[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16698-16700]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             SENATE CAREER

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this is really a personal speech. I was 
very grateful for the indulgences of my fellow Senators who allowed me 
yesterday to make a few observations after I cast my 15,000th vote. I 
would like to elaborate a bit more.
  I have never lost sight of what a great opportunity and 
responsibility the Senate affords this Senator from Vermont, day after 
day, to make things better for Vermonters and for all Americans, to 
strengthen our country and ensure its vitality on into the future, to 
forge solutions in the unending quest begun by the founders of this 
country to form a more perfect union.
  Over the last 40 years, I have been blessed to be able to serve with 
some of the giants of the Senate: Mike Mansfield, Howard Baker, Robert 
Byrd, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, Bob Dole, George Mitchell, and 
my mentor when I came here, then-senior Senator from Vermont, Senator 
Bob Stafford. I would note that I became the only Democrat ever elected 
from my State. Senator Stafford was really ``Mr. Republican'' in 
Vermont. And I wondered what the relationship would be. He immediately 
took me under his arm and guided me and worked with me, and there 
wasn't a day that went by that we didn't consult and I didn't gain from 
his wisdom and experience.
  There are so many others. Marcelle and I have made close friendships 
on both sides of the aisle, like Senator John Glenn and his wife Annie, 
who were Democrats, and Senator Cochran and Senator Lugar, Republicans. 
I had the privilege and have had the privilege to serve with more than 
370 Senators in all from different walks of life and every corner of 
this Nation, these different backgrounds, different stories, and 
different life experiences, both parties. And this has made this 
institution the greatest deliberative body in the world.
  I cast my first vote in this Chamber in 1975. It was a resolution to 
establish the Church Committee. The critical issues of the post-
Watergate era parallel issues we face today.

[[Page 16699]]

