[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 575]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF SENATOR MITCH McCONNELL'S YEARS OF SERVICE IN SENATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Chandler) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CHANDLER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the now 
longest-serving Kentucky Senator in the history of the United States 
Senate. This is truly a historic milestone for both the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky and Senator Mitch McConnell.
  Recently, Senator McConnell celebrated 25 years in the United States 
Senate, surpassing the great Senator Wendell Ford's previous record. By 
no means is this a small accomplishment, as our State has been the home 
to such noted Members of the Senate as Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, 
Alben Barkley, and John Sherman Cooper, just to name a few.
  The Senator did not become the influential man that he is today 
without hard work, dedication, and determination. He started his career 
as an intern on Capitol Hill, moved to legislative assistant, 
eventually deputy assistant attorney general under President Ford, to 
County Judge-Executive in Jefferson County, the largest county in our 
State, all before being elected by the people of Kentucky to serve in 
the United States Senate in 1984.
  He led his classmates as student body president in college and then 
went on to be the president of the Student Bar Association in law 
school. He has garnered the respect of his peers for years; so it comes 
as no surprise that he has risen to be the leader of his party in the 
Senate, an accomplishment only one other Kentuckyan in history has ever 
achieved.
  Parties aside, Senator McConnell has fought for what he believes in 
with the same dedication and fervor as he did when fighting polio in 
his early childhood. He can point to a number of achievements, such as 
aiding struggling Kentucky tobacco farmers by orchestrating the tobacco 
buyout and providing significant aid to Kentucky's colleges and 
universities. His influence also extends outside the Congress and the 
Commonwealth with his work on the Appropriations, Agriculture, and 
Rules Committees, opposing dictators in Myanmar and fighting for human 
rights in Egypt and Cambodia among others. Like Senator Wendell Ford, 
Senator McConnell won his first statewide election by a small margin, 
but since that time he has become a mainstay in Kentucky.
  Senator McConnell and I are both students of history, and regardless 
of political differences, and we have a few of those, I believe it's 
important to recognize his truly outstanding achievements.
  Mr. Speaker, today I ask the House to join me in recognizing the 
accomplishments of the distinguished gentleman from Kentucky, Senator 
Mitch McConnell. 

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