[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15522]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO DAVID VITTER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, after two terms in the Senate and more 
than two decades of public service, our friend and colleague Senator 
David Vitter will be leaving us at the end of his term. I would like to 
say a few words before he does.
  Our friend from Louisiana is the first Republican Senator popularly 
elected from his home State. It is an impressive achievement that 
history will long record. But Senator Vitter had little opportunity to 
celebrate at the time. Hurricane Katrina hit just a few months after he 
took office. It was a catastrophic natural disaster that presented 
massive and immediate challenges for Louisiana.
  Our colleague did not miss a beat. Back home, he and his team worked 
tirelessly to set up mobile offices. Here in the Senate he fought hard 
to bring aid to those in need. It underlined something we have all come 
to know about Senator Vitter: He is passionate about his home State. 
That has been a constant throughout his career. He simply loves 
Louisiana. He loves the richness of its history, loves the richness of 
its culture, loves the richness of its food, too--crawfish pie etouffee 
and several other things I can't pronounce. Senator Vitter loves it 
all.
  He flies home just about every chance he gets. When he was younger, 
he turned down offers from Harvard and Yale to study law in the Pelican 
State. This is after he spent some time in Cambridge, MA, and Oxford, 
as a Rhodes Scholar, by the way--pretty impressive--so perhaps it was 
born of a simple lesson: You're just not going to find alligator sauce 
piquante anywhere else.
  Nor are you likely to find many Saints fans, certainly none as 
enthusiastic as our colleague. You will find Senator Vitter glued to a 
TV every football Sunday. If the Senate is in session, he will watch 
between votes in the cloakroom behind me. He has been a diehard fan of 
the Black and Gold for as long as he can remember. It was not as though 
he had much choice, of course, growing up in the Big Easy, but he has 
stuck by his team through thick and thin--often thin. It is what made 
the Saints eventual Super Bowl win in 2010 that much sweeter. He called 
it a dream come true.
  This tenacity and determination carries over to his political career 
as well. Whatever the issue, Senator Vitter's staff says he is always 
looking for solutions that can improve the lives of Louisianans. They 
say he is always ready to roll up his sleeves and stay the course on 
legislation that will do just that.
  Senator Vitter has worked hard to protect his constituents from the 
effects of hurricanes and floods before they occur and to rebuild when 
they do. He has taken the lead on important initiatives to reform the 
Army Corps of Engineers and improve our Nation's waterways.
  Most recently, he helped to pass the first significant reform of the 
Toxic Substances Control Act in nearly four decades. Senator Vitter was 
a critical player throughout, working across the aisle with our late 
colleague Senator Lautenberg and then Senator Udall to steer this much 
needed legislation to passage and eventually law.
  Senator Vitter says he believes his most important job is to keep an 
open-door policy for constituents who need help. I know he would tell 
you that, although it may not be the most publicized part of the job, 
he considers it the most fulfilling.
  He still remembers the woman in desperate need of a liver transplant. 
With the help of his office, she got it. He still remembers the veteran 
who needed an operation to save his leg and his life. With the help of 
Team Vitter, he received that too.
  Senator Vitter will never forget the countless families in need of 
assistance following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the oil spill, and 
recent flooding. He has seen firsthand the life-changing, even 
lifesaving impacts constituent casework can have. It is what inspired 
him to compile these powerful stories and best practices into a 
constituent service guidebook that will help guide his successor from 
day one.
  Of course, none of this would have been possible without a great 
staff, and Senator Vitter has built a strong team that is as committed 
to the people of Louisiana as he is. It is tight-knit. It is loyal. It 
is a group of men and women who know they have a boss who takes genuine 
interest in their success, who trusts their judgment, and who is always 
eager for their input.
  Senator Vitter awards a Reform Trophy each week to the staffer with 
the best new policy idea. He truly believes in a heavy dose of 
competition. That includes when his son Jack is in town. Staffers can 
expect to be enlisted in an entirely different competition then; it is 
called Office Olympics. Team Vitter knows to bring their A game when 
Jack is around. They also know to bring their sense of humor. It turns 
out Jack is a bit of a prankster. I hear you don't want Jack laying 
hands on a Post-it note or a roll of aluminum foil when he is in the 
office, but lifelong memories are often made when he does just that.
  It is these relationships and it is this capacity to make a 
difference for the people of Louisiana through constituent service and 
the legislative process that I am sure our colleague will miss most 
when he leaves the Senate.
  Senator Vitter may be retiring from his post in this Chamber, but we 
know he will continue to look for ways to serve the State he loves so 
much. Today we join with his team and his family in recognizing his 
many years of service. I know each of us is looking forward to seeing 
what else our colleague is able to achieve on behalf of Louisiana in 
the years to come.
  Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, if the majority leader will yield for one 
moment, I want to thank the majority leader for his very kind words. 
Serving in the Senate for two terms has been the highest honor of my 
professional career. I have enjoyed it so much and have been honored by 
the relationship with all of my colleagues, certainly including the 
majority leader. I will have a few more reflections next Monday, but I 
sincerely thank him and also congratulate him for getting the Senate, 
particularly in the past 2 years, back to working order and some of its 
best practices. Not as a Member but as a cheerleader on the outside, I 
will be very much looking forward to even greater successes this coming 
Congress.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I thank my colleague.
  I have one more statement, and then I will be through.

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