[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16709-16713]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTES TO DEPARTING SENATORS


                 Olympia Snowe and Kay Bailey Hutchison

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise during this morning business 
hour to speak--particularly during this time of tension as we are 
looking at the fiscal cliff--to really use a few minutes to pay a 
tribute to two wonderful, outstanding Senators with whom I have served 
and who will be leaving us at the end of this term. They are wonderful 
women named Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine and Senator Kay Bailey 
Hutchison of Texas, dear friends across the aisle. Although they were 
on the other side of the aisle, there was no great divide between us. 
We have known each other for many years.
  I would like to say a few words about my very dear friend, Senator 
Olympia Snowe. I served with Senator Olympia Snowe in the U.S. House of 
Representatives and then in the U.S. Senate. Wow. What an outstanding 
Senator and Congressperson she has been, and I know we will continue to 
see Senator

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Snowe in some type of role in public service because that is just the 
kind of person she is. She is deeply, in her DNA, a public servant.
  Senator Snowe has served her State of Maine and our Nation so well. 
She is one of our most respected Members of Congress, known for her 
civility, her sensibility, and her mastery of the issues. I might add 
that she brings that New England sense of a more frugal government but 
at the same time shows that you can do it in a compassionate, smart 
way.
  I know her as a cherished friend, a dear colleague, and a crucial 
partner on so many issues. As I said, we served in the House and the 
Senate together. We worked on those issues I talk about, the macro 
issues and the macaroni-and-cheese issues. We fought for a better 
economy, particularly in the area of small business; a safer country, 
as we worked on the Intelligence Committee together; and a more 
efficient government. Also, we worked together on many issues 
pertaining to women. In the area of small business, she is currently 
the ranking member on the Small Business Committee, with our other 
colleague, Senator Mary Landrieu. She knows the backbone of Maine's 
economy is small business, and she also knows it is the backbone of the 
American economy.
  I have watched her day in and day out being concerned about her 
fishermen who were out there working in the cold waters off of Georges 
Bank for lobsters and the small shop owner on Main Street. From the 
potato fields and lumber yards to L.L. Bean, Olympia Snowe has stood 
for them but also for the big issues in terms of jobs in the Bath 
shipyards.
  In national security, we have worked together to look out for our 
troops over there and to protect our communities from predators back 
here. She has been steadfast and true. It is a committee that meets 
often behind closed doors, but I will tell you, this is a Senator who 
continually looks after the safety of the American people.
  One of the areas in which I have worked the closest with her is the 
area of women's health. You might be interested to know that Senator 
Snowe and I received the Good Housekeeping Outstanding Achievement 
Award for what we did to advance the cause of finding a cure for breast 
cancer. Now, when I called my sister and told her I was getting a Good 
Housekeeping award, she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever 
heard. When I told her I was getting it with Olympia Snowe, she knew it 
had credibility. I say that because what we did in working together was 
in medical research and in clinical trials.
  You might be interested to know that when I came to the Senate, the 
only other woman Senator was Nancy Kassebaum--another wonderful person 
across the aisle. Women were not included in the protocols at NIH. Can 
you believe that? That famous study--take an aspirin a day, keep a 
heart attack away--was done with 10,000 male medical students. Not one 
woman was there. They regarded including women in research as 
presenting deviant results. We were known as the deviant results. Well, 
Pat Schroeder; Olympia Snowe; another Republican Congresswoman, Connie 
Morella from Maryland--we said this couldn't continue. So we organized 
across the dome, across the aisle, and we went across the beltway to 
NIH. We pulled up and we demanded answers, scientific answers, on why 
we weren't included.
  The day we pulled up in our cars on a bipartisan basis, George Bush 