  I also had a front-row seat, a bit part in an historic effort, 
initiated by a Democrat--Senator Mondale of Minnesota--and a 
Republican--Senator Pearson of Kansas--to change the Senate's earlier 
cloture rule, which had been abused for decades in thwarting the will 
of clear majorities of the American people on such crucial issues as 
civil rights reforms.
  That project might not sound difficult, but changing the way the 
Senate operates is something akin to trying to change the weather.
  Late--actually very late one night--in a lengthy, difficult debate--
and we sometimes went around the clock--Senator Mondale and Majority 
Leader Mansfield enlisted me, the most junior Senator, to play a role. 
They asked me to stay on the floor one night around 2 in the morning to 
take the gavel as the Presiding Officer. They expected that a lot of 
tight rulings were coming up. I felt so honored, but I did feel the 
honor drain away as Senator Mansfield explained, no, no, they just 
needed somebody big, 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, and who was still awake, to 
be the Chair for those rulings, in case tempers flared. Sometimes a 
Senator is no more than a conscious body in the right place at the 
right time.
  But among those 15,000 votes I have been proud to cast on behalf of 
Vermonters, some were Vermont-oriented, some national, some global: the 
organic farm bill, the charter for what has become a thriving $30 
billion industry--I fought for years for that and got it through with 
bipartisan support; stronger regulations on mercury pollution and 
combating the effects of global warming; emergency relief for the 
devastation caused by Tropical Storm Irene. In that case, Senator 
Grassley, who spoke on the floor yesterday--I recall the morning after 
that storm, flying around the devastated State of Vermont. The first 
call I got was from Senator Grassley saying, ``You Vermonters stood 
with us. We will stand with you.'' How much that meant, based on 
relationships that were built over the years.
  We adopted price support programs for small dairy farmers. We fought 
for the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans. I remember 
supporting the Reagan-O'Neill deal to save Social Security--President 
Ronald Reagan and Democratic Speaker Tip O'Neill. We fought for 
nutrition bills to help Americans below the poverty line, joined by 
people like Bob Dole and George McGovern. Bipartisan--strongly 
bipartisan--campaign reform in McCain-Feingold. The bipartisan Leahy-
Smith Act on patent reform was the first reform in 50 years. I worked 
with Mike Crapo from Idaho to reauthorize and greatly expand and 
strengthen the Violence Against Women Act.
  I was proud to oppose the war in Iraq, a venture that cost so many 
lives and trillions of taxpayer dollars. Serving on the Armed Services 
Committee in April of 1975, I became the first and only Vermonter to 
cast a vote to end the war in Vietnam, and by a one-vote margin, we cut 
off authorization for the war.
  Every significant legislative success I have had has been achieved 
through the often slow process of methodically building bipartisan 
coalitions. A breakthrough in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week 
in beginning to come to grips with criminal justice reform is a fresh 
example of this and so was enactment this summer of the electronic 
surveillance reforms in our USA FREEDOM Act.
  I would remind everybody, we are not alone in this body. Legislative 
work in a democracy in large part is the art of compromise. Compromise 
is essential in assimilating and digesting competing points of view and 
competing interests, which are all the more diverse in a large and 
heterogeneous nation like ours. We are not just some small nation made 
up of just one particular class of people. The remarkable strength of 
the United States is that we have people who came here from all over 
the world and made us a strong nation. And I think we Senators keep 
faith with our core values as we listen to the perspectives of others. 
Insisting on our way or no way at all is a surefire recipe for 
stalemate, to the great detriment of the entire Nation and the people 
we represent. As Winston Churchill once said: ``The maxim, `nothing 
avails but perfection,' may be spelled shorter: PARALYSIS.''
  Some measure of self-restraint is essential for a legislative body in 
a democratic republic like ours to function. Louis Brandeis once said, 
``Democracy substitutes self-restraint for external restraint. It is 
more difficult to maintain than to achieve.'' He was right. Self-
restraint in a democracy is not an easy virtue.
  In the previous Congress, as President pro tempore, I had the 
pleasure of accompanying Chaplain Barry Black to the podium as he 
offered the morning invocation. I like to think--maybe it is more that 
I like to hope--that some of his inspiration rubs off on us, at least a 
little, each day. One morning years ago, for instance, he said: ``Give 
them (the Senators) the stature to see above the wall of prideful 
opinion.'' We can each point to each other, the other 99, and say: See, 
that is for you. We have to remember it is for us, too, each one of us.
  I was talking, my wife Marcelle and I, last night about 15,000 votes. 
It didn't seem possible when I came here as a junior Member of the 
Senate. I also know there is a lot more work to do. I hope we can 
restore the bipartisan campaign finance reform that so many in this 
body--Republicans and Democrats--supported. I hope we can restore the 
historic and foundational Voting Rights Act. I hope we continue to 
fight to support our farmers, who give us food security and are the 
very fabric of this country. We are a nation that can feed ourselves. I 
think we should fight against government overreach in the wake of 
national security threats. Sometimes going into all our private matters 
is itself a national security threat. We should do more to support our 
veterans and their families. When they come back from war, we should 
continue that support. We should expand education opportunity for all. 
My family came to Vermont in the 1850s. I became the first Leahy to get 
a college degree and my sister, the second one. We hope our children 
and grandchildren will have the same educational opportunities. We 
should rebuild the American middle class and offer helping hands to 
lift all Americans out of poverty. We should fund our roads and 
bridges. We build roads and bridges in other countries in wars where 
they sometimes get blown up. Let's build some in our own country where 
we need them. We should pass appropriations bills, not continuing 
resolutions. Pass them every year, each year. It is a lot of work, but 
not an insurmountable goal. It will take good will and bipartisan 
cooperation to achieve them.
  We 100 Senators should never forget that we are but the public face 
of an institution that is supported by thousands of hard-working staff, 
our office aides and policy experts--my own, of course, among the best 
in the Senate--the Capitol Police, the folks who keep order and help to 
showcase this great building to millions of tourists, and those bright 
and dutiful Senate pages in the well of this Chamber, all of them are 
part of the Senate family.
  The Senate at its best can be the conscience of the Nation. And I 
have seen that happen over the years when we've risen up together and 
expressed the conscience of the Nation. And I marvel in the fundamental 
soundness and wisdom of our system every time it does. We can't afford 
to put any part of the mechanism on automatic pilot. It takes constant 
work and vigilance to keep our society working.
  It is easy for politicians to appeal to our worst instincts and to 
our selfishness. Political leaders serve best when they appeal to the 
best in us, to lift our sights, summon our will, and raise us to a 
higher level. I still get a thrill every time I walk in this building 
and walk out on this floor, knowing the history of this place, just 
knowing I am going to be a part of that history. Senators have come and 
gone, but I have had one partner through these 15,000 votes: my wife, 
Marcelle. We came here in 1975 with three wonderful children: Kevin, 
Alicia, and Mark. Alicia was here in the Chamber yesterday representing 
her husband, Lawrence, and

[[Page 16700]]

their children. And I remember my parents and Marcelle's parents 
visiting often. I remember how much they enjoyed visiting here, seeing 
what we are doing. But I think they especially wanted to visit their 
three grandchildren. Well, now I look at our grandchildren--Roan, 
Francesca, Sophia, Patrick, and Fiona--and I understand how my parents 
felt.
  I am so grateful to my fellow Vermonters for the confidence they have 
shown in me. It is a measure of trust that urges me on and which I will 
never betray or take for granted.
  As I have reflected on these 15,000 votes, it reminds me of the 
significance every time we vote, why I feel energized about what votes 
lie ahead, and how we can keep making a difference.
  I thank the distinguished Presiding Officer for his forbearance.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.

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