[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9305-9306]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO RAY LaHOOD

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, when President Obama was first elected 
back in 2008, I can recall the transition period because his transition 
office was literally next door to my office in the Federal building in 
Chicago. I can't think of a more exciting time. Here was my colleague 
in the Senate who had just been elected President of the United States.
  The whole world was beating a path to his door. Security was at the 
highest level, and I made a point of not interrupting him--which I 
would have done regularly when he was my Senate colleague--during this 
historic and important moment as he prepared to lead America with the 
blessing and the mandate of the American people.
  I didn't have a long list of requests--well, I did, but I didn't 
exercise it--but I spoke to him once or twice about a couple of things 
I thought might be helpful to the country and to him. I recommended to 
him one person to appoint to his Cabinet--one person. I urged him to 
appoint Ray LaHood as America's Secretary of Transportation. I was 
confident that Ray LaHood would serve America with the same integrity 
and energy he had shown while serving as a Member of Congress from our 
State of Illinois. As Secretary Ray LaHood prepares to leave this 
important Cabinet post, I am pleased but not a bit surprised to be able 
to say to the President that I was right. He was an excellent choice--
in fact, one of the best ever when it comes to the Department of 
Transportation.
  Make no mistake, Ray LaHood is a proud Republican. I remember meeting 
him first when he was a staffer for Bob Michel, who was the Republican 
leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ray was a behind-the-
scenes worker for the Republican minority leader in the House, and I 
knew he was from Peoria but little else about him. When Bob Michel 
announced his retirement, Ray LaHood said he was going to run for that 
position in Congress.
  What surprised me was that some of my closest Democratic friends in 
central Illinois said they were going to financially support and do 
everything they could to elect Ray LaHood. And I thought, this is 
really amazing. These partisan friends of mine think Ray LaHood, a 
Republican, is a good person for this job.
  So I started paying closer attention to this new Congressman. As it 
turned out, we became close friends. We worked together. We had 
adjoining congressional districts. Eventually, when I was elected to 
the Senate, we worked all through central Illinois on common projects, 
and I was happy to do it. Ray was not working with a great appetite for 
publicity; he wanted to get the job done, and he didn't mind giving 
credit to Democrats or Republicans if we could achieve our goals, the 
local goals we shared.
  When he became Secretary of Transportation I saw that same spirit of 
cooperation and bipartisanship. Any time I spoke to President Obama or 
Vice President Biden about Ray LaHood, their Secretary of 
Transportation, they always said the same thing: He is the best and we 
are sure glad he is part of our team.
  The President could not find anyone better to carry out the 
transportation agenda for America in his first term. I believe history 
is going to record Ray LaHood as one of the very best in that position. 
He put millions of Americans back to work with the $48 billion 
transportation funding that was part of President Obama's Recovery Act. 
He oversaw the creation of the Nation's first high-speed rail program, 
a program that Illinois has participated in with great commitment and 
excitement. He also helped to create the TIGER Program, a $2.7 billion 
investment in America's future that has built some of our Nation's most 
significant transportation projects. And he helped save lives by 
focusing personally on our national aviation system.
  He also had another safety campaign. He conducted what he called a 
rampage against distracted driving, people who were texting or talking 
on cell phones and trying to drive at the same time. He traveled more 
widely and more frequently than many professional pilots did. As a 
Washington Post reporter wrote a while back:

       There are just two kinds of states: States where [Ray 
     LaHood has] been to spread his gospel of safety and to 
     inspect transportation systems and those States that he plans 
     to visit soon.

  The people of Illinois are grateful to Ray LaHood not only for his 4 
historic years as Transportation Secretary, but also for his many 
decades of service as staffer to Bob Michel and then a member in his 
own right in our Illinois delegation.
  Ray was born and raised in Peoria, IL. He stayed true to his 
Midwestern values throughout his career. He started his public service 
as a teacher in a classroom. He cut his political teeth working for 
another top Republican Congressman, Tom Railsback. As I mentioned, then 
he went on to work for Bob Michel. In 1994 he was elected to Bob 
Michel's congressional district, the 18th District. The district 
stretches from Peoria, south to the State capital, my hometown of 
Springfield.
  There is a history of some pretty outstanding Congressmen from that 
district. I mentioned Bob Michel, and I can include Everett McKinley 
Dirksen as well. If you go far enough back in history you will find 
there was a young Congressman from a part of that district by the name 
of Abraham Lincoln.
  Ray is a great student of history. He inspired a great effort to 
create the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, and I was honored 
to join him

[[Page 9306]]

as a co-chair with Harold Holzer of New York. We observed President 
Lincoln's 200th birthday in 2009 with suitable recognition and 
celebration across America.
  Ray's work helped students everywhere learn a little bit more about 
President Lincoln and his role in America's history. Like his famous 
predecessors, Ray LaHood has raised the standard for civility and 
cooperation in the Congress. In the darkest hours of the House of 
Representatives when people were at each other's throats, it was Ray 
LaHood who reached across the aisle to a Democratic Congressman and 
said: Why don't we get together on a bipartisan basis, with our 
families, for a weekend. It seems so obvious and easy. Nobody had ever 
thought about it before Ray.
  Back in Illinois, Ray used to convene bipartisan meetings with local 
officials, State representatives, and his dedication to his district 
and his service in the House earned him the reputation as one of the 
best. When President Obama nominated Ray for Transportation Secretary, 
all of us in Illinois knew the President had chosen the right person.
  Ray's legacy in DC will be substantial, but it will be even greater 
back in Illinois. He has helped protect and build Illinois during his 
tenure at the Department of Transportation. It was such a treat to be 
able to call the Department of Transportation, to speak to the 
Secretary of Transportation about an Illinois project and have him know 
instantly what you were talking about.
  The O'Hare Modernization Program is a good example. There is hardly a 
more important economic engine in the northern part of our State than 
the O'Hare Airport. The modernization of O'Hare had reached a period of 
some difficulty and controversy. Ray LaHood stepped in, brought the 
parties together, and put the Nation's largest airport expansion 
project back on track.
  Secretary LaHood, as I mentioned earlier, brought high-speed rail to 
Illinois. Last year we rode the first 110-mile-an-hour train between 
Chicago and St. Louis. He helped build a beautiful new terminal at the 
Peoria International Airport.
  Secretary LaHood's dedication to Illinois will be felt in every 
corner of Illinois for generations to come. People will be able to 
travel faster and more safely because of his work. He will bring new 
businesses to the State by those transportation investments, creating 
the jobs that we all want to see.
  Ray LaHood is a leader with integrity and character. He is also such 
a good friend. I am going to miss him as my partner in government when 
he retires from the position of Secretary of Transportation. The 
Washington Post article I mentioned earlier had a wonderful line. The 
reporter wrote:
  Perhaps the most telling tidbit in LaHood's life is that he resided 
in Washington for 30 years without once getting a haircut here. A man 
truly lives where he gets his haircut, and [for Ray LaHood] that is in 
Peoria [IL].
  As Ray LaHood prepares to leave President Obama's Cabinet and spend 
more time with his family, I wish the best to him. His wife Kathy--who 
was often at his side traveling back and forth between Illinois and 
Washington--will have more time with Ray and their four children: Amy, 
Sara, Sam, and State Senator Darin LaHood and their wonderful families 
too. I look forward to working with Secretary LaHood and his very able 
successor, former Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx, to maintain and improve 
America's transportation systems and networks, the backbone of our 
economy.

                          ____________________