government, protecting those without a voice, working for the veterans, 
working for senior citizens, and his commitment to working for our 
newest citizens of our world, those who need adoption. The list goes on 
and on and on.
  I want to personally thank you, Larry, for the opportunity to serve 
with you here in the Senate, and to tell you that I and all of us in 
Idaho will miss you and look forward to continuing to work with you as 
you enter this new chapter of your life.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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