the elder appointed Bernadine Healey to head NIH. Then, again working 
together across the aisle and across the dome, working with Senators 
Kennedy and Harkin, we established the Office of Research on Women's 
Health at NIH. The famous hormonal replacement therapy study was done. 
It resulted in massive change in the way doctors treated women, and it 
has reduced breast cancer rates 15 percent.
  So I say to all, when you ask, what did Olympia Snowe do, she would 
say: I worked on a bipartisan basis. And because of what she did, we 
did, we all did working together, men and women, House and Senate, we 
have saved the lives of women 1 million at a time. I think that is a 
terrific accomplishment. And no matter what Senator Snowe does, she can 
cherish in her heart that she did that.
  But while we were busy doing the big picture, she helped me with an 
individual picture. We went to the refugee camps of Cambodia together, 
along with the Congresswomen. It was when the killing fields were at 
that time the highest. We saw the horrible consequences of war. We 
worked together to feed the children. We worked together to feed the 
children and care for the children.
  I met a young girl in a refugee camp, in the Catholic Relief feeding 
camp. Working with Senator Snowe, we brought that little girl to the 
United States of America. She is alive here today, married and living 
as an American citizen.
  So what did Olympia Snowe do? She saved jobs and she saved lives. I 
am proud to work with her, and we are going to miss her.
  Then there is my good friend Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has just come 
to the floor. I am glad she is going to be here to hear what I am going 
to say about her. I hold her in such enormously high esteem.
  Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is known for her competence, her strong 
character, and being an outstanding champion for Texas, an advocate for 
women, and a real patriot dedicated to serving our Nation. I too know 
her as a dear friend, someone deeply committed to creating that zone of 
civility among the women in the Senate.
  When Senator Hutchison arrived in the Senate in 1983, there were 
prickly politics beginning to emerge. She came from the Texas 
Legislature and knew the dynamics of a rough-and-tumble legislative 
body. But as we worked together on something called the homemaker IRA, 
we said: Why don't we just get together to see if we can create a zone 
of civility? That was when we brought the women together for those 
monthly dinners. The rules were no staff, no leaks, and no memos. We 
talked about everything from hairdos to the hair-raising and how we 
could stop the global war on terror and fight the deadly scourge 
against breast cancer. We worked together, again across the aisle.
  In 1992 we also worked to hold these power workshops to make sure 
every woman would know how to get started in the Senate, and we worked 
together on that.
  The other thing Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and I helped establish 
was that we could disagree without being disagreeable. We, the women of 
the Senate, do not have a caucus because we represent States. That is 
what the Constitution says is our job--we are here to represent States. 
We also have different philosophies and viewpoints on governance. But 
we also know we can disagree without being disagreeable.
  A story I like to tell is that during debate on the Lilly Ledbetter 
Fair Pay Act, Senator Hutchison and I agreed on absolutely the same 
goal: equal pay for equal or comparable work for women. However, we 
disagreed on the means. Senator Hutchison had about nine amendments, 
and we duked it out here. We went earring-to-earring in terms of our 
debate, and the Senate commented on what intellectual rigor it had, 
what a sense of comity and exchanging of ideas. At the end of the day, 
we not only passed the legislation, but we did it in a way where 
everybody could feel proud of the process. Why can't we do that every 
day? Gee, I wish we could.
  Then working with Senator Hutchison--and this is how we got started, 
was on the homemaker IRA. This was Senator Hutchison's idea. She came 
to me and she said: You know, Senator Barb, they are stay-at-home moms, 
and they are limited to only $500 that they can contribute to an IRA. 
If they have the money and if they have the will and the wallet, we 
should give them the same tax opportunities as if they were working in 
the marketplace because their work at home should be valued as well.
  Absolutely. We changed that legislation. I have pending here 
legislation to permanently change the name of that

