[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 22957-22958]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               COMMENDING CONGRESSMAN PATRICK J. KENNEDY

  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I rise to make a few brief remarks in 
honor of Congressman Patrick Joseph Kennedy of Rhode Island.
  With Patrick's departure from the House of Representatives to seek 
new challenges and enjoy some well-earned time out of the political 
spotlight, my home State of Rhode Island is losing a champion for 
working families and our country is losing a public servant who did as 
much as anyone else to care for and lift those in the shadows of life.
  It is a moment to thank Patrick for his many contributions to the 
lives of Rhode Islanders over his 16 years of service in the House but 
also a moment to reflect on his unique place in the political history 
of our country.
  After all, the 112th Congress will be the first in more than half a 
century in which no member of the Kennedy family is serving in either 
the House or the Senate.
  In Rhode Island, a State that he adopted, and that adopted him/he 
first entered public service at the young age of 21, winning his 
congressional seat a few short years later in 1994, one of only four 
GOP seats Democrats won in that election.
  Over the years, Patrick continually faced capable and well-funded 
opponents, but his constituents had come to recognize and welcome his 
humble dedication to their lives, re-electing him seven times. He was 
my younger, but senior, colleague on our delegation.
  The arena of politics is combative--all the more so when your last 
name is Kennedy--but Patrick persevered, and he persevered despite his 
own health and addiction challenges.
  And instead of running from those challenges, instead of hiding from 
those challenges, Patrick had the courage and wisdom to realize that 
the problem he was experiencing was a problem shared by millions of 
families in America. Instead of hiding from public scrutiny, he stood 
tall--not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of Americans who 
needed a champion to bring their struggles to the forefront of the 
national agenda.
  With that, Patrick's campaign for mental health parity took fire, 
resulting in passage of the landmark Mental Health Parity Act of 2008, 
an achievement Speaker Nancy Pelosi described as ``the legislative feat 
of the century.''
  In that fine cause, Patrick had the chance to work with a towering 
champion of civil rights, the lion of the Senate, his father.
  Peer to peer, man to man, they hashed out the final bill in 
conference. The father, with his easy, booming laugh and affectionate 
camaraderie; the son, with his fierce but quiet determination.
  Thus did Patrick help lift up millions of Americans. Thus did he earn 
a place alongside his father--a man he called his hero, his 
inspiration. Thus did he emerge as a champion for so many who needed 
one so badly. Thus did he uphold the best traditions of the family and 
the Nation he loved.
  Patrick has proudly carried on his family's spirit of service and 
their fight for social justice. And to be sure, he has always been 
proud to be Teddy's son. ``From the countless lives he lifted,'' 
Patrick said, ``to the American promise he helped shape, My father 
taught me that politics at its very core/was about serving others.''
  In the service of others, Patrick too brought to the rough and tumble 
of politics/traits that made him unique, and he left behind 
accomplishments that allow him to stand on his own as one of the great 
legislators of our time.
  Indeed, of all the descendents of President Kennedy, and of Bobby 
Kennedy, and of our own late colleague Ted Kennedy, it was Patrick who 
last held public office, Patrick who longest held public office, 
Patrick who youngest held political office, and Patrick who

[[Page 22958]]

most successfully used public office to further the family's mission of 
lifting up every American.
  Patrick's success as a Member of Congress came not easily, not from 
the charm charisma so characteristic in his family but rather from 
simple hard work, unshakeable integrity, and his formidable 
determination to win what others had sought.
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in ``The Ladder of St. Augustine'':

       The heights by great men reached and kept,
       Were not achieved by sudden flight,
       But they, while their companions slept,
       Were toiling upward in the night.

  The story of Patrick Kennedy is not a story of glamorous sudden 
flight to glory. It is a tale of long and silent toil, upward, and in 
the night, in the shadow of his own challenges.
  The best part of this story is that Patrick's work is not yet 
finished. Neither his father nor his uncles got to experience life 
after public service. But, stepping away from the Congress at the age 
of 43, Patrick's road stretches ahead for many more miles.
  I know that Patrick will continue to look for ways to give back to 
the State that gave him a chance to serve and the Nation that gave his 
family a chance to thrive. And he will always enjoy the gratitude of 
Rhode Islanders whom he has served so well and Americans whose burdens 
he has helped to relieve. And I will always be proud to consider him a 
legislative inspiration, a political ally, and a beloved friend.
  Patrick, thank you. And I wish you all the best in this new 
beginning.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa is recognized.

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