[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16735-16736]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTES TO DEPARTING SENATORS

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I rise to comment about some wonderful 
men in the Senate who are retiring on both sides of the aisle. Earlier 
today I spoke about my deep affection and sorry-to-see-go friends 
Olympia Snowe and Kay Bailey Hutchison, but I want to rise as the dean 
of the women in the Senate to say some very special words about very 
special men on both sides of the aisle. Because when I came to the 
Senate, it was only Nancy Kassebaum and myself, and yet we worked on so 
many issues together. There are really wonderful men here who supported 
me, supported our issues, but really stood up for those States and 
their communities.


                              Danny Akaka

  I want to say goodbye, aloha, to my very good friend Danny Akaka, a 
wonderful man with whom I have served in both the House and the Senate. 
He has been a real advocate not only for the people of Hawaii but, wow, 
the way he stood up for the Federal workforce, the civil servants who 
do such a great job, the outstanding job he has done on the Veterans' 
Committee.
  Lives are better off, particularly for our veterans. I want to say a 
wonderful goodbye and give a hug to him because he demonstrates that 
you do not have to be loud to be powerful.


                               Dick Lugar

  I also wish to pay tribute to someone on the other side of the aisle, 
my very good friend and someone I admire tremendously, Senator Dick 
Lugar from Indiana. Who does not admire Senator Lugar, a gentleman, a 
scholar, I might even add a Rhodes Scholar, a definite advocate for 
Indiana, an incredible thought leader on foreign policy.
  I am so proud of him and the work he did and the way he reached 
across the aisle to work with our colleague Senator Sam Nunn on their 
famous Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. They truly 
worked together to begin to end the threat of weapons of mass 
destruction in the former Soviet Union and made the world a better and 
safer place.
  We want to wish Senator Lugar a fond farewell and let him know he 
will be deeply missed. I certainly will miss him. I valued his thought, 
his counsel, his observations, particularly in the area of foreign 
policy. He taught me a little bit about foreign policy too.


                             Jeff Bingaman

  I also want to say a goodbye to our friend Jeff Bingaman of New 
Mexico, someone who has also brought intellectual rigor, a lawyer's 
insistence on thoroughness, and a real commitment to people. It has 
been an honor and a pleasure to work with him on the HELP Committee, 
especially on the Affordable Care Act. I was proud to support all that 
he did, particularly in developing and focusing on the health workforce 
for the future.
  I knew I could count on Jeff in the committee and on the floor as one 
of those men whom I refer to as a Gallahad, where men of quality always 
supported us women as we sought equality. Our initiatives to end 
discrimination against women in health care and in the workplace were 
some of our proudest achievements in working together.


                                Jon Kyl

  I also wish to comment about Jon Kyl. I have worked across the aisle 
from Jon Kyl and I have been seated across the table from him at 
everything from Bible study groups to the Senate Intelligence 
Committee. We studied the words of the Bible together to make ourselves 
better, and we worked in our committees to make the world better.
  We lived through September 11 and the terrible attacks that occurred 
in our country and the anthrax attacks in our offices. With his steady 
leadership, his resourceful mind, his can-do know-how, we worked 
together to get the job done. I was delighted to be able to work with 
him in a way that called forth our highest and better selves to look 
out for our country. I wish him the best in his journey.


                              Kent Conrad

  I wish to comment too about Kent Conrad. Wow, what a numbers guy. 
Those charts--I loved those charts. But we have many other things in 
common besides a love of charts. We love baseball. We love the 
Baltimore Orioles and, I might add, an occasional polka at Blob's Beer 
Garden in Maryland. Now you know Kent. He looks like Clark Kent. And he 
is a Superman when it comes to the budget. But, wow, when they played 
``Roll Out the Barrel,'' he was quite a hoofer.
  Most of all, what I admired about him is the way he breathed life 
into the numbers. He not only wanted a more frugal government, but he 
was also passionate and compassionate about how we could use the power 
of the purse to improve the world and at the same time maintain 
sensible spending standards.
  I am going to look forward to seeing him with or without his charts 
and maybe in a dugout.

[[Page 16736]]




                               Ben Nelson

  I wish also to say goodbye to Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a brother 
appropriator. We salute him for his work for the people of Nebraska and 
the Nation. Using those committee assignments on Appropriations, 
Agriculture, and Armed Services, he looked out for rural communities 
and he stood up for men and women in the military. I knew he took it as 
a personal responsibility, the issues around personnel for our 
military, that they had the right pay, the right equipment, and we 
protected their benefits.


                               Herb Kohl

  A comment about Herb Kohl, another brother appropriator, the very 
essence of civility. He brought a businessman's savvy with a deep 
compassion and commitment to the people of Wisconsin. Now we all know 
the Kohl family. They own basketball teams, they own department stores. 
I tell you, that Herb, he understood retail, whether it was in politics 
fighting for the people and their day-to-day needs or the national 
policy of looking out for working families as they build their lives. 
He stood up for Wisconsin cheese, the Green Bay Packers, his basketball 
team. But most of all, he stood up for the people. With Herb, what a 
sense of honor. His handshake was always good. You could count on him. 
It was a binding contract.


                              Scott Brown

  I wish also to say a word about Senator Scott Brown. Many of you know 
that I was a social worker and a child abuse worker. I want to say 
personally, I so admire Senator Brown's candor and being forthcoming 
when he shared with the world his own child abuse experience in his 
book, ``Against All Odds.'' He not only experienced the terrible thing 
that happened to him, but he went on to talk about how he handled this 
terrible tragedy. I must say, I compliment him. It was a model, that as 
a young boy this terrible event would not hold him back. I am sure his 
powerful words helped many others come into the light. As a former 
child abuse social worker, I want to thank him publicly for what he has 
done not only in this institution but to help other boys--and even 
girls--who also faced a terrible tragedy and refused to be a victim but 
went on to do well. I wish him well.


                                Jim Webb

  Senator Jim Webb, the Senate's own marine and former Secretary of the 
Navy, I have known him for more than 20 years, since he was Secretary 
of the Navy under Ronald Reagan. Well, in the beginning we fought on 
many issues, particularly gender equality. When Senator Webb was the 
new Secretary of the Navy and I was a new Senator, we had a different 
view on where women should be in the military, and we duked it out. But 
you know what. Over the years we came to know each other, respect each 
other, and appreciate each other's views. I so appreciate the fact that 
he is an unabashed, unrelenting fierce fighter for our men and women in 
uniform, fighting for them when they are on the front lines and when 
they return to the homefront.
  I am so proud of the fact that I could vote for the 21st century GI 
bill for those serving in the military, to make sure that when they are 
on the front line, they get the education here so they will not be on 
the unemployment line. His bill was the most significant legislation 
for veterans since World War II. So I say to Senator Webb, semper fi, 
and God bless you.


                             Joe Lieberman

  Then to my good friend, Joe Lieberman--my friend Joe, a true 
Independent. We have worked together on issues related to the Middle 
East and the safety and security of Israel. We worked to bring 
character education into our schools because we do believe that 
character counts.
  Working with Joe--whether it was to help create national service, 
move national legislation, or to say that in our schools we should come 
to understand the need to teach respect, responsibility, fairness, 
caring, and citizenship--wow, these were values that should be not only 
in our schools but throughout our country.
  Joe has been so faithful to his religious beliefs. He has also been 
faithful to the Constitution he was sworn to uphold and to the people 
of Connecticut. I want him to know we so appreciate his service to 
Connecticut and to the country.
  I wanted to be sure that the day would not end without me 
acknowledging these wonderful people who have given a big part of their 
lives to making this country a better place. I want to, in the most 
heartfelt way--I am so sorry we did not have a bipartisan dinner or 
party to be able to express this. I would have liked to have been in 
the same room, breaking bread with them, in order to be able to tell 
them how much we appreciate them, across party lines, across those 
lines that ordinarily divide us. They came from different parts of the 
country, they arrived in the Senate with different objectives, they 
will leave under different circumstances. But I want to again let them 
know that each and every one of them had a positive impact on me and I 
think a wonderful impact on the future of this country. So I wish them 
well. God bless and Godspeed.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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