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homemaker IRA to the Hutchison IRA because she really did lead the way. 
I was an able ally, and we made a difference.
  So I could go through item after item--the way we have worked on 
breast cancer together, the way we have worked on appropriations. She 
was my ranking member on Commerce-Justice-Science. We have worked 
together on the space program. We have worked together to keep our 
areas safe. From the start, we shared a personal commitment that 
technology and space could help America remain exceptional, a belief in 
supporting research and science, leading to new ideas that would be not 
only new areas that we would explore but new technologies for new 
products and new jobs. Yes, I visited her down at mission control, and 
I have been there during the great research we were able to see being 
done in that area.
  Remember, the home of the Komen foundation is in Texas. Senator 
Hutchison was very clear that she wanted to be sure that she too was an 
advocate for women's health. We worked together on mammogram quality 
standards. Were you aware that in the early days--and I know that 
sometimes we sound like we built the Pyramids together when I tell 
these stories; it is both ancient history and a recent reality. If you 
went into a doctor's office 10, 12 years ago for a mammogram, you might 
have gotten a chest X ray and they would have called it a mammogram. It 
was often given by untrained technicians. There were no standards for 
the equipment that it would really work the way it was supposed to 
work, and it was often uncalibrated and ineffectual.
  Senator Hutchison and I worked using sound science, thorough 
hearings, working with the Institute of Medicine, FDA, and the National 
Institute of Standards. Now if you go into your doctor's office for 
that mammogram, you will see a certificate from your government that 
says this is a place where you know the technology will work and the 
people who will be giving it will be trained. You know, once again, 
this is early detection and screening, saving lives a million at a 
time. Isn't that fantastic? Again, across the aisle, we were able to do 
that.
  We also did a book together. She was the leader in helping us publish 
our famous book, ``Nine and Counting.'' Maybe there will be time for 
another book, but when the chapter of the history of the Senate is 
written, we want to be sure that the chapter really includes a big 
statement to the work of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
  Again, in this institution it is the personal relationships built 
often on policy. I went to Texas to tour the space program with Senator 
Hutchison. That is where we heard about the National Space Biomedical 
Research Institute at Baylor. When I was there, I met Senator 
Hutchison's brother, who faced the same blood cancer disease Geraldine 
Ferraro faced. Gerry and her brother became fast friends, so Kay and 
Barb teamed up. Again we pushed research at NIH. You know, cancer knows 
no party. It knows no ZIP Code. It knows no ideology. But it knows that 
we need to work together to be able to do it. On that wonderful day of 
friendship, where we learned the best ideas that will come out of our 
work in the space program to deal with the dread cancer word, the kinds 
of things that we study in space will help us be more effective here on 
Earth.
  Kay invited me to the Houston livestock show and rodeo. Now, I grew 
up in Baltimore, and you have been there many times yourself. You know 
it is a city known for its row houses, not for its rodeos.
  Kay invited me to come to the rodeo in the Astrodome. Well, I showed 
up, to her surprise. I had little boots, a cowboy hat, and a vest. She 
put me in a buckboard, and, to ``Deep in the Heart of Texas,'' we 
circled the Astrodome together. I was in a buckboard, and she was on a 
palomino next to me. The American flags were waving, and so was I, 
yelling ``giddy up, little doggie.'' At the end of the evening, I was 
there munching on barbecue, affectionately called Buckboard Barb--and I 
have the pictures to show it. They are locked up. I don't widely 
distribute them. But it was a heck of an evening.
  I say that because, again, out of that comes great friendships that 
also lead to paving the way to where we put our heads together to solve 
our national problems and to do it in a way where we get the best ideas 
from a variety of government approaches. And at the end of the day, we 
feel better, but America is better off.
  I am pretty emotional, actually, when I think about Olympia and Kay. 
We have been together a long time. We welcome the Acting President pro 
tempore and your generation, but for those of us who maybe didn't build 
the pyramids--and I hope Senator Hutchison can say the same--there is a 
lot of meaning in a Latin phrase I learned in Catholic girls school 
many years ago: Exegi aere perennius: We will build a monument more 
lasting than bronze.
  When Senator Hutchison returns to Texas again to find a new way to 
serve the people of this country, she will know that here in this 
institution, along with Senator Olympia Snowe, they built monuments to 
last far longer than any statues made of bronze. They made a difference 
in the lives of people, and they have done it in a way they can be 
proud of and for which we can all be grateful.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. I am so touched by the comments of my colleague 
Senator Mikulski about myself and Olympia. I appreciate so much that 
she has singled us out because Senator Mikulski is a pioneer. She 
didn't build the pyramids, I might say, but it was close. She was in 
the House first and then came to the Senate. She is our longest serving 
woman Senator and she will probably be dean of all the Senate at some 
point because she is a legend. She is a legend in the Senate, she is a 
legend in Maryland, and she is a legend in our country.
  I think back now on the things we have been able to accomplish--and 
it was not just because we were women--here in this deliberative body 
where we have 100 people representing 50 very different States. It is 
not that the men were against anything we have teamed up to do, but it 
is because of our experiences that we brought to the table. Sometimes 
it wasn't thought of before, before Senator Mikulski and other women 
came.
  I will point out a couple of things and embellish a little on what 
the Senator said. When we wrote the book ``Nine and Counting,'' there 
were nine women in the Senate at the time. But it came from something 
much bigger. It came from a meeting Senator Mikulski pulled together of 
the women of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was the Catholics and the 
Protestants who were trying to probe the women Senators, the nine of us 
who were here, about how they could be effective in making peace in 
Northern Ireland.
  When we started telling our stories to them, to encourage them that 
they could make a difference in Northern Ireland, Barbara Mikulski and 
I looked at each other and we said: You know, there is a book here. 
There is a book about the obstacles women have faced getting to the 
U.S. Senate and a book that can encourage our girls and young women to 
play a part in settling the major issues of our country.
  From that background, we contacted Bob Barnett, who was an agent of 
Senators and House Members who write books, and also Cabinet members 
and Presidents, and we said we would like to get together and write a 
book. He immediately got to work. It was Claire Wachtel at 
HarperCollins who said: ``Oh, I love this. I love it.'' She got a 
writer who went to each of us and interviewed us and then wrote our 
stories, which were in our own words.
  Afterward, we got together and decided to give all of the proceeds to 
the Girl Scouts of America, which was a common organization that had 
affected almost every one of the women at the time. The Girl Scouts 
were giving leadership capabilities to the girls in our country. I had 
been a Girl Scout and so had Barbara. Our book is still in print and it 
has raised tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars

[[Page 16712]]

for the Girl Scouts to continue their leadership programs. And it all 
came from something we learned about each other.
  I think the multiple myeloma disease, which my brother has, and which 
Geraldine Ferraro had, was another area where Barbara and I bonded. I 
bonded with Geraldine Ferraro too, who was a champion for women up and 
coming in our political system. She encouraged me a lot.
  But together with Barbara Mikulski, who was a dear friend of 
Geraldine Ferraro's, and who spoke at her funeral--we both went to that 
funeral--we were able to pass legislation that provided funding for 
research and education for multiple myeloma. We named it the Geraldine 
Ferraro Multiple Myeloma Education Program so that more could be 
learned about this very rare disease.
  Gerri was a fighter and she only died a year and a half ago. My 
brother is a fighter and he is still doing great. And now, because of 
our research, we are maintaining and we are letting people live a 
quality life because we teamed up.
  Barbara told the story, but I will tell the other side--the rest of 
the story--about the Houston rodeo, because they still talk about 
Buckboard Barb. She came to the rodeo from her ethnic background in 
Baltimore, and she was such a great sport. I was riding my horse in the 
grand entry and Barb was in the buckboard. She was waving and having 
the best time, and of course all of us were in our rodeo attire, which 
was sort of foreign to Barb, I have to say. But she was right in there 
with her boots and her big cowgirl hairdo. And Barbara leaned over to 
me at one of the rodeo events and she said: Kay, if we were here Monday 
morning and we went to a chamber of commerce meeting, would these 
people look like this?
  I still tell that story in Houston, TX, which they love, and, of 
course, I said: Oh, yeah. Which wasn't true. But I loved it. She was 
the best sport, and they still talk about her. They did give her a 
cowboy hat that was to die for.
  Let me mention one other thing. I know Senator Akaka is here, so I 
won't take up much more time. We teamed up on the issue of single-sex 
schools. The Senator from Maryland mentioned her Catholic girls school 
upbringing. Well, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Mikulski, Susan Collins, and 
myself teamed up to ensure that every girl in this country has the 
opportunity, if their school board decides to offer it as an option, to 
go to a girls school. And likewise for every boy whose school board 
decides that it would be better for boys--in middle school especially 
and high school. We teamed up after about 15 years of trying, starting 
with Jack Danforth from Missouri. He started the effort to allow 
single-sex schools in our public entities in America. When I came here 
in 1993, we finally passed it with our coalition saying: We know this 
can be better for some girls and some boys. Not all.
  I will say to the distinguished Acting President pro tempore that it 
was the Young Women's Leadership Academy in Harlem, NY, that gave us 
the courage to say this can be done, because they fought all the 
efforts to not allow it; all the lawsuits. They stood up. Hillary 
Clinton went to visit the Young Women's Leadership Academy, and I took 
Rod Paige, the Secretary of Education, right there to New York and I 
said: Secretary Paige, we can do this for all Americans. We can. 
Hillary and I and Barbara and Susan said: We are going to do it. We 
did, and it was a great accomplishment.
  I just want to end by saying that I so appreciate Barbara Mikulski 
and John Cornyn introducing the bill to name the Homemaker IRA for me. 
It means so much to me, because I experienced as a young single woman 
starting an IRA, getting married, and being told I couldn't provide any 
more for my own retirement security. And I knew there were so many 
women who, through divorce or the death of a husband, had gone in and 
out of the workforce or never been in the outside workforce, couldn't 
save for their own retirement security. When I went to Barbara, I said: 
Barbara, it is a Democratic Senate, so I will make this bill the 
Mikulski-Hutchison bill to get it passed. Senator Mikulski said: Not on 
your life, it will be Hutchison-Mikulski because it is your idea. And 
she worked just as hard as if it were the reverse. That says more about 
the Senator from Maryland than anything I could say. So thank you, 
Barbara, for introducing the bill that would name it for me because I 
know it will help women long after I leave.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to honor my colleague, 
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who will be leaving the Senate at the end 
of this term. Senator Hutchison has represented the State of Texas in 
the Senate since her election in 1993.
  Senator Hutchison has deep Texas roots, with her great-great-
grandfather signing Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836. Growing 
up in La Marque, TX, Senator Hutchison has represented her State as 
only a true Texan could. Senator Hutchison attended the University of 
Texas at Austin, graduating with bachelor of arts degree. She then went 
on to earn her J.D. from the University of Texas Law School in 1967. 
Senator Hutchison began her career as a political and legal reporter 
for KPRC in Houston.
  In 1972, Senator Hutchison began her long career of public service by 
twice being elected to represent Houston in the Texas House of 
Representatives. In 1990, Senator Hutchison was elected Texas State 
treasurer. In 1993, Senator Hutchison won a special election, becoming 
the first and only woman to date to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. 
She has continued to represent Texas for almost 20 years in the Senate, 
repeatedly winning her seat by overwhelming margins, including her 
reelection in 2000 with more votes than any statewide candidate in 
Texas history.
  Throughout her Senate career, Senator Hutchison has been known as a 
strong leader on defense issues. In 1993, Senator Hutchison became the 
first woman to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee since 1974. 
In 2003, Senator Hutchison introduced the legislation creating an 
overseas basing commission, which ensured our forces were capable of 
meeting the threats we face in the 21st century. Following the 
September 11 attacks, Senator Hutchison was instrumental in securing 
provisions to increase air cargo screening as part of the National 
Intelligence Reform Act.
  Senator Hutchison has also been a champion of education during her 
time in the Senate. She has used her firm belief that every child is 
deserving of a quality education to advocate for increased investments 
in science, technology, and education.
  Senator Hutchison has served the people of the State of Texas with 
integrity. I wish her success in whatever she chooses to do in the next 
chapter of her life.


