[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 19428-19429]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTES TO RETIRING SENATORS


                             Robert Bennett

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am sorry I was tied up in other matters 
today and not able to hear speeches of some of our Senators who are 
departing. I will have more to say at a later time. I did want to say 
on two of the Senators, I watched some of their remarks.
  Senator Bennett from Utah is a very dear friend of mine. We have 
traveled around as Members of the Senate, visiting places all over the 
world. His wife Joyce is an accomplished artist. She is a flutist. She 
is well known here and in Utah. Senator Bennett is a very courageous 
man. What a disappointment he was not reelected. I am not usually 
giving speeches for my Republican colleagues, but it is a real loss to 
the country that Senator Bennett will not return to the Senate. He is a 
very courageous man. He represents the ideals of the State of Utah. He 
is a very devout member of his church. He is a person who calls his 
political issues the way he sees them. His having been criticized for 
supporting his President, a Republican President, on the Toxic Asset 
Relief Program is unfair. This was one of the most important issues we 
faced in ages in this country, and I think the proof is in the pudding. 
Of the hundreds of billions of dollars--almost $1 trillion--that were 
put out for that fund, all but $25 billion is paid back and most of the 
economists say we will get more than that back from some of the things 
that were invested in.
  I admire the public service of Senator Bennett. It has been 
outstanding. It meets the accomplishments of his father who also served 
very well in the U.S. Senate. I am going to miss him a great deal. What 
a wonderful human being. He is an author. He has in the past been a 
very successful businessman, and I think one of the most accomplished 
legislators I have had the pleasure to deal with.


                              Byron Dorgan

  Byron Dorgan from North Dakota is such a fine person. He for many 
years has had the same job I had under Senator Daschle, the head of the 
Democratic Policy Committee, and he rendered valuable service to the 
caucus, to the Senate, and the whole country in his capacity there. We 
served together in the House of Representatives. We have traveled 
together. His wife Kim is such a fine human being. I am going to miss 
Byron. He is and has been one of my close advisers, close friends. I 
hope I am not being boastful here, but I don't think Tom Daschle had 
two better friends in the Senate than Dorgan and Reid. We were very 
close to him. We admired our friend Tom Daschle and did everything we 
could to make his life here as pleasant as possible.
  As far as being a good speaker, he is very good. He has a unique way 
of communicating that very few people I have known have had. He is 
someone who, as far as the finances of this country and the world, is 
without peer as a legislator. He knows it all, and he has a way of 
articulating his views that is unique and I think very powerful. So I 
am going to miss Byron Dorgan very much. He is a wonderful human being. 
I care a great deal about him. I have watched his son and daughter grow 
up. They are in college now. I remember them when they were little 
kids. In fact, my son Key, who was a fine athlete at the University of 
Virginia, when he was playing on those national champion soccer teams 
at the University of Virginia, gave Byron's son Brendon a few soccer 
lessons. So I am grateful for the friendship of Senator Bennett and 
Senator Dorgan.


                              Jim Bunning

  Senator Bunning, I of course admire because of his great athletic 
skills. He is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. To think I have 
had the opportunity to serve in the Senate with one of the great 
pitchers of all time. I love talking to Jim Bunning about his baseball 
days. Some of the stories he has told I have repeated many times and I 
will never forget them. One of the things he said that I have repeated 
on a number of occasions--Jim Bunning was a great pitcher, an All-Star 
with no-hitters in both leagues. But he has some humility, because he 
said there was Sandy Koufax and there was the rest of us. He and I 
don't vote often the same way, but he is a man who has a strong 
opinion, and I am going to miss Jim Bunning and the ability for me to 
talk to him about his athletic feats. I certainly wish him well in 
whatever his endeavors may be in the future.

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