[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17178-17179]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        COMMENDING NORM COLEMAN

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I am here today to speak about 
Senator Coleman, who was my colleague for my first 2 years in the 
Senate. As everyone knows, last week the Minnesota Supreme Court issued 
its ruling on the outcome of last November's Senate election. As I did 
this week, I congratulate Al Franken for his hard-earned and long-
awaited election victory. He has had a good first week in the Senate, 
and we all welcome him. But I do wish to take this time to talk about 
Norm Coleman.
  First of all, after 6 months without having a second Senator, Senator 
Coleman made a very difficult decision, and he did it with such grace. 
He could have appealed that decision. He could have gone to Federal 
court. It was his right. But he made a decision which he felt was best 
for the State of Minnesota, and the State.
  I wish to talk a little bit about what Norm Coleman meant to me to 
have him as a colleague in the Senate.

[[Page 17179]]

  When I first came to the Senate, Norm had been a Senator for many 
years, and he was very gracious to me. He reached out with his staff. 
We basically got along from the moment I started to the end of his term 
as a Senator. We worked very hard at that. When we had disagreements, 
we talked them out and our staffs would talk them out because we felt 
the most important thing was that we represent the State of Minnesota.
  Each one of us knows Norm in our own way, but I think all of us agree 
this is someone who cares so much about his family, his wife Laurie, 
and their two children, Jacob and Sarah. Theirs is a family that has 
known tremendous tragedy. Two of their children died in early infancy 
from a rare genetic disease. While Norm doesn't talk about this much, 
his reverence to life and his devotion to family are very clear.
  Second only to his family has been his dedication to public service. 
It has literally defined his adult life. Maybe it was sheer destiny 
that he found his way to the Senate. After all, he is a graduate of 
James Madison High School in Brooklyn, which is also the alma mater of 
two of our Senate colleagues--Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders.
  Norm hit the ground running in politics, and he has not stopped. In 
college, he was a student activist, and in law school, he served as the 
president of his class. Immediately after getting his law degree, he 
joined the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, recruited by my good 
friend, legendary attorney general Warren Spannaus. Norm was in the 
Attorney General's Office 17 years, most of that time doing criminal 
prosecutions, ultimately rising to the position of solicitor general 
for the State of Minnesota.
  In 1993, Norm was elected the mayor of St. Paul at a time when the 
city, especially its downtown, was suffering economically. During his 8 
years as mayor, he worked to turn St. Paul around. Building public-
private partnerships, he redeveloped the industrial riverfront into a 
recreational greenspace. A new Minnesota science museum was built 
overlooking the Mississippi River. Most famously, he brought hockey 
back to Minnesota, securing a new National Hockey League franchise that 
moved into the new arena. Hockey is very important in Minnesota.
  In 1998, Norm was narrowly defeated in a three-way race for Minnesota 
Governor. The winner, of course, was Jesse Ventura--something not many 
people across the United States expected to happen. I think Norm once 
said that not everyone can say they lost to a candidate whose previous 
career highlight was being killed by an alien creature in the movie 
``Predator.'' But he took it in stride.
  In 2002, Norm was elected to the Senate under tragic circumstances. 
Just days before the election, my good friends Paul Wellstone and his 
wife Sheila and their daughter Marcia and members of their staff were 
killed in a tragic plane crash in northern Minnesota. Norm became the 
Senator. Like Paul, Norm took his duties very seriously, and I could 
see that in my 2 years in the Senate. He cared deeply about the work he 
did in foreign relations, some of which people never really talked 
about, never made the front page of the newspaper, but it was something 
he cared deeply about.
  Together, we worked on several issues in our State which were of key 
importance, legislation to benefit our State. The most dramatic example 
of this spirit of cooperation was our response to the sudden collapse 
of the Interstate 35W bridge into the Mississippi River on August 1, 
2007. Thirteen people were killed and 150 were injured, many with 
severe and permanent injuries. Literally our cities came to a stop. For 
our State, out of this unprecedented disaster, this public trauma was 
something to which they immediately responded.
  I still remember when Senator Coleman and I came in the very next 
morning--we flew in with the Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters--
and there were already billboards up, literally 12 hours later, 
directing people where to go with the traffic and how to get buses to 
get to where they had to go. As I said that day, a bridge in America 
should not just fall down, but when one does fall down, we rebuild it. 
In the 72 hours immediately following the bridge collapse, Norm and I 
worked together to secure $250 million in emergency bridge construction 
funding. Representative Jim Oberstar led the way in the House. Approval 
of this funding came with remarkable speed and bipartisanship. Capitol 
Hill veterans tell me it was a rare feat, aided by unity among 
Minnesota's elected leaders across the aisle, across the political 
spectrum. I am pleased to report that just 13 months after that 
collapse, Minnesota drivers were able to drive over a safe new 35W 
bridge and eight-lane highway. That is just 13 months after the 
collapse.
  While the bridge is the most visible example, Norm and I had many 
other opportunities to work together on issues that mattered to the 
people in our State.
  There was another Minnesota disaster in August 2007 when severe 
flooding hit the southeastern corner of our State. We worked on this 
together, along with Congressman Walz, to ensure a rapid, effective 
response by Federal agencies to help communities, businesses, and 
families in need.
  We worked together on the Agriculture Committee. We both served on 
that committee. We succeeded in passing a new farm bill that was very 
important to our State.
  We worked together with a bipartisan group of Senators on energy 
legislation, to move forward in unity.
  We worked together in securing Federal funds for the security costs 
of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, along with our 
colleagues in Colorado. I still remember standing before this Chamber 
saying that I stood tall to obtain the funding to protect the security 
of the Republican leadership from across this country. We did that 
together.
  We joined to secure educational benefits owed to our National Guard 
and Reserve troops returning from Active Duty overseas. We are so proud 
of our National Guard in Minnesota. The Red Bulls have served longer in 
Iraq than any other National Guard unit in the country. And Norm and I 
worked together to make sure we expanded the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon 
Program to help those Guard and Reserve who really have no base to go 
home to but go home to little towns across our State. We worked on that 
together.
  Our State has a proud tradition of electing both Democrats and 
Republicans to office. They expect us to work together. From the very 
beginning, Norm and I knew that was part of our duty to the people of 
our State, that was part of our obligation, no matter if we disagreed 
on issues, that we were going to work together.
  So today I acknowledge my former colleague, Norm Coleman, for the 
strength he has shown during this long campaign, for the grace he 
showed last week when he made that difficult decision, and for the fine 
work he did for the people of Minnesota.
  Madam President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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