                               Dan Akaka

 Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, today I would like to honor the 
legacy and service of my colleague and dear friend, Senator Daniel K. 
Akaka.
  My brother, Senator Daniel Akaka, has been my friend and partner in 
Washington for 36 years.
  During that time, he has fought hard for Native Hawaiians, veterans, 
and the needs of Hawaii.
  I am sad at the thought of the Senate without him and I am sorry I am 
unable to join him on the floor today.
  Dan Akaka is the spirit of Aloha.
  I have always relied on his even keel and hard work to help me 
represent the people of Hawaii. And I have never, ever heard him utter 
a harsh word or do anything to harm another person.
  There are few words to describe a kind man of his stature, but I 
assure you, Hawaii and this Nation are better because of his work.
  On behalf of the people of Hawaii, thank you Danny. There will never 
be another like you.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute and recognize 
the accomplishments of a colleague and dear friend who will be retiring 
from the U.S. Senate at the end of the term. Senator Akaka has 
represented the State of Hawaii with distinction for 36 years. He has 
been a firm advocate for

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his constituents, especially for Native Hawaiians.
  I have had the honor and privilege to work alongside Senator Akaka on 
the Indian Affairs Committee. During this time and throughout his 
tenure as chairman, I have witnessed his commitment to improving the 
overall well-being of Native Hawaiians as well as all indigenous 
people. He has been a tireless advocate for their rights, and, with his 
leadership and bipartisan dedication, he has brought many issues they 
confront to the forefront. For more than a decade, Senator Akaka has 
championed the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, which 
establishes a process for Native Hawaiians to gain Federal recognition. 
He has also been the driving force in advancing the Native Hawaiian 
language movement. His dedication and leadership has ensured survival 
of the language.
  As part of the greatest generation and a veteran, Senator Akaka also 
used his time as chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs to 
champion laws to improve health care and benefits for countless 
veterans, servicemembers, and their families.
  Known for breaking down barriers and building relationships, Senator 
Akaka has served the people of Hawaii with integrity and humility. He 
is a true statesman, gentleman, and patriot, and our country is better 
for his service. He leaves a distinguished legacy and will be greatly 
missed by us all. I thank Senator Akaka for his friendship and service 
to our Nation, and I wish him and his wife Millie all the best for the 
future.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Hawaii